First ACRD Mixed Scrimmage

On Saturday, October 2, Shockratease, Mr. T and I headed out to Syracuse for the new monthly open scrimmage hosted by Assault City Roller Derby.  Girls from Utica, Assault City, Rochester, and Central New York were there, plus a good handful of refs and NSOs from the area.  I've met some of these girls before through games, scrimmages, and tournaments before, so it was nice to reconnect and also make some new friends.

ACRD practice space.

ACRD practices in a retail space literally in a mall.  Their space was just big enough, and they had some mattresses on the wall in key places where clearance is tight. I did collide with one a couple times, which was actually kinda fun, haha. We had a few people peek in through the entrance into the mall - but official spectators were not allowed due to space limitations.  I can't imagine what people were thinking when they peered in and saw 30 girls in fishnets skating in circles.


ACRD did a really great job organizing the event.  Teams from all over the upstate/central area were invited and I thought we had a pretty good turnout.  It was a mixed scrimmage, so we all lined up in order of perceived skill level and were assigned either black or white. I ended up being on a team with mostly Utica Roller Girls and a few CNY girls, so that was nice.  Shock was on the other team, but she got to play with Blaze from ACRD (who I mentioned in my recap of the CNY vs. ACRD bout).  She's not quite as scary in person as she seems on the rink (again, I mean that in a good way!) but she is seriously an awesome skater and a great proponent of roller derby.

First ACRD mixed scrimmage.  Photo by Pete Rodriguez.

Happiest place on Earth.

The two teams were very evenly matched.  I didn't jam, but I did get a chance to play pivot a couple times.  It was cool to work with different girls and everyone was really nice about sharing tips and tricks.  Pied Viper was on the opposite team (I also wrote about her in the CNY/ACRD recap) - she was kicking butt as jammer but I managed to stop her maybe once or twice.  Wooo!  This scrimmage was great because I got to play with girls who I've admired from off the rink before.  I had a lot of fun.  Thank you Assault City!


And of course ... no trip out to central NY is complete with out a stop at FasTrac.  Can't wait until next month!