My one year bout-aversary

The bout flyer from last year - May 8, 2010.

I can't believe I missed my one year bout-aversary!! That is to say, my very first roller derby bout one year ago: May 8, 2011 against the Utica Rollergirls!

Since then, I have played so much derby! I joined the Hellions in September 2009 - I am almost a two year veteran of the team.

Looking back, I have played in 10 bouts total, plus Empire Skate Showdown on Long Island last September.  WOW! My "record" is four losses and six wins.  Not bad :)

Tomorrow, when we play Garden State, it will be my 11th bout.

One other interesting thing is that tomorrow, my boyfriend, "Massacre", who refs for the Hellions but also plays for the Capital District Men's Roller Derby league, will play in his first bout ever!

HoT vs. Nickel City Knock Outs - Jan 15 Bout Recap

[Catching up on some old stuff]

January 15, 2011
Hellions of Troy vs. Nickel City Knock Outs of Queen City Roller Derby (Buffalo, NY)
Final score: 130 HoT – 121 Nickel City

I primarily wrote about the NCKO bout over on the Times Union blog: http://blog.timesunion.com/rollerderby/how-about-them-hellions/2491/, so make sure to check that all out.

Also, make sure to catch bout highlights courtesy of Space Chalky here: http://hellionsoftroy.blogspot.com/2011/02/video-hellions-of-troy-vs-nickel-city.html

Photo by Andy Kainz

I want to point out this was the first bout for Valerie Valkyrie and Disharmony.  Woohoo!  They did great.

Valerie Valkyrie blocks the jammer.  Awesome derby stance!
Photo by Andy Kainz

Disharmony (middle) forms a nice wall with Epic (right) and Hanna (left).
Just like at practice.  Perfect! Photo by Andy Kainz.

Lastly, lets talk about their sweet logo! One of my new favorite roller derby t-shirts. This is what I look like at home, post-bout and after party. Tired, sweaty, disheveled, happy.

Hellions Bout Tonight!

Hooray! It's bout day!  See you tonight at Rollarama in Schenectady.

Reminder to all local derby peeps: Wear some of your team merch and let the ladies at the door know you're a derby player and pay only $5 at the door. It's a Deep Derby Discount!

Definitely coming to the bout? Say so on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176156729083419

Queen of the Rink! January 15 Bout Recap

We won our bout on Saturday! It was so fun and amazing - the team worked so well together. We were pushed to do so because we knew that Nickel City would be a very big challenge.

After the first few jams I knew the bout was not going to be a blow out. I saw so much impressive derby from both sides, but especially the Hellions!
All photos below by Andy Kainz unless otherwise noted!

Shockratease and Deadlie Mercury working together to stop the jammer.

Pork Slap sends a jammer flying.

Epic Kate-tastrophe jamming against one of KCNO's best jammers, and team captain, Addy Rawl.

Hanna Solo using the Force.

I think I actually landed this hit. Wooo.  Photo by Pete Rodriguez.

For this bout we also introduced to brand new skaters: Valerie Valkyrie and Disharmony! Both girls have previously written guests posts (Val 1 | 2 and Disharmony). Anyway, these two have been KICKING ASS at practice so I knew they were ready. Disharmony is always where I need her to be when I'm jamming - up in the front clearing me a path! She's got great endurance and always gives 100% on the track. She rules.

Valerie is amazing at holding the line and not afraid of giving a hit. In the two pictures on the left you can see that we were working together in one jam. The KCNO jammer managed to get by me, but within seconds Valerie was able to race ahead to booty block her and slow her down, allowing Mathundra Storm and myself to catch up and form a strong three person wall. YEAH!!

I am SO PROUD of these two girls. And we have a couple more coming up in the ranks so expect to "meet" a couple more new Hellions soon!


What I really think pulled this game together for our team was our constant team work and remembering the drills we had worked on in the past month or so. I've never seen us work so tight together. We were constantly in the front of the pack holding walls and recycling when necessary.

NCKO had a few fast jammers which we had to adapt too.  In the first period they were up 78 HoT  - 90 NCKO. The game wasn't quite this close for the whole period however... Pork Slap scored 20 points in the last jam of the period to lessen their dominating lead.  That's when we really started gaining momentum.

In the second period KNCO caught on to our walls and were able to fight fire with fire. But we just kept up what we were doing and we caught up and took the lead with only a couple minutes left in the game. It was very close at the end, the last few jams really decided it. In the end, the Hellions won the bout 130 - 121.

NNKO were pretty amazing. I'm so glad they came out and was honored to play them. We may have won the bout, but they won the after party. I got to talk to a few afterwards, including Beauty School Knockout, who is totally freaking sweet and nice. After parties are always crazy socially overwhelming for me, but I'm glad I got to talk to a few of their girls.

Thanks again Nickel City Knockouts for coming out and pushing us hard!

A few other people I need to thank:
Kitty and Flexi, who served as alternates for this roster, allowing Valerie and Disharmony to show us what they're made of.
Missy and Beefcake, our coaches.
Members of Albany All Stars Roller Derby, Capital District Men's Roller Derby, Central New York Roller Derby, Utica Roller Girls, the Quadfathers, Ithaca League of Women Rollers, and other leagues who made it out to see the bout (let me know if you were there and I missed your league!). Thank you all so much for supporting Local Derby!!
All the fans!  Thank you for your support! Derby!!!

Deadlie Mercury's First Bout

Guest post by rookie skater, Deadlie Mercury!  Deadlie skated in her first bout with the Hellions against Central New York on September 4, 2010 at the Empire Skate Showdown.




I don't think one person can say that their first bout experience is the same as another. There are always different extenuating circumstances.


When the roster was first announced in July for the Empire Skate Showdown this past weekend, I had little expectations of being on it. And my instincts proved correct, my name was not on the list. I was a little disappointed, but I knew I had JUST passed minimums and coaching was still not sure of what I could really do (neither was I to be honest). But it was better not to look at it as a setback, but as motivation to work harder and really push myself. I began attending men's derby practice so I could get derby in 3 times a week as opposed to just 2. It was at the men's practice 2 weeks ago where I got my first (minor) derby injury, twisting my knee when I fell wrong. I didn't go to the doctors, cause I'm so tough (or maybe just stubborn?), but it definitely called for lots of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). For like, the past 2 weeks.


Well, just my luck: The next night is the Hellions practice and I tell our coach that I'm taking it easy that night because of my “boo-boo” and he asks me if I would like to play in the tournament. Um... HECK YES! But this called for some serious pushing of myself while not hurting my knee anymore in the process.


I was successful in this and was so focused on feeling better that this whole 'first bout' thing didn't hit me until the Thursday night practice 2 days before ESS. All the rostered skaters got together with coaching and we discussed strategy and the basic run of the days events. When I stopped to really listen to what was being said, it hit me like a ton of bricks. “Oh geeze... this is for realz!”  I then worried about everything. I was worried that I wouldn't look cute enough for crying out loud! I had so much anxiety I dreamt that I missed half the tournament and really pissed off the rest of my team and then somewhere in there it turned into a softball game. Yeah, dreams are weird.

Holding the line like a good newbie.

So comes the day of ESS, and what an awesome day it was! I'm lucky to have tons of wonderful friends in NYC to house me that weekend so I wouldn't have to wake up at the rear end of dawn in order to catch the bus (yeah, something else I have to worry about? I'd rather not). But wow, the tournament was an amazing experience all in itself. To see these other teams that were so experienced and to share it with derby girls from across the state was really something special. I had a running joke with my friends that I better get there on time because knowing my luck I'll be in the first bout. We laughed since I didn't think there was any way I could've been put on that roster. So guess who was hit with another surprise when our coach Beefcake said my name for the first roster. It was really time to focus. 


I was  little nervous but honestly, I can't express how supportive my team is. Everyone just looked at me with smiles and said “You can do it Deadlie.”. Until we grouped up at our bench, everything felt so surreal to me, as if it wasn't really happening. When we had our Hellions pre-bout-group-pump-up-chant I felt so pleased. I really felt like I had made it and I felt like I could own myself as a player. 

Introducing Deadlie Mercury and
Delinquent Dollie!

I only went out 3 times but only fell once out of those 3 times (of course within 10 seconds of the first jam I was in). I held the line like a good newbie and helped build walls with my teammates. We only lost by 20 points which, in roller derby terms, is still anyone's game. I think it was the best way for me to experience playing in a real bout for the first time and to feel confident in my skills finally. And I'm sure that not too many derby girls get to say they had their first bout experience at a state-wide tournament. *Insert shoutout- Except for my teammate Dollie. Yeah first timers!*