Next bout: Saturday, October 16

I hope some of y'all can make our bout next weekend! The "Battle of the Undead" will pit Hellion vs. Hellion as "Zombies vs. Vampires" in their first intra-league bout after our successful summer recruitment sessions. Doors open at 7 p.m., with first whistle at 8 p.m.

The bout will be held at Rollarama Skating Center
2710 Hamburg Street
Schenectady, NY

Tickets for the bout are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, and $3 for goblins under 12. To avoid finding yourself in a line of devoted fans, tickets are available through www.brownpapertickets.com or from your favorite roller ghoul. You can also bring your own chairs and sit on the side lines, known for the best views in the house! Beware of the crash zone, however - you might end up with a derby ghoul in your lap!

Just so you know - I'm rostered as a VAMPIRE! So you better bring your fangs and cheer me on! Wondering who else is rostered as a Vampire or Zombie? Guess you'll have to find out when you get to the bout!

I'm going to Nationals!

Or should I say, the 2010 WFTDA Championships. Last month I pondered the feasibility of traveling to Chicago to see the best teams play my favorite sport. Well, I worked things out and booked my plane tickets to Chicago a few days ago. I also bought my 3-Day Pass to the event - General Admission only... looks like VIP seating is all sold out. Dang! But that's an extra $45 I can be spending on deep dish pizza!

The last of the four Regional tournaments, South Central, is finishing up this weekend, and then we'll know all 12 teams who will be headed to Chicago the first weekend of November. Of course I'll be supporting Gotham - I <3 NY. But I am also excited about Minnesota, Charm City, and B.ay A.rea D.erby.  B.A.D. intrigues me because I remember seeing a bunch of their girls at Nationals (not playing) last year. Demanda Riot sat in front of me for a few games...I remember admiring her dreads. She's got an unforgettable look. I also saw some of them skate at ECE back in July. It's awesome that they made it this year.

I've never been to Chicago before. I'm flying in early Friday morning and leaving Monday afternoon, so hopefully I'll get to see some of the city. Any recommendations for places to visit? The event is being held at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.

High School Football

A fun post for Friday :)

My family lives pretty close to Albany, so on Friday night I found myself at my high school's Homecoming football game.  I also may or may not have been playing in the student/community pep band.
. . .

I was sitting in the stands watching the players warmup - knee bends, jogging to and fro, practicing juke moves around each other. Then I realized - I can do everything these guys can do... except on rollerskates.

Sort of like the old quote,

Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels.

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!

Fun at Eastern Regionals

Miss Ida

Rev. Al Mighty & Ida Felternatch

Miss Ida, one of our announcers who is really starting to make it big in the announcing world (she also announced for Central New York this season), announced her first ever WFTDA tournament this weekend. Paired up with one of my favorites, Rev. Al Mighty, she grabbed her microphone and didn't look back. I'm way proud of her and hoping she'll announce at Nationals, too!

Great showing by the Hellions of Troy
I attended the event with fellow veterans Flexi, Shockratease, and Mathundra Storm, as well as die-hard derby supporters (HoT and announcers!) Eloda Sarcasm and Miss Ida Feltersnatch. Referee Miranda Wrights was also volunteering at the event, and upcoming HoT refs Beau T. Call and Luci D. Dream also came down on Sunday to watch.

Not only that, but we had a whole bunch of FRESH MEAT make the trip down on Saturday to catch the action. Road Kill, Chicken Florentine, Rock Lobster, Snausage, Hassenfeffer, Soyrizo, and Souvlaki (in case you didn't know - we call our fresh meat by MEAT names, haha) ... I'm SO proud so many new girls came down to check out this important event. I had barely been on the team for 6 weeks when I attended the 2009 WFTDA Nationals in November 2009. That experience definitely shaped my perspective on roller derby in a great way.

Rubbing Elbows
I met some AWESOME people that weekend! I'm on a quest to learn more and more about WFTDA, and everyone I spoke with was so helpful. I ran in to some girls from Toronto Roller Derby, who I had seen play against Buffalo back in August. I also chatted with girls from Suburbia, Long Island Roller Rebels, and Ophelia and Square Brute of Hudson Valley Horrors. I also met some way cool NSO/referees via Miranda Wrights, including Grand Poohbah (Roc City - stats), N8 (Charm City - stats), Bettie Mercury and Ian Fluenza (CT Roller Derby), and Reffalo Bill (DC Roller Girls).

Staff breaking down the skate court.

Tournaments are really fun because you meet lots of really awesome people, and also run into people you met at a previous derby event. Everyone is there to support derby, so there's always something to talk about or catch up on.

Seeing how the big leagues operate
It wasn't all about the skaters.  At the end of the tournament I got to watch the crew breakdown the skatecourt, which was being borrowed from Gotham.   I think I've skated on this type of surface once before.  I just thought it was interesting to see the process of setting up the skating service.  The squares (12"x12" I think) are broken down by 16 (4 square) panels and stacked several high on platforms then loaded into a truck. Have rink will travel.

Star Struck

Miranda Wrights was my ride home after the tournament on Sunday night. She had some volunteer stuff to wrap up so I hung around her and got to talk with some of her pals. Miranda's been invovled with derby for a long time: she started her derby career with Brew City from Madison, WI. We were casually chatting with her old team mate, Grace Killy, we someone casually mentioned she was the President of WFTDA. Ahhhh, wow! She was so incredibly nice. I also met The Ruffian from Dominion Roller Derby and had a casual conversation with her about WFTDA membership. Later that night when I was doing some googling, I discovered she's the Vice President of WFTDA. Wow!

One Year Derby Anniversary: Ursula Udders

Guest post by Ursula Udders

How Caitlyn became Ursula Udders

Before roller derby I was Caitlyn - a secretary by day and a theater student by night - besides that I had nothing all that interesting going on: all my friends were at schools in other states, and I wasn’t really great at meeting new people. So I spent most of my time at home or doing things with my mom. On October 2nd, 2009 I was at the mall with my mom because we were bored and shopping was something to do. The first thing we always do is go past the theater to see if anything good is playing, and thats where I saw it: “Whip It” sneak preview one week early... I had heard of it and was really interested in seeing it. At this point I didn’t think roller derby existed anymore, that it was just something people do in TV and movies to make for interesting plots...and boy was I wrong.

Hair/makeup: Total Image Salon;
Photo by Dino Petrocelli

Before the movie all these girls with odd names like Scarbucks and Doc Bi O’Hazard came in and sat in the reserved seats. I thought nothing of it and the movie started. By the time the movie was over I was in love and wished roller derby was still around. I’d say about a minute after I thought about that and was out of the theater a girl who had the name Kitty Porn on her back was handing me a flyer about a roller derby recruitment night that Monday for the Hellions of Troy. Needless to say that was all I could talk about for days. I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it that Monday because I had a theater history class, so I went to the website and sent them an E-mail asking another time I could come. Within a few hours I had an e-mail from a girl named Shockratease (an e-mail I still have) saying it was no problem and I could come by on a Thursday.

Spicy! Hair/makeup: Total
Image Salon

By the time Monday came around I couldn't wait any long so I set out on going and missing class. When I got there I was greeted by Kitty and Shock. Soon after I was encouraged to put on skates and try it out (Rollarama is an active skating rink, so new recruits can borrow skates until they get their own). The last time I skated was when I was 13 so I knew I wouldn’t be very good at it. I was right - I spent most of the night clinging to the wall with help from a girl named Ivanna. Regardless of my poor skating I wanted to come back and get better. By the third practice I had found my center of balance and got my meat name: Spicy Tuna. I couldn’t of been happier.

Broken ankle cast
featuring Hellions colors

On October 5th 2010, it will be one year exactly that I’ve been with the Hellions of Troy... no longer as Spicy Tuna, but as Ursula Udders. I haven’t actually gotten to play in a bout yet since I broke my ankle on January 14th and took almost 4 months to recover, but I haven’t let that scare me away. Yes, that first time back on skates is terrifying thinking about what if it happens again, but you gotta do it and not let anything scare you. It’s also much easier to do with 30+ girls cheering you on. I haven’t passed minimums yet but I’m determined to pass them by my birthday in January.

This has been the best year of my life. I’ve met so many people on my team and on others. I can no longer imagine my life without derby and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

“Stuff You Should Know” Podcast on Roller Derby

Guest post by Miranda Wrights aka Emily Menn

A popular podcast from Discovery Network, Stuff You Should Know, recorded a great overview of derby. Based on an article by Tracy V. Wilson, this hilarious show walks you through the history, rules and culture of modern derby.

The hosts, Josh Clark and Charles “Chuckers” W. Bryant, have explained how hundreds of topics from sleepwalking to how mercenaries work. You’ll laugh out loud at their awe of fishnet burns and practice their sports commentary skills.

Check out the online article for a great interactive flash animation where you can run a jam. Visit: http://www.howstuffworks.com/roller-derby.htm

Listen to the podcast at:
http://podcasts.howstuffworks.com/hsw/podcasts/sysk/2010-09-28-sysk-rollerderby.mp3
or download it for free on iTunes.

Eastern Regionals Recap

I was at Eastern Regionals pretty much all weekend.  I got there after the first two games on Friday and Saturday, but from then on it was non-stop roller derby.

My favorite teams of the weekend were Montreal, Steel City, and Charm City.  As I anticipated, Montreal seemed to be the sweetheart team of the weekend.  In their first game, they held their own against Boston, but it's not too much of a surprise that Boston took the win.  On Saturday, they lost by only 2 points to Carolina, which later that night one NSO described to me as a "comedy of errors."  Montreal ended up taking 7th place after a strong bout against Providence.

Steel City's Hurricane Heather jamming past out of play
blockers from Carolina.

The first game I caught on Friday was Steel City vs. Charm City, which was a terrific match.  Right off the bat they utilized "slow game" strategies, meaning once the jam whistle blew, nobody raced off the line, but instead held back - perhaps in an effort to intimidate the jammer.  Our league has done a little bit of this strategy, but Steel City has nailed it.  Throughout the weekend, their "steel curtain" was incredible.  Charm City, however, featured tough cookies such as Dolly Rocket and Joy Collision.  Dolly seemed almost villainous as she played with a serious scowl on her face and took out anyone in her way showing no mercy.  I won't completely buy into it though - I sat next to her grandparents during the first bout and when she came over to say hello to them I saw her genuinely smile.  Even though derby girls can be fierce on the track, off the track they're still human.

This game was a great way to warm us all up for the rest of the weekend - I think it was my favorite game of the tournament.  Even though I came into the weekend with my eye on Steel City (and kept it there the rest of the weekend - they ended up taking 5th place), I began rooting for Charm City as well.

Philly vs. Gotham.  Notice how some blockers started
closer to the jammer line.  Getting ready to execute the
"slow game" strategy.

This weekend I learned that during regional playoffs, the most important game isn't the last game for first or second place, but the one decides third and fourth.  Out of ten teams, only the top three teams advance to the Championships.  That meant the game to watch would be Charm City vs. Boston.  Last year, Boston, Philly, and Gotham were the top three.

The score was neck-and-neck for the first 45 minutes of the game, until Charm City started pulling ahead, kept their defense strong, and won the game by 34 points.  Wooo!  I don't believe Charm City has never gone to the Championships before, so there was much celebrating.  Advancing teams will be: Gotham, Philly, and Charm City.

Catch some good recaps on all the bouts from Derby News Network here: http://derbynewsnetwork.com/2010/09/eastern_region_playoffs_recaps

I learned some other interesting things and met some cool people this weekend, which I'll talk about in my next post.

Hellions + Starcraft 2

Mr. T plays a fair amount of Starcraft 2, and every once in a while I'll hear him talking about Hellions over Skype with his SC2 pals. How cute that he's talking about derby!

Hmph, not really the case. A hellion is some sort of unit in the game.  I looked it up on a Starcraft 2 wiki, and this is what I found out:

Source: Starcraft 2 Wiki

"...The hellion is a high-speed raider built around a lightweight four-wheel chassis. Hellions are capable of causing damage disproportionate to their size, particularly against enemy infantry, thanks to their heavy infernal flamethrowers. Additionally, their remarkable acceleration allows for improvisational tactics in the field. Some hellion drivers will deliberately outrun their enemies only to turn and attack when they have reached maximum range."  - Starcraft 2 Wiki

Sweet! I'm sure the game designers had our team in mind when they developed the unit. But please, no SC2 geeks commenting saying anything otherwise (Mr. T just gave me a lecture on their actual capabilities/usefulness in the game). If it's in the wiki it must be true!

East Coast Regionals this Weekend

I'm starting to read up on the teams for Eastern Regionals this weekend.  Derby in the Burbs, hosted by Suburbia Roller Derby this year, will take place on Friday, September 24 - Sunday, September 26.

One special thing about this year's event is that it's the first time a team outside the U.S. will be competing.  the New Skids on the Block, Montreal Roller Derby's travel team, will take on Boston on Friday afternoon for Game 4.  I've seen both teams play, but more recently Montreal at East Coast Extravaganza back in July.

Like I wrote about Minnesota, I'm gonna say that Montreal is going to be the exciting team to watch this weekend - and not just because they'll be hard to miss wearing neon.  Not only are they an all around fun group of girls, but their hitting power and blocking ability is also quite impressive.  Geaux Montreal!



Shockratease is coming down on Friday with me and she's excited to see Steel City (Pittsburgh).  I just watched a video of them on youtube.  They look like a fun and hardworking team!

Then of course there is Gotham, whose All Star team never disappoints.  DNN has some interesting commentary on their strategy, which I've never noticed before so I'll have to pay attention.  Also excited to meet some of the girls from Suburbia (although they're not playing).  Lets go New York Derby!

Don't forget that you can watch the whole tournament live for free on Derby News Network!

For more "informed" commentary, check out DNN's preview article or the preview from Roller Derby Inside Track.  Better to consider their thoughts over my speculation when it's time to fill out your bracket.