Not Lead Jammer.

Wow, March was a long month. Our season opener feels like ages ago, and now we’re gearing up for our next home bout on April 9^th. We played a familiar foe, tough competition and a proclaimed rival. We dominated, struggled and overcame. Looking towards this next bout against the Kansas Roller Warriors: Plan B team, I feel weary and uncertain.

Episode 1, 2 and 3.

Before Back in Black, we worked hard and needed the release that a bout brings; playing other skaters and having all eyes on us, but now I’m starting to fear I blew my load as Twinkletoes in that first one. Madison brought a different surface and new opposition, so of course I wasn’t going to perform perfectly, but I felt my contribution was poorer. By the time the Dames rolled around, my body was punishing me with sickness and as I took that line for the first time, my legs shook. The first time is always nerve-wracking but I couldn’t shake it. It wasn’t a lack of confidence or decisiveness, it just felt like I had lost a bit of my GoGoGo. Like the Millennium Falcon revving up for hyperspace and failing. It didn’t help that you could just forget whatever wheels you brought to 7 Flags, because they were all equal to rocks on your feet after a layer of sugar and dirt got wrapped around them.

Exhaustion and sickness kept me from practice Sunday and last night just felt bad. It could be the snot infestation in my nose, being over-worked or just a bad attitude, but I don’t like this feeling. I’m drowning in Derbyland instead of flourishing. I look down at the wheels on my feet and wonder why the fuck I’m skating in circles. I read my blog and wonder who really cares what Small Town USA is doing. I feel like a child with power as a board memeber. I’m broke, my room is a mess and I can't do all the video endeavors I want to do. I’m unable to maintain control of my life at all times and the moment I let go, it all seems to crumble.

I know I am capable and the answers are all there, it’s just hard to see the light most of the time. It’s a bit comforting to get online and see other people living lives immersed in derby and to know I am not completely insane. It’s also inspiring to see our fresh meat doing so well, so I must be doing something right. I think Animal and I have a nice balance with coaching, but we wouldn’t be getting anywhere without their drive and great attitudes.

Fresh meat: doing laps, being amazing.

They’re scrimmaging now. It’s like we’ve dropped them off at college. They’re out on their own and they still have a lot to learn, but they’re growing up so fast. Most of their progression will come from experience and trying new things, but we're still here to give them a little guidance. They’re improving so quickly, which also means that I need to be constantly working harder. There will always be skaters better than me as well as new skaters with the potential to surpass me. 

I have a week to get out of my head and back in my feet. It’s going to be a long season so I need to pace myself instead of sprinting to the end. It’s time to clear my head of this funk and work on my health, my life and my derby. I am in charge of my own destiny and dwelling in my failures isn’t going to get me anywhere. Neither is writing depressing blog posts, so now that this is out of my system, I will see you on the track.  

Highlights from Back in Black, one thing I feel accomplished about. 

 

March 26th vs Des Moines Derby Dames:
Emily Sherman Photography 1, 2, 3.
Cathy Kovach  Photography
Dave Schrader 
Joy Doehrmann
D3 Hightlights
D3 Recap
D3' Maharry Photography 

Left 4 Deadwards as Twinkletoes.

Jr High track - "chicken legs," not CRZY LEGS.

So they say hard work pays off. Practice makes perfect. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. You can do anything you put your mind to… They all kind of sound like bullshit phrases that hang on a wall in a high school gym teacher’s office. At that age, I hated school but did love to play sports. I was the girl who sweated in gym class and wanted to play football with the boys. I played softball and basketball and even tried track for awhile and was pretty decent all around. I had the competitive edge that pushed me just enough to try, but not enough passion to try, try again.

At a certain point I was no longer the tall third grader who could rebound or the long legged first baseman who could reach for the ball. My peers started to surpass me and get better and I didn’t care enough to work any harder. By the time I graduated, I had quit the sports I played almost all my life.

Last Saturday I felt what it was like to really excel at what I do. I’ve been playing roller derby for over two years now and I’m feeling myself improve; the things I had been practicing over and over were starting to come natural. And it’s not just me. On the track I saw cohesion and smart derby from our team. Nothing has really changed about the way we train; we’ve just gotten better at the things we’ve been practicing, together. The best thing any team can do, is practice with each other often, and our emphasis on attendance is definitely paying off.

Swiss MisFit's debut bout.
Photo by Patrick Bloom

We began our second full bouting season with a strong victory against the Quad City Rollers, 191 to 83. It was kind of nice to be playing a familiar face in our season opener since we’re playing a lot of new teams this year.  We started the bout strong by controlling the pack with solid walls and lead jammer status, to hold QCR scoreless until about the sixth jam. As a team, our goal going into this bout was better communication and focus, and to work together. In roller derby, offense and defense is played at the same time, so you have to be ready to switch tactics quickly and fluidly depending on which jammer is in the pack. These tactics change immensely when one of the jammers is not even on the track. With our jammer in the box, we sped it up, and with theirs off the track we trapped a skater to slow it to a near standstill.

DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!
Emily Sherman Photography

One of my own personal jammer goals was to work harder at taking the inside, instead of defaulting to the outside. The inside line is often the most heavily guarded so a jammer may be tempted to just take the outside, but that is most tantalizing for heavy hitters. To counteract that, I like to employ the move taught by Suzy Hotrod as “DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!”

In normal skating posture, I am low and my hitting zones are forward. The blocker will lock onto this and make a cut out to hit. This is when I suddenly straighten up and go the other direction. Their committed momentum takes them flying off the track as I am slipping through the inside. I managed to use DFTM *3* times in a row against an admittedly beautiful waterfall by the QCR pack, thus Your Mom renaming me “Twinkletoes”

I also focused on my GOGOGO skills. As a jammer, I have two minutes or less to get around as many times as I can to score points. When DFTM fails and I do get knocked out or down, those few seconds of recovery time really count. I can’t waste time waiting for the pack or a blocker to move forward so I can re-enter behind them. If I can get back in play as quick as possible, they are often still recovering from the block they just gave, giving me time to speed around them before they can re-adjust their stance.

Sneaking through the inside to try and snag some points on the fourth whistle.
Cathy Kovach Photography

Looking back now, the bout was such a blur. I remember some of these small accomplishments but as a whole I couldn’t tell you how well I did. Now that we’re an apprentice league we have to keep in-depth stats like the WFTDA teams do. It is insane. I can tell you that I jammed 11 times and only blocked in 3. I scored 55 points and got lead jammer 7 times. I sat in the box for one major backblock (which I remember doing specifically, oops) and 3 minors: cutting the track, out of bounds blocking, and out of bounds skating.  Then there are fifty other columns that I don’t understand, but my love for lists finds this all very helpful. All these numbers are made possible by the WONDERFUL volunteers who help run the bout. All the people you see holding timers or clipboards are non-skating officials (NSOs) and are invaluable to each of our bouts.

We also had an army of fresh meat to
help at the bout.
Emily Sherman Photography

Coming out of that bout I feel very confident and excited looking into the next two weekends. Saturday we play one of the Mad Rollin’ Dolls' home teams, the Unholy Rollers. They are current league champions and have some skaters who play actual WFTDA bouts; it’s daunting to the say the least. I’ve made myself OK with the fact that we might lose, but it will be worth it for the great experience of playing a team that has been around much longer than we have. Despite all that, I feel we are going to surprise them and possibly squeak out a victory?

The following weekend, we head to Des Moines to play the Dames to further our so called "rivalry". I watched their season opener last month, and they are looking pretty strong. MOAB is laying out some killer hits and Cosmo is really pushing it as a jammer. There is of course the always popular Stella Italiana, but we will also be bringing the infamous Kraken. I’m hoping the bout will be more than all the hype, because I’m ready for some hardcore, intense, bad ass roller derby this season, so everybody better BRING IT! 

-L4D aka Twinkletoes

Check out pictures from this bout:
Emily Sherman Photography Album 1, Album 2.
KORfan
Cathy Kovach Photography
Jeff Hicock (QCR photog)
Erik Roys Photography
Patrick Bloom
Tracy Pierce

The Derby Monster Ate My Life

Derby has been consuming so much of my life lately I’m not sure there’s a non-derby bone left in my body. The team is my full time, non-paying job. The fresh meat are my children, the vets are my needy girlfriends; it’s an interesting family. If I’m not busy worrying about my PR committee, I’m going to a board meeting, a roster meeting, or sitting down to create practices with Animal. I’m making contacts for events, printing flyers, hanging flyers, creating, designing, planning, thinking, stressing over everything. I go through brief moments of defeat and want to give it all up, and other moments of complete and utter derby love.

I got thinking recently when a non-derby friend asked if I ever had time for other things. My mind kind of went blank as I tried to think of what these “other things” might be. So I hypothetically removed derby from my life and tried to imagine what would be left. There wasn’t much, and it made me a little concerned. Everyone I spend time with is in derby or related to derby. I’m constantly making failed promises to hang out with non-derby friends and slowly diverting from anything else I used to do. As for my plan to either take more classes or find a better paying job… well I suppose that’s been on hold for a while. I have two part time jobs and I’m continually floundering. My brain is constantly in the here and now and what needs done this week, and never in the long term life-goals mindset.

I know a lot of this over thinking is just pre-season stress, because all work and no play makes Deadwards a frustrated girl. It is bout week, with our season opener this Saturday, so I have 50 zillion things to do and the bout will be my reward. I look forward to that and then realize that there’s five more home bouts and lots of things I want to see the team accomplish this year, so there really won’t be much more time for me to breathe. Especially since we’re kicking off our season with 3 bouts in a row; 1 home and 2 away. (Quad Cities 3/12, Unholy Rollers of the Mad Rollin Dolls 3/19 and Des Moines Derby Dames 3/26.)

Bout day will come and the whole league will be at the Marriott for a majority of the day, setting up, getting ready, and warming up. Then the doors will open and I will mentally deal with the fact that the Marriott is or is not full of people. It feels like a test for me and the PR committee, to see if we’ve been doing enough and if our efforts will pay off.  Then it’s time to skate. Intros can be kind of horrifying. Everyone’s eyes are only on you for one lap, and after I nearly tripped coming out of the curtain at Full Metal Derby last year, I get overly anxious. Next, the bout begins. If I’m jamming first, my nerves are tingling and my stomach is in knots. This first jam sets the bout, the team’s mood, and my performance. After that, it all just happens… until the last jam.

More times than not, I tend to be the jammer in the final few minutes of a bout. In our first ever bout against the Quad Cities in June of ’09, I huffed and puffed my way through the pack, but couldn’t manage to snag a few more points. Everyone thought we won, but the scoreboard updated and we ended up losing by three. Despite the loss, this was our first bout and I was wearing a fucking tutu (never again); it was pretty impressive.

This past June however, we had quite the lead on the Stateline Derby Divas and managed to jam every single person on the bench. Bang couldn’t stay out of the box as jammer, so with a few nods and a pivot panty on my head, the plan to pass the star was set. I toed the line and after a lap or two, Bang entered with the star and handed it off to me. I threw it on and before anyone knew what happened, I was coming around to score. It was fun to actually pull off a not often used strategy in a bout.

The next bout was in Des Moines, versus MIR; the one that still has a tender spot in my derby heart. I had been jamming a majority of the night and was all out exhausted. It was nearing the end and I told Tynamite that I couldn’t jam anymore, only block. After a few jams, it was down to the wire and I took the jam line anyway. This was it. I believe we had a small lead so all I had to do was get through first and call it off. I was nearly through and instead I got called off. I sat in the box and cried as we lost the bout.

Following that was an intense bout against the LaCrosse Skating Sirens. The score was pretty close the whole bout and we were down by a handful of points when I was on the jam line in the final minutes. There was some confusing between the refs and the benches and suddenly the jam was starting. Half the Sirens weren’t present in the pack and as they tried to take the line they were waved off for not being ready at the start of the jam. After the initial pass their jammer and a blocker visited the box which left one Siren on the track against me and two blockers. I skated until I was certain we had the lead and called it off. We won, but due to confusing and error, it didn’t feel well deserved.

To say the least, I’m a little nervous about Saturday. Not only will I be participating in a sport, I am helping cultivate a business. I want us as a team perform well, and as a league be successful. I also hope with each bout, we are reaching a little further and getting more and more people interested in this dynamic sport that I feel so passionate about. Roller derby doesn’t bring us fame or fortune. We don’t get scholarships or professional drafts or loads of money; the pay off is an intangible thing. I have instead earned a confidence, a family and a hunger for more. I just hope all my friends outside of Derbyland understand if I don’t ever come back.

-L4D

Ace of Skates

If anyone has followed my blog long enough, my very first entry was recapping a mixer I participated in last year put on by the Quad City Rollers, and last Saturday they put it on again for the third year in a row. For those who don’t know, a mixer is hosted by a team (QCR) who invites skaters from multiple leagues (Old Capitol City Roller Girls, Des Moines Derby Dames, Eastern Iowa Outlaws, Circle City Derby Girls, Mad Rollin’ Dolls, Chicago Outfit, Rockford Rage, Stateline Derby Divas) and then mixes them up into new teams and has them bout in a shortened tournament style event. This year it was dubbed the Ace of Skates and the teams were the Bleeding Hearts (red), the Spiteful Spades (white), the Diamond Destroyers (green), and the Killer Clubs (black). The first two bouts were 20 minutes each, followed by a semi final bout that was 30 minutes long and a championship bout that was two 20 minute periods.

OCCRG's GLADi8HER on the jam line vs Sal Paralyze
from EIO. Standard impatient jammer pose.

In the first bout the Diamond Destroyers took on the Killer Clubs in what seemed like a pretty good match up. On the jam line first was OCCRG’s own GLADi8HER (Diamonds) and Ophelia Fracture (Clubs) who both got through multiple times during the full two minute jam, but Ophelia pushed the Clubs slightly further ahead. Sal Paralyze helped maintain this lead for awhile, but their walls quickly started to crumble as Glad, Lady Gotcha and Malice Munro rallied the Diamonds into a comfortable lead. 20 minutes went by quick, and as I was lining up for the second bout, I returned in time to see Glad break her toe stop off (for the second year in a row at this mixer) and skate about three or four grandslams with the damaged skate planted for fear of tripping without the usual support under her toe. It was quite the image to see her pushing along like she was on a skateboard, toe stop in hand, showing that derby girls don’t quit. Diamonds won 87 to 51.

Bloody Elle is a relentless force.

My team, the Spiteful Spades were up next against the Bleeding Hearts, who I so lovingly call Team Douchebag. I’m not quite sure what the logic behind choosing teams for mixers is, but Team Douchebag was quite obviously stacked with some of the best skaters from the area. They had the quick feet of Pink Taco and Stella Italiana combined with the blocking force of Bat R Up, Jen Detta, Animal Mother, Dead Lee Danni, Bloody Elle, QC Banshee and more. We had two skaters from our roster drop out which put our alternate in, Sugar and Slice, but she has been recovering from a sore knee and her jamming was kept minimal.

Crazy Legs vs the Kraken. Legs win.

Seeing what we were up against, our only point of strategy was to try and play together as well as we could. Teamwork is the challenge of a mixer because you are playing with skaters of various skill levels and experience, which reminds you how important it is when you’re skating with your own league. I found that I often ended up at the back, blocking alone and would turn into one of my own players as I watched Stella fly around the outside. The Douchebags worked together a little better than I anticipated as they totally shut us down by trapping a skater from our team when our jammer was in the box. It was frustrating so I tried to do my best while jamming which usually meant getting lead and calling it off before they could score more points. Graves tried to score more for us as well, but she was spending too much time in the box. A Few Screws Lucy, with her sparkly leg warmers, reluctantly took the jamline and gave it all she had, but we just could not keep it together against such a heavy hitting team. I should note however, once while I was jamming, Bat R Up tried her best to take me out, but I threw my hip back at her and she ate my dust as I sped away from the pack. It’s the small victories that you have to be proud of.

After losing 71 to 20, we went on to the semifinal for our 30 minute bout against the Killer Clubs. I was glad we were playing right away since I was still pumped up and looking to skate harder and faster. I felt we would have had more of a chance against them, but instead we decided to play a lovely game of musical chairs in the penalty box, which I somehow stayed out of all night. Mixers result in a little bit messier play since the skaters are out of their element, so there were lots of pile ups and accidental tripping. It’s just not as pretty. I don’t remember much from this bout as we quickly slid into a funk and lost 139 to 35.

Few Screws Lucy vs the world. The rest of white in the box, but she still knocks Ophelia out on her own.

That left the final bout, Team Douchebag versus the Diamond Destroyers. I spent most of this bout booing and explaining things to our fresh meat, so I didn’t pay attention to much of the action. The Diamonds gave it all they had but the Douchebags undoubtedly smashed their way to the top, 149 to 59.

It was a frustrating experience, but by the end of the night I had met interesting skaters and had people I didn’t know telling me I was awesome. The after party was a blast, and some of our fresh meat even joined us on the dance floor, proving they were real OCCRGs. Derby, dancing, and pizza; what more could you ask for?
-L4D

Pictures by Joy Doehrmann.

Skating History

Us as babies.

There are some internet how-to guides and discussion forums that may answer some questions that new roller derby teams have, but there’s no mainstream precedent for derby teams to model themselves after. Growing up, everyone has some inkling of how basketball is played, or has seen a football game without really trying. All these “whatever”ball sports pervade almost every American home and are as basic as apple pie. When it comes to roller derby, either no one has ever heard of it, or it is that thing they watched on TV when they were younger. (Or my favorite: “Oh, like the movie Whip It!?”) You have to search pretty hard for any sort of guide to running a derby team, and after that add a bunch of blood, sweat, and maybe a few broken bones before you really get what it is all about.

Fonda Cuffs and myself smooshing Sugar N Slice.

This Saturday is the second annual Monster’s Brawl, marking the one year anniversary of our first home bout. Thinking back to our first year as a team we had to learn quite a bit on the fly as we figured out what works and what fails miserably as an organized group of women. Whether we bickered about uniforms, searched for a bouting and practice place to call our home, or figured out the best way to organize the business structure of our team, it all took compromise, trial and error, patience, hard work and ultimately just lots of experience.

I hadn’t really realized how far we had come, until Animal Mother, GLADi8HER and I traveled 3 ½ hours to Humboldt, Iowa to practice with a brand new team that calls themselves the Dakota City Demolition Crew. (Dakota City being where their home rink is.) Their leader, Siren, had pervious derby experience and ran her team through some familiar drills. There were about eight girls skating that night and we were told about a total of twelve who come regularly after six weeks of practice. Most of them were fairly steady on their skates, but it was evident they hadn’t looked at the rules, or knew much of how it was played. That didn’t look like it was going to stop them though; their excitement and audacity seemed like it would be enough fuel for awhile.

Hanging with the Humboldt girls, and Kip!

Derby in Iowa as a whole this last year shows that where there’s a will there’s a way. The Des Moines Derby Dames formed a little over a year ago and began bouting in the spring with a fairly full first season. I thought it was too soon for them, but about 6 months later they’re sharing a short list of WFTDA apprentice leagues with the four year-old Mid Iowa Rollers and OCCRG in our second year. Also rapidly progressing since my last blog assessment of the Iowa roller derby scene are the Eastern Iowa Outlaws, Mahaksa Mayhem and the Cedar Valley Derby Divas.

One of the best parts of roller derby is that not only do you now share your life with everyone in your league, but you enter the greater roller derby community. Thriving in its DIY spirit, you begin making connections with teams and skaters all over the country or even the world. No matter who you are or what your background is, you find a common bond with women and men all over the world who are passionate about the sport. It becomes a culture you read about, you skate against, and you just can’t get enough of. Finding these new teams on their freshly created fanpages, you see the faces of all types of women in gym shorts and t-shirts. As time goes on, you see them grow through your facebook feed as you place derby names with faces, and they start adapting their practice wardrobe to these new confident, sexy identities.

The hardest part is getting this tight knit community to infiltrate the masses. As much as we would all love to just play derby for derby’s sake, we require an audience to feed us.  I see it growing online and in these small town Iowa teams, but people who are outsiders to derby don’t get it unless someone invites them in or they stumble head on into it. I figured in our small-ish college town the word of derby would spread like wildfire, but reaching the student population is our toughest market yet.

Uproar on the Lakeshore. Nov 5-7

Next week I will travel to Chicago to witness some of the top teams in North America at WFTDA Championships. It will be exciting to see and meet so many people who love derby as much as I do. I will see athletes that I have only read about and teams I have only seen boutcasts of. The magical thing is that these superstars are just like you or me; anyone can push themselves to the same level without a multi-million dollar contract or strict athletic standards. The only stipulation is that you have to get the sweaty before you get the shiny.

Roller derby is cementing itself in society as a full-fledged sport now, and has obviously become more than a passing fad as it had in the past. Even though this reincarnated version of derby has been around for nearly a decade, it is still in its infancy. Every girl who straps on a pair of skates, every team that pushes themselves harder, and every online forum abuzz about roller derby is helping cultivate the future of the sport itself. We are the living, breathing, skating history of derby.

-L4D

Let's do the time warp again?

Ups, Downs and All Arounds.

No two bouts are alike. While there are basic rules and regulations that everyone (should) follow, little things can change from bout to bout, but have big affects. When we played the Des Moines Derby Dames back on April 3rd, it was in Iowa City, on our turf, and the Dames' very first bout; we had swept them 192 to 81.
On May 22nd, we traveled to Des Moines to play them again. We also brought a very different team to play them. Ophelia Fracture, GLADi8HER, Shelby Flyin, and Zom B Blockr had opted out of this bout for travel, family, or half marathons, and Hitzy was out due to a knee injury (which she just had surgery on! yay fixed knee), and came as a co-bench coach with Tynamite. This put in more of our fresh meat or skaters who had skated less bouts. A very different line up.

For the Dames I didn't notice to much difference besides EM-80 being out, and of course Show Stopper suffering and recovering from a knee injury in the time between the these two bouts. There may have been a few others, but faces get lost in the action when you're out there skating in a whirlwind of action.

Another big difference was the floor. At home we have polished cement, which on a good day has the right amount of grip and smoothness. As a jammer I like it because my sugars (wheels) give me enough power to sprint around, but the floor has enough give to let me skid, slide, stop and dart.

The floor at the 7 flags venue was a little different than I remembered (from attending a concert way back when) and may not have been as smooth as ours but could have been comparable, if you nix the sprite mixture it was coated with. With that it did remind me of the stickyness of a wood floor but with the added joy of layering gunk on your wheels. Again, as a jammer, it did add force to your strides and gave a bit more stability on your feet, but it made plow stops hard and hockey stops impossible.

The Ref lineup was also very fresh, and the layout of things like the penalty box were different, but when it comes down to it, all these variables are meaningless. If you have a team that can work well together with an understanding of good offense and defense skills you can overcome any of these changes.

Right away I noticed the Dames were definitely not as timid as the first time we played them. They were engaging more often and accurately and were working well together while Stella was still doing her awe-inspiring, anger-enducing jamming. So the first half they showed us that we were definitely going to have to work for our win, and it wasn't going to be a sweep like last time. To me this is perfect. I want to be challenged and forced to jam harder, block more decisively and work better as a team. I could definitely see changes in other people, like Triple D. Zaster whose jamming skills just skyrocketed during this bout.

At half time, after some score flip-flopping, we finally pulled ahead 83-53. I think mentally, we finally pulled ourselves together and were working better as a team. We were doing good at staying out of the box but I think we were exhausting jammers quickly. At some point, Bat R Up was finally re-introduced as a jammer. I hadn't seen that since last October during Monster's Brawl, but as the announcer said, "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!"


At one point, when I was heading to the box, I turned around to see Furyis Jorge laying on the track in a fetal position. Then she yelped like the time she sprained her glute and I knew it wasn't good. She had taken a bad fall and broke her fibula. My heart sank as she got taken away, but the bout must go on. I think all our spirits dropped a bit as we lost a bit of our lead, but then it came to a (sudden) end at 151 to 122.

I was exhausted, and have some pretty nasty bruises after this bout, but it was exhilarating and it's great to play a quickly developing team. Without strong competition around we would have nothing to do. There are nearly ten teams in Iowa now..and teams that are already established can constantly change. This sport is on a volunteer basis only, no one is getting paid to do this, so it's through our own skill, determination and ambition that we push ourselves to get bigger, better, stronger.

It's kind of a big deal.

Deadwards -the original- out.

(Thanks Laura Foster for the great pictures.)

Tenderized Meat

Going through footage for my BFA project, I become more and more impressed with the group of girls I skate with. Our numbers are growing so large we will have to break into multiple teams under the league name of OCCRG, according to WFTDA standards, our ultimate goal. (There can only be 20 players to a team.)

I'm impressed with the teams in the area in general, and the progression of roller derby as a sport. My quick assessment of it in Iowa, is that there are eight teams beginning in the past four years: MIR April 2006, QCR 2006, MRN multiple incarnations since.. ?, SCRD Feb 2008, CRRG Feb 2008, OCCRG Oct 2008, D3 June 2009, and the Eastern Iowa Outlaws are just forming their team this year.


I feel like within the context of these teams, the timeline of events and each enjoying their own variations of success, we have progressed so rapidly and reached this level of athleticism and organization within a year and half... it's impressive. I attend practices with faces I don't know now, when I used to know the faces..and sweat of each of my teammates intimately. We've gone from filling a rec center gym, to scrambling for seats in the Marriott Convention Center. It's exciting, scary and amazing all at the same time. I'll be graduating soon with no real direction professionally, but it feels good to have this thing in my life that I am so proud of, so sure of, so happy to be a part of.

With that said, we played the Des Moines Derby Dames last weekend in their debut on the flat track. I was a bit wary of them bouting so soon, but I have to say, I'm quite impressed. I can tell they're a determined, eager team that will be a strong and intimidating competition in no time.

Also debuting last weekend were Old Yeller and Chemical Spill from our team, playing their first bout. Our fresh meat have been working hard on the track and off the track. I feel confident walking into the convention center on bout day because we have a strong organizational support staff of non-bouters holding down the fort.

Like I've said before, there's much more to roller derby than just the action, it takes way more people to put on a successful bout. Announcers, sound mixers, multiple people for stats inside the track and outside the track, scorers, multiple refs, merch ladies, people controlling the door, bout mistresses, security, EMTs, the staff at the Marriott, extra hands to set up, bout coverage, half time entertainment, .... all volunteer.

Not to mention, none of this would be possible without our fans. Our success can only progress with an audience who is as eager about the sport as we are. So please encourage anyone and everyone who has never seen a bout before to come check it out.. or even join. We love your support already this season.


-Deadykins

pssst. next bout, May 8th vs Cedar Rapids Roller Girls..

Seeing Red.

Bat'r had a dream. In that dream she saw a wall of red in the front, red on the line and red all over their jammer. On Friday that dream came true. We played the Quad City Rollers in Davenport, IA and it was the best game of derby we have played to date. We worked together, we built walls, and kept the penalties to a minimum. We even had two fresh meat play their first bout and they played beautifully. (Unfortunately they played at the expense of injuries.)

 Wall of red in the front.. (note freshie Fanny holding the line like a champ)

 Red on the line. (freshie psycHO in the plaid skirt)

Red all over their jammer.

  
I could not be more proud of my ladies. Last year in June we played Quad Cities in our first ever bout. That time we lost, but it was a close game. (we actually thought we won at  first... but all the points hadn't been put up yet.) Last October they came to our turf to play our first home bout ever, and we were victorious. It's exciting to see such wonderful progress in your own team, in less than a year.

Dog piles then and now..

The Quad City girls have been amazing as well. This was our third bout against them in what was called a "Grudge Match" all night, but was really far from. We may have hated each other on the track, but skating off between jams I felt a love tap or two from Sugar &Slice. We only got angry because we were both playing so well, but at the end of the night it's all love. I'm not sure if it's a phenomenon that only happens in female sports, but it's an fanstastic thing to be apart of.

This Saturday is our Malice In Derbyland bout against the Des Moines Derby Dames in their very first bout ever. It's kind of like the cycle of derby life, I'll go into it with fond memories of our first bout, but ready to crush some Dames..

-L4D

We lost the bout.. but won the after party...

Bout weekend is officially over. I feel like I got hit by a truck, have tons of footage to go through, and am ready for the next one. As Fonda Cuffs said, I still kinda have a post-bout glow, and am very happy with how we did. We lost to the Flying Squirrels (from Appleton, WI) ..by like 70 points? I guess I don't even remember what the score was, but it doesn't really matter because we all learned a lot and it was fun.

They liked to hit, and hit a lot. They put up awesome walls and had fast jammers. We didn't give up, hit back, worked on breaking their walls and our jammers had some big scoring jams. (I personally had a 13 point jam.) I was happy to see that when we were getting a beating, we didn't just get frustrated and mad, we fought to improve and work around our shortcomings. (like continuously having 1 or 2 people in the box. oops)

I don't think my nerves really started to tremble until it was time for intros. I was too busy running around setting up video equipment, forgetting my skirt at home, helping John Pemble put together a 12second video in 5 minutes, and picking out people I knew as the doors opened. I was glad I donned a pair of shades for my intro because I could have just crumpled to the ground by the time I exited the curtain. Because we drew a HUGE crowd! I think Iowa City has finally understood that derby is here and it's amazing. The crowd was definitely more than in October, which is saying a lot since the team we were playing came from 5 hours away, I doubt much of it was their fans!

The after party was an even more success. Boozin', scmoozin', and girls dancing on the bar. Let's just say it was a good end to the night...

Cut to next morning.. ughhhhhhhhh. Didn't want to move. (and actually my booze hangover wasn't so bad, my body had its own derby hangover). But I had to drag my ass out of bed because Furyis and I had planned on a photo shoot for our next bout poster that needs to get to the printers this week since our bout, "Malice In Derbyland" against the Des Moines Derby Dames is in 3 short weeks!

So already I can tell this season is going to be nonostop work, skating, hitting, fundraising, videoing, and editing. I'm logging footage from the bout as we speak. I'm excited to go through it. I've already checked out some of the helmet camera footage, a little shakey, and was angled too high, but there's some good stuff there.

This time it's Spring Work for me, no breaks!

-L4D

We're kind of a big deal...

Our first home bout of the season is Saturday and I'm pretty excited... At least I think so. I've been so busy and stressed out I've barely had time to even think about Saturday. (besides planning camera angles..) We've been working hard leading up to this bout, last week we had two fundraisers, and we've been PR-ing like crazy. I just unloaded all ten pre-sale tix I've had on me, so I know I've at least drawn more of a crowd this time, so I think overall this bout with be a huge success.

Oh, and in three weeks we do it all over again. Our next home bout is April 3rd! (Malice in Derbyland vs the Des Moines Derby Dames, their FIRST bout!!) It's exciting to have a real season this year. We've progressed so far as a team, I was shocked to see how many people attended the last practice, we've got a lot of fresh meat! And they're all wonderful, hardworking ladies.

All of these things are why I'm making my derby documentary, people still don't know roller derby is out there. I want to get the word out, and I want people to realize we are strong, hardworking ladies who don't take ourselves too seriously, but take derby as a SPORT, seriously.

So, I hope you're coming out this Saturday to see us kick some Flying Squirrel tail, and if not, we have plenty more scheduled! (check out our calendar at oldcapitolcityrollergirls.com)

If you see me, remind me to eat something.. I seem to always forget that bout day. I'll be scrambling around all day trying to do two things at once, and then it'll finally hit me. I'll wanna puke a little, tremble my first time on the jam line, but then it'll be CLOBBERIN' TIME!

-L4D