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

Back in Black: An Audience Perspective

Deadwards vs Gotcha

The Back in Black bout saw the return of the Old Capitol City Roller Girls to the Marriott to begin their third season with their first bout against some familiar opponents in the Quad City Rollers. The track and bench arrangement had changed from last year with the first straightaway and benches along the outside wall. Scoreboard projection was one the wall behind turn 1 and the sound board off turn 4. The audience showed up reasonably early and additional chairs were obtained to accommodate the growing crowd. Announcers E-rock and Your Dad covered the action while KRNA's Shark provided music.

The OCCRG were wearing their home black uniforms and the QCR were in red. The usual suspects were wearing zebra stripes (except for Lukan D'Otha Way, who was still mending a broken ankle) with Body Bag from EIO serving as head referee. The OCCRG had were playing their veteran jammer crew, splitting the duty between GLADi8HER, Ophelia Fracture, and Left 4 Deadwards, although half their bench wore the star including Animal Mother and Gigahurtz. The Quad City Rollers leaned heavily on Lady Gotcha and Pink Taco as jammers, with Sugar N' Slice wearing the star about one jam in six and a few other skaters taking a turn. I should point out that my writeups are deeply flawed in that I only mention jammers; the blockers are doing most of the work but I'm overwhelmed between taking notes and photos (I averaged 1 photo every 5 seconds of play), so I can only keep track of jammers. Blockers, you're awesome, and I acknowledge that I'm not giving you your due.


The first jam began the bout with Ophelia Fracture facing off against Sugar N' Slice. Ophelia Fracture gained lead jammer status as the OCCRG blockers made life hard for Sugar N' Slice, allowing OFX to score a grand slam and shut down QCR to post a score of 9-0. Jam 2 saw the renewal of the rivalry between Left 4 Deadwards and Lady Gotcha with some jammer-on-jammer action before reaching the pack, and Deadwards hit her 4 points and quit it. GLADi8HER got the L over Pink Taco in the third jam but called it before any points were scored. Play continued with the ladies in black claiming lead jammer (including a grand slam by Left 4 Deadwards) so the OCCRG blockers were earning their pay (err, beer?) through the sixth jam when I think I saw Jane Bang take the Lap of Shame for missing the penalty box and Lady Gotcha finally got the QCR on the board to make the score 30-2. Jam seven saw Pink Taco take the (non-Soviet) red star to the penalty box and Fracture racked up another 9 to expand the OCCRG lead to 39-8. Things got grim for the QCR in jam 9 when Mexican Monster took their star to the sin bin again and GLADi8HER scored 24 to do the Rasputin treatment on last year's post-injury retirement rumors, cranking the score up to 72-8. Jam 11 saw Pink Taco finally gain lead jammer status for the Quad City Rollers although GLADi8HER was able to snatch 3 more points to make it 85-8. The Quad City defense started to gel and three jams later it was 94-15 even though (according to my notes) they skated jam 14 short one blocker. Jam 15 had Triple D Zaster coming out with a positive point differential against Lady Gotcha although Ophelia Fracture took the long extra lap after entering the penalty box incorrectly (and sliding the seats about two feet).

Gigahurtz takes lead.

Jam 16 saw Zom B Blokr serving as jammer for the OCCRG against the aptly named Banzai Bombshell, but the undead representative slipped before reaching the pack and earned a low block major so she headed off to the box. A minute later she came out, earned lead jammer, and another trip to the box at the end of the jam. Lady Gotcha came out and scored her 5 in the next jam to make it 103-28. The towering Gigahurtz nabbed lead jammer in jam 18 over Pink Taco, but had to call it off before any points were scored. Triple D Zaster and Lady Gotcha showed us some jammer-on-jammer action in jam 19 but the score remained unchanged even though Gotcha was lead jammer. Triple D came back to face Pink Taco but ended up in the box and Taco scored 5 to take us into the half 103-33 for OCCRG.

Half time gave us the charity presentation to The Arc of Southeast Iowa, refills at the concession stand, and a pleasant encounter with the ever-glamorous Glitter Mafia and the loquacious Yale Cohn of PATV's Talking With. The photographers relocated, the fans stretched their legs, the skaters had their pep talks and we were ready for skating to resume.

The ladies in red came out and earned lead jammer status the first three chances in the second period although the score didn't change much, with the third jam ending at 104-35 and Gigahurtz taking the star to the box for the OCCRG. An official time out ensued, but after play resumed Lady Gotcha got the QCR a fourth lead jammer status in a row. The 4-town blockers knelt to prevent the slow start although they did it after the start whistle so they may have gotten a few tick marks on the wrong board while Gotcha brought 9 points home. Pink Taco jammed against Ophelia Fracture in the fifth go of the period, but confusion reigned when they both ended up in the penalty box after Fracture lost her jammer helmet cover. A long official time out ensued (with the announcers speculating on bicep cramps in the jam timer's arms) and play resumed with the score 108-48 and the pack showing two blockers for each team. GLADi8HER raced against Lady Gotcha to snag lead jammer status in spite of the Iowa City penalty box overflowing and the score ratcheted up to 115-55. We were treated to another of the foreshadowed official timeouts, and then Deadwards eventually grabbed lead jammer status over Pink Taco although Taco racked up two points to leave it 115-57. Fracture came out and traded penalties with Lady Gotcha in jam 8, and ended the jam with another trip to the box after Gotcha earned 8 to make it 116-65.

Ho and Trip with the two wall.

An official timeout gave the fans a chance to snag more snacks and visit the merchandise tables, and then the action resumed. Pink Taco grabbed lead jammer status while Fracture cooled her skates in the box and the QCR pack knelt to prevent the Denver-style stall at the whistle. GLADi8HER squashed any hopes of a QCR rally when she scored 19 in jam 10 after Lady Gotcha's penalty to make the score 136-70. Left 4 Deadwards came out to follow up with lead jammer status and another 6 points against Sugar N' Slice. Fearing some sort of undead revival on the Quad City's part, GLAD came out and tallied up twenty-three points in an awesome display of jammer chutzpah that saw her waving goodbye as she passed the pack while Pink Taco sat in the penalty box, and the score was 165 -70. We endured a long official time out, and then a line formed at the concession stand when Quad City called a time out.

Someone poked me and I woke up to see Lady Gotcha grab lead jammer against Deadwards as play resumed in jam 14, although not much scoring followed. Triple D Zaster came out to grab lead jammer over Pink Taco in jam 14 and black outscored red 8-2 to fix the lead at the century mark 174-74. Left 4 Deadwards racked up another 15 points with a slow pack and Lady Gotcha's trip to the box but got nailed for a back block at the end of jam 15 with the score 191-77. Pink Taco got lead jammer in jam 16 but could only score 3 in spite of blocker Gigahurtz joining L4D in the penalty box. Zom B Blokr bore the star for the OCCRG and gave us some jammer v. jammer action against Lady Gotcha in jam 17 but Lady G got the lead and three points. Zom B stuck it out into jam 18 and scored the lead over Pink Taco but called the jam before any points were scored to end the bout with a victory for the Old Capitol City Roller Girls 191 - 83.

The first half saw the OCCRG dominating, earning lead jammer 12 times to QCR's 5, include a stunning streak of 10 at the start of the period. The second period saw a more even balance of 8 to 9 leads, and a correspondingly better showing on the scoreboard for Quad Cities. Jammer penalties were about even, OCCRG 3 to QCR 2 in the first period and 5 each in the second. If the Quad City Rollers could have prevented four big jams (24, 23, 19, and 15 points) this would have been a close bout. No one got ejected although a few skaters accumulated five or more turns in the box.

Photos & Words by KORfan. 

OCCRG Talks With... Yale Cohn

Bat R Up, Bitchin' Heat, Hot ta-Molly, and Swiss MisFit talk to Yale Cohn.

This week a few girls from the team went on Talking With... Yale Cohn, a show on our local Public Acess TV channel. Bat R Up, a vet since nearly the beginning talks about how important this year is with our WFTDA Apprentice and sits across from Yale as to not scare him too much. Saturday will be Swiss MisFit's first bout, so she sheds a little light on that, and her experience as a fresh meat skater last year. Then he also has a couple of our recent fresh meat, Bitchin' Heat and Hot ta-Molly talk about how they got into roller derby, and what it has been like thus far. It airs tonight at 8:30 pm and Sunday at 10:30 am on PATV channel 18, but you can also check it out online!

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

RDWC Week #7

Last week I spent some time with family  in Florida, which I was afraid was going to completely ruin all the progress I had built in the previous weeks with the Roller Derby Workout Challenge. I have to say I'm mostly proud of myself. I still splurged on fried seafood and boozey cocktails, but alsol made the effort to workout and not overeat. Now that I'm home I've kinda got knocked off my own routine, which also means the workout, but I have learned great habits from the workout. I now know what I need to do to improve myself so it's just a matter of getting back on track. I still feel pretty great and am excited with how far I've come since January. 

Homework Week #7

1) What has been more challenging, the meal plans or the workouts?

As long as I have the monies to buy the food, the meals haven't been bad. All the cooking takes a lot of time and can be frustrating, but a lot of it starts coming easier as I build habits. I guess I'd say the workouts were challenging to fit in, again because of a busy schedule, but doable. But I also think all the burpees were doing something weird to my leg. Oh well. 

2) Who wrote the book Down and Derby? Signed copy included in the prize package!

Jennifer "Kasey Bomber" Barbee and Alex "Axles of Evil" Cohen. Got my own copy but would love a signed copy!! 

3) Have you lost weight or inches or pant size? How much?

I guess I haven't been measuring and don't have a scale so I don't have tangible numbers to give. Except for maybe how many fat rolls I've lost... My clothes fit better and people say I'm looking good! So that's good enough for me. The real test will be our first bout; if I'm satisfied with how I look in my boutfit. I've been looking at older pictures lately and I'm just.. very unhappy with how I looked. I also feel stronger now and I'm sure my endurance will be better, so its not all about how I will look, but also how I will perform in this bout. 

4) What is your favorite Roller Derby Film?

I liked watching Hell On Wheels, its nice to know the origins of this obsession in my life. And its funny that every league pretty much goes through the same problems. It's just what you get with a large group of women. 

5) What has been your biggest accomplishment so far in this Challenge?

Just sticking with it as long as I have has been an accomplishment. I've gone through fad diets before but they only usually last a week or two. Or I will attempt to workout which means running a couple times a week and then forgetting for a couple weeks, and then trying it again.. and I never see any results so I get frustrated and convinced I can never improve my fitness. I was amazed at the results with the challenge and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought. It did take much more committment and focus than I have given to a diet or workout before. It's hard work but if you put the time in, you will get the results. Much like roller derby. 

Derby Hurts.

New year, new season. It has been two years this month since I strapped on my very own skates and joined the Old Capitol City Roller Girls. It still hurts.

This time around Animal Mother and myself are coaching the fresh meat and it has been a lot of fun. I never saw myself as a coach kind of person but I’m getting used to all the yelling and planning. Coming up with goals and a series of drills that will build them up to the level they need to be at to actually play derby is exciting. It also reminds me how much derby hurts when you first start.

Animal coaches the fresh meat... They're growing up so fast! 

I sort of felt like I was suffering right there with them. All of December Animal and I worked with the fresh meat so we missed out on that extra hard hitting vet practice. Then over the few weeks of break I ate a lot of food and did a lot of not working out. Starting back up in January hurt. I was out of shape, my muscles lost their endurance and I had to mentally prepare myself for contact again. I felt pretty fresh, but got over it quickly. Its like riding a bike, once you get hit, you never forget.

Hello, hole in my foot.

I also got new skates this year, which means new blisters. You would think something new and shiny would be something to be excited about. Wrong. My feet had grown to call my ratty ole R3s home and are having a hard time adjusting to my 126s. I immediately gained two holes on my right ankle and a bit of frustration and fear that I chose the wrong skates. After switching around wheels, and adjusting the trucks and skating in them a bit, they’re starting to feel a lot more comfortable.

Roller derby is pretty awesome, but you can’t have all the glitz and fun from the get go. It takes a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK. It also takes a lot of pain, sweat, and muscle development. You can’t become a better skater until you train your muscles to work with derby. Derby stance is going to hurt until you strengthen your ab and back muscles. Footwork will come easier once you strengthen your ankles. Your quads and calves will stop burning once you build up endurance. But it all takes time and commitment mixed with a bit of hurt.

It all might not come with practice either. I started doing the Roller Derby Workout Challenge which includes a lot more exercise outside of regular derby, and I feel so much better after only a few weeks. Write me down for about 1,000 push ups in January and I feel like I’m finally doing one correctly. It’s amazing to feel this strong and I will be a better skater for it.

Sugar maybe be sweet, but she's the
toughest lady I know. 

Ok, so I’m probably not hurting as much as the fresh meat, but I just hope they know if they stick with it, it will hurt less. Their bodies will adapt to the speed and hits as will their feet mold to their skates. Sure there’s always room for injury, derby hurts! Building a strong body from the start, and playing the game safely will help prevent extra hurt. Well guess what, shit still happens. That’s when you have to be strong mentally as well. Don’t give up. Our bodies can do amazing things. Never say never in derby, especially when the oldest member of the team can do a plank longer than you. (over seven(?) minutes and I really don't think she had any reason to stop.)

Derby hurts when you start, keeps you sore all the time, and can break your body, but how much can you really know about yourself if you never hurt?

RDWC Week #3

Killer Baker works it out during some
Yeller core.

1) What about those push ups?

Well, for the past year we have made everyone on the team do real pushups. No girly pushups in derby! I feel myself getting a lot stronger now, and like I'm actually doing a real push up! hah. Its not just painful, I feel strong. 

2) Time yourself doing a plank for as long as you possibly can and post your time for question 2.

We had a plank challenge at pracitce before! I think I can do roughly a 4 minute plank. Old Yeller, the OLDEST woman on our team can do over a SEVEN minute plank, and really I don't think she had any reason to stop. 

3) What kind of surface do you skate on? What kind of wheels do you use?

We apparently skate on ice. We use the Coralville Marriott and its just a cement floor and kind of changes with the weather and dirt. Right now its winter, so the floor is cold and slick. On a good day its manageable, but sometimes its just awful. During the open scrimmage we just held for example, it was like a dog running on linoleum. In the summer it gets more humid and stickier. I don't mind it, we're used to it now. And my thoughts are if I can skate on the slickest floor around, I will be able to skate on anything else even better.

For wheels, my first upgrade was to the sugars since we do have such a slick floor. Then Bat R gave me some green omegas and purple heartless (i'm bad at remembering the names of wheels.. usually just go by color..) The Heartless were a little stickier, but skinnier since I'm mostly a jammer. 

Now I have four aluminum hub Poisons as pushers and just threw my worn out sugars as the other four. At the recent mixer I had a Poison/purple omegas(?) combo that I really liked. I really need to up my collection of wheels so when I do face stickier floors I will be prepared. 

4) Star jump or burpee??

OMG. I hate burpees. They scarred me during the Iron Derby Diva triathalon we made up last summer. Once you lose your momentum, you're just fucked. Star jumps aren't too bad, but I'm probably not doing the best form in my bedroom for fear of hitting the ceiling fan.

5) Name two members of your ref staff. Don't forget to thank them after your next practice scrimmage.

Well, why don't we just go over our lovely ref staff. 

Our core veteran group:

Lukan D'otha Way - Killer Baker's husband. Rule Guru. Been around the longest. Recently broke his ankle, so his contribution for awhile will be a rule book on wheels. 

Layne Rubber - originally joined as a skater.. hurt herself? and stopped skating. Stayed around to be our derby mistress and eventually strapped skates on again to ref. Will completely morph into a zebra soon. 

Zdork - at his year anniversary with us as Animal Mother started dating him and tricked him into reffing and later told him it wouldn't have worked out if he didn't like derby. One of my derby haus roommates and fiercest competitors in blood and thunder. 

Sac Lunch - Belongs to Devil'n Laces. Is becoming a derby gear connoisseur. Hooked up all our fresh meat with the appropriate derby gear/skates/wheels so that they start out the right way, and the safe way. Helped me get new skates this year and will probably send out a hitman soon to collect the rest of the money.  

Eject Ya Later - aka the Inzeemenator. Come on. You're proving its truth. Husband of Chemical Spill, very athletic and improved leaps in bounds in a short time. 

We got some newb refs who are already pretty great. Full Nelson originally joined as a skater for awhile last year and was a great merch mistress, took a hiatus from derby and has returned this year as a ref. Xbox, husband of Alpha who has been a longtime NSO and finally turned ref. Cheap seats who finally got up shakily on his skates and is doing awesome now. Dubs who is husband to Swiss Missfit. Darwin, recruited by Layne as first a boyfriend and then a ref. Then at recruitment we added long time derby fans, Bergus (aka something uranus), and Andy Brodie "Bruiser" who I think will be great additions to the stripes. 

THANK YOU REFS! WE'RE NOTHING WITHOUT ZEBRAS!

Our zebras along with some visiting refs who came out for the open scrimmage January 16th.