The Ottawa Citizen recently interviewed roller girl D.D.T. and chatted with her about her favourite roller derby films, the Hoff and trials & tribulations of being a derby girl.

D.D.T. on her favorite single moment on skates:

"The first full bout the Blackhearts had, against the Hamilton Death-Row Dames. That was such a great game. We were scared as hell -- it was our first full bout. We lost, but only by four or five points. Everybody was just so high and feeling so good. It was amazing."

Read the complete article!

Labels: HCRG, Ottawa Roller Derby

Yep, that's right. WFTDA 2008 Nationals are over, but don't be a stats nerd! There's still roller derby to be had!

This weekend, on Dec 13, you can catch:
Merry Rock N' Derby Saturday, December 13th, 10:00pm at Mulligans on the Blue with the Maui Rollergirls in warm, lovely, Hawaii. It's a fundraiser, bring a toy for the kids and try to win a date with a rollergirl. On another note, I just found out (too late, sorry Maui Rollergirls) that Maui was recruiting this past weekend. I have got to tell you that I type this Maui note with jealousy in my heart as I look out my window at the rain-drenched slush of a winter storm that wanted-to-be, and I say, to the goddess of roller derby, I wish derby was a paying sport and Maui needed a big blocker... LOL Anyway, they have tryouts on Jan 17. Good luck to the Maui Rollergirls fresh meat!

Also on Dec 13, for those stuck stateside, you can check out MRD's annual HO HO Bout. From the description on facebook:

On Saturday Dec. 13, members of the Quad Squad, Reservoir Dolls, Unholy Rollers, and Vaudeville Vixens will set aside their grudges and form two holiday-themed teams to compete in MRD's third annual Holiday Bout (or Ho Bout, as the locals call it).

For those that always confuse MRD with MRD (Mad Rollin' Dolls and Maine Roller Derby), I'll start saying MRD - Madison and MRD - Maine. OK? Yeah, I'm the same about TCRG (Terminal City Rollergirls in Vancouver and Tri-City Rollergirls in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario) I know it's just the way the acronyms come out, but it's confusing! Maybe the name registry should include league names and abbreviations!

Anyway, oh right, FREEZE RAY. (if you did not see Dr. Horrible's sing-a-long blog, you probably think I've lost my mind right now, right?)

Well, I'll continue. Mad Rollin' Dolls' annual bout is on in Madison on Saturday. What else, what else...

The Killamazoo Derby Darlins are having a holiday party on Dec 20. Facebook event says it's Dec 20 at the Back Alley Saloon in Kalamazoo, MI. I have to tell you. When Hammer City went down to play Kalamazoo, I wanted to go, just to say I've been to Kalamazoo! This is your chance, go check it out! And it's for a good cause...A portion of the proceeds will go to Warm Kids Project, Inc. to help provide Kalamazoo youth with hats, gloves, boots, and jackets in the winter months.

There's more derby out there! Just search your city and other nearby cities with the words roller derby after them, and if it's there, you'll find the local league for sure. See if there's a roller derby event to check out while you take a break from all the sugar highs, hot cocoa, decorating, holiday cheer and holiday stress stuff.

Me? You care? Well, I'm studying for a professional certification exam for my day job on Dec 19, to wrap up just in time to pick up the mother-in-law at the train station just in time to kick off Christmas week by celebrating my derby widow's birthday with chicken wings and a quiet, at home party, stressed out all to sh*t and trying to get off my fat a** for some heavy workouts to battle those Christmas sugar cookies that are asking to replace cigarettes in my available "best-friend"/crutch opening, and being smoke free (75 days tomorrow). I want to skate, but it's snowing. waaaaa.

I'll be online a little less because of that stuff over the next two weeks, but never fear. If I find out anything at all good, I'll pass it on. Twitter me, or facebook me, and I'll be around!

Oh, and I'll leave you with this. Fellow blogger Raven is diggin' this article on one of her favorite jammers: Sadistic Sadie http://www.fracturemag.com/derby/features/sadistic-sadie. And a little birdie told me that Montreal will be hosting Beast of the East II in April. So all you Eastern Canadian and a few of you east coasters, get ready... Who will take on 2008 Beast Champs, the Hamilton Harlots? Who will take home the crazy monster head on a platter? And will Nia get to go back to Montreal for the event and make it through the after party without losing anything or bleeding at any time? You heard it here first... hahaha maybe.... April 2009, the biggest thing north of the 49th. B there or B Square.

I'll try to get you a last minute roller derby Christmas shopping list. I am running behind this year!

L8r Sk8rs! Derby Luv to ya!

Enjoy!

Labels: Derby Luv, HCRG, Maine Roller Derby, MTLRD, Rollergirl.ca Derby Luv Stop Smoking Challenge, TCRG, terminal city rollergirls, wrapup

There are 6 more sleeps until the kick-off of the Green Mountain Derby Dames (GMDD) New England Regional Skills Clinic with Bonnie D. Stroir and Bully Julie of the San Diego Derby Dolls on Nov 22-23 in Burlington, Vermont. (actually the local is in Essex Junction, VT). You can still register for the inexpensive event ($55 registration includes a box lunch both days, and USARS insurance will be available for Canadian and newbie skaters.)

And about the Canadian Roller Derby skaters, there will be a full-fledged invasion of Canada into this event. There are MTLRD (Montreal) , HCRG (Hamilton, ON) and FCDG (London, ON) attendees I know of personally, and I believe there may be some others. I am excited to be heading out Friday for the two day event!!

So get your gear, book your hotel, and get your butt to Vermont next weekend! If you can't make it, just stop by here, Friday for the pre-trip, Saturday night for a day 1 write up, and Monday for full updates from the party, Day 2, and my road trip experiences.

Labels: FCDG, GMDD, HCRG, MTLRD, training, Travel

In my usual early week review of all things roller derby, I heard about the Central New York Roller Derby league that has split. Now we have the CNYRD and the Utica Roller Girls.

So let's look at the Pros and Cons of starting a new league, or splitting your league:

Pros:
-You can correct mistakes and use your past experiences to build a better organization
-You can direct your new league to be more go or more show (concentrate on development of athletics, or development of crowd-pleasing as you see fit)
-You can have control over where your dues are going and can use a communication style that fits you better.
-You can make your own rules and not go by the original league rules.
-If starting a new league, you get the automatic gratitude of your future new recruits when they fall in love with roller derby.
- You'll have more networking opportunities. Let's face it, be honest, we all want to be popular.
-You may have a higher position than you had before, so you may have more access to training and information than a basic skater.

Cons:
-If you are splitting: You dilute the talent pool if there is a league in your city already. Depending on your numbers of new recruits each year, you'll now have competition for those new skaters that could be super stars.
-You will have to compete for media coverage, promotion, sponsors and fans. With the economy being in a recession, people do not have as much money to spend on a family of 4 at $15 ticket prices with snacks and merch as often.
-You may have a lot of drama and gossip and fighting amongst the former league members, and the ones that come with you. Now, if you're into that kind of drama, more power to you. This also depends on the amicability of the split and the size of your city.
-You undermine roller derby to the fans and the original league to other roller derby leagues, which can hurt fan sales, fundarising, and future bout contractual agreeements.

-If it's a new league in a new city, it will be a LOT of work. Be prepared for it! And be aware that you will not make everyone happy all the time.
-If you're a new league: Getting sponsorship is hard.
- You will have to devote twice as much time to roller derby, because now you're a skater, as well as part of the business that has to run the business.
- You will need partners and other board members to help you. And you will have to trust each other.
- Leaders have to lead. So you will need to work harder, try harder, practice more, and inspire others with your greatness, or at least your commitment to greatness.

I am sure there are other issues, I couldn't list them all. And every city is different. But if you're thinking of splitting, or of creating your own league in a own with or without roller derby, it's important to do what's best for roller derby in your town. Roller Derby is bigger than a single skater.

Everyone can't be happy all the time, but if some people can be happy most of the time, and most people can be happy some of the time, and a few people are unhappy only some of the time, then that's probably as good as it's going to get.

Ok, I am talking about this because I miss roller derby and if starting a new league would fix my time issues and allow me to go back to full-time training and practice tomorrow, part of me would say, YEAH! do it! But the logical, derby luvver part of me says, no. There's already a lot of roller derby and some awesome leagues in my part of Ontario (ToRD, GTA, Hammer City, Tri-City, London (Forest City)) and it would be bad for roller derby. So I'll be patient for '09.

In the meantime, I have the GMDD skills clinic with Bonnie D Stroir and Bully Julie of San Diego in two weeks, and I am trying to arrange a practice with the Blue Ridge Rollergirls in NC for my annual US Thanksgiving trip home, and I am also waiting for a final trip approval for a business trip that will allow me to catch a practice with the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls in Denver in early December.

Keep your elbows down and skate hard!
Later,
Nia

PS - 47th day of no smoking - I'm making it! Over halfway through my 90 day challenge. And I am a non-smoker!

Labels: GTA Rollergirls, Hammer City, HCRG, practice space, rollergirls, team building, training, Travel

So from a fan perspective, this weekend is HUGE!

First off, there's Derby in Dairyland, which is the place to be for WFTDA Eastern Regionals action. DNN is still preparing for the weekend event, but you can sign up to follow the scores if you aren't available to watch all the boutcasts, and can receive updates on your mobile. Check out DNN for more info, or twitter.com and search for WFTDA and Derbynewsnetwork.

Wisconsin press is well aware of the Mad Rollin' Dolls hosted WFTDA event, with these two articles appearing today:
The Guide
Dane101: An Interview with the Grand Raggidy All Stars

But, if you aren't going to make it to Dairyland, and you're on the twitter updates on your cell and are free to roam around, and you're not travelling somewhere for Canadian turkey day, you can enjoy other derby activities this weekend. Did you know that not only is it Columbus Day in the US next Monday, it's Canadian Thanksgiving, so it's a long weekend. So, check out Hammer City (2nd place non-WFTDA class at Fall Brawl 2008) as they drive down to play The Chicago Outfit (5-2 season, winner of Fall Brawl non-WFTDA class 2008) this weekend. HCRG! HCRG! HCRG! I'll see if I can convince one of the girls to text me updates. - A rematch after Fall brawl - this is goona be a great game.

I'll be driving to Montreal on Saturday, and plan a Derby Luv, Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday Morning Skate. (1st annual), that I am hooking up the event on facebook tonight. 9:30 Am - 10 AMish start time, Gilles-Villeneuve Formula One Track in Montreal, bring your own quads, coffee and water, and let's skate!

If you're in the northeast US, you can see some Maine Roller Derby action this weekend. After the Pennsylvania opponents had to cancel last minute, (the danger of roller derby), the Calamity Janes and the Port Authorities, split into two teams, Team Wicked and Team Good for a mixed up roster bout on Saturday.

Just because it's fall, and hockey arenas everywhere in Canada have laid down ice, this goes to show you, it ain't done yet! I even started working on the 2nd annual, Derby Luv US Thanksgiving with the Blue Ridge rollergirls today. We'll know more as we get closer, but the plane ticket is purchased, the vacation is booked from work, and I am ready....

Labels: BRRG, Derby Luv, DNN, HCRG, Maine Roller Derby, roller skating, Twitter, WFTDA

Labels: bouts, HCRG, MTLRD, Travel

So you've missed me? Or maybe you haven't Most of you haven't met me... oh well, I luv you anyway and we all luv roller derby, so what the hell? I'm travelling back to Montreal this weekend and I will be going to the MTLRD New Skidz on teh Block vs HCRG's Eh! Travel team on Saturday night.

Doors are at 7 PM - info is here! (Sorry I couldn't post the flyer, the image server is down at the moment) $10 in advance, $12 at the door!

I wonder where the after party is... oh I hope Syndrome! So even though I haven't been training recently, I might get to hang with the HCRG girls that I already like, and my old friends from MTLRD - if any of them have 5 minutes to hang that is.

Other than that, things are rollin as always... work, roller derby vicariously through Georgia W Tush and every league I can find online, plans to get a car and become a fresh meat rookie in the fall for HCRG, or maybe - well you never know where I'll end up.

Have a great derby weekend, check out your local roller derby this weekend and let me know how the game goes! You can be on Derby Luv too!

Labels: bouts, HCRG, MTLRD

Well, let's move away froom serious competition for a moment, and take a look at some fun stuff!
There is a review of "Xanadu" on DVD from the Washington Post, and just looking at the pictures jogs my foggy memory of seeing this when I was a kid, on TV - or was it at the drive-in with my sister?

I learned to roller skate at the local skating rink in Forest City, NC when I was about 4 or 5 years old. The building was turned into a dance hall/bar in later years, and the rink moved down the road, but I have memories of being 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 going to the skating rink on weekend afternoons, and sometimes in the evenings, to my older sister's chagrin as I tagged along. I remember skating under the disco ball, with the laser lights all over the wood floor (I think it was wood then) and learning to skate faster, go backwards, slalom, spin and dance on rented quad skates that at that time, were in good repair and were the only kind you could get.

I skated to "YMCA", "I wish they all could be Carolina girls" , "You dropped the bomb on me" , "Beat It" and all sorts of disco and early 80's tunes.

I skated every weekend until I was about 12 when for Christmas, what I wanted was my own pair of speed skates. By then I had skated at skating rinks in every city we had moved to across NC and was back in Forest City. the new skating rink was larger, with smooth concrete floors, and older girls would fly around on a speed track during a section of the nightly skate... and I wanted to do that. So off I went on my first pair of speed skates, white with pink wheels.

I got faster, but never had a friend that wanted to skate like me, and never thought to ask for help or a coach. So I learned by myself and loved it. Skating as fast as you can to Bon Jovi when you are 13 and "Shot through the Heart" is blaring is just awesome.

All night skates 7 PM to 7 AM were a trip, and I grew up on those skates. Once I skated down a one block steep hill on the street, I fell at the bottom when I panicked when I heard a car coming over the hill to intercept me (no way I was stopping at that speed) and I bounced and slid across the road backwards on my rear. The car did hit me, but only the wheels of my skates and it spun me around as it flew by, never braking, and my friends shrieked in horror from the grass beside the road. I dunno what happend when I got a car and turned 16 and started running around all teenage crazy... but my skates got put away and lost.

Now I have two pairs in a skate bag with all my roller derby gear, waiting for me to pick them back up and get back on wheels. For now, I am going to start concentrating on Derby Luv, and I'll be ready to train as a rookie fresh meat player in the fall to start over from scratch.

So for this weekend?
HCRG is hosting a charity event "Schoolyard Scramble". The entire league, names drawn out of a hat for instant team split up, and scrimmage! For info visit the website, or check your facebook and myspace for Hammer City Roller girls. I think this is a really fun idea, and I look forward to hearing if Jet Girl takes my advice and starts a game of Red Rover, Red Rover in the pack.

What games/events are you going to? Let me know and tell us about them! info @ derbyluv.com!

Labels: Derby Luv, Hammer City, HCRG, roller derby, roller rinks, roller skating

Let me tell ya, derby luvvers and rollergirls alike, I saw the most frustrating, surprising, longest derby game I have seen so far on Saturday night when I travelled from Hamilton ON to Toronto to see the HCRG travel team taking on the ToRD .

First off, everyone that's not been up to date on roller derby WFTDA news, or that has not yet switched their leagues over to the new (released in May 2008) 3.0 WFTDA rules and regs for flat track roller derby, get ready!

So let me tell you about the game. ToRD's CN Power surprised me. I've seen a few of the Toronto roller derby teams play, the Gore Gore Rollergirls played the Contrabanditas in Montreal in our first-ever exhibition game when we were newbs and the 'ditas won, but it was close.

The ToRD teams played at Beast of the East and were beaten by their opponents in the tournament 20 minute periods. But ToRd surprised everyone and had really gotten some of the best players from their 6 teams that did a great job, skated well, and traded some great hits. (I'll have some videos up on You Tube soon if there aren't any yet). For those that thought Toronto was a show league and not tough, just learned that it's not necessarily true.

As for the always hard-core, always top-notch skating HCRG, out of 14 players on their travel team, a note of inspiration here, 5 of them are Death Row Dames players, which is HCRG's newest team, and those players are all fresh meat rookies or have played less than one year. That is awesome!

Now, here's where it gets problematic. HCRG was playing under 2.1.1 rules, and found out that ToRD has already been into 3.0 rules as of the start of this season for them a week before the bout. Advantage ToRD. HCRG agreed to play under the new rules, but had only 2 refs in attendance (one being placed as an outside stats ref the whole game) and one good ref as bench manager/coach for the game.

You can chalk up some of the penalties to the rules, some to the hard-hitting playing, but the reffing at this game was super-tight. I saw calls that made it seem like we were turning roller derby into a non-contact sport. There were more jams with only 1 jammer (cause one was in the penalty box) than I've ever seen, and about three times, the packs were there, with NO jammers on the floor at all.

And per v 3.0 rules:

6.4.5 JAMMERLESS JAM
If both Jammers are in the penalty box at the start of a jam or are pulled mid-jam, the jam will end immediately. Both Jammers will turn over their helmet covers to alternate teammates on the track who will act as Jammers, and a new jam will start. The penalized Jammers in the box will re-enter play as Blockers once their penalties have been served.

Another jam had HCRG skating with a pivot and one blocker only, against a full CN Power pack. HCRG may have been disappointed, but even the CN Power team noticed the strict reffing. I have full respect for those that put on the stripes and ref us crazy derby girls voluntarily, but this was just crazy. One of the HCRG players fell, a CN Power skater tripped over her, and the HCRG took a penalty on that. I saw it, no intent to trip was made so what was the penalty for? I don't know, and at times, neither the audience nor the players knew what the penalties were called for or who on. Tough game for both leagues.

HCRG had players so clean they get through with NO penalties taking the penalty box and 3 player period expulsions (foul outs) through the game, including Carla Coma and Dicey, and I think it was Vicadoom but I was working merch with StapleHead for HCRG at one point and couldn't hear the announcer very well.

But not to cry, you live under the rules that are set, the refs that enforce them and skate your ass off, right? Well these team battled it out, for sure.

The score was tied several times, and the lead switched back and forth as HCRG would get ahead, and CN Power would catch up and surpass and at the end of the second period, the score was 61-61.

So it was close, vicious, and by the end of the third period, the HCRG Eh! team came through and had a 30 point advantage. CN Power did not give up, the refs relaxed and called a little less, and it was a good third period leaving the HCRG with only a 13 point lead, winning with 105-92.

Now what made the game long.... maybe I am spoiled from Montreal where beer goes with sports like coffee goes with the morning commute, but what is it in Ontario with the beer rooms?
I first saw it in Hamilton's arena when I and the 'Ditas took on the Steel Town Tank Girls in a double header event, but the beer sales/drinking was in a room with windows above the arena so you could see the game.

In Toronto, the room they can serve beer in has been turned into a albeit cutely decorated beer tavern with a video feed (no sound) of the game on a TV screen, but is so far from the arena floor that the ToRD is forced to add in 20 minute intermissions for fans to go get drinks between the periods (and there was sometimes a line up to get in, because the room has a capacity). For those of us that didn' t have time to play around ended up chugging what we could get our hands on, and going thirsty when there was no time to wait to go into the room. The crowd, compared to even lighter crowds in Montreal, wasn't quite as rowdy either. The arena is bigger though, so it could have been an optical illusion - I would love to hear some attendance numbers from the ToRD.

All in all, a successful event, a good game and a win for HCRG. Not a bad re-entry into roller derby after my relocation. I am excited to get back rollin'. ... Sunday I went to my first practice with HCRG, and after 3 months off skate (injury and then the move) I have a lot of little muscles I forgot about that are screaming today. I look forward to working more with the great Hamilton skaters and their great and nice coach to take my skills up the 4 notches I need to be a good HCRG player.... I'll get to watch them take on MTLRD July 12th, so I'll see my old league and my new league and will not know who to cheer for... LOL

take care and keep rollin!

Labels: bouts, HCRG, ToRD