A year is a long time in roller derby. Since I last posted, I joined a gym and actually started going regularly; started having regular physiotherapy for my irritating pain condition; got a bad case of the derby meh and nearly quit; got a bad case of missing roller derby and got right back on the horse. Only that's a different sort of derby. and I'm allergic to horses. ANYWAY.
It's been an interesting time for the league too - our A-team went to the US and did some serious ass-kicking, (and got LRG ranked in the DNN top 20) then got stuck there thanks to an overenthusiastic volcano. We completed our 2nd season, with the Suffra Jets the 2nd year running champions, and undefeated at that. We started our 3rd season at Earls Court with a FOURTH team who are totally awesome. The Suffa Jets lost for the first time ever. The Ultraviolents won for the first time in a public bout. The third season is anyone's to take. Our B-team started bouting other UK teams and kicked some ass. We started our recreational league, and held our first try-outs.
I've now been skating for nearly 3 years with the LRG, and the changes to the league, and to me, are huge. To see the league where it is now from where it was when I started makes me so proud to be a London Rollergirl, and so in awe of all the girls in the league that work so hard to keep it all going. On a personal level I am probably fitter and healthier right now than I've ever been. I go to the gym regularly and it shows in my game. I am learning to focus and direct my energy instead of ASPLODING all over the place. Most excitingly, I made it into the top 30 as a b-team sub, and get to play my first ever b-team game in January. Exciting!
For someone who hadn't dreamed of making it to the top 30 on my own merit, this is pretty much a highlight of my LIFE. If you'd have said to me 4 years ago that I would not only be playing an amateur team sport on a regular basis AND going to the gym 3+ times a week but I'd also representing my league competitively within the top 30 I would have laughed you out of the park. Only I wouldn't have been in a park, I'd have been sat on my arse on a sofa eating a king-size pack of revels, and I would have laughed at you from there, but quietly so I could still hear the television. Then I would have written my 30th LJ post of the day to say that some crazy person had told me that in 4 years time I'd be being ACTIVE. With OTHER PEOPLE. My mother would have commented on that LJ post with "who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?"
This is a really exciting opportunity for us and our first chance to test ourselves against top-class international opposition. We're up for the challenge, we're desperate to make it out there and show the derby world what London can do, but we really, really need your help! You need to register to vote, but it's just an email address and name and they don't send you any junk.
THANK YOU!
Inglis Barracks
Formerly Inglis Barracks
Bray Road
Mill Hill
NW7 1SL
Be there for 8, filming to start at 8.30. Bring signs and stuff.
It's going to be a real bout in terms of competitiveness (as usual, no sript, no fake-ness) but doesn't form part of the season games or anything, we're putting it on for this TV show.
Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be free on Thursday and wants to spend a fun evening being on TV, watching a TV programme being filmed and of course watching some roller derby.
Splease pass this on to anyone you think may be interested, London Rollergirls need you!
If some people could also post this on facebook I'd be grateful, I can't get on it at work. Anyone wanting more info can email me - maybetwisted[at]londonrollergirls[dot] com.
Cheers m'dears!
p.s. also a good opportunity to see some FREE roller derby for those of you who haven't made it to see a game yet due to event clashes/cash-flow issues!!!
( scan under here... )
Thanks to Duncan Disorderly¹ for the scans!
[1] - Best. Ref. Name. EVER!
A WHOLE WEEKEND OF DERBY!!!!!
Today is the last day to get early bird prices for weekend tickets for Europe's FIRST EVER roller derby tournament!
You can buy tickets and check out all the latest news at the website:
http://rollbritannia.com
Today only tickets for the whole weekend are £25, tomorrow they go up to £30.
the draw for groups was done today, and it promises to be such an amazing weekend.
Group A
Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames
Leeds Roller Dolls
Berlin Bombshells
Group B
Auld Reekie Roller Girls
Central City Rollergirls
Royal Rebel Rollers
Group C
Glasgow Roller Girls
London Rockin Rollers
Rainy City Rollergirls
Group D
London Rollergirls
Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz
Team East Angrier
While officially, of course, I am supporting my league, the London Rollergirls, I am secretly rooting for Team East Angrier because OMG TOTALLY BEST NAME EVER, right? and check out their logo!
pure class.
To be pulled out in the same bracket of the LRG is going to be one hell of a punishing game for them. Perhaps I should make a sign to support them with my amazing and totally scientific and not at all made up on the spot learning curve graph with the words 'IT'S ALL A LEARNING EXPERIENCE' written underneath.
GO TEAM EAST ANGRIER!!!!
Do you vote for the Suffra Jets, or are you crazy for the Ultraviolent Femmes, or have the Steam Rollers stolen your (clockwork) heart? Or are you a zebra fan?
Do you want to declare your love in jewellry format?
We are SO excited to have partnered up with TATTY DEVINE - you can now show your support through their amazing vinyl skate necklaces.
I ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ my Steam Rollers necklace and haven't taken it off since the bout.
Check them out over at Tatty Devine's website
Buy tickets now!
I've mentioned before on this journal how steep the learning curve can be in roller derby. First, you need to learn to fall properly. Then, once you have sorted falling, you've got to get the skating down, and after that you need to get the blocking down. Then you need to get the hang of doing both at once. Then you need to get the hang of doing it in a game situation where other people are hitting *you*.
And then, once you've got all that, you need to learn how to play the game. As hard as learning the basics was, this is the hardest part, the steepest learning curve. My first ever 'scrimmage' I had NO IDEA what was going on. It felt like chaos. It has taken a long time for me to feel like I am in a scrimmage and can pay attention to anything other than not falling over, let alone remember a set of tactics and game play.
There was a long time where I felt I was little more than a 5th person on the track skating around with people playing derby. I was inneffective, couldn't keep track of what I was meant to be doing and any time I helped our jammer or stopped theirs was more accident than design. I was never called for any penalties, even though I felt I was all over the shop. Whether this is because anything I did never had any impact on the game or that the referees just didn't pay that much attention to me I don't know.
Recently, I feel like I have made a sudden jump up the curve. I feel effective in the pack. I am still no good on the inside line and a bit shonky at being part of a wall but I can waterfall pretty effectively (waterfalling is where blocker a hits opposing jammer, and blocker b paces up to take their place, ready to hit opposing jammer again, and whils she hits, blocker paces up to be ready to hit again. You do this for as long as you possibly can, it's very effective!) and appear to have finally got comfortable enough on my feet to hit pretty hard. My timing is getting better and my positional blocking (where you skate in front of someone without hitting them to prevent them getting past) does actually keep people back for more than 3 strides.
The thing that I've noticed most is my penalties. I have started getting them. I've had my first two trips to the penalty box (one for a major, one for 4 minors) and am being called much more often. I am also, conversely, making a concious attempt *not* to commit penalties. My increase in penalties has directly co-incided with my improvement.
I have been told by a US skater that this is really common. You go through a phase when you start playing, and you're not that good yet, of getting no penalites at all. Then, when you start getting good, you get penalties galore. It is, apparently, a sign you are getting better. You are involving yourself in the pack, you are pushing up, gong for hits, trying to get past other people, engaging more and generally getting properly stuck in. You are having an impact. Possibly, because you're doing more, the refs see you more.
This is massively pleasing to me as I haven't improved for MONTHS and was starting to despair of ever getting better. The next step, I am told, is when the penalties start to curve back down again.
Sort of like this really rubbish MS paint graph I just made.
Pink is the learning curve, red is the amount of penalties. This graph is, of course, totally accurate, scientific and in no way made up on the spot.
I am still not a really good player. I can hold my own in a pack, but need to work on my team work and communication, and on switching from defense to offence i.e. when you are switching from stopping their jammer to helping yours. I need to work on my timing, so I don't go in for a huge sweeping block and then go head first into a wall as the jammer sails past me.
Playing Pivot (the front most blocker, whose job is to set the pace of the pack and call the play adn tactics) the other day showed me how much I really have to learn. While in a pack position I know my job, I know what to do and I can concentrate on my own game and do ok, but as soon as I put on that Pivot cover (the pivots wear a striped cover on their helmets. These are called 'helmet panties' which is a never ending source of amusement to me.) I go totally to pieces. I can't concentrate on playing my own game any more, and am not yet good enough at reading the play to call out effective play to my team mates, so I become worse than useless.
Even so, the experience of being pivot showed me that I *am* getting more effective as an individual. I just need to start learning to pull all the parts of the game together.
I feel a lot more positive going into this game than the last one. In the last one my objective was to not let my team down. My objective in this one is to help my team win. It's a subtle difference, but it's a lot in derby!
Lets hope that this confidence lasts until the game.
First of all, tomorrow is the LRG's Birthday Party Fund-raiser bash, at The Gaff on Holloway Road.
We are 3 years old! Come and eat cake, dance and be merry with the roller girls.
Secondly, the season finale is coming up fast, on the 25th April either the Suffra Jets or the Steam Rollers1 will be crowned champions, winners of the first ever roller derby home season in the UK.
BUT there's more! It will also be the UK's first double header game - with the Ultraviolent Femmes taking on Barock City!
Double the derby for your money, how can you resist? It will be an amazing and exciting day, if you've not yet made it to a bout you really should try to make this one, it is going to be spectacular.
And I get to play for my team again, woo!
tickets and information here
Buying in advance is strongly recommended as we sold out completely last time.
On a personal level, I have been working REALLY HARD to make my team proud of me, and to try and be a help rather than a hindrance on the track. I really feel like I am making progress, slow, for sure, but progress none-the-less, and I remain astonished that I stick with it when I am not IMMEDIATELY AMAZING the way I give up on everything else I find difficult. I have also been braving the outside world on skates, thanks to Fox Sake2 loaning me some outdoor wheels, and today I skated from my house all the way to the house of Mr Twisted3, up and down kerbs, over roads and some particularly shonky pavements of dark Hackney alleyways.
There had also been the super exciting first home bout for our London Derby Sisters, the London Rockin' Rollers, playing the Glasgow Rollergirls Travel Team - the Irn Bruisers4.
For a write up of this, I hand you over to the significantly superior prose of Mollie Cosh of the Romsey Rollerbillies whose write-ups are always spot on5
More to come soon about floors, wheels, parks, Nicole Kidman,and the UK's first6 Roller Derby Tournament!
[1]I AM BIASED OK
[2] omg totally awesome name, right?
[3] ok so It's only a mile, but you gotta start somewhere.
[4] omg best travel team name EVER, right?
[5] and much better written than mine
[6] I think I may have overused the word FIRST in this post.
That final whistle, and the resulting euphoria - my god. I've never felt anything like it. I can understand why people put themselves through hell to win now - and am so motivated to get a million times better so I can feel it again. Winning is like drugs! But healthier. And legal.
The scoreline hides an intense and emotional hard-fought battle where either team could have taken the game, and it wasn't over until the final jams.
( the game... )
And so, the Steam Rollers get to play the Suffra Jets in the grand final, on the 25th April. I would buy your tickets as soon as they're on sale, if I were you, as we completely sold out this game within the first 15 minutes of the doors opening, and because it is going to be one hell of a match.
I am exhausted, elated, still a little shell shocked, and so proud of my team, and so proud of my league, and so glad I found Roller Derby.
Photos and vids soon, hopefully!
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- London Roller Girls
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