8 posts from 2006

Not in that order.

Well, I am a captain again. This Thursday we, the coaching comittee will announce the new teams and their captains. It's going to be... different.

In other--not-so-insignificant news. I have been skating again. Though infrequently due to a breastfed baby who is totally nose-up to all variety of artificial feeding implements. That is to say: no bottles. DAMNIT. hrmph. Still working on it. It's good to be... sort of back.

And last but not least. I got a wild hair up my arse to do this: Derby Girl Store. So get on it and buy your derby wife a holiday gift. Oh, and give me some feedback.

Well, my ladies are back home. A little bruised but none the worse for wear. I wasn't there myself. From what I hear--we have some work to do. The competition was fierce.

The question is: how do we get better faster than everyone else gets better?

Is it a matter of recruiting? Is it a matter of coaching?

Recruiting: Catch the eye of the "athlete"... ?
Coaching: We coach ourselves for the most part right now. We are learning a lot as we go. We bring in outside coaches for clinics but currently we don't allocate any part of our budget (or energy for the most part) on getting and keeping an outside coach.

It's an interesting quandary. I can't wait to hear what our coaching committee comes up with.

Meanwhile:

Those were the days. Before the rope lights.

The league's second game.

You're all growns up and you're all growns up. I haven't been to a practice on months. It's really killing me. I don't have anything interesting to write about yet... except that I am excited for the bebe and excited about re-entry to derby.

Sounds like there's going to be some changes in the coming year in terms of how we create teams. Stay tuned (as if there is anyone tuning) for details.

Also check the messageboards at www.bayareaderbygirls.com for pictures from the last bout...

We beat the Sin City crew a lot to a little. It was a blast. There wasn't much I needed to do. The SF All Star crew really had it under control. We worked out a line up. I cheered and jeered from the bench. And they did the rest. Rock on ladies.

The next bout is July 15th. People should be there.

As for 'skater kitt' she's really getting antsy. The new arrival should arrive around the first week in September. Much like his older brother. I am hoping to get back on skates within a month of his birth. But god knows how that's going to work out.

Baby on the rink. Tits on demand. Skates on the feet.

roll out.

April Fool's Day, 2006 shared it's glory with the 2nd bout of the 2006 B.A.D. Season. Oakland lost to San Francisco by one point in the final jam of the bout. Nail-biter, I tell you.

I was announcing, for the first time in my life. It was a blast. Though, someone came up during the first break and gave me a load of shit for screeching in her ear. She happened to be sitting 4 feet from the giant speaker. I wasn't quite sure what this 50 year old woman expected me to do exactly. But none the less. I had a good time.

The entire purpose of this post is to commend the teams, the league, the volunteers, and the fucking bout coordinator and staff. Oh! And the rinkydinks—who are just amazing. The whole crew really came together on this one. From what I heard, since we didn’t spend money on bands, we spent money on things like: tarps (making it possible to have drinks on the rink (thank god)), rope lights (making our track look sooo much better), and last but not least—a better sound system.

It was hands down the best event we've had. And of course, we sold out. And we sold out without bands, so in case there were any questions about what people came to see. There you have it. They came to see roller derby--the way we play it. Rock on B.A.D. Girls. I can't wait to get back in the saddle.

Kitt

It was pretty awesome.

I thought I'd be pissed not playing. (Maybe more on that later) But I went as a coach. And as the head coach for the last month or so, and being center track with a team of women who are skating their asses off, leads me to believe there will be life after derbygirl in the form of derbycoach. It was actually pretty damn gratifying.

So here's the breakdown for those of you not up to speed:

1. The Dust Devil Tourn was the first national flat track derby tournament ever.
2. It was held in Tucson from the 24th through the 26th of February 2006.
3. The winner could hold claim to being the best flat track travel team in the nation.

• Three days, 20 teams
• First day:
• 4 pools of 5 teams each playing a round robin
• Each pool was seeded with teams 1-5, 1 being the top ranked team 5 being the lowest ranking team.
  
• The seedings where based on how long the league had been around, and how many inter-league bouts they had played.
• The top 3 teams will advance to the second day.
  
• (We were seeded 5th of the 5 in our pool--good luck, right?)
• Second day:
• Single elimination begins.
  
• Two rounds
• Third day:
• Semi Finals
• Finals (for 3rd place and for 1st place)

• Arizona Roller Derby
• Mad Rollin’ Dolls
• Windy City Rollers
• Dallas Derby Devils
• B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls

Dallas Derby Dolls vs. BAD 15 to 21
Mad Rollin Dolls vs. BAD 27 to 14
Chicago Windy City Rollers vs. BAD 6 to 26
Arizona Roller Derby vs. BAD 25 to 25

So, we won 2, tied 1, and lost one. But look who we tied?! The first place seed. We lost to the second place seed. Every other pool of 5, the top three seeds advanced... very predictably. In our pool, team 1, team 2 and... team 5! advanced to the second day. Rock us.

We got the short straw for the second day two fold. We were to check in at 7am (guah) and play Carolina. Whom we watched completely trounce their competition the first day save for Minnesota. In the end, we lost to Carolina that fated morning, but not without a fight: 107 to 77.

Arizona, that team we tied ended up in 3rd place over all.

What does all this mean. Not a ton. But for a league that's only been around a year, has had zero inter league bouts, and has only had two home bouts: We kick some major fucking ass.*

*And that was without me skating. ;)

Jesus! No! We're not pornographic. For the love of all that is decent. It's a goddamned sport. It's no more pornographic than women's basketball or soccer. Sure we ham up our femininity more. But that's all.

This girl last night at the Sleepy Time Guerrilla Museum show, who was standing with 4 man-folk around her in a semi-circle, looked at me like I was wearing pasties at church when I gently, even somewhat meekly, asked the group; "Would any of you guys be interested in seeing all women's roller derby in Oakland at the end of the Month?" "Um, no. Thanks. [smirk]" said the girl, clearly speaking for all six people present. "These guys (as if I was asking only the men-folk) are sensitive guys."

God. The hundreds of retorts I came back with--all too late. Followed by hundreds of just plain questions I now hold for her and her sensitive male entourage. The top on my list, of course, being: What is it that lead her to believe that her "sensitive" friends would not be interested in "roller derby". Yeah, I put the quotes on both of those words for a reason, ok. What does she mean by sensitive? And what does she think all women's roller derby entails?

Perhaps I am reading too much into this. Perhaps she's just a bitch. Perhaps her therapist's been out of town in Bermuda for a couple of weeks. Perhaps she thinks it's too violent for sensitive hipsters.

But my real point is: Was it something I said?
(or was it the pasties?)

Ok. I have like 15 things to post. But it's been a while. We'll go semi chronologically.

1. Rockabetty Bruisers--changed their name to Long Island Roller Derby (I think I got that right). The real point here is: I skated with them over the holidays and they were awesome. Really nice. A very very young league and they really have their shit together. I know they think they don't. But they really do. I added two new drills to my book and hopefully left them with one. If you live in LI. Go check them out.

2. The 2006 B.A.D. Girls season. The scheduled dates are: Game I: Jan 28th. Game II: March 4th. Game III: April 1st. The last two are still semi-tentative. But you at least get the idea. I am really excited about this season. We learned a lot from our exhibition bout last fall and now are are ready to really rock. (and roll).

3. I got new skates. They're awesome. My brother gave me 3 bills toward them so I pitched in an extra 250 (ew. that's a a lot). But!
1. Riedell 695 boot
2. Snyder Advantage plates
3. Bones Reds bearings
4. Hyper-Shaman wheels

All of which I have skated on exactly once so far. But so far I can say: Extremely responsive. A big difference in rotational weight that I can actually notice. Very comfortable and stable boot. I am super-psyched. I hope I stay that way.

4. Tucson Dust Devil Tournament. Yep. We're going. So help us. Day 1: mini-bouts to determine your seeding for the single elimination tournament. Of course, you could get eliminated before the single elimination tournament even begins by sucking at the mini bouts. Only 4 of 6 teams in each pool of mini-bouts even advance to day 2. It's totally terrifying. We still don't know what the final set of rules will be. We don't know how any of these leagues play. Big problems could ensue, for instance, if we play a team that plays dirty. We play a super clean game with body checks and no use of the arms. And certainly no elbows, no tripping, no intentionally falling in front of another player. It's just going to be a complete crap shoot-- all these all-star teams, most of which have never played against another league, just like ours, coming together under one roof to figure out who's the best of the nation. It's going to be interesting. Stay tuned.