Red Red Holiday TODAY!

WOO HOO!!! Gerle Haggard, Nicki Spitts, Sheeda Bomb, P. Fork, Slambo, and me are on our way to RED RED today!!!

Click to enlarge

Join the Sac City Rollers as we host our 4th annual charity Roller Derby tournament.

Teams from across the state are joining us to take part in a year-end tradition - the Red Red Holiday Invitational. Skaters from all participating leagues have their names put into a hat, then twelve teams are formed at random. Participants are guaranteed to make some new friends and possibly skate with their Derby heroines... or their rivals! It's a celebration of the end of another Derby season, and the start of the winter holidays.

All proceeds from Red Red Holiday 4 will benefit the Sacramento Food Bank. Last year, because of the generosity of California roller derby fans, we were able to donate over $3000 to help feed needy families. We will be accepting any donations of canned goods throughout the event. A can or two from every skater and fan would go a long way towards supporting this amazing charity.

The tournament will be an all-day event on Saturday, December 12th, at Norcal Indoor Sports, 1460 Tanforan Ave, Woodland, CA. Doors open at 11:30am, and play starts at 12:30pm, with the Championship bout to start at 8pm.

Don't miss a California Jr. Roller Derby scrimmage before the semi-finals! As always, we will be featuring vendors, a beer garden, and raffle prizes. Tickets are available in advance for $15 from Brown Paper Tickets or at the door for $20. As always, we have discounted pricing for kids. Children ages 6 and under get in free and 7- to 12-year-olds admission is $7 at the door.

Bunk City!

Kimstigator broke her ankle in three places as soon as I got there...glad I was there with my crutches. Ammo is ace bandaged up and that concludes Tuesday's practice...

*sigh*

 

MDG First Scrimmage with SiNtral Valley Derby Girls

It's been so hard to start this post because it's not easy for me to encapsulate my deep emotions that day.

First of all, seeing my team in white shirts was a new experience.

Typical of me, I panicked a bit when I was asked to do the 30 second timer along with the jam timer. So take that panic and increase it a million times and that might show how nervous everyone who has never played a scrimmage before with another team. I see from facebook that it was Purple Push Her's first scrimmage. Her team mates yelled at her a lot to call of the jam, I noticed. Personally, I do better with encouragement and calm explanations of what I'm doing that seems incorrect, but hey all teams work differently I think. Another thing discovered this week is that it seems that some teams even have new players use the term "fresh meat" in front of their names. It's not a gang for goodness sake...but again this is just my opinion. All teams work differently.

The ladies from Modesto and Stockton have been IMMENSELY helpful to us and we owe them a lot for their service...THANK YOU to them. It's like having a lot of big sisters.

I only cried two or three times during the scrimmage, once when I saw the team having their equipment checked by the officials. Once when the scrimmage started, P. Fork went out to play, and it hit me hard that I couldn't play too. Then I cried when Ammo fell...then everyone took a knee while she was tended to. That taking a knee during in injury is going to make me cry every time it happens I think. It's just too nice, and so respectful that it makes my heart melt.

I don't have kids so I guess the feeling of being proud of something I was part of was a little new for me...Proud is a good word...not a dirty word. When you put yourself into something with a group and it begins to come to fruition it does make a person feel proud...I would have been more proud of myself if I could have played. But proud of the team as a whole FOR SURE....They were all so beautiful, conquering their own fear and digging right in to the game at hand. Each woman with her own reasons for playing this sport, finally doing it. It was amazing!

The final (unofficial) score was 94-94. I'm sure it's a debatable score but it was perfection for this scrimmage if you ask me. As far as I know, there are no tie games, over time must be played, but in this case, although both teams were ready to put in a OT group, it was decided to let the tie stand.

I sat with Mermad, Rachel, Bill the derby widow of Sheeda Bomb and a person from SiNtral, whose name I never got, in the center track during the scrimmage. I have to say that it is then that I decided unless my head could suddenly spin all the way around, it was quite the uncomfortable position to watch a bout, unless you were a ref or other official with skates on...

Each and every jam absolutely floored me...I could not believe how professionally everyone played. It didn't seem like their first times at all and that speaks to the overcoming of fear that each woman had to do within themselves...I'm just so sorry that I couldn't experience that with them. Hopefully in December...where we are playing away from our home base...we can all freak out and go for it together then...assuming I am chosen to play at that bout, of course.

That after party and Bobbi's wonderful house was fantastic. People yacking around a fire is such an ancient way of being that I think it brings out the best in us humans...it's a perfect place to be...all warm and safe.

I'll save the after after party info for posterity... let's just say my throwing up from drinking streak has ended... ;) And Gerle Haggard is the chick you want to be with when you have to hurl...believe me...(Thanks LOVE!)

Well...it's quarter to 6..and I need a shower before practice tonight...maybe I'll edit this and spruce it up later on...

The rink seems like a stadium when crossing it in crutches...

This picture kind of depicts how I fell on the outside of my left knee

Yeah that totally sucked tonight. Watching your team practice from the bench and being unable to play is a form of torture for a derby girl. I am really missing a big chance to play in an important scrimmage and it makes me very angry thinking about what I would have learned and how I would have been able to contribute to, or take away from *heh*, this. Pollyanna Pitchfork, originally the first alternate is playing in my place now on Sunday. My knee had better heal quickly and thoroughly is all I can say, because I am playing in Sacramento in December!

I recalled something from Tuesday's practice that I wanted to make a note of...I believe at one point Sheeda Bomb knocked four blue players off the track at once...that was rad.

Red Hot Ta Molli is air-brushing shirts for some girls, Kilaron's looks hella cool.

So enough brooding, it is what it is, this injury and situation that I've co-created. You know how I love data and statistics, Coach says I can take stats during the scrimmage. That will be good for me to learn. And on the bright side, I can continue to try to beat other derby girls in Bejeweled... :)

I forgot to tell Block N Decker, after going out on crutches last night, that I wasn't going to go to the casino after practice like I planned..crap...Well I'll call her.... As soon as I can walk I want to go there while she is working and during a comedy show...because I doubt she likes to hang out there when she isn't working...same how I don't like studying at the library when I'm off work.

When I came home last night I quickly, and very accidentally went to toss wood in the fire and knelt down on my hurt knee....Click here to hear what that sounded like.

Oh yeah, and in case you haven't seen it, the team we play Sunday left us a few comments on our league myspace page. www.myspace.com/mountainderbygirls.

Bopped by Boppin 76....

Let's all say goodbye to my little friend, once known and loved as my left knee...

Four skaters came up tonight...I think all with Port City Roller Girls.  Boppin 76, Shannibal Wrechher, Tiny Tornado and Loco Lisa....(two of them aren't on Two Evils so not sure what's up with that...could be like a Gerle Haggard sitch...But sorry to them for not being able to track down a link for em...was so cool of them all to come up...It's really crazy cool the way other playrers have come up to assist us over the past year...REALLY COOL. Huge difference between what how Crust All Mighty plays and how these girls played...they were told they didn't have to hold back on us at one point...I don't think we've  even ever been told we don't have to hold back on each other before... or it would have likely been one of my own team mates to knock me down between February and today...Anyway...she hit me legally and them are the breaks...but it might have been good to let us all know that scrimmage to some teams is not a scrimmage to us...Maybe it should be called something else when it's truly a practice and not a scrimmage called a practice...All I can say is scrimmage and practice, whatever the fuck it gets termed, had better have the same insurance coverage..Personally, if I can ever play this game without knee pain again, I will strive to be a positional blocker like Crust taught us, and not just there to knock chicks off the track...too dangerous for a bunch of women who do this at their monetary and bodily expense...IMHO..

Anyway...the Coach let me jam tonight and thankfully I was knocked down during one jam by Miss Boppin 76, who I adore...Nothing broken - thank the Roller Derby Goddess! Tripp was cool with the insta-icepack, too bad I'm such a moron I didn't read the directions and didn't know how to make it cold..Last time I used something "magic" like that was a hand warmer at a NINER game in the 80's... I thought he said rub it til it got cold...like a chill jeanie in a bottle or something....Thankfully our experienced Coach knew to crack it on something and viola...cold as congress...! So..lil aspirin, lil ice and a lot of my cloak of invisibility trick and I'll be golden by Sunday at 2pm....

After practice the Port City ladies had to drive home unfortunately, or they would have enjoyed my birthday night with some of us tonight...Twisted Trixxie, P. Fork, RevRa, Block N Decker, Nicki Spitts, Gerle Haggard, Kilaron, Stihl Queen, Ammo, and Bryan one of our refs...I may be forgetting someone all went to Steve's after practice. Here's a tip..if there are no cars and the door is closed at Steve's that means it might still be open...A stranger bar person and the bartender bought me a beer..(one I took as a token for next time cuz no way do I want to get a DUI)....but that ruled...Some of them played pool, some played darts but it was just so nice to be in that warm bar with the wood stove and the coolest people ever...great birthday night!

Plus it was so sweet how everyone sang HBD to me after practice and before we left....Lesson being, YOU WILL GET HURT, AND YOU WILL LOVE IT, JUST TO BE WITH THESE REMARKABLE WOMEN!!! I don't care if my leg is attached to my head Sunday...I will do my best for them. 

I can't believe male sports players get paid to do this stuff...Derby is SO MUCH MORE entertaining than most sports and these ladies give their money, their sweat, their bodies, and their true honest selves to roller derby...We work as co-ops....Voluntary Associations...all working for the betterment of our teams as a whole...It makes me freaking misty...

Anyway, now I have another TKO to think about while I play Sunday...it's like porn for my derby girl mind to imagine playing for payback...Stihl Queen can remind me all about my temporary rage when I need it most Sunday....Oh yeah..the after party is at her house Sunday after the scrimmage...the photos can be the first posted on the new, ALL skater owned:

http://rollerderbygirlafterparty.com

 Oh! and one more thing....my double secret code word for keeping my new mouthguard in is working like a charm...almost always...I just turn my head when I choke now so there will be no more pictures of that whole scene... ;)

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me....Happy Birthday to me.eee...

Sometime before the last day of November I will answer my email...One more day of work tomorrow...some more homework to get in by the 22nd at midnight, and the scrimmage and I am doing like a movie star after a long, remote shoot...I'm going to find a hot tub to sit in until Nov 30th when work starts again....Would it be wrong to thank the Feds and State for losing all of our money and fucking over our budgets so I can have a relaxing spell of not working for the MAN?! Maybe...but fuck it...

No pics tonight...a hot bath and a bottle of aspirin await Sweet (and now sore) Alyce...

*
Update 11/18/09: Not broken. On crutches for three weeks (OR LESS I HOPE!)...Starting to swell up finally...(I kept wondering how something with no bruise and no swelling could hurt SO much..)

*Choke, Gag, Puke*

Dear Roller Derby Goddess:

Please allow me to be able to hold a mouth guard in my mouth during a jam at least, and preferably for a whole bout/scrimmage.

In Roller Love,

-Sweet Alyce 3.14

*

This practice I was given the chance to play jammer. If not for the fact that I couldn't keep the freaking mouth guard in, in addition to the exceptionally dirty and slippery floor, it would have gone great.

While showering before leaving to the arena, it happened to be 7pm again and that meant the it was time to get the Led out on the classic rock station. Since I seem to have a musical block lately and can't think of what I want to hear, I grabbed my giant boxed set of Led Zeppelin albums...that was nice to listen to...

Stihl Queen and I were ready to hit the floor and the man-hockey guys have been nice about ending when we are ready. I appreciate their cooperation. It is fair to keep your agreements.

Anyway so I feel like when we're stretching that I need to become stronger, rather than more stretched out, actually, in addition to being stretched out I want to do things that strengthen my back and stomach. We did do a drill or two that focused on our thigh and hip strength, that was good. And I really liked the Coach demonstrating the proper form of bending..where and how to bend... I had been doing that Rodney Yee Mountain Pose (yoga position) and that helps me feel balanced with my skates..I'm constantly aware of balancing my body over the four wheels and being in the position that best distributes my weight. I want to feel sturdy, like a giant tree..rooted and balanced and strong.

So I bought two youth-sized mouth guards..will try to get them fitted and in before Sunday afternoon. I've been doing mouth guard practice and trying to leave it in while I do homework...

I have a ton of suggestions now to improve and expand our main website - http://mountainderbygirls.org. We're going to add a separate page for each player that they can update and Stihl obtained a list of good questions for each player to answer and I'll put it up on their page. I wanted to start this weekend but I need to be positive all my homework that's due is turned in first. Not positive about the LIBT212 class....And I still have the start of the group project due on the 17th so I'd better get on it...So ladies who might see this blog, be prepared to get all insightful on your own derby asses....soon...

xoxox!

Roller Derby Girl by ~SpottedPonyRider

Oh I forgot to mention..crap..I forgot again...!

Made the roster for the scrimmage...barely

Well...I'm pretty sure if Mermad weren't hurt I wouldn't be playing on the 22nd....Seems like attendance, dues and passing the min. requirements will only be used when they need a reason to keep you off of a roster...Skill gets you on a roster no matter how much you show up or pay or if you passed the skills test, oh, and injuries to other, better players that'll get you on a roster..(me) ..I'm playing a blocker position...not a jammer...I'll do my best, of course, but will probably be pulled out to let P.Fork play....that's my prediction...For some reason, having the same first name as P. Fork has caused some strange comparisons between she and I...Or is it our close ages? Who knows...?

Part of me thinks that everyone should play at least one jam since this isn't even an official bout...it's a practice with another team...Hope I do ok and don't let my team mates down...

Scored 50.5 out of 84 on the written WFTDA quiz...

 Pinkie Lee saw Jenn from Folsom the other day and passed on some good info...such as...no matter how much you drill you won't really 'get it' until you play another team...

Still don't know if Folsom won their bout or not...I think I saw one thing that said they did, not sure...

Paso Robles wants to bout on the 16th of January...and there's a Sacred B-team thing in December...

Crust is All Mighty Alrightie!

It was very cool of Crust to answer more questions for us at practice. The suckie part is that I could only be there for one hour of her lessons and then I had to leave for the concert that I had pre-approved with Coach via email. I learned about how to skate the track as a circle and not an oval, VERY handy to know.So I missed half an hour more of lessons, and the next step in endurance of 8 two minutes on/off sessions. It must have been great judging from facebook because Kileron said it felt 'like a brand new team', I believe so that's fantastic to read.

roller derby by *eternalrequiem

Pinkie Lee is back from her trip and I was able her, as opposed to show her and let her eat her birthday cake. Hopefully Slambo has the pics on her camera and sends them to me. Pinkie would probably be pleased to know how happy the cake made Crust at last practice. Crust said she had been recently in search of cake...so that worked out.

Ammo made a great point that we need to have an emergency contact list handy to everyone at all practices, and maybe even all be trained in first aid. I asked Stihl a couple of questions about how she handled things with Mermad. The emergency list is a great idea.

Welp...back to work for me...

We ♥ Mermad

Our team mate was seriously injured @ practice Thursday night...

*

On the lighter side of the news, Crust All Mighty visited us and is still deciding if she is moving here for sure. She is from the North Star Roller Girls, Minneapolis, MN, (same state my birth father is from actually). She was so cool and has the nose I always wanted to boot. We asked her a lot of questions and learned so much from her. I hope she joins and I hope she plays with us on the 22nd. It might sort of make up for not having Mermad now. So the hockey people were late getting off the track again, and again I say that behavior isn't acceptable when we pay for the time just like they do. Why would they assume we want to give them our time, I don't get it...I'll try to remember to bring it up at the next meeting..but maybe it will just be explained away that 'they're just  boys' and that will somehow allegedly make it ok...?

So we did drills and I didn't fall on my knees but for once to do the two knee fall. That was not the brightest thing I've ever done in derby. I stepped out to get Mermad's home number because someone, I forget who now, asked me to call her husband. When I came back inside they were doing one more time, (7-two minuteseses on/off, instead of 6 like last time), drill and I jumped in and did one session and thought you know what I'm not even warmed up yet on account of all the hoopla going on so I stopped. Then the last half and hour we did 5 blue on 5 black and I used my new strategy of one less time using the sweaty panty on my helmet thing and Coach Q called Crust to jam with me. It was weird how unalarmed I was, that isn't like me. I might have been in shock though because of Mermad's pain.

We took off and she did go in front of me, but since everyone was trying so much to block her, I scooted through on the inside...seems like sometimes it's good to follow the other jammer into the pack and other times to go the opposite way...so many split decisions to make when being a jammer. I like how it's so computery like that. Anyway, that made me lead jammer and then I was going around to get through the pack to make points and Coach said something to me as I went by, all I heard of it was that Crust was right behind me, I fell at that point, got back up and kept going. Must have either been 2 minutes or I don't know what..right now thinking back I'm not sure what happened after I slipped and the jam ending...But oh wait yeah, I remember now..or no I'm not sure if I called off the jam with Crust or with Gerle Haggard. But I do remember now calling off a jam...cuz I really love making that gesture...it's PSYCHO HOT!

Ok..the last thing I wanted to mention, without dwelling on the horrifying incident with Mermad, is that Kileron made me laugh so hard when she said to me, "You know you can put those phone numbers IN the phone..." ROTFLMFAO! Pierce taped mine and his cell numbers and the phone card code to the outside of my cell phone that I never use..Maybe next time she can tell me how to reinput the voicemail phone number that I somehow erased...I have three messages on there....oh I mean IN there... :)

New Kitty! Nada Energy. Fuck It!

I am burnt out tonight....I used three vacation hours to do my homework this morning...Worked 6 hours (4 of them at circ.) and now I've gotten into way too deep of a conversation with Pierce about 'diversity'...*grrr*

Last night was my first practice with Coach QQ back from her leave.

I jammed first with Nicki Spitts and I fell on my way around the track. But I forget about lead jammer...and the rules surrounding that..(if I had sufficient energy I would be studying WFTDA rules, but I don't)...so I forgot that I can fall and still be lead jammer and I believe that makes me able to call off the jam...and so once Nicki was ahead of me and asked if I wanted to call it off, I was all hell yes and she reminded me I was lead jammer...Did I already say that I think that means that we both score points, but I can call it off? I'm tired...(too tired to link Nicki's myspace page, which you should all have by now anyway...We should add websites to our league roster...

We have a new (new kitty!) player coming tomorrow night with her boyfriend..It's a surprise so I cannot divulge any more details...

Plus there's a total other surprise happening...tomorrow's practice is going to kick more ass..and I will try to jam first again so I don't get sweaty panty on my glasses while trying to put that dang thing on over my helmet bows....

Fuck it.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention how cool it was that P.Fork ot only knew who Pearl Harbor and the Explosions were, but had seen them in concert in the past.... weeeee! :) Cool.

Down but not out...yet...

I missed Thursday and now Sunday's practice. I was able to get to the Joe Buck show which was so incredibly fun, as usual. But the bands were really, really great too!

http://joebuckyourself.com You can hear his music there before you purchase....Very talented musician...

http://www.myspace.com/357stringband

http://www.myspace.com/drivinnails

http://www.myspace.com/frankenstein59

Here are some pictures from Friday night....

I like this one since the most of us are in it..

And of course we have to thank Mike @ Don't Call Me Mike Productions for setting up this gig for us...I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of us  Mountain Derby Girls in attendance - we had a blast and thank you!

I was late getting there because I had just received a quiz score back from my CSS - Cascading Style Sheets class. I tried not to stop getting ready in order to see what the deal was with the 18/20 since I knew I took an exceptional amount of my time to read this text and answer the 20 questions...I was almost positive they were not correct in the scoring. So I gave-in and found my supporting evidence and asked for an explanation if I was actually incorrect because I was obviously missing something then. Anyway...I was late...

[and then today I found out that it was a "data entry" mistake and my score of 20/20 was restored]

[This picture goes with this neat blog post of a roller derby experience]

I'm pretty up to date/ahead in my classes, (Except for the thing due November 5th that the instructor hasn't posted the discussion topic so I don't know what else I can do other than I emailed her about it..), after working my ass off today, and yesterday, though I did hang out online, fucking around, a bit longer than I'd planned to yesterday. My goal is to attend every November practice and feel like I did my best in the scrimmage on the 22nd, also work my 40 hours, and do the class work I need to do. I think I made a good plan to accomplish all that...In fact, my dear friend Kevin said it was very mature of me.. haha..! Right...

The messed up thing is that for two weeks I've been promising a postcard to my Nona Laura...I have been making it my last priority..the very last...If I can just get that card written tonight before bed, or before mail pick up at work tomorrow, I'll be in perfect shape for the start of this week...

I ordered my name and number for my helmet today from http://wickedskatewear.com like Sheeda Bomb said we should do. Ladies, don't forget to get the code that gives you a 10% discount. I have it now if you don't.

I really loved hanging out with everyone Friday...Ed's and Lupita's were both fantastically fun...Everyone looked so gorgeous as usual and Tripp was at one place and the other ref Bryan was at the other place...Tripp even brought Mia...his awesome dog...we need some pics of her for the website...I'm just glad I took time out for that or I would be really depressed from not seeing my team mates for so long...

Goodnight and see everyone TUESDAY! FOR SURE.

∞♥☮∞ Sweet Alyce 3.14 ∞♥☮∞

Brutal...

My reasoning skills told me yesterday afternoon that if I went right home after work and did my homework tonight, (ah, I see how the term was created now),  I could have all of it done by tonight (Wed) so I could attend Thursday's practice and get in synch. about where and when for the Joe Buck @ the old Eproson House in Twain Harte concert we're attending as  a team Friday night.

As I completed some of the assignments and reading, I accidentally stumbled on a link that had an assignment listed that I hadn't see on the other class page link I normally look at for direction. And yeah, the assignment was due at midnight, so I had less than one hour to turn it in...Nothing upsets me more than stupid mistakes and I was quite upset, in shock, in fact. I emailed the instructor to see where I went wrong in my thinking, and proceeded to rev up and go to work on it - I turned it in by 1:44AM and was asleep by 3:30AM. Let's hope she thought it was as good as I did when I last read it.

This morning, I'm left with a dark and empty feeling of having NO IDEA what my team mates did for practice last night, who was there, what neat stuff they learned and discussed, and all the great interaction we have together...

For work today, I didn't go to a monthly presentation that I have done for the last near 5 years - faithfully. And am using my vacation time to stay @ home and proceed with the kaljillions of readings, assignments, discussions and quizzes with their corresponding links and page numbers, until my circ. desk shift at 1pm.I hate doing homework at work because it's not really a proper thing to do I guess. Although it does directly benefit the library patrons the more I learn, and I didn't complete the paperwork in order to get my my school tuition and textbooks fees from work..so they aren't even paying for this extra knowledge I'm getting..But still feels wrong to do with the other employees doing work-work and not school-work...*sigh*

It's exactly High Noon..I need to relax for a half hour or so...it's a little chilly but full of sunshine outside right now...I think it's only fair that I use some of my time on myself.

No pics this time as time is not on my side...

Oh, except this one from Gerle Haggard...(Now possibly Spin Twin instead, as her name wasn't approved ) , in which my own backside looks fucking hot to me!

xo

☮♥Sweet Alyce♥☮ 3.14

So many memories...so forgotten overnight....

Ok well I had this whole blog in my head while AT practice last night, up to and including the title...NOW I can't seem to remember it - Pinkie Lee made it up accidentally and it was a perfect title...

skate plus.. by ~reinvent1

Maybe it's because I conked heads with Mermad...during a jam...? That effing hurt, man - my brain moved! ;) She said someone pushed her. Good thing I had my safety helmet on.. (see, now that commericial from the 80's I can remember..."Piece snapped off. Hit me dead centa. Good thing I had my safety glasses on"...)

First thing that comes to mind is P.Fork whipping Sam...That was cool, I was happy for her because she said later that she was trying to do more...That was great...

Pinkie Lee was pivot a lot it seemed like and she was kicking butt being a great last line of defense...I have been able to observe more since I'm not 100% participatory the last couple practices..I am not armed with information about how to make my knees work better..I took a glucosomine and controidin (sp) this morning..two horse pills a day...Going to drink more water and eat more bananas...

After practice was so much fun as usual...

.....Oh maaaaaaaaaaaaan!

I just got an 8 out of 10 on a school assignment for CSS class because I forgot to upload one file....I feel like crying..that sucks...what a pisser....*grrrrrr*

Wondered what everyone was doing @ practice...

Tonight I did homework from 6:30 until after midnight...every now and then I wondered what was happening at practice. Coach Sheeda Bomb was kind enough to give me a recap...I also heard there was a two hour bonding session after wards...I'm truly bummed that I missed that also...those are fun times out there in the pitch black...which reminds me...we need to get a light out there...

Oh, and while I'm at it...it would be nice if hockey stopped on time on the nights they practice before we do...

Here's Sheeda's update:

"...lots of drills and warm ups. then since we only had ... Read More5 on each team and i wanted to work the jammers harder we had one team against opposite jammer and the players on the team worked on good blocking and jammer worked on getting thru.. not easy . of course! it was a really good work out for stamina too. we would switch team on the track and jammer within the normal times. and then the last half hour we did scrimmage with both teams.. the ground we gained from working just on team defense was good at first but fell apart quickly due to fatigue. the late hours are harder."

Derby Love by *Spasticated-Rita

dutchland derby freakshow by ~mange

Lotsa Derby Girls, Strange Visitors, Broken Knees, Flat Beer

That basically sums up tonight's practice! There were so many ladies there tonight that the stretch-circle was kinda crowded. I love to see that!

Let's see who I can name from memory:

Me

Pinkie Lee

Nicki Spitts

Gerle Haggard

RevRa

Stihl Queen

Sam

Jules

Chisel Bit

Ammo

Tripp

New Guy Ref (handsome, like Tripp...we get good looking refs :)

P.Fork

Amanda

Kileron

Trixie

Sheeda Bomb

I'm stumped from here, but there must have been more...it was crowded.

We did some drills first and I participated in those, minus the knee falls because, seriously, I'm worried about my knees. I hope they aren't sore like this forever. I should do some research. It's upsetting and I'm sort of in denial that this knee pain is going to hamper by derby-ing. Chisel Bit fell on her already wounded knee also, but she is many years younger than me. So far the most strenuous drill has been that Zombie one that Stihl Queen learned about from the Castle Bombers in Merced. Maybe we'll do that one sometime again.

After the drills it was mach-bout time for one hour. I didn't participate in this. I learned a lot by watching them though, which is good, but not as good as actually playing. I will play Sunday if we do this again. I'm really going to try to remember what Hellbound Harlot told me about each position.

So..the strange visitors...some guys were in the stands during practice..that was odd....Who were they? I don't know, but I believe that they know Sam. I hope they go out in the world of Sonora and tell them about what they saw.. (Yes, we let them live to tell)... ;)

Oh and the flat beer....that was left over from Rev's birthday party...It takes a special woman to drink flat keg beer...and I'm happy to know some women like that... *hee*....

While I'm here, I must voice a complaint at the "picking teams" thing we do for mach-bouts. Ammo said it's to make fair teams. Personally, I don't see the logic. I think if we chose a different less mentally damaging for the people chosen last way of choosing teams we'd be able to handle more varied player situations.Yes we are competitors, but the idea of being chosen last is overly-discouraging, imo and not helpful to give a label of better or worse to a new player. Draw names from a hat, or have everyone line up and split the line..anything but this picking teams bullshit...IMHO.

by Elizabeth Ocean

Onward!

Lucky Best Fun Time With Derby Girls!!

Last Tuesday I must have wrecked up my left knee so much that I didn't practice Thursday night...They hurt so long that I was sure I was getting the flu, but no. No flu. After everything else stopped aching, it was just my broken knees left...The left one hurt before derby, but now they both aren't bending al the way without it hurting.

The BIG NEWS this week was not a practice, but RevRa's birthday party last night. Words cannot describe the fun. Mermad, Sheeda Bomb, Sam, Hot Ta Molli, P.Fork, Gerle and Nikki....We had a blast and ended up home safely by day break...

A few ladies went to Stihl Queen's mom's 50th birthday and from the looks of them online, they too had mega-fun last night... :)

Practice tonight was a nice change of pace. No scrimmaging but working with new skaters on WFTDA Minimum Skills. I just skipped the knee falls tonight and I hope my knees feel better soon...

Don't allow the Hollywood money for REAL GIRL & REAL GIRL POWER films to dry up - GO SEE WHIP IT!

Whip It: The Real Girl Movie of the Year!!

 www.huffingtonpost.com

by Rachel Simmons - Author, New York Times bestseller "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls"

Posted: October 14, 2009

Here's the deal. Whip It, the new Drew Barrymore/Ellen Page film, is tanking at the box office. We have to go see it. If we don't, the money's going to dry up for girl-power films.

Not that you won't enjoy every minute. Whip It is the Real Girl movie of the year. Its motto: Be your own hero.

The plot: Bliss Cavendar (Page) is a 17 year old reluctant beauty pageant contestant, nudged along by her Good Girl mother (played by the terrific Marcia Gay Harden). Mom is a former beauty queen herself who sneaks smokes to project a Perfect Mom image to her daughter (and undergoes her own transformation in the film). When Bliss watches an all-female roller derby, she's enthralled. She sneaks off to tryouts and busts into the world of Austin derby.

Bliss' team, the Hurl Scouts, is Real Girl heaven: women who tell it like it is, don't care what people think and take up space - literally, by jumping on top of each other. When Bliss apologizes before she speaks in true Good Girl fashion, the team has none of it. "Find that thing that pisses you off," a teammate advises the timid Bliss, "and use it." Okay, passion doesn't have to be driven by anger, but it's a crystal clear moment of a girl learning how to access power and drive.

I like how parent-positive this movie is. Bliss goes too far with her Mom and gets schooled by one of the Hurl Scouts for being selfish. And it's Dad who skates away with the film, with his tearjerker line, "I can't take our daughter missing a chance to be happy."

Some parents might feel uncomfortable about the sheer brass of these women (with nicknames, for example, like "Jabba the Slut"). Personally, I wish Bliss didn't have to throw her Good Girl self under the bus in favor of more aggressive behavior. She goes too far when she knocks a popular girl over a railing at school to show off her newfound confidence.

That said, there's an infectious and heart lifting freedom in the way these women blow through a party, locker room or rink. You will cheer for Bliss when she is literally sprung from the prison of her beauty pageant life by this rollicking pack of women. I dare you to go see this movie and not wonder where you left your last pair of skates.

Bliss displays inspiring confidence with boys, modeling the kind of self-esteem you want your daughter to see on the big screen. An NPR reporter recently pointed out that the last scene between Bliss and her love interest "is so smart and so significant and so legitimately revolutionary given the sensibilities of 99 percent of the movies that depict teenage girls that that scene alone would make it a great gift for your daughter when she turns 13."

There's an email pinging around that wonders if "Whip It would have been better off if it was told in reverse: the story of a Roller Derby Girl who made herself over as a Beauty Queen, won the pageant and got the boyfriend in the end." Great question, but let's use the time we might have spent wondering and get our butts to the box office. Do it for the girl in your life. If we don't vote with our wallets, we may lose for years to come.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-simmons/whip-it-the-real-girl-mov_b_321806.html

No, really a quickie tonight...

For only being there one hour last night, in order to get home and mash some homework together, what an excellent work out. Sheeda Bomb really knows how to get me sweaty and on heart-attack watch. ;)

Did a bunch of drills and then scrimmaged. One jam for me and it was with Trixie. She was called lead jammer and then she fell once, allowing me to lap her one full lap. And as I learned, since she was the lead jammer, only she can call off the jam, (which I actually knew), but didn't know I could lap her and she'd still be lead jammer...Tonight at dinner I continued learning the WFTDA 4.0 rules...I'm not clear yet even after reading alot, how the other jammer can become lead jammer...or if she can...

It was our first practice since last Winter that it was cold and very stormy. But despite thinking I needed to ear warmer clothing, luckily my Summer layer was on underneath and I was able to strip down in the first 20 minutes when I was boiling again...

Gotham Girls Roller Derby

Also, Rachel made this fun Halloween video for us....

http://monstermashup.com/231dfa

Whirling Derbishes Played by Rachel, Gerle Haggard, Sweet Alyce, Nikki Spitts and RevRa!

Another fear bitten into....

I have home work to do so this is a shortie. I sucked at jamming tonight when I did it because Regina is a KICK ASS blocker...I could not get around her if my life depended on it tonight..(which felt eerily similar to those nightmares where you can't run (or roll) away)...

After a couple jams, I warmed up to the idea of attempting to intentionally knock people. I actually didn't recall who I hit until she said "Alright Alyce!", (like the totally cool pal she is), it was the lovely and talented Miss Nikki Spitts I had knocked....I guess seeing that I had done that legally and all gave me the confidence to do it more...I did knock Trixie off the track at one point...Hot Ta Molli cheered of the track and that was nice to hear too.. and what was funny is both of them recounted the hits similarly..something like, I was getting pushed and turned around and went Whoa, that is Sweet Alyce.!

I guess since I'm in observation-mode, (seeing if I can in fact do this or not -until Nov 22nd), their encouragement or lack of it has become important to me and a gauge of whether I'm doing this game/sport correctly and in a way that benefits the team as a whole.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7459273663921702200

I want to thank Pinkie Lee for making me more aware of my nervous smoking...I'll have to ask how she quit them next time I see her..(I would guess cold-turkey..that's the sort of "broad" she seems like to me...) ;)
(HI PINKIE LEE IF YOU READ THIS...!)

Here are a couple of derby related tunes for the Mountain Derby Girls, who I love dearly, each and every one...

Roller Girl, by The Phrenologists - mp3

Roller Derby Girls, by 900 Pound Gorilla - mp3

Roller Derby Queen, Psychedelik Killas - mp3

To hear them right click on the names and click Save Target As, Or Save Link As. Then Click Desktop (or your Music folder, or wherever you want to put it). Then when it's done, double click it and it should open in the default program you have setup to play music with.

Or, you can right click on the name and click Open in New Tab or Open in New Window and depending on the speed of your internet connection it might play.

[*Realizes she suddely feels like the nerd Sheeda Bomb described* *heehee*]

 Sooooo...so much for keeping it short....I gotta hit the homework now....