Feel the burn

The theme for this month's bout on the 30th, in keeping with the spirit of the season, is Monsters' Brawl! (Although as I write this, watching the snow fall outside my window; I wonder if a Christmas-y theme might be more appropriate. Oh, to be an Iowan.)



If you absolutely cannot contain your excitement for the bout (which will be held at the Coralville Marriott), you can get your OCCRG fix a week earlier at Shakespeare's Pub & Grill in Iowa City. We will be serving $1 jello shots starting at 8 into the wee hours of the morning.

Also, In my previous post I reviewed the new roller derby-centered movie Whip It. Since then it was revealed that four of our very own Old Capitol City Roller Girls were interviewed for their take on the movie for the RedBox blog! Definitely worth a read.

Whip It: an imperfect child

Friday night the Old Capitol City Roller Girls went to see Drew Barrymore's Whip It in a local theater.

Yours truly gives it a rating of: ★★★

Whip It is a valiant but stunted directorial debut by Barrymore, who also stars in the film as Smashley Simpson, alongside Ellen Page of Juno fame.

Page plays Bliss Cavendar, a 17-year-old who is pushed into beauty pageant competitions by an overbearing mother (Marcia Gay Harden). Accompanied by her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat), Bliss attends a roller derby bout featuring the Hurl Scouts on a whim. She is soon hooked and joins the Hurl Scouts roster. While she knows little about the sport she seems to impress everyone with her speed.

Whip It is charming, funny and poignant in its own coming-of-age way. But there are inaccuracies in abundance and experienced roller derby skaters (or refs, fans, etc.) will take issue with.

Whip It hardly delves into the grueling practices roller derby dames endure in their quest to be number 1. Despite not having skated in years, Bliss seems to turn into a star player overnight with little effort on her part.

The fighting. There are plenty of illegal maneuvers and abominable behaviors in the film, including deliberate tripping, punching and the like. I found this personally disappointing as I think all teams following the Women's Flat Track Derby Association rules would concur that we have worked very hard to be considered a legitimate sport; not like your mom or dad's roller derby from the 70s where girls socked each other around just to get reactions from the crowd.

The do-it-yourself-ness of roller derby in general is never really addressed. Roller derby is a sport run by its players, save for the few existing professional teams. The vast majority of teams, like OCCRG, don't have private coaches or managers. There's a lot of hard work involved keeping teams afloat by securing sponsorships, planning fundraisers and creating and posting fliers around town.

What did Whip It get right? The camaraderie, for one. Roller derby girls stick together and bond tightly. These are the women you see several hours a week, sweating and toiling together. There really exists a desire to see everyone on the team succeed and excel, whether they are an experienced veteran or veritable "fresh meat." Many ladies join for the exercise and contact and stay for the friendships.

I also give the film props for not being completely predictable, both in the areas of competition and [a budding] romance. Marcia Gay Harden was very much at home in her role of controlling wife and mother, but was very unbelievable as a postal worker (minor quibble). Though the majority of the cast was enjoyable the real scene stealer was the aforementioned Alia Shawkat, playing Bliss' friend Pash. Action sequences were a bit anti-climatic but it's worth noting all of the actresses did their own skating/stunts.

But all in all, Whip It manages to be endearing without overly cheesy -- a difficult task given the cliched follow-your-dreams (heart) message embodied within it. Trip recommends it.

And just for fun:

Showing no mercy to fresh meat Tyrant Angelica (left)

Even keel

While most of the roller derby eagerly awaits Friday's release of the Drew Barrymore-directed Whip It, I thought I'd tackle another facet off the sport: The expenses.

It was inspired by an Associated Press article Women make sacrifices for roller derby, published last month.

The article chiefly focused on Kelly Clocks'em, formerly of the Carolina Rollergirls. Kelly Clocks'em -- real name Abbey Dethlefs -- who had to hang up her skates after three years of roller derby due to the recession, which saw her lose two jobs in the past year.

"The economy is tougher," Miss Dethlefs, 28, said after skating in last week's Wicked Wheels of the East tournament, her last derby event for the foreseeable future. "I mean, it put me out of business."

The loss of employment has left Dethlefs without health insurance --a must for serious skaters-- and money for other side expenses of derby.

"It's gas. It's baby sitters. It's equipment," said Amy Callner, spokeswoman for Baltimore's Charm City Rollergirls. "It's all these things."

Even as a piddly college student, I would venture to say I am fortunate enough to have not had my personal finances impede my skating. I'm still covered under my father's health insurance and have money to put towards team dues and equipment (including new skates, bearings and wheels), as I am employed part-time and lack some of the other expenses my teammates have (i.e. children, babysitters, physical therapy bills, etc.). Yes, derby can be viewed as a costly hobby, though I take issue with the claim that:

...it costs skaters hundreds, even thousands of dollars a year for the privilege of knocking each other around on the track.

Thousands of dollars seems a little extreme to me and I'm not quite sure where the Associated Press gathered their data from. I pay a few hundred in team dues every year but outside of equipment upgrades I don't find the cost of participating to be that staggering -- particularly as a former young girl who nearly drove her parents into the poorhouse with her expensive equestrian hobbies. In fact, I don't consider derby to be any more expensive than any other competitive sport, such as rugby or tennis.

Additionally, there are ways to cut costs. The Old Capitol City Roller Girls will be moving their practices to a newer, less-expensive facility in the community later this fall to defray rental costs. Teammates carpool when traveling to 'away' bouts and sometimes to and from practices to save on gas. We even keep a few hand-me-down skates for new skaters to use.

The bottom line is that in this economy, hobbies are going to be cut back or scrapped altogether. But I think roller derby is affordable for a number of people and I'd hate to think such an article would scare off any potential recruits before they even know what the sport is about.

明日の私を信じたい だから今 頑張れるの

In case you hadn't heard the Old Capitol City Roller Girls went down in defeat; albeit a very game one, to the Quad City Rollers on Saturday. The final score was 122-109; and the OCCRGs closed quite a bit of ground in the second half to give the Quad City Rollers a real run for their money. It was a super preview of our October 30th bout in which we hope to turn the tables on our more-experienced rivals. We had a pretty good turnout of over 100 people and I'd like to personally thank those who came out and cheered us on.

[Just as fun was the after-party at Studio 13, who sponsored the scrimmage. Lots of alcohol, cage-dancing and even a roller skate-shaped birthday cake (thanks to Killer Baker) for our own Bat R Up, whose birthday was Saturday. Regrettably, the public spectacle of myself dancing exposed my secret of being the only black girl without rhythm ever, as my black dancing gene is cruelly repressed.]

Team stars of the evening were Ophelia Fracture (of course), Bat R Up (in her competitive debut), Left 4 Deadwards and Shelby Flyin'; the latter ending her run with a fantastic grand slam. Bear with me, I'm still working on digging up some actual photos of the scrimmage but I did find this shot of me leading the warm-up in all my rainbow glory:



On a personal level I thought my performance was just okay. I made lead jammer once was able to score a few points while shutting out the Quad City jammer I was up against. But I think I could have done a lot better. I will have to work harder on better deflecting/avoiding hard blocks and hesitating less when trying to find a way through the pack. It does make me a lot hungrier to improve during practices; I am trying to give 110% though right now that is hard to do while simultaneously breaking in my new skates -- I have the cuts and blisters to prove it!

The waiting game

The Old Capitol City Roller Girls' first home scrimmage is only two days away! We will be taking on the Quad City Rollers at the Robert E. Lee Recreation Center (intersection of Burlington and Gilbert in Iowa City) at 8 PM. It should be a rabble-rousing event and tickets are only $5, with kids 10 and under getting in free.

I think the team, bias withstanding, is sitting on a very big effort. Plus we have new super cute uniforms (HOT PANTS + RAINBOWS = TRIP ♥).

In other news, OCCRG has the following on their agenda:

September 25th -- OCCRG will be doing meet-and-greet at West Liberty Raceway from 5:30-7:30.

September 26th -- Aforementioned scrimmage versus the Quad City Rollers, followed by a Studio 13-hosted after-party.

October 23rd -- OCCRG will be serving $1 jello shots all night long at Shakespeare's in Iowa City.

October 30th -- OCCRG hosts their first home bout against the Quad City Rollers (location to be determined).

December 11th -- Meet and skate with the team at the Wellman Skating Rink.

Breaking new ground

It's been a strange last few weeks for the Old Capitol City Roller Girls, who are scrambling to get everything in order for next Saturday's scrimmage (see previous post) against the Quad City Roller Girls.

This means more jamming during practices --Woo!-- and more challenging pack drills. But what's most pleasing is see the "fresh meat" (i.e. newer girls) really blossoming. They're getting so good lately that it almost seems unfair to keep calling them fresh meat. They're faster, more cognizant in the pack and just all around hungrier these days. Several of them will be making their debuts in the upcoming scrimmage and they sure are training lights out. Not to turn into a total cheeseball, but I am really proud to have them on the team.

Half of our practices lately have been back at the Robert E. Lee Recreation Center, which might be for the best as we are getting reacquainted with the newly polished hardwood floor there.

I was particularly excited about last night's practice as my new skates --Riedell Black Widows (695)-- had just come in the mail the day before, and I was eager to break them in. The 695 boot was designed for fast-twitch or jam skaters, and I even upgraded them with Swiss Bone bearings and new Sugar wheels. But it was simply not to be.

I was able to get three wheels on each boot but the fourth wheels simply would not slide all the way down on the axle. In fact, they were stuck because it turns out that both trucks had defective axles that were too wide for my bearings. So two roiled phone calls later I was resigned to skating in my old boot and waiting in the mail for my new trucks to arrive.

Once I did calm down --patience has never been my strong suit-- I was able to appreciate the smoothness of the Swiss Bones, and the 'grippiness' of the Sugar wheels. Now I don't expend more energy than necessary when cornering, since I am no longer fighting drifting out and losing ground.

Case in point: The Women's Flat Track Derby Association requires that all skaters be able to complete five laps in under a minute. We did five timed 5-lap sets nearly back-to-back. I averaged 37 seconds for my (5) five-lap sets. It's a bit striking to think back how, many moons ago when I first started derby, I could barely shade under a minute for five laps.

She'll be gone

It's been business as usual for the Old Capitol City Rollers, save for the fact that we quite suddenly decided to invite the Quad City Rollers out for a Studio 13-sponsored scrimmage on Saturday, September 26th. It will be held at the Robert E. Lee Recreation Center in downtown Iowa City and will begin promptly at 8 PM. All of you local derby fans who have been hungering for a match; here's your chance to see it in your own backyard! This should be an excellent preview of our upcoming official first home bout slated for the end of next month, and is sporting the theme 'Alice in Derbyland.' Super schway.

The tentative line-up is slated to include: Toxic Sugar, Sweet Abattoir, Shelby Flyin', Fonda Cuffs, Killer Baker, Ophelia Fracture, Furious George, Hellyna Bucket, Bat R Up, Animal Mother, Left 4 Deadwards, Triple D. Zaster, Fast Bettie and Quantum Bombshell.

Referees will be T-Bird, DeeVious Doll and Crash Carelli.

In other news, I am beginning to have dreams about derby (in addition to eating and breathing it when I am awake). I'm not sure if I should be alarmed or not, but I thought it was worth noting. Hopefully it's a good omen.

And after about a month of comparison shopping, reading reviews and agonizing over different boots I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade from my trusty SureGrip Rebels to the Riedell Black Widow, better known as the 695 model. It should be a good fit for me --both literally and figuratively-- as it is a newer model with a 3/4-inch heel for "fast twitch (jam) skaters" and comes with aluminum trucks and bolted plate. To enhance the boot I am also adding Swiss Bone bearings and new Sugar wheels, so this girl should be absolutely flying in a fortnight or so.