Well-oiled machine

In case you've been living under a rock or perhaps in a hollow tree, you should be aware of the fact that the Old Capitol City Roller Girls won their fifth straight bout this past Saturday at the Coralville Marriott. Facing off against the the Stateline Derby Divas of Beloit, Wisconsin, OCCRG notched a blowout victory with a staggering final tally of 303-69.

The Fullmetal Derby-themed bout featured the debut of new OCCRG skaters Holm Wrecker and Gigahurtz as veteran skaters Hitzy Blonde and Killer Baker remained laid up with knee and ankle injuries. And I'm proud to report that they both skated like pros and even took respective turns jamming. In fact, there was a slew of veteran blockers making rarely witnessed appearances on the jam line including Toxic Sugar, Benzo Bang, Fannysaurus and Animal Mother.

Overall it was a strategically played game by OCCRG, won with near-impermeable walls, pace manipulation and self-sufficient jammers. Highlights included an obscene 37-point jam by Ophelia Fracture and the passing of the star by Benzo Bang to Left 4 Deadwards, who pushed OCCRG over the 300 mark for the first time ever.

Here are some photos from the bout taken by the talented Emily Sherman:


Animal Mother moves in for the kill


Solid walling by Toxic Sugar, Old Yeller and Gigahurtz


Shelby Flyin was one of many lead jammers for OCCRG


Fannysaurus tackles a Stateline jammer


Yours truly skimming the inside line with some help from teammates


Bat R Up terrorizing a Stateline jammer

Next up: OCCRG heads on the road again for their first anticipated match-up with the Mid-Iowa Rollers in Des Moines on the 19th.

Releasing the Kraken

It's been an interesting past two weeks, to be sure. My Achilles tendon did heal well enough for me to start running again, and I was pleased to be back outside in the sunshine instead of toiling indoors on the stationary bike. The last Wednesday practice before our May 22nd bout against the Des Moines Derby Dames went well other than me landing on my right foot funny during the last ten minutes of practice.

By coincidence, I did have an appointment with my podiatrist the next morning. I described the fall and the resulting pain running along the right side of my foot. He diagnosed me with a stretched peroneal tendon and informed me that it would probably take two or three weeks to heal fully, which sent me into panic mode. Within a few hours of the injury, I could not even bear weight on my right foot and I couldn't conceive it being possible in the slightest that I'd be well enough to skate that Saturday.

The Old Capitol City Roller Girls needed me to jam on Saturday. We were already skating short, not having ace jammers Ophelia Fracture and GladI8Her as well as the blockers Zom B, Shelby Flyin and Hitzy Blonde. I envisioned having to call coach Bat R Up to tell her I couldn't skate, disappointing the rest of the team...

And yet there was a glimmer of hope: Dr. Sehl told me sometimes such injuries make quick turnarounds, and in my case there was very little swelling. He advised continuing to take my heavy-duty anti-inflammatory, wrapping the foot in sports tape, wearing the boot I'd previously used on my left foot and icing the tendon like crazy.

I followed the prescription zealously over the next two days, and miraculously enough by Saturday the pain had diminished enough that I could skate. I wouldn't be at my best, but I'd be pretty close. As for the bout itself, I wasn't sure what to expect -- we'd won comfortably in our only meeting with the Dames, but they were more experienced and we were without several of our best skaters. Additionally, Bat R Up asked me to be Alternate Coach for the bout -- equally flattering and daunting.

As it turned out, it was a most arduous bout. Left 4 Deadwards and myself did the bulk of the jamming, mostly against the fleet Stella Italiana of the Dames. In the first few minutes of the game, OCCRG was down by a number of points. Our heads just weren't in the game, but we dug deep further into the first half to reclaim the lead. The Dames were tenacious but OCCRG fought even harder to maintain the margin.

Left 4 Deadwards was evasive and swift and was named lead jammer in the vast majority of her jams. I had a 20-point jam (and a bout total of 82), a personal best, though it helped that the Dames' blockers and jammer were stuck in the penalty box at the time. Bat R Up jammed a few times and true to form took out a number of the Dames in spectacular fashion. Footage of the bout can be viewed here; be sure to check out 2:06, 2:16 and 3:23. Toxic Sugar also got in several rock solid hits.

In the end, it was OCCRG 151-122. But we were not without a casualty. Furyis Jorge went down hard and broke her fibula so she will be out for a few months. I'm glad she doesn't need surgery for it but I will sure miss that monkey on the track.

Shots from the bout:


Left 4 Deadwards in one of her many turns as lead jammer


Furyis Jorge making OCCRG proud with a solid hit


Coach on coach action: Bat R Up butts heads with Show Stopper

Eager to roll

Whew. It's been a whirlwind past couple of weeks; neglecting the blog while I crammed for final exams and churned out last-minute papers. But now that school is out for the summer you can count on better coverage on your Old Capitol City Roller Girls.

About three weeks ago while running I developed a moderate, radiating pain in my left ankle that seemed to stem from my Achilles tendon. And though I made it my New Year's resolution to stop going on the Internet and self-diagnosing myself with various illnesses and injuries, I did some Googling and figured I must have tendonitis in my Achilles. Most sources said to just to cut back on the workouts slightly and practice the infamous RICE treatment until it subsided. So I stopped running and just skated and walked for exercise, popped ibuprofen around the clock and iced with a gel pack. But after a week I wasn't seeing any improvement; the pain was worse and the tendon was swelling, so I made an appointment with my podiatrist. He diagnosed me with moderate Achilles tendonitis and prescribed a heavy duty anti-inflammatory, physical therapy and a hideous immobilizing boot to wear all day, every day for the next two weeks.

Unfortunately, as the date of the home bout with the Cedar Rapids Roller Girls neared I had to make the dreaded call to my coach to tell her that I didn't think I could skate without worsening the condition of my Achilles. She was disappointed, but understood. So on Saturday, May 8th OCCRG skated without me in the bout, themed Better To Get Knocked Down Than Knocked Up and sponsored by Avoid the Stork.

And I am proud to say that even skating one player short OCCRG steamrolled Cedar Rapids 271-84! Though I hated missing out on the action, I was very pleased with what I saw: Swift jammers, solid walls/blocking and aggressive hits. Also exciting was having Benzo Bang making her bout debut, as she was one of the very first OCCRG skaters but spent most of last year laid up with a bum knee.


Ophelia Fracture blitzing, as usual


Recyclopath, Killer Baker and Fannysaurus wall it up


Left 4 Deadwards in the clear

Sorry, no photos of Bat R Up mopping the floor with an opposing skater this time ;)

Meanwhile, my tendon is healing nicely; well enough that I can skate with no discomfort so I can still skate against the Des Moines Derby Dames this Saturday. I might even start reintroducing running to my exercise regimen again, which is well-timed as I am getting awfully tired of riding the stationary bike at the gym.

Don't forget about our next home bout on Saturday, June 5th against the Stateline Derby Divas!

Hot like dance biscuits

It’s been a busy past few days for Triple D. Zaster. Hitzy Blonde approached me last week and asked myself and Shelby Flyin to work with the fresh meat (i.e. neophytes) during Sunday’s practice. Being flattered and keen to encourage the Old Capitol City Roller Girls’ greenest skaters, I accepted and set to work over the weekend of coming up with various drills and core exercises.

This ended up being a lot trickier than I anticipated since the practice space was smaller (we ended up back at the Armory instead of our usual haunt, the Marriott) and there was not enough room for a separate fresh meat track. I was a little nervous about meeting expectations but when Sunday’s practice rolled around it went without a hitch. I started I had the fresh meat work on endurance by skating around the outer perimeter of the track single file –I felt like a mama duck leading her ducklings!— for a good half an hour and then drilled them intense core and weight training exercises. Plenty of pushups, crunches, planks, bicycle kicks, leg lifts, etc. which made good on my promise to the fresh meat at the beginning of the practice: That I would push them hard but I would never ask them to do anything they weren’t capable of, and so long as they gave me 100% I would be more than satisfied.

Shelby Flyin took over for the second half of practice and I went back to skating with the vets. Coaching was fun though a bit intimidating, so I do have even more respect for Bat R Up and Hitzy Blonde.

Wednesday’s practice was much more intense; the team hadn’t scrimmaged since our bout on the 3rd against the Des Moines Derby Dames so we were all getting a little antsy. But we did end up scrimmaging for a whole hour which was just what I needed after bad day at work and school. I jammed a little bit but had the most fun blocking, particularly being a pain in the ass for the other team’s jammer. I gave some really hard hits and it felt pretty good knocking some girls on their rears – I didn’t even mind when I fell hard on one of Chemical Spill’s wheels, which resulted in a giant, rotund contusion on the back of my left thigh (I’m sure it will be all sorts of pretty colors in the coming days).

In other news, on Friday, May 7 OCCRG will be meeting at the Iowa City Public Library at 6 PM for a showing of our own Left 4 Deadwards' untitled movie following the exploits of the team on and off the track. There will be a meet and greet with your favorite roller girls, snacks, a reception... I'm very much agog to see it; check out the trailer for yourself!

Revitalized

I suppose an explanation is order. It's going on four months since I updated the blog, something I am definitely not proud of. But life, as it is wont to do, sometimes throws a wrench into our plans. Although I can't say anything terribly major occurred I did have a hard time the past few months motivating myself to do much of anything.

I'm not a winter person. The lack of sunlight, barren landscape and frigid temperatures just don't agree with me. This semester at school has also been tumultuous, with my grades slipping significantly. To put it simply, I was burnt out for a long time. But before I knew it, the Old Capitol City Roller Girls' season opener was upon us.

On March 13, we took on the Paper Valley Flying Squirrels, arguably the toughest and most venerable team we will face all the season. OCCRG put up a good fight and were not disgraced in finishing 195-108 behind the Squirrels. The crowd, as always, was loud and supportive.

Less than a fortnight later on the 26th, OCCRG traveled to the River Center in Davenport to face their old foes the Quad City Rollers. Entering the bout the rivalry was split 1-1, with the Quad City Rollers having won the first match by three points before OCCRG avenged that loss with 185-91 triumph on their home turf of the Coralville Marriott.

OCCRG skated in their best effort yet as a team to route the Quad City Rollers 127-74. Our jammers were swift and agile as usual, but it was as blockers that the team really shined. We had tough, effective walls built, the inside line vigilantly guarded and our eyes keenly attuned to the Quad City jammers. This was a fortuitous vision Coach Bat R Up had described to us in the minutes before the opening jam, a dream she had had the week before.

On a personal note, that night was my 25th birthday and the determined victory by OCCRG was the best gift I could have asked for. And just like that, the spark was rekindled. I snapped out of my funk, both on and off the track. I worked on getting caught up with assignments and papers in school and my grades lifted. In a timely procession, spring finally arrived -- things are green again, there's more sunlight and I can run the trails outside again (making me even fitter as a result; I tend to push myself harder as opposed to the mundane treadmill workout).

Invigorated, I was champing at the bit for our next bout on April 3rd, this time at home and featuring the debut of the Des Moines Derby Dames. It was another solid effort by OCCRG to vanquish the Dames 192-81 in our Malice In Derbyland-themed bout. We stymied their jammers and again constructed often impermeable walls. OCCRG also vastly improved in their efforts to control the pace to their advantage (i.e. speeding up the pace when their jammer was in the penalty box and slowing down the tempo when the other team's jammer was in the box).

As usual Bat R Up sent many girls down hard on the concrete. Left 4 Deadwards remarkably made lead jammer in all eight of her jams. I myself had a personal best in averaging 7.1 points per jam, including a 14-point jam in the second half (second only to a 19-point jam by Left 4 Deadwards, also in the second half). I also have to give praise to the Dames who fought hard in their debut against a team with significantly more bout experience (a rematch is scheduled in Des Moines on May 22).

And now for the photos!


Fast Bettie (left), myself and Killer Baker walling up front


Ophelia Fracture circling the pack as jammer; also seen is Shelby Flyin (argyle socks)


Bat R Up doing what she does best


Fast Bettie and Hitzy Blonde poses with young fans (and future roller girls?)

Also on a final note, Left 4 Deadwards has started her own blog and it's definitely worth checking out as she specializes in videos and editing.

Whoooosh

Well. I can hardly believe a whole month has passed since I last posted, but things have been kind of hectic on my end and in my life, and sometimes it feels like derby is the only thing that keeps me together.

Anyway, the Old Capitol City Roller Girls went to Appleton, Wisconsin last Saturday to play Paper Valley’s B-team, the Flying Squirrels. We lost, but didn’t take it too badly as there were a lot of things playing out of our favor. One OCCRG told me point blank the team we were playing was not the same one she had played in early summer (i.e. there were mostly A-team girls skating), and the referees made some extremely questionable and often simply incorrect calls, like sending jammer GladI8Her to the penalty box several times for back-blocking or pulling on her own teammates (even though it is only an offense if it happens to a skater on the opposing team). There was also a lot of track-cutting that was not called and myself and at least three other OCCRGs took elbows and shoulders to the face. But I guess it was still good playing experience and also a solid example of how things are not always going to go your way at a bout and there is nothing you can do about it – and that is something I simply will have to accept. Although, I will add that the Paper Valley girls were very nice and welcoming.

But we’re not done with the season yet. OCCRG has accepted another bout invitation from the Muddy River Nightmares (formerly the Big Mouth Mickies? I’m not really sure anymore) of Clinton, Iowa and will travel to face them on Saturday, January 30th.

Some of the team, myself included, will also be skating in the January 9th expo called the 4 Rollers of the Apocalypse. Essentially the Quad City Rollers are holding a ‘mixer’ of four motley teams of skaters from OCCRG, Stateline Roller Derby Divas (Beloit, Wisconsin), Rockford Rage Roller Derby (Rockford, Illinois), Muddy River Nightmares (Clinton, Iowa), The Chicago Outfit (Chicago, Illinois) and the Mad Rollin’ Dolls (Madison, Wisconsin). Kind of a tournament-style event. It will be held at the River Center in Davenport at 6 PM. Hopefully we don’t get snowed out.