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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
WCR All-Stars: # whatever in the nation... #1 in our hearts!
The 2009 WFTDA Championship Tournament wrapped up on
Sunday evening and a new champion of the flat track was crowned, the Oly Rollers of Olympia, Washington. The championship bout was Oly vs. Texas and Oly came out victorious, 178-101.
Haven't heard of Oly? That's probably because they only played their first WFTDA sanctioned bout in January 2009, and their first bout against a "national contender" in March 2009. However, a number of the Oly Rollers are experienced derby players (4 transfers from nearby Rat City) and many of their players are world class skaters (speed and hockey), including 14-time world champion speed skater Atomatrix (whose WCR-fan club is pretty significant already...) The speed, athleticism, and smarts that Oly brought to the track were inspiring to watch, and we are excited to see how their play will influence the development of our sport, just as previous champions Texas, Kansas City, and Gotham have influenced the direction thus far
The WCR All-Stars and their legions of fans who travelled out to Philadelphia were disappointed to see their team be one-and-done with a 2nd round upset to the Denver Roller Doll
s' Mile High Club on Saturday. The Denver-Windy bout was one of the most contentious of the tournament, as Denver's creative strategy with slow starts and incredibly effective positional blocking frustrated the team and the many fans in attendance.
Beth Amphetamine developed a new strategy during the course of the game against Denver called "jammer cage." Unfortunately, she only broke it out during her last jam on the track on Saturday.
The tournament was surprising all-around, as a number of the favorites--including long-time WCR rivals Philly and Gotham--were also ousted in the early Saturday games by Western region teams. Because the tournament is single-elimination, only the top 4 teams get national rankings out of the tournament. The remaining 8 participants will receive rankings after a WFTDA member poll.
Full tournament results:
Round 1
Boston 104 - Madison 96
Rocky Mountain 239 - Houston 46
Gotham 187 - Detroit 38
Denver 175 - Kansas City 89
Round 2
Texas 111 - Boston 72
Rocky Mountain 128 - Philly 121
Denver 157 - Windy City 125
Oly 136 - Gotham 105
Round 3 (Semifinals)
Texas 139 - Rocky Mountain 82
Oly 178 - Denver 81
3/4 Bout
Denver 151 - Rocky Mountain 103
Championship Bout
Oly 178 - Texas 101
Sunday evening and a new champion of the flat track was crowned, the Oly Rollers of Olympia, Washington. The championship bout was Oly vs. Texas and Oly came out victorious, 178-101.
Haven't heard of Oly? That's probably because they only played their first WFTDA sanctioned bout in January 2009, and their first bout against a "national contender" in March 2009. However, a number of the Oly Rollers are experienced derby players (4 transfers from nearby Rat City) and many of their players are world class skaters (speed and hockey), including 14-time world champion speed skater Atomatrix (whose WCR-fan club is pretty significant already...) The speed, athleticism, and smarts that Oly brought to the track were inspiring to watch, and we are excited to see how their play will influence the development of our sport, just as previous champions Texas, Kansas City, and Gotham have influenced the direction thus far
The WCR All-Stars and their legions of fans who travelled out to Philadelphia were disappointed to see their team be one-and-done with a 2nd round upset to the Denver Roller Doll
s' Mile High Club on Saturday. The Denver-Windy bout was one of the most contentious of the tournament, as Denver's creative strategy with slow starts and incredibly effective positional blocking frustrated the team and the many fans in attendance.Beth Amphetamine developed a new strategy during the course of the game against Denver called "jammer cage." Unfortunately, she only broke it out during her last jam on the track on Saturday.
The tournament was surprising all-around, as a number of the favorites--including long-time WCR rivals Philly and Gotham--were also ousted in the early Saturday games by Western region teams. Because the tournament is single-elimination, only the top 4 teams get national rankings out of the tournament. The remaining 8 participants will receive rankings after a WFTDA member poll.
Full tournament results:
Round 1
Boston 104 - Madison 96
Rocky Mountain 239 - Houston 46
Gotham 187 - Detroit 38
Denver 175 - Kansas City 89
Round 2
Texas 111 - Boston 72
Rocky Mountain 128 - Philly 121
Denver 157 - Windy City 125
Oly 136 - Gotham 105
Round 3 (Semifinals)
Texas 139 - Rocky Mountain 82
Oly 178 - Denver 81
3/4 Bout
Denver 151 - Rocky Mountain 103
Championship Bout
Oly 178 - Texas 101
Thursday, November 12, 2009
It's almost time... 2010 WFTDA National Championships!
OMG Rollergirl! Do you believe that Nationals are THIS WEEKEND! Hundreds of skaters and thousands of fans from all over the country (and some not even from this country) will be descending upon Philadelphia to watch the best women's flat track derby teams duke it out for the National title. Your beloved WCR All-Stars will be one of the 12 teams competing for the title, and as North Central Regional Champions, won't be in action until Saturday, as they get a first-round bye.
With WFTDA's competitive restructuring in this year-- we went from 2 regions to 4, the Nationals structure looks a bit different than the past two years. Like previous years, this is a single elimination tournament, however, with the addition of 4 teams, the structure is different. In the first round, each of the teams that finished 2nd (Gotham, Madison, Kansas City, and Rocky Mountain) will face a team than placed 3rd (Boston, Detroit, Houston, and Denver) in their regional tournament. First-round winners then meet up with one of the four regional champions (Philly, Windy City, Texas, Oly) for a spot in the semifinals.
Windy City's first bout is at 12:30pm (Central) on Saturday and it'll be against the winner of Kansas City (SC #2) or Denver (W #3). If the All-Stars win that bout, they'll play again on Saturday night (6:45 Central), against the winner among Oly (W #1), Gotham (E #2), and Detroit (NC #3). Our friends at Derby News Network will be providing text- and video-casts of all the action this weekend, but be sure to tune in during the WCR game(s)!!!!
A couple more handy links...
DNN preview of Nationals Teams (they forgot to mention 12 folks in the "skaters to watch" part for WCR though...)
And the great promo commercial for the tournament, featuring the Philly Roller Girls!
We'll be updating the blog all weekend with score and bout updates! See you in Philly!!
We'll be updating the blog all weekend with score and bout updates! See you in Philly!!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Interview with Athena DeCrime, WCR All-Stars
Hey folks! The 2009 WFTDA National Tournament is THIS WEEKEND! Check out the WCR preview on Derby News Network now, as well as the other team previews, and if you can't get to Philly, check in there all weekend to follow the tournament action on the liveblogs and videocasts. We'll have a tournament preview later this week, but meanwhile, enjoy this interview with O.G. Windy City Roller and vet All-Star Athena DeCrimeLoco Chanel: You've been on the All-Star team since the 2006 Dust Devil, and as the announcers like to say, "a five year veteran". This year marks your third trip to Nationals and the team is coming in as a #1 seed. How would you compare each season?
Athena DeCrime: Having been around for so long, it's been amazing to watch the evolution of the sport. It's grown from something that happened on a somewhat insular level in separate cities to a national movement. Windy City's growth has followed that evolution-- we first skated on a non-regulation track and then jumped into the national scene with a bunch of adolescent know-it-all swagger.
Going to Dust Devil '06 was like going off to college- we found out really quickly how many things we did not know. Each subsequent season has held so many lessons in part because the sport is constantly evolving, but also because we've had a relatively stable team core and therefore haven't had to reinvent the wheel each year, leaving room for growth and progress. A lot of effort goes into keeping up with the changes in the sport and making sure our game play reflects that.
I know you and the rest of the team have your eyes on the big prize in Philly in November, but you'll need to beat either Kansas City or Denver advance to the top 4. Either opponent will be a team you haven't seen this season. What are your thoughts going into that first game?
I haven't gotten to watch KC very closely this season, so I'm excited to see what they're bringing to Nationals. Thanks to DNN, I've been able to see a couple of Denver's bouts. [Total aside, I think DNN's boutcasts are partly responsible for how much the sport has been able to grow nationally.] Denver has a distinctive style of play that's been successful for them thus far this year, so KC's main challenge will be to still play their own game while defending against such a unified plan of action.
Last year, you spent a good part of July and August at "roller derby summer camp" and some of this got caught on film. Can you tell us more about that experience?
You know, having a similar build and facial structure to an SNL actress resulted in a summer I'll never forget.
During "roller derby summer camp" you had the opportunity to skate on a banked track and also have arts & crafts sessions with top players from all over the country who were also in attendance. It must have been really fun and inspiring to spend time skating with so many kickass skaters. Who were your favorites? What were your takeaways from that part of the experience?
One of the best things about derby camp, aside from the sheer once-in-a-lifetimeness of it all was the reinforcement of the community aspect of roller derby. Flat track skaters from Detroit, Atlanta, and Grand Rapids got to skate with banked track skaters from LA and Texas and it was still the same derby family environment I'm used to at home.
Skating on a banked track was a blast; although I'm proud to be part of the flat-track part of roller derby's history, it was thrilling to be able to play on the type of track on which derby was born.
The derby community is full of passionate, driven individuals and it's inspiring to be a part of that.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Interview with Donna Party, WCR All-Stars
Hey folks! The 2009 WFTDA National Tournament is THIS WEEKEND! Check out the WCR preview on Derby News Network now, and if you can't get to Philly, check in there all weekend to follow the tournament action on the liveblogs and videocasts. We'll have a tournament preview later this weekend, but meanwhile, enjoy this interview with 3-season veteran All-Star skater, Donna Party!Loco Chanel: Unlike previous years, it seems like WCR is widely regarded as a top contender at this year's Nationals, contrasted to previous years when the team was more under the radar. How are you approaching the final days of training before the big tournament?
Donna Party: Going into 2007 and 2008, we wanted to prove to the derby community that we are a top ranked team. This year, we have to prove that we deserve to maintain our position at the top, so we have been training hard and building our team chemistry.
Personally, I've been going to outside speed practices to improve my strength and stride along with my teammates. Speed practice is fun and very hard, especially when a 9 year old on inlines is faster than you!
One of Windy City's long-time rivals, New York's Gotham Girls, are in the same half of the bracket as the All-Stars. You have a personal connection to Gotham, as your sister skates for their league. What are your thoughts about a potential WCR-Gotham semifinal matchup?
Well, if we make the semis (we need to win our Saturday morning bout first!) it'll be an amazing bout, as always. Sister Party will actually be rooting for Gotham for the last time this weekend, as she's moving to Chicago this winter and plans to skate with us. I hope she gets picked up by the XXers so we can be the Block Party in 2010!
Along with skating on the All-Stars and Double Crossers, you've served as Creative Chair and recently became WCR's Marketing Chair. Can you tell us about these roles?
I am lucky to have spectacular co-chairs and committee members, so the giant amount of work that goes into managing the Marketing and Creative monsters is spread out among us. It's a lot of work, but it's incredibly satisfying to see our work pay off, like with the huge crowd at last month's game against Rose City. Also-- quick marketing plug, if you are interested in volunteering with Windy City, or sponsoring our league, email http://www.blogger.com/marketing@windycityrollers.com!
Because my life is kind of consumed with WCR marketing, I'd like to take this opportunity to also talk about my personal project that I am working on, The Unnecessary Combover- The Haircut of the Future, which is looking for participants. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in participating and receiving an Unnecessary Combover, contact me through my website- http://www.unnecessarycombover.com/ and stay tuned for photos of my next Unnecessary Combover participant, WCR's Oedipus Ref!
Also, feel free to contact me with freelance photography work or your own photo project ideas at http://www.mariahkarson.com/. Projects involving puppies and starfish costumes are given preferential treatment.
In addition to skating like 10x a week, you practice yoga regularly. When did you start practicing yoga? How has it impacted your derby performance?
I started practicing yoga in 2003 while I was super stressed, depressed, and unhealthy. From yoga, I learned that anything is possible, it just takes practice. When I started, I could not touch my toes and could barely hold myself up in down dog for 5 breaths, let alone focus on my breath and body. I found that every time I went back to a class, I could physically do a tiny bit more than I could the previous week, and my overall anxiety and mood was slowly evening out. Yoga began the process of getting my body and mind back in shape and lead me to more physical activities, like cycling and roller derby.
When I started playing derby, I found myself focusing on my breath and body position to work through pain and fatigue, and well as relying on the principal that everything takes time, dedication, and practice.
Donna Party: Going into 2007 and 2008, we wanted to prove to the derby community that we are a top ranked team. This year, we have to prove that we deserve to maintain our position at the top, so we have been training hard and building our team chemistry.
Personally, I've been going to outside speed practices to improve my strength and stride along with my teammates. Speed practice is fun and very hard, especially when a 9 year old on inlines is faster than you!
One of Windy City's long-time rivals, New York's Gotham Girls, are in the same half of the bracket as the All-Stars. You have a personal connection to Gotham, as your sister skates for their league. What are your thoughts about a potential WCR-Gotham semifinal matchup?
Well, if we make the semis (we need to win our Saturday morning bout first!) it'll be an amazing bout, as always. Sister Party will actually be rooting for Gotham for the last time this weekend, as she's moving to Chicago this winter and plans to skate with us. I hope she gets picked up by the XXers so we can be the Block Party in 2010!
Along with skating on the All-Stars and Double Crossers, you've served as Creative Chair and recently became WCR's Marketing Chair. Can you tell us about these roles?
I am lucky to have spectacular co-chairs and committee members, so the giant amount of work that goes into managing the Marketing and Creative monsters is spread out among us. It's a lot of work, but it's incredibly satisfying to see our work pay off, like with the huge crowd at last month's game against Rose City. Also-- quick marketing plug, if you are interested in volunteering with Windy City, or sponsoring our league, email http://www.blogger.com/marketing@windycityrollers.com!
Because my life is kind of consumed with WCR marketing, I'd like to take this opportunity to also talk about my personal project that I am working on, The Unnecessary Combover- The Haircut of the Future, which is looking for participants. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in participating and receiving an Unnecessary Combover, contact me through my website- http://www.unnecessarycombover.com/ and stay tuned for photos of my next Unnecessary Combover participant, WCR's Oedipus Ref!
Also, feel free to contact me with freelance photography work or your own photo project ideas at http://www.mariahkarson.com/. Projects involving puppies and starfish costumes are given preferential treatment.
In addition to skating like 10x a week, you practice yoga regularly. When did you start practicing yoga? How has it impacted your derby performance?
I started practicing yoga in 2003 while I was super stressed, depressed, and unhealthy. From yoga, I learned that anything is possible, it just takes practice. When I started, I could not touch my toes and could barely hold myself up in down dog for 5 breaths, let alone focus on my breath and body. I found that every time I went back to a class, I could physically do a tiny bit more than I could the previous week, and my overall anxiety and mood was slowly evening out. Yoga began the process of getting my body and mind back in shape and lead me to more physical activities, like cycling and roller derby.
When I started playing derby, I found myself focusing on my breath and body position to work through pain and fatigue, and well as relying on the principal that everything takes time, dedication, and practice.
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