bout recap
Apr. 2nd, 2007 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7In the interests of not spending my entire day at this computer (actually that's a lie, I did get out and go to yoga class, I am so virtuous), I am pasting in the text of an email I sent to my family today, with the recap of the roller derby match and the photos.
So-- the long-awaited bout recap!
First the photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonlady7/sets/72157600043487692/
Those were all taken on my camera by me, Ann, or Fiona's boyfriend Corey.
This event was called Crackin' Eggs and Takin' Names, and had an Easter theme. My boyfriend Z dressed up as our mascot, a giant pink Easter Bunny. The two teams in competition were the Suicidal Saucies [named for a local variety of hot sauce which is very hot] and the Nickel City Knockouts, my team. Our league, the Queen City Rollergirls, is divided into three teams. The third team, the Devil Dollies, hosted the bout and did most of the background work-- reffing, staffing the door and the merchandise table, announcing, and the like. This is our league's first season, and only the second bout we've done publicly-- the first one was an exposition bout, with everyone skating on temporary teams rather than our permanent ones [listed above].
The bout turned out to be absolutely crazy. The fans had a blast-- it was very fast-paced, violent, high-scoring, and exciting. For the first half the score was neck-and-neck, with a lot of fast, high-scoring jams, and a very fragmented pack moving very fast.
[Quick explanation of scoring: the whole thing is called a bout, it's split into two (or three, but we do two) 20-minute periods; the periods are divided into sessions of game play capped at 2 minutes, called jams. During the jam, there are two teams on the floor comprised of 5 players each: two pivots (designated by a striped fabric cover worn over their helmets) leading the pack, four blockers in the middle (two on each team), two power blockers in the back (who help the pivot control the pack, and coordinate the defensive plays), and then the scoring players, the jammers. For each player on the opposing team she skates past, in-bounds, without committing a foul, the jammer earns one point. The blockers all work simultaneously on stopping the opposing jammer while helping their own, while the pivots try to control the speed of the pack, and get last crack at the opposing jammer on her way out. After she gets through, the jammer has to skate a lap to catch up to the back of the (moving) pack again and catch up. That, in a nutshell, is roller derby. There are forty pages of more rules, but they're really not that important, on the whole.]
We were all skating well, if much too fast-- optimally, the pack should skate quite slowly, to give the blockers time to jockey for position and strategize, and to give the jammers the opportunity to lap the pack and catch up to score more points. But we were all exciting, and skating fast, and playing rough. It was actually fun to listen to the crowd reacting to the hits-- we're used to hitting each other, and usually it doesn't hurt at all, and you fall on your kneepads and get up easily. But the crowd's not used to that, so they gasp and ooh and ahh and it's really quite gratifying.
There was one exceptional moment of amusement when my team captain, Mia Mauler, hit the other jammer, Sissy Fit, quite hard, and both fell into the audience seating beyond the edge of the track (this happens kind of a lot). Mia helped Sissy up and apologized before skating away-- because that's how we practice. It was actually quite a cute moment.
But towards the end of the first period, the refs started calling a lot of penalties on the Knockouts, but not nearly as many on the Saucies, despite the fact that we were coming back to the bench with bruises on our backs and faces [which are off-target for legal hitting]. We grew increasingly frustrated, and finally three of us were put into the penalty box simultaneously-- leaving only our jammer and pivot out on the track to somehow skate by themselves. This, it turns out, is contrary to the rules, but the refs seem not to have realized, and we didn't know enough to contradict them. (Only the team's captain can talk to the refs, and ours was so confused she didn't know what to say.)
The jammer, Hazel Maehem, did admirably, but had no defense against the massed blockers on the other team, and so was hit very hard and fell badly, injuring herself and drawing blood. She returned to skate later, but was not up to skating in the jammer position, so another player had to substitute for her.
During that jam, late in the second period, the substitute jammer, Lizzie McFighter, fell badly and tore one of the ligaments of her knee. She told us all it was just bruised, as they took her away in an ambulance, but she was lying through her teeth because she didn't want us to be upset. Now we've found out she's out for at least the season, not only from roller derby but also from the other sport she's passionate about-- running.
So my enjoyment of the whole thing is heavily colored by that. But for the spectators, I am assured it was extremely exciting.
The final score was something like Saucies 103 to Knockouts 79. We didn't stop fighting all the way to the end, but it was so hard to deal with the frustration and anxiety and distress and sheer anger at perceived unfairness. Of course in any sport one has to deal with that kind of thing, and I would be much more blithe about the importance of learning experiences if I didn't have so much unresolved emotion about the Hazel-Lizzie chain reaction of injuries.
But-- it's a dangerous sport, and that's what makes it so exciting. [Actually serious injuries are fairly rare-- we've only had about three very serious injuries so far, all to the knee, and two based on pre-existing conditions which were exacerbated by rollerskating; anything else has been a matter of bruising and sore muscles, which heal in a week or so, and bruised bones, which hurt a while longer (tailbones in particular!) but aren't incapacitating.]
So, we've got our work cut out for us in getting ready for the next bout-- which is April 28th, vs. the league's third team, the Devil Dollies.
Anyway-- there's my recap and explanation. We're still deciding on next month's theme. And we're desperately recruiting more refs.
So-- the long-awaited bout recap!
First the photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonlady7/sets/72157600043487692/
Those were all taken on my camera by me, Ann, or Fiona's boyfriend Corey.
This event was called Crackin' Eggs and Takin' Names, and had an Easter theme. My boyfriend Z dressed up as our mascot, a giant pink Easter Bunny. The two teams in competition were the Suicidal Saucies [named for a local variety of hot sauce which is very hot] and the Nickel City Knockouts, my team. Our league, the Queen City Rollergirls, is divided into three teams. The third team, the Devil Dollies, hosted the bout and did most of the background work-- reffing, staffing the door and the merchandise table, announcing, and the like. This is our league's first season, and only the second bout we've done publicly-- the first one was an exposition bout, with everyone skating on temporary teams rather than our permanent ones [listed above].
The bout turned out to be absolutely crazy. The fans had a blast-- it was very fast-paced, violent, high-scoring, and exciting. For the first half the score was neck-and-neck, with a lot of fast, high-scoring jams, and a very fragmented pack moving very fast.
[Quick explanation of scoring: the whole thing is called a bout, it's split into two (or three, but we do two) 20-minute periods; the periods are divided into sessions of game play capped at 2 minutes, called jams. During the jam, there are two teams on the floor comprised of 5 players each: two pivots (designated by a striped fabric cover worn over their helmets) leading the pack, four blockers in the middle (two on each team), two power blockers in the back (who help the pivot control the pack, and coordinate the defensive plays), and then the scoring players, the jammers. For each player on the opposing team she skates past, in-bounds, without committing a foul, the jammer earns one point. The blockers all work simultaneously on stopping the opposing jammer while helping their own, while the pivots try to control the speed of the pack, and get last crack at the opposing jammer on her way out. After she gets through, the jammer has to skate a lap to catch up to the back of the (moving) pack again and catch up. That, in a nutshell, is roller derby. There are forty pages of more rules, but they're really not that important, on the whole.]
We were all skating well, if much too fast-- optimally, the pack should skate quite slowly, to give the blockers time to jockey for position and strategize, and to give the jammers the opportunity to lap the pack and catch up to score more points. But we were all exciting, and skating fast, and playing rough. It was actually fun to listen to the crowd reacting to the hits-- we're used to hitting each other, and usually it doesn't hurt at all, and you fall on your kneepads and get up easily. But the crowd's not used to that, so they gasp and ooh and ahh and it's really quite gratifying.
There was one exceptional moment of amusement when my team captain, Mia Mauler, hit the other jammer, Sissy Fit, quite hard, and both fell into the audience seating beyond the edge of the track (this happens kind of a lot). Mia helped Sissy up and apologized before skating away-- because that's how we practice. It was actually quite a cute moment.
But towards the end of the first period, the refs started calling a lot of penalties on the Knockouts, but not nearly as many on the Saucies, despite the fact that we were coming back to the bench with bruises on our backs and faces [which are off-target for legal hitting]. We grew increasingly frustrated, and finally three of us were put into the penalty box simultaneously-- leaving only our jammer and pivot out on the track to somehow skate by themselves. This, it turns out, is contrary to the rules, but the refs seem not to have realized, and we didn't know enough to contradict them. (Only the team's captain can talk to the refs, and ours was so confused she didn't know what to say.)
The jammer, Hazel Maehem, did admirably, but had no defense against the massed blockers on the other team, and so was hit very hard and fell badly, injuring herself and drawing blood. She returned to skate later, but was not up to skating in the jammer position, so another player had to substitute for her.
During that jam, late in the second period, the substitute jammer, Lizzie McFighter, fell badly and tore one of the ligaments of her knee. She told us all it was just bruised, as they took her away in an ambulance, but she was lying through her teeth because she didn't want us to be upset. Now we've found out she's out for at least the season, not only from roller derby but also from the other sport she's passionate about-- running.
So my enjoyment of the whole thing is heavily colored by that. But for the spectators, I am assured it was extremely exciting.
The final score was something like Saucies 103 to Knockouts 79. We didn't stop fighting all the way to the end, but it was so hard to deal with the frustration and anxiety and distress and sheer anger at perceived unfairness. Of course in any sport one has to deal with that kind of thing, and I would be much more blithe about the importance of learning experiences if I didn't have so much unresolved emotion about the Hazel-Lizzie chain reaction of injuries.
But-- it's a dangerous sport, and that's what makes it so exciting. [Actually serious injuries are fairly rare-- we've only had about three very serious injuries so far, all to the knee, and two based on pre-existing conditions which were exacerbated by rollerskating; anything else has been a matter of bruising and sore muscles, which heal in a week or so, and bruised bones, which hurt a while longer (tailbones in particular!) but aren't incapacitating.]
So, we've got our work cut out for us in getting ready for the next bout-- which is April 28th, vs. the league's third team, the Devil Dollies.
Anyway-- there's my recap and explanation. We're still deciding on next month's theme. And we're desperately recruiting more refs.
