Our Roller Derby league had their first official bout today!

[Nadz1lla]

Just got back from Newquay where our girls in the SXDG (Somerset and Exeter Derby Girls) did an awesome job against the Kernow Krackens. The final score was KK 83 SXDG 81, our ladies lost by just TWO points, which is pretty good. Bit of a bitter taste in our mouths, though, as the game was fraught with bad calls and blind-eyes from the Referees who were clearly biased towards KK. Their team kept grabbing our players (you're REALLY not supposed to grab people!) and the refs kept "not seeing" it. That part of the game really sucked, so it was nice to see that even with their team basically cheating and being helped by the refs we still held our own and almost equalised. They didn't really get their heads around the fact that the lady getting all hot and bothered in our team's corner and shouting things at the refs was none other than Dot Slash, former London Roller Girls coach...she REALLY knows her game and wasn't just shouting for the hell of it.

Next time: Home turf here in Exeter and unbiased referees from Brighton. Then we'll see who wins in a fair game.  :D

[Nadz1lla]

For anyone interested in watching a full bout, I filmed this at the bout today. Our girls (SXDG) are in the pink uniforms, Kernow Krakens are in the yellow ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4x5H4tdubI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfMCxpPuLDU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUK0WlXdZCo

[Johnny Mac]

There is a girl in my local skate shop who does RD. She is in the London Rockin Rollers I think. It looks like a good laugh to do. It's an all girl thing I hear?
I just go to an outdoor track on my inlines or to a roller rink with my quads with my woman and her daughter. It's a fun way to keep active even if the music in a rink is painful! I used to skate in my teens but got back into it last year. I'm glad my woman talked me into going with them. I had a go on ice on the bank holiday weekend. Takes a bit of getting used to but good fun.

[Nadz1lla]

Sweet! Yeah it's a fun way to get that cardio going, heh.

Pretty much exclusively ladies right now. Back when it was invented in the 30's and up until the 70's (I think, maybe just after too) it was a mixed gender sport. But since its revival in the early 00's, it's been girls only. Mainly becauase men didn't really get interested in it, but there are a few male teams now that still play to the WFTDA (Womens Flat Track Derby Association) rules. I am trying to start a team down here but not many guys know about it and those that do would rather just watch the girls, heh.

[Nadz1lla]

Had our second bout today against Severn Roller Torrent, and..... WE WON! By a fair distance too: 175 - 90   PDT_024

We had a full contingent of Referees, too, which was awesome, and they were all from other leagues around the country. One of them was Henry the Sk8th from London and he was brilliant, watched his warm-up laps and the dude almost flies!

So we had all un-biased refs, two fairly evenly matched teams and a massively well-organised event on the whole, so everyone was happy. It was neck and neck up until the beginning of the second half, and then our team got lucky and managed to pull off several immense power-jams (the opposing jammer was sent to the penalty box, therefore unable to score any points...so our jammer had free reign to rocket around the track and pick up loads of points!)

I'm on a high right now and it makes me even more determined to get my male team off the ground, hah! Until then, I'll keep learning the ropes as a ref.  :D

[JacksonRR]

determined to get my male team off the ground

This phrase reminds me of a picture I once saw of a squirrel. JK, dude. Sounds and looks like a lot of fun. I bet it's good to get out and be active with Mrs. Nadz too.

[Nadz1lla]

Hell yeah! She passed her minimum skills yesterday too! She had done everything else and just needed to do her 25 laps in 5 minutes, and she did 26 and 3/4, so definitely made sure she passed this time, heh.  We skate a lot together now down by the river along the cycle path, so yeah, definitely good to have a common hobby. It's brought us closer together for sure.  :D