San Diego or Bust

San Deigo or Bust.

No seriously, help us get to San Diego.

We are playing the San Deigo Diego Rollers, a flat track game at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on September 26th.

This is probably the game I am most excited about. Not only do I love those San Diego girls, but I love their banked track.

I went down there in the beginning of January and practiced with the SDDD one night, super rad! SplintHer took me on the banked track and let me play around. It was a lot different than I thought it was gonna be. It looks steeper than it feels. It was fast and fun. It felt really natural, and I can only attribute that to skating the skate parks.

So please come out to our event and support us.

As a skater, I pay $50 a month in dues, pay for part of my uniform, all my travel expenses. Any little bit of donations is appreciated to alleviate some of the monetary stress of playing derby.

Thank you!

Santa Cruz Derby Girls Harbor Hellcats vs Silicon Valley Killa.Bytes

Come check out Santa Cruz Derby Girls amazing Harbor Hellcats take on the Silicon Valley Killa.Bytes. Guaranteed to be a tough game for both sides. Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells lost to the Silicon Valley Dot.Kamikazes on June 13 by 31 points.

Saturday, Aug 22, 2009

Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

Doors at 5:45, bout starts at 6:30

Ok, not that I am not excited for our skaters, but I can hardly contain myself for the halftime show. Our very own...SANTA CRUZ DERBY GROMS.

http://www.gtweekly.com/20090819475408/a-e/people/young-blood

Thats right ladies and gentlemen. Santa Cruz has been fostering a jr derby summer camp for the last 8 weeks, and this Saturday our girls get to show off all their hard work.

http://santacruzderbygirls.org/teams/santa-cruz-derby-groms

Blockers don't wear panties

Blockers don’t wear panties.

Oh I miss not wearing panties. I really, really love blocking. I really, really miss blocking. I love being in the pack, I miss strategy, I miss working with my team. I don’t know what happened this season, but somehow my coach decided that I was gonna be a jammer. And, I guess I am good at jamming because they keep playing me there! And shit, somebody had to do it (if Heather wasn’t so rad and her baby so darn cute, I would curse her), so I took one for the team. Ok, so jamming ain’t so bad, and not to toot my own horn, I have had a couple of good games. Even though we lost to SVRG, I killed it; I scored 43 out of the 100 points. Sorry, I just patted myself on the back, which is something I never do. And I was the highest point scorer for the Bako game with 45 points. Again, another pat, so what!

But seriously, I miss blocking. I went to Rollercon and barely jammed in any of my challenge bouts (mostly because I wanted to block, but part of it was that the floor scared me). I blocked every chance I got! All last season I aspired to be a PB and J and I think this year I finally accomplished that. Put me in anywhere and I will play that position. I know how to switch from jammer to blocker confidently and understand the strategy that comes with both. Pivot is something I am fine tuning, but the more I learn about roller derby, the more I learn about strategy and that helps. My ultimate goal is my endurance, which I think is good, but it could be so much better. I don’t wanna get tired in games (though that almost never happens) and play sloppy or slow. I wanna be able to block, rest, jam, block, rest…ok; I really just wanna play in every jam. I wanna be able to play my best exhausted so my coach knows she can put me in no matter what and I am going to perform.

I think jammers get too much credit. As a jammer, you’re only as good as your blockers. If your blocking isn’t on point, than your jammers are going to have to work that much harder during a game. Blockers don’t get enough credit. It seems to me that if you don’t have a panty on your head, than somehow people don’t think you do anything during the game. Panty doesn’t equal special. Anyhow, it’s all derby to me, no matter what position you play, and every position is important.

Santa Cruz Derby Girls vs Port City Rollergirls

Its been about a month since our last bout. And I am ready to play with my team. With a few roster changes, we are ready to kick butt!

Newbie Checklist For Roller Derby

Santa Cruz Derby Girls had tryouts on July 19 and we now have 24 new members of SCDG. Last Monday was their first practice and it was awesome. They killed it, not one person fell out of a drill. They all seem super stoked and that makes me super stoked, its the future of SCDG. So in light of all the new FM we have, I decided to post a little article from Fracture Magazine that I found.

Enjoy!

Newbie Checklist
By Switchblade Siouxsie
A survival list for those ladies just beginning
Posted Oct 08, 2008
Download the printable Newbie Checklist in PDF format

So, you’re just starting out. You’re a little shy, and you’re intimated by the giant girls on skates that have been slamming each other around for at least a year. You don’t want to look stupid by asking what sort of things you will need to tryout. It’s tough starting out, trying to figure what you need, how the game works, what kind of maintenance you’re going to need to keep up your equipment, whether or not you’ll even make a team, and whether or not you will get killed as soon as you touch the floor. We’ve all been there. We’ve all sweated at the thought of trying to become a part of this tight knit group, and how to fit in without looking like an idiot. Well, here is your guide to picking what’s right and acting like you’ve got it going on.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO TAKE YOU TO FRACUTRE MAGAZINE AND THE REST OF THE ARTICLE.

http://www.fracturemag.com/derby/derby101/newbie-checklist

Post Rollercon Depression

Its hard coming back to reality after spending 6 days in Vegas for Rollercon. I spent 20 hours in 4 days on skates. I played in 6 challenge bouts, and took 7 classes, and watched tons of derby. I wish I played derby for a living, or, at the very least, I wish Santa Cruz had a huge wharehouse where we could set up a track and I could practice every day, for as long as I wanted. I love being on my skates, and I love playing derby. If I could do that for a living, my life would be complete. I am so jealous of the ladies that own there own derby related businesses. I could bore you with the play by play of my experience, but I think I’ll just give you the Cliff Notes version.

-Skating in 6 challenge bouts (Inked vs Holey, Irish vs Italian, Bacon vs Fakin, Nor Cal vs So Cal, Goth vs Rainbow and Vagine Regime vs Strictly Dickly)

-Taking classes from my derby idols (Annie Maul, Sadistic Sadie, Miss Fortune, Medusa, Atomatrix)

-Taking classes with my derby idols (Bonnie D Stroir, Ivanna S Pankin, Medusa)

-Skating with the RADDEST SONOMA chicks ever (D, PePe, Teach, Lady Sparks, Roxy)

-Hitting The Teacher during the Irish vs Italian Bout

-Hitting Bonnie D Stroir during a challenge bout and having her tell me I knocked the wind out of her

-Skating with Daddy’s Girls on most my challenge bouts and skating against her on one

-Skating with Demanda Riot on Nor Cal and skating against her on one

-Skating against Ivanna S Pankin, Trish the Dish, Jackie Daniels, Smarty Pants, Krissy Krash, Swede Hurt, Miss Fortune, Demanda Riot, Daddy’s Girl, Bonnie D Stroir, Blood Clottia and every other amazing skater I look up to

-Skating on Fremont Street with Strictly Dickly (Razorslut, Iron Maiven, Cherryliscious, VaVaVaGina, Miss Evil, Deranged, Psycho Babble, Carmen Getsome, Sheeza Brickhouse, Tara Armov, Aunt Flo, Isabelle Ringer, Dirty Deborah Harry, B Train, Retro Bruizin’)

-Hanging out with Bebe and Killer Vee and John

-Having Bonnie D Stroir tell me that I am an amazing skater (possibly the highlight of my year)

-Knocking Injure Rogers out of bounds during the VR vs SD bout and pulling a major on her

-Watching Boston completeley control the WFTDA bout against BAD

-Meeting and hanging out with derby girls from all over the WORLD

-Realizing that there is SO MUCH derby talent out there and I have SO MUCH to learn about
derby and also realizing that derby is every evolving and I will never know everything

Like I said this is the Cliff Notes version of Rollercon, every moment was amazing. Now, if I could only win the lottery and buy a wharehouse in Santa Cruz big enough to house a flat track and a banked track…

Oh and on a sidenote:
After watching Team Awesome play for the second year in a row, and taking a class from some of the players on Team Awesome, my derby dream (dare I say goal) is to play on Team Awesome just once, if it happened more than once AWESOME. To simplify, I want to increase my derby skill level to be good enough to play on Team Awesome (www.awesomederby.com)!