rock n' rollah

Yesterday it was benchmark day for the lads and ladies of Chinook City Roller Derby.  Our Athletics Committee has implemented a new Star system. It helps with basic benchmarking, but also will allow for identification and benchmarking of more advanced skills to ensure everyone within our league is at a higher skate skill standard. 

It was a long day. Five hours of skating. We started with basic benchmarks (congratulations to all of our Fresh Meat who passed their first benchmarks!!!), then did our written exam (we have never done this as a league before), and then moved on to more advanced skills.  We didn’t complete them as we ran out of time. But I am pleased to report that as of now I have passed the advanced skills! Woop! 

We will continue testing a few more of the skills (some are tricksy like clockwise crossovers - mine are clunky - and weaving on one foot - mine are always hit or miss). But I am feeling really really proud of myself and pretty damn confident if I do say so myself. :) Go Team Ella!

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I’m not dead. :)

Things have just been a bit crazy in the Land of Me.  There has been derby-derby-derby, art stuffs, comic expos and other shenanigans.  Things just got super busy and I couldn’t be arsed to post here.

With any lucky, that will be changing soon.

There is much happening on the derby front. Our Athletics Committee will be re-doing our benchmarks on May 27th.. as well as implementing a new Star system to monitor and establish a league baseline for skills and bout-ability. Its scary, but exciting.  More on this later.

The Jills have some upcoming bouts. We are helping our sisters at Bow Valley Roller Derby fill out their roster for their June 2nd bout against RDRDA’s Nightshades. I’m an alternate. And then on June 9th, we are traveling to Cold Lake to take on the Lakeland Ladykillers. Should be fun times.

Oh, and if you look here, the Kill Jills are officially ranked!  We are #42 in all of Canada! Not too shabby for a neophyte team like us! :)

Well, it was an amazing few days, but our inaugural Flat Track Fever tournament is over and done.   Everything is a bit of a fabulous blur.  But by all accounts, folks enjoyed themselves.  I am so proud of my fellow Tournament Committee members (especially Crimmer and Dev) and my league for putting on an awesome event. It exceeded our expectations and we have heard nothing but good things from skaters, officials, vendors, and fans.   The best part is that everyone seems to wanna come back next year! Music to my ears, friends. 

As a committee, we have identified a bunch of areas that we can improve upon next year. The team will be meeting soon to have a post-mortem about how things went and what we need to change next year.  But I don’t think I am overstepping by saying that you will likely see Flat Track Fever 2013. ;) Woot!

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The excitement monster keeps on rampaging!

Yours truly will be spewing my roller derby blatherings beyond this wee little Tumblr.  Starting today, I have started to lend my roller derby blogging “talents” [ahem] to anysportanytime.ca.

I posted my first article, A Newbie’s Guide to Flat Track Fever, this morning. You should go read it.  And please feel free to add anything I might have missed in the comments! I wrote it with very little caffeine in my system. :/

This is going to be a great opportunity to highlight and showcase roller derby in Alberta (especially in Calgary).  I’m really looking forward to contributing now and well after the Tournament. Mostly, I want to promote the awesomeness of co-ed derby and my wee little league.  

What?

[blink]

Though, I hope they don’t expect detailed statistical information and that kind of dull stuff from me. I don’t do maths. But I can offer up my own unique perspective and maybe a firm opinion or two.

It’ll be interesting to see where my voice lands. I have never really written for other people before. Mostly, I just write to amuse or squelch my own demons.   This could be an interesting disaster experiment.

Either way, please check it out and be kind! ;) 

Flat Track Fever starts in less than five days.

What.

The.

F?

It feels like just yesterday that Dev and Crimson were talking about this half-baked funny tournament idea. But yet, in less than five days, all of our hard work will finally pay off.  And believe me, SO MUCH HARD WORK has gone into this sucker.   I am so proud of each and every member of our tournament committee. There have been buckets of blood, sweat and tears to make this sucker go and I am excited to see how it unfolds in less than five days. 

I am also excited because I found out yesterday that I am not an alternate.

What.

The.

F?

I thought for sure that I would not be one of the lucky 14 who are guaranteed some skate time next weekend.  But lo and behold, Witchy gave me the good news yesterday. It’s crazy!  She told me that I have worked really hard and I deserve to be on the roster.  It’s still crazy.. but it feels awesome.  It’s kinda scary too.

But!

The Kill Jills’ first game is on April 13th and starts at 2:45pm on Track One.  We take on the ladies from CARDA.  If we beat them, we will go on to play E-Ville at 4:15pm on Track One.  If we lose against CARDA, we will take on the losing team from the CRDA vs the winner of the FRDA vs the Spokannibals bout at 5:00pm on Track One.   But if we win against CARDA but lose against E-Ville, we will play a THIRD time against the loser of the FRDA/Spokannibals bout at 6:30pm again on Track One. 

My eyes are crossing just reading that and my brain has starting hurting. ;) That’s a lot of derby and that’s only FRIDAY.

So you know what that means…?  You should come down to the Oval, cheer on the Jills and check out some amazing derby!  Yes, sirree!

Two posts in the same day?! Crazy times! Apocalypse! Nah…

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been reflecting on a lot of stuff. Mostly about my current place in the derby-verse and my go-forward plan.  Some of it is tied up in the current level of time I commit to league business (off the track). But most of it is tied into my place within the Jills and my future with the team.

In recent weeks, I have confirmed a simple truth.

I’m not an A-Team skater. 

This is not a surprise to anyone. At all.  I’m just not there (and I may never be).  Due to other commitments (see other post), I haven’t been able to put in as much skate time as I would like and I have been feeling like I have plateaued a bit.  Something I hope to rectify after the tournament.

But having said that, I could rock the shit out of a B-Team - absolutely! But A-Team? Not so much.. unless we are talking about Hannibal Smith and the boys.. cuz then sister would be all over that business - yes, indeed!

But I digress. 

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Well, hello there.

Yes, I have been incredibly lax about posting.. well, anything… since the end of February.  Zoiks! How sad is that?

My only defense is that I have been up to my eyeballs with work - mostly Flat Track Fever stuff.  But I am happy to report that I am very very very nearly done my contribution to the tournament! This pleases me on levels I can not express.

I’m not going to lie. The past few months have been difficult. But its my own fault. I took on too much, but I have learned some valuable lessons and have come out of it with a new understanding and respect for planning an event this large and complex. I have also learned about what my priorities truly are and have learned not to commit to three large events (two of which require artwork) in the same month.  It’s a very bad idea. ;)

On the actual derby front, things are going well. We’ve been practicing pretty hard and we are really coming together as a team. We played another closed bout against members of FRDA and CRDA a couple of weeks ago. We did very well again - taking the win (though, I can’t remember the score). We are just getting very excited about Flat Track and just want it to be here already! ;)   Our first bout is on Friday, April 13th against the ladies of CARDA (Track 1) at 2:45 pm! Come watch us!

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Yesterday, the Kill Jills hosted the fabulous ladies of Foothills Roller Derby Association for some closed bouting action!  It was the first bout/scrimmage for both teams and man, it was so much fun! I can’t wait to play them again.  They are going to be such an amazing team!

And while it was great to be able to knock around some awesome women from FHRD, it was also fantastic to see the Jillls come together as a team and it confirmed that our hard work is really starting to pay off. Much of that is due to our amazing coaches, Witchy and Riceball, who deserve squishy dog piles of love every single day. ;)  And a big thanks to Dragstrip Dolly (from E-Ville Roller Derby) who gave us some great intermission and post-game advice!

Both teams brought their hearts to the track and we both learned so much - it was such an amazing experience.  In the end, I’m proud to say that the Jills took the win 179 to 106 - but FHRD made us earn it every step of the way. I am really proud of my team. And I am really proud of my league for putting on a great closed bout!  A heaps of thanks to all of the referees, NSOs, and CCRD league members  who showed up on a wintery Sunday at 9:00 in the morning to help make this happen. :) You are all the raddest.

As for me, I am happy with my performance. This is the first bout that I felt effective - hell, I took several hits from Negative Nancy (who, along with Mamasita Muerte, were helping out on FHRD’s team) and did not fall down. Plus, I think I even managed to knock her around once or twice - so that feels pretty effective to me!

One of the best parts of yesterday’s game is that I was thinking in the pack.  I wasn’t just skating and not knowing what the hell I was doing. No willy-nilly. I knew. And it felt great. It didn’t feel chaotic or all over the place (well, maybe once or twice - especially that last jam - oi! Messy!).  I knew when I was shutting down a jammer and I knew when I needed to help my teammates.  The chaos is starting to slow down, so that tells me that I am getting comfortable and confident. Yes!

But I would have to say, the BEST part of yesterday’s bout was watching our rookies place in their very first game.  We had five beauteous ladies who played in their first bout-esque scrimmage.  And it was marvelous! I am so proud of each and every one of them. And I get to see most of them play again tomorrow at RDRDA’s Minty Fresh scrimmage! Exciting!

And I ain’t gonna lie. It was pretty rad to finally be able to submit scores to Derby News Network, Derby Deeds and Rollergirl.  ;)