[align=center]Team World Vs. Team USA – The Unwrite-Up[/align]
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[align=center] There to support for the skaters are Doom Raider, Micki Moto and Toby cheering on skaters Helen Fury, Bee Sting to show them what Birmingham England is made of![/align]
Derby bout write-ups are supposed recount slick plays, point tallies, and outstanding feats of roller prowess. The general idea is to inform the people who didn’t attend and provide a little nostalgia for those who did. The one small problem with being asked to do a bout write-up for the Team World v. Team USA mini-bout is that I have very little recollection of the actual game. I attended and in fact skated enthusiastically in the bout, garnering the most impressive bruise of my lifetime. But, being a rookie with only one other pre-Rollercon scrimmage, it took all my carefully sober mental efforts to handle the blocker 3 position in every other jam, leaving nothing to record the action.
What I do remember is everything else, starting with my own determined e-begging as soon as Bette Noir mentioned the idea. Team World was soon up with a message board, evil looking team t-shirts in production (thanks to Hoochie Mama), and affectionate trash talking between myspace sites.
Once at Rollercon, there was a little confusion about the actual location of the pre-bout meeting, but the entire team rallied with an hour bus ride to gather those who couldn’t find us. When captain was held up at the beginning of the meeting, everyone else chipped in to practise, suggest drills, and graciously cooperate enough to actually do the drills. The truth is that rollergirls are get-it-done women. People who start leagues where most of the population has no idea what roller derby is are get-it-done-even-though-plans-A through Q-are-out kind of women. By the end of the night we all knew each other, even out of uniform. Also impressively, everyone got their names and numbers on the shirts between Wednesday evening and Friday, despite non-stop skating and partying in between.
During the bout, having line-up manager Slice Andice yell us into formation was invaluable, and per reports allowed us to start one bout with a full set when the opposition had only two skaters. Cherry Rocket jammed her very first bout true to her name, launching around the track on her cheese block-heeled skates like she had years under her fruit-themed laces. Pieces of Hate consistently delivered a bullet-train blocking style I’m still imitating. Wonton Destruction stoically jammed and took some very hard falls despite having lung capacity halved by Vegas induced allergies. Georgia Tush ripped through the pack over and over again. Miss Carriage had the adaptability of a mutant virus, deadly in every single position.
Team USA were comprised largely of the Bellingham Betties, from Washington state. Indy Nile was so tough when rolling off the track that news of her fractures were met with gasps (and multiple raffle donations) from Team World members the next day. Rockaway Beatch administered powerful blocks, as well as whoever it was that threw me into the Fremont concrete (thank Goddess those years of overeating provided padding to keep my femur intact). Unfortunately, everyone else was a red blur of enemy to me, but undoubtedly had some excellent moves.
Here’s where I take a quick moment to mention my fabulous teammates from Birmingham, UK. Even before Rollercon, they wrote press releases to the local newspaper about the upcoming international roller derby match. BBDD non-skating members delivered cheering worthy of the World Cup and our referee meticulously recorded the whole thing. Bee Sting had the best bootie of the bout, frequently using her ‘Bite Me’ arse to blocking glory. Toby and Micki wore ‘Team World’ shirts even before the bout, resulting in reactions of the Vegas public that Toby recounted with an impressive comic style.
After 20 nanosecond-like minutes, we had won, 46 to 26 or so. Everyone on both sides delivered a focused effort, and most of which I missed. The rest of Rollercon provided time to muck about off skates with several members of both teams, and I’d love to have any of them in England sometime. Ivanna told Bee, Doom, and myself afterwards that she was moved by the bout, and reminding us we had to play Team Awesome next year. This is kind of like Juliette Binoche telling you that you look great.
I told her, give us until 2009. Then we will bring it. World Domination lives.
-Helen Fury, #10 Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames, UK
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