LRG vs BB*DD
The London Roller Girls' All-Star travel team, London Brawling, took on the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames this weekend.
The score, 274-23 to London Brawling, would suggest a cataclysmic annihilation, which is a shame, because it doesn't reflect how hard Birmingham worked. They never gave up, and fought to the end for every point, and should be damn proud of themselves. Our London Brawling girls are really the best of the best, they are incredible players. They're fast, tactical, confident, and seem to read each others' minds on the track, being able to move around so fluidly without giving much away to the other team. It was like a masterclass to the rest of us, who all sat there in awe, realising we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to ever hope to be on the same level as those 14 girls on the track.
After the game we all headed to Subside, a rather awesome rock bar in Birmingham, to party. The Birmingham girls were fabulous hosts, and it's so great to be part of a sport where you leave the animosity on the track where it belongs, and can sing, dance and drink along with girls who, mere hours before, you were trying to send 10 feet into the audience.
When we're practicing for an upcoming Travel Team game, we often scrimmage with all Travel Team (TT) vs. Everyone Else (EE). EE are pretty much always not only beaten, but utterly pulverised. Squashed. Battered. Thoroughly creamed. A few weeks ago, we had mini scrimmages, with 4 TT players taking on 5 EE players in each jam. I think EE scored 1 point, TT nearly 100. A few weeks before that, the score (for 5 on 5 jams) was 138 to 10.
It's good for us, to go up against these amazing girls, it means we never get complacent, we always strive to be better. Sometimes it seems like we'll never be as good, but we have that target to aim for, and aim we do.
I do have a long way to go though, before I'm even half as good as the London Brawling girls. I am taking it as a challenge, and not as something disheartening. Especially as I've recently seen footage of a training session from February 2007, where some of the weekends' best players were wobbling around, barely stable. If they can go from wobbly newbie to Roller Derby Queen in 18 months, that's something for me to aim for.
The score, 274-23 to London Brawling, would suggest a cataclysmic annihilation, which is a shame, because it doesn't reflect how hard Birmingham worked. They never gave up, and fought to the end for every point, and should be damn proud of themselves. Our London Brawling girls are really the best of the best, they are incredible players. They're fast, tactical, confident, and seem to read each others' minds on the track, being able to move around so fluidly without giving much away to the other team. It was like a masterclass to the rest of us, who all sat there in awe, realising we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to ever hope to be on the same level as those 14 girls on the track.
After the game we all headed to Subside, a rather awesome rock bar in Birmingham, to party. The Birmingham girls were fabulous hosts, and it's so great to be part of a sport where you leave the animosity on the track where it belongs, and can sing, dance and drink along with girls who, mere hours before, you were trying to send 10 feet into the audience.
When we're practicing for an upcoming Travel Team game, we often scrimmage with all Travel Team (TT) vs. Everyone Else (EE). EE are pretty much always not only beaten, but utterly pulverised. Squashed. Battered. Thoroughly creamed. A few weeks ago, we had mini scrimmages, with 4 TT players taking on 5 EE players in each jam. I think EE scored 1 point, TT nearly 100. A few weeks before that, the score (for 5 on 5 jams) was 138 to 10.
It's good for us, to go up against these amazing girls, it means we never get complacent, we always strive to be better. Sometimes it seems like we'll never be as good, but we have that target to aim for, and aim we do.
I do have a long way to go though, before I'm even half as good as the London Brawling girls. I am taking it as a challenge, and not as something disheartening. Especially as I've recently seen footage of a training session from February 2007, where some of the weekends' best players were wobbling around, barely stable. If they can go from wobbly newbie to Roller Derby Queen in 18 months, that's something for me to aim for.