Dixie Derby was RAPTURED!

All in good fun, we decided to get in on the #RaptureBomb fun!

NO PACK!

Because we all know refs don't get raptured!


ROLLER DERBY REALLY DID SAVE MY SOUL!

A weekend to remember

I'm sure plenty are aware of the situation in Northern Alabama as a result of the marathon of storms to hit this region on 4/27/11.

But there is positive news to come out of the tragedy, and this is OUR story as team and the kindness and outpouring of love and support from the derby community:

Please read my Examiner.com article: Not Even a Tornado can break derby bond and spirits.

No words.

There are no words to describe how angry this makes me that someone could do this.

Meet Lori, aka Lmbr Timber Onu of Emerald Coast Roller Derby, was victim of a severe domestic violence attack on April 23, 2011. Lori is having surgery to repair broken eye sockets, nose and cheek bones. She faces a long recovery and mounting medical bills with no medical insurance. ECRD and many other people who love Lori are planning events and fundraisers to help.

PayPal link to help Lori:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_sxclick&hosted_button_id=36EF74RAATAZS

You may also send donations to:
First Citizens National Bank
Attn: Scott Luce
391 Main Street, Genesee PA 16923

Checks need to be made payable to : Kristine Milkeris-Smith

Please write : "Lori Milkeris medical" in the memo line.

More information at Lori's Aid Facebook Page

Awesome Good Luck Charms

One thing I didn't mention in my last bout post was how grateful I am for some awesome supporters and fans that came to cheer us on for our first home bout of the season!

My biggest and favoritest one being my good luck charm:


He brought an army of people from Rocket Harley for this one, and even a new recruit in the process!

THANKS ALEX!
And thank you to all who came out!

Dismember the Alamo: 4/9/11

Its only one event into the season, and I'm already slacking on regular and prompt updates!

Our first home bout, Dismember the Alamo, was 4/9/11 against the Alamo City Rollergirls from San Antonio, TX. Normally, I'm the preach-y one about eating right, and hydrating, and all that, but I had a major fail of being busy and screwing up my own pre-game regiment.

So when I arrived (late) to the VBC, I had to hurry up and scarf down the pasta I had made to load-up for the game. Eating that fast caused a major case of indigestion (NOT WINNING). But all upset tummy aside, warm ups felt pretty good, and I was finally feeling like my new 88a Heartless Stalker wheels were broken in enough for the slippery VBC floor. I also got to debut my new intro prop: my checkered flag that I ::cough cough:: borrowed ::cough cough:: from my part time job at the auto parts store.

For this game, I was put in as a jammer every fourth rotation for the duration of the game. I'm really happy to have mobility back in my knee and glad to be back to jamming in the chartered games this season. Taking the line on the 2nd jam, we were down by 4 points and scoreless in the first jam, and I knew I had to get on the board to put this game in the right direction. I was able to get through, but didn't get lead because I failed to repass a down skater. Not an issue, because Alamo's jammer got called on a track cut major, which sent her to the box and gave me a power jam. I was able to score 14 points before the two minutes, making the score 14-4 our favor.

After that, the game turned a bit uglier. Tripping, majorly sloppy, messy hits and some real brutal full-tilt-to-zero takedowns were taking us jammers down pretty hard, and making it quite the struggle out there. We stayed ahead in the score, all of us playing smart and getting those 3 and 4-point jams to keep us up. My highest scoring jam of the bout came right at the end of the 1st period, with a 16-point power jam. We went into halftime ahead 79-48.

I started off at the jammer line in the 2nd period, and we'd again trade 0 point or 2-3 point jams with Alamo. A series of jammer penalties would get us in trouble deep into the 2nd period, allowing Alamo to take a 1-point lead. I took the line knowing we could very easily lose this game, and worse, I already had 3 minor penalties. Talk about PRESSURE! I was getting a bit frustrated with the low blocks/dive hits that I felt should've been major impacts because they slowed me to a near stop in the pack most times. I *may* have took a little extra liberties getting up a few times after being tripped by these shenanigans.

Dixie doesn't typically do well under stress, and it was great to see everyone remain calm and take back control of the game. BOA landed 4 to move it back into our favor, and then my blockers did AMAZING, holding off the Alamo jammer for 3 straight jams and letting me get around twice for 8 points. After this jam, we're back in control 120-109.

BOA sealed the deal with a 20 point power jam right behind me, and it was all uphill from there, with Dixie taking the win 141-115. This is our first sanctioned WFTDA charter game of the season, and it feels good to put a "W" in the column!


PERSONAL GAME STATS:

• Skated in 14 out of 39 jams (35.90% of the game)
• Jammed in 13 jams (33.33% of game as jammer)
• Of the 13 jams, declared lead jammer 6 times (46.15%)
• Scored a total of 53 points in the game, an average of 4.08 points per jam
• Plus/Minus was +23
• Highest scoring jammer of bout
  
• Highest +/- of bout
  
• Served 1 minutes in the penalty box during the game (12.5% of my track time) for a major back block, and had 3 minors: a back-block, an illegal procedure, and a track cut
  

Up Next: An away bout at Knoxville, then the Rocket City Rumble III! Our 6 team, WFTDA Sanctioned tournament at the Von Braun Center South Hall.

Its Dodgeball time!

"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"

I should be good at both! This weekend is the 6th Annual Dixie Derby Down n Dirty Dodgeball Tournament. It's my 3rd year at the event, and its always a great way to start spring for a fun day in the sunshine.

The event is bigger this year, and so far 22 teams have pre-registered, with more sure to sign up the day of the event.

Come out to Dublin Park and watch or register a team and play!

More details are at: http://www.dixiederbygirls.com/dball.htm

Preseason Scrimmage -- March 13, 2011

To prepare for our upcoming regular season, we decided to have our first intraleague bout since probably 2007-ish, and to give it even more nostalgic atmosphere, we hosted it at Roller Time, our practice home.

For those who weren't around then (myself included), before DDG started playing other WFTDA teams and scheduling bouts with other cities, they had two intraleague teams within the league that fought for championships: The Red Hot Riots vs. The Thrill-Killers. Now, despite being on the same league overall, there is always some pent up animosity and bitterness that comes with the competition-- and this was an especially heated rivalry (re: DRAMA!) back in the days from what I'm told. The concept was abandoned completely when DDG began playing bouts at the VBC.... many very grateful to see it go, and very vocal about it never returning again.

So, it was a BIG huge deal to be playing an intraleague bout after all this time of it being such a taboo topic. Some whispered about the "Riots vs. Killers" dark aura that lingers at RollerTime. Its almost a bit of a legendary curse (reaffirmed with the rather forgettable loss to Memphis last RCR) that plagues the hardwood. But with the growth direction the league has taken, it was time to put away the bad juju and just play some fun-filled, no pressure roller derby with our teammates.

The day began with laughter and the unsuspected flying of the Red-Hot Riots Flag during track set-up. There were plenty of laughs abounding... and we knew that regardless this day would be a-okay.

We faced off PINK vs. BLACK. I would take the jammer starting line first for the pink team against Ebbin Flow. She got through just ahead of me to claim lead, but I was able to pick up the first point before she called it off. Injured-Asian Invasion was coaching us, and she had me jamming and then immediately going into the next pack as a power/outside blocker before coming out to rest for a jam. I took the jammer line again in the 5th jam, taking lead and scoring 5 unanswered points. My game-high jam came in the 9th with a 20 point jam, and the rest were quick 3 and 4 pointers before a call-off to keep ahead of the Black team.

Blocking I felt great too, with several big take downs and great holds against black. Bitchy Valens and I held off the black jammer against a full-strength black team for several great laps when all the rest of ours were in the box. My favorite photo of the night captured one of my bullying hits on Sarah Von Knockaho. I seemed to pick on her a bunch this game, with some knockdown hits that left for a great highlight reel.
The final score had us up 188 to 111. We had a great time, no one was hurt, and we had some great real-time practice in front of our most faithful fans! I can't wait to get our regular season started in April at the VBC!

PERSONAL GAME STATS:

• Skated in 15 out of 33 jams (45.45% of the game)
• Jammed in 8 jams (24.24% of game as jammer)
• Of the 8 jams, declared lead jammer 6 times (62.50%)
• Scored a total of 42 points in the game, an average of 5.38 points per jam
• Plus/Minus was +32
• Served 2 minutes in the penalty box during the game (13.3% of my track time), once for a major track cut, and once for my 4 minors: 2 elbows, 2 track cuts.

Up Next: First home bout of the season, April 9th against Alamo City in a WFTDA Sanctioned bout at the Von Braun Center South Hall.