EROC II; Nerves kicking in..

Day two; Sunday




On the second day of the European Roller Derby Organizational Conference we concentrated on how to organize Roller Derby on a European level. We had a discussion with all the different countries together, while the refs had two more practices in the other hall.



The discussions were very interesting. We talked about how to organize a European Roller Derby board, and if and why we wanted one.
Europe is still in the early stages of development when it comes to the organization on a Continent level. Lots of leagues are still brand new and have a hard time getting themselves organized, let alone their own countries, which makes it hard to even think about a wider scale like the whole continent. But Roller Derby is growing so fast in Europe that we need to think about it, and we better do it now, so we are still 'small' enough to start organizing ourselves.




We also discussed topics like ranking, categorization of teams/leagues, tournaments, translation of rules, etc.
The whole weekend there was a WFTDA rep present from the USA, Bloody Mary. She explained that WFTDA is very much interested in the development of Roller Derby in Europe, and was happy to see that the Roller Derby Culture is pretty much the same in Europe as it is in the States and Canada. She also explained that WFTDA is really interested in how they can contribute to the further development of Roller Derby in Europe and are working on hiring people just for this goal.
So it was all very interesting. We are all on the verge of something so new and exciting. And we need to figure out collectively how to organize this all in order to maximize our potential as a sport on a European Level.


The second part of the day was the most nerve wrecking....
It was time to Scrimmage!
A full on mixed scrimmage with refs and NSO's, the whole shebang!
There were two scrimmages planned, a beginners and an advanced scrimmage.
All ADD girls were supposed to participate in the beginner scrimmage. Unfortunately Belle Anger had hurt her knee practicing and scrimmaging with the Berlin Bomshells earlier that week. So she decided to not participate in the scrimmage as a player, but joined the officials team and served as a penalty tracker and outside white board NSO.

The rest of us did play. And before the scrimmage we were all really nervous, especially me and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla...
Dirty Knickers, one of our trainers, always says we are to hard on ourselves, which makes us insecure and well nervous. Walking into the hall with all my gear my hands were sweaty and shaking...
After we all put on our gear and warmed up a bit, the teams were announced. Vegan Vengeance, Sweet 'n' Sinister and Lola Rock 'n' Rolla were all in the black team, with bench coach Devilina from the Berlin Bombshells.
Me, Ruby Doom (former ADD, now Arnhem Fallen Angels), Whippin' Red Siren (from the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys) and Lolli Chop (from the One Love Roller girls from Antwerp) were all in team White, with Foxy Führer from the Berlin Bombshells as our bench coach.



*Thanks to Michael Wittiger for this great picture


As we went to our team benches it was not only my hands that were shaking, but I was literally shaking on my skates!!
It was a very diverse mixed group in each team, with girls from all these different European countries. Which was just amazing. But also hard. It's hard enough to play your first scrimmage, and then to play against your own teammates was really weird.
But the first stress was not from playing against my teammates, it was when Foxy told me I was playing blocker position 3 in the very first jam!
I was so nervous....I cannot even describe what went through my head right in those seconds before the whistle was blown, and the game was on.
It took only one jam to get over those initial nerves. After that first jam all those endorphins were released and the adrenaline rush kicked in. And all I wanted was to be on that track!
Half of the time I still had no clue of what I was doing. But i guess that's what you get when you are playing for the first time.




Here I fell, I really wish I could say I was taking out that blocker of the black team next to me to get my own Jammer through, but to be honest I don't remember. :)

I do remember a couple of illegal moves I made (oeps!)...
I tripped the Jammer of the other team, I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get in front and block her or give her a good hit, so I was 'desperate', and saw an opportunity to trip her....so I did! And yeah, she fell and I got a major an was send to the penalty box. I was actually kind of proud to be there. :) I got that Jammer out and it was kind of cool to experience sitting in the penalty box! Hahahaha
Also I got another totally illegal block in, that took the Jammer from the black team out. I was trying to block her with my shoulder/back, but again I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get to her fast enough, so I just kind of threw myself at her an ended up taking her out with my head, which is pretty much really illegal....(Oeps 2!) Lucky for me nobody called it....

But I also was able to do some totally legal nice blocks. Not much hitting though, really something I need to practice more. I am really pretty good at hitting, but in a 'bout' situation it's so much different then in our little gym.

In the black team Lola and Sweet n Sinister worked hard as blockers. And Vegan vengeance pretty much stole the show with her Jammer abilities!!




She really did an outstanding job!
I am so proud of all of us, for participating in this amazing European Beginners scrimmage. We learned so much. I for sure now what I need to work on more.

One bad thing happened through out the whole scrimmage. In the last jam, my wifey Lola playing for the other team, fell really badly on her ankle and had to stop because of the pain.
While the white team was doing a victory lap (because we won), she was being helped my her team mates. It really sucked, cause after an amazing experience of a first scrimmage this pretty much took away her well deserved euphoric feeling...
Unfortunately injuries are a part of derby...



*later that night we wrapt her ankle in a blanket with ice. Luckily it didn't swell up to badly


The advanced scrimmage was played by a mix of European experienced players and even Texas Wftda rep Bloody Mary played in this scrimmage.
It was of course totally different then the beginners scrimmage we participated in. Seeing skaters like Swede Hurt and Master Blaster in action was awesome. They were all really good. And I saw some moves that got my standing up in the stands and cheering and screaming. ;)

After this amazing day, a bunch of us ended up in the Rock 'n' Roll herberge for drinks later that night.



Ms Miyagi (GGGRG) and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla.





The awesome Helsinki girls, Tigre Force and Bananaspit and me freaking in front of the camera. :)


It was a good way to end this great weekend. Drinks with awesome derby girls (and guys).
Cannot wait to see you all again on the track and in the bar!

Thanks again to the Berlin Bombshells for hosting EROC II this year. You all did an amazing job and we enjoyed it a lot.


- Furrrocious