Block around the clock - 24 hours of Roller Derby awesomeness

Over 2 years ago I met Sum Mo Payne and PBR through my friend Tigre Force from Helsinki Roller Derby. We got in touch as these awesome ladies had the great idea to skate around the Netherlands. And not just for fun either, but for a good cause. As they have been Skating the State for MS in the USA for several years, they wanted to do something special here as well.
At the time I started talking with them about it, I couldn't imagine us pulling this off, I personally just started a masters program next to work and just could not see it happen. Luckily they had also gotten in touch with the wonderful Dom City Dolls, and they took on the challenge of organizing this Sk8 the Netherlands trip. And from the 5th of September till the 13th of September 2013 this group of strong awesome women skated around the Netherlands. They skated around the country to raise awareness and  funds to end sex trafficking. A very big problem which is not given enough attention. 

The Dom City Dolls asked all the different leagues in the Netherlands to contribute. By organizing an event or hosting a sleeping place for this group while they were on the road.
As we are located in Amsterdam, which is definitely one of the epicenters of human and sex trafficking in the Netherlands and because I felt connected with this project from the get go, we felt like we should do something big and extraordinary.
While talking to my team mate Vegan Vengeance in a bus on our way home from practice we came up with the idea of a 24 hour scrimmage marathon. And slowly started fantasizing about pulling it off. Having an event with 24 hours of roller derby scrimmages.
When didn't dare to actually think about if this would work out, because our biggest challenge was finding a venue that would have us for the full 24 hours. But once we got that problem covered, our ideas seemed to be able to become reality.
With a core group of ADD girls we started getting organized. We looked at how RollerCon and ECDX organized their challenge bouts, with time slots and no breaks. It seemed like a very good formula to go with for this event as well. We ended up making a schedule for two tracks, with a total of 47 scrimmages, each lasting 30 min (except for the first 1, going for a full hour). There would be team scrimmages, challenge bouts and open scrimmages to fill up the full schedule.
It was a hell of a lot of stuff that needed to be arranged. And we as the Amsterdam Derby Dames had not before pulled off an event like this. To say the least, it was a bit of a challenge. Especially when a lot of the organizational work had to happen over the summer time. When a lot of our girls weren't around to help out. It took some blood, sweat and tears. But we did it and even though we did get the 12 teams and around a 150 skaters to sign up (we got 6 and around 70) we were still determined to pull it off.
One of the very notable things about this event, is that the first ones to sign up were the officials! Officials from ALL over Europe were very excited to come and help out in this event.

I was one of the people working on getting sponsors for this event, and I have to say the Derby community (and its derby owned stores) really stepped it up! We got sponsoring in many ways even from teams and companies in the USA. Which meant a lot to us. One of the more remarkable sponsoring items we got was the artwork for our event. Seeing how I had met Tara Armov at several occasions and had seen and experienced the amazingness of her artwork I kind of wanted that for our event. As I felt we deserved something special for such a unique event. I contacted her through facebook, and there was no doubt she wanted to help us out. Which was very cool! As in this same time period she was kicking off her new company Notorious RED and going to RollerCon to promote this.
Even though she was very busy, she pulled off providing us with this amazing artwork.

Artwork by Tara Armov - Notorious RED

The week before the event I had to miss out of every practice of my league, as I was working around the clock (after work..) to get the last things organized and sorted before the big day. On Friday the 6th of September I think my nerves pretty much got shot. To a point where I started to relax, as there wasn't a lot more I could do now anyways, I would just have to go which ever way it was going to go.
My house filled up with a little German invasion on Friday night and it was nice to have the distraction of London playing the playoffs in the US to take my mind of things.

Saturday morning the fun started. I had to get up wayyyy too early, to be at the venue at 9 am. Before getting to the venue me, Vegan Vengeance and Shanty Core made sure people could find the venue by hanging up some signs. While doing this I started feeling the gitty excitement in my belly that this was actually happening. When we walked around the corner at the venue there was a big LED display above the door welcoming everybody to Block around the clock. I think this was the point when I got REALLY excited. As it was so cool and big. You couldn't miss it.

The first three hours the volunteers worked their asses off getting everything set up, tracks laid, registration of skaters and officials started, VIP room set up and everything else that needed to be done. Those first three hours were a bit of a blur to me, as I was trying to coordinate everything. But I guess everything went pretty well as the venue was ready and the officials were ready at 12.00 to start. However the skaters in Europe apparently had not encountered the concept of an "open pick up scrimmage" before. So when everything was ready there weren't a lot of skaters to start of the first scrimmage. The start of our 24 hours of scrimmage madness started a little slow, but as soon as stuff got started it just went smoothly.

Picture by Branko Colin

Around 13.00 I sat down to watch a little derby. As it seemed like everything we organized was working out and people were doing what they were supposed to be doing. I took a lot off and chilled for a minute. But not long, as I wanted to get out there and start having fun myself. So it was time for me to put on my skates.

The whole event went pretty smoothly. It was between 2 and 5 am I think we when hit some issues, with not having enough skaters to keep to our schedule. But it didn't stop the fun, with the great coordination of Event Head Ref Cherry Fury we changed up some of the scrimmages and kept it going as much as possible.

In the end I personally played 17 scrimmages and coached 1, making it a total of 18 scrimmages. And I slept 1 hour.

There is so much more to tell, as there was 24 hours of awesomeness. But I just cant tell it all. What I will say is that we got a ton of compliments after the event, which makes me believe that this was truly a very successful event. Also notable is that we raised 2100 euro's for Sk8 the Netherlands and Fier Fryslan. Which we are very proud of, it shows how much we can accomplish together as a derby community.

I will now post some different pictures and links, so you can get a bit of a feel for what was going on.

The Derby Shop - the newest derby shop in Amsterdam was present for all your gear problems
Picture by Branko Colin

There were womens games as well as co-ed games.
Picture by Branko Colin

There were 6 teams competing against each other.
Picture by Branko Colin

Officials from all of Europe!
Picture by Branko Colin

We had a live stream and shout outs. This was our very sophisticated shout out system.
Picture by Branko Colin

The wall of awesomeness! Where people could sign up for Challenge bouts.
Picture by Branko Colin

The ladies from Sk8 the Netherlands arrived around 20.00 after skating +/- 130 km to Amsterdam
Picture by Branko Colin

One of my very favorite challenge bouts men vs women. And yes the women won! :)
Picture by Branko Colin

What a great game!
Picture by Branko Colin

The wonderful Officials that worked their asses off to make this event into a success.
Picture by Branko Colin

A big part of the skaters, officials and volunteers of Block around the clock!
Picture by Branko Colin

And here is a video made by the wonderful people of Bureau Feestbeest who made sure there was 24 hours of DJ'ing during this event.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=457422721023733

It was a wonderful event. Thanks to everybody involved.

- Furrrocious

Banked track adventures

The door of the PJRD warehouse.

When you play roller derby in Europe, you hear about banked track and you can watch it online, but there isn't a roller derby banked track anywhere in Europe.

When I knew I was going to Philly, I got the tip to get in touch with Penn Jersey Roller Derby to try out the banked track. 

So I did, and last night I went out to the PJRD warehouse to give the banked track a try.

First of all I have to say, that I don't think I have ever felt this welcome anywhere before. The ladies and gents from the Penn Jersey Roller Derby league were so nice and welcoming, it made me a lot less nervous. Cause yes, I was pretty nervous. :) 

Before I came out to try the banked track Tara Armov all ready gave me a few pointers, and that made me feel better. As she basically told me to rely on my normal (derby) skating skills, staying low etc. And her tips helped, because they did make me less nervous. But when I actually climed onto the track, I just didn't know how to "start". The PJRD girls just encouraged me and I gave it a try. It was very strange at first. But after a minute or so I started to enjoy it. 

Three of the PJRD teams; Sadistic Sweethearts, Dishonor Roll and the Hooligans (men's) were about to do some "light" scrimmage jams. As the girls were prepping for a bout this coming Saturday.

Sadisctic Sweethearts on the track

I expected to sit out and watch while they were scrimmaging. But their coach "little Richard" (former old school roller derby skater) got me back on track. He explained how to skate the banked track. Then they put me on the team with the Hooligans and after watching a few jams they let me play some myself. 

It was a strange and exciting experience. The first jam was like my very first jam on the flat track... It felt like complete chaos and I had no idea what was going on. 

But as the jams went on it got a little less scary and weird to skate on the banked track and I could focus a little more on the game it self. 

Although, that by it self was hard enough too, as the rules on the banked track are a lot different then on the flat track. There are a lot of different rule sets in the USA. Different rule sets for flat and banked track. And the ones that PJRD play by have some fun elements that seemed very forgein and weird to me. Like the fact that the pivot can become jammer as soon as the opposing jammer has passed her or him. That way the jammers are actually always racing. And the lead jammer, is just the jammer that is in lead. Another thing that is a lot different under the WFTDA rule set.

It was a lot fun to play these jams. The only thing I found very scary was to actually hit people. We are used to hitting a certain way on the flat track and it is just not the same on the banked track. I just felt like I would injure somebody if i would hit them normally. I think the gravity thing in combo with hitting on a banked track just freaked me a little. The other coach, former old school roller derby skater, Skip, explained me later how the hitting differs from hitting on the flat track. And it made more sense then. 

It was a very fun and educational practice for me and I loved it. 

A few of the Sadistic Sweethearts and their trophy

Except for the girls and guys from PJRD being super welcoming at practice they also showed me around town in Philly. :)

General Tso Fine (The Hooligans) and his sister Misfortune Cookie (Sadistic Sweethearts), took me to a few bars and hooked me up with some awesome PJRD merchandise. And to top it all off they dropped me off at home safe and sound as well. :)

It really was a pleasure to join a practice with PJRD and hang out with some of them. Any European that's ever around Philly and wants to try out the banked track, make sure to contact PJRD!

Want a preview of their warehouse? Here are a few more pictures:

The track

They have their own lockers, love that!

I don't care bear from the Hooligans is a H.O.S.S.A. fan. ;)

- Furrrocious

It's great being the "AMSTERDAM" Derby Dames

There are lots of 'up sides' to being the Amsterdam Derby Dames. We get a lot of visiting skaters and refs that are traveling through Europe. Just to get into some tacky name dropping: Hunter S. Toss 'em (Rat City), Tara Armov (LA Derby Dolls)..... We are, of course, eternally grateful that these amazing skaters and refs visit us, and teach us bunches! It's simply amazing.
Tomorrow we have a scrimmage training/bootcamp with some of Steel City's finest: 'snot rocket science and Damage Dahl.

This is them. 'snot as Pivot on the left. And Damage with the pink helmet on the right. 

When you are a Rookie League, like we are, it's pretty intimidating to see a track record like theirs...
Co-captain, a crazy amount of skating experience, lots of bouts played, and even awards for their Roller Derby play.....
I guess it would feel pretty much the same as when a major football, basket ball or soccer star comes to train witha little league team.
So yeah, it makes you a bit nervous and insecure. But especially it makes us honored and enthusiastic! How awesome that Amsterdam is a great city that everyone likes to visit?! :p


A lot of stuff has happened to our league since the last time I wrote anything (yeah I know, I havent been writing to much, crazy busy...).
We were lucky enough to have had a bootcamp as well as a training session with ChefX and Major Madness from the Devil Dolls Essen.They have thought us and our refs so much, we absolutely love ourselves some Devil Dolls!

We also had our second run of WFTDA Minimum Skills testing last saturday, with some of the 'old' girls that didn't pass last time in october (like me...) and almost all of our FM that started end of last year.
And to all our surprise, EVERYBODY that did the test passed! It was an amazing feeling. Just an overwhelming feeling of oooowwwwhhhhhaaaaahhhhhh!! I literally got goosebumps when I heard. I know it's crazy. But when you see everybody work so hard, it's just the best feeling ever to see everybody pass.
And so all those girls get to join in on the training with 'snot rocket and Damage tomorrow. Which is just great!

Group picture taken after the great result of the test! 

And next week we will be playing our first official international Scrimmage against the One Love Roller Dolls from Antwerp.
Super excited about that!! And nervous of course.... All our girls have come a long way from being the wobbling bambies on ice... but are we ready to do this?! I guess we will just have to wait and see. At least we will learn a shit ton and have a bunch of fun doing it!! Cause yeah, we also love ourselves some OLRD :p


We also have a brand new member of the Amsterdam Derby Dames: Hurricane Hayles!!
Hayles who is originally from the UK, played with the Montreal Roller Derby League for the past two years. Now she is here with us in little 'ol Amsterdam! She and here derby widower are expecting a baby, so she is going to show us the robes from the middle of the track, off skates unfortunately, luckily that doenst mean she cannot crack the whip on us! And she will be Bench coaching us at scrimmages and hopefully at our first bout in August. It's great to have you here Hurricane!

A BIG ADD WELCOME TO YOU!!!

Hurricane Hayles        

It is bizarre how much can happen in such a short period of time. Only months have gone by, and ADD has grown, I have grown (in muscles as well as in 'hart' for our girls) and Roller Derby Holland keeps growing, its just all amazing.

I am happy to say, I am so very proud of our League. And if you are interested in supporting us, or wondering where I am (cause you never see me anymore). We will be having a Friends and Family day on may 7th! And you are all welcome to come!!

Derby love,
-Furrrocious

Whooaaa...what happened to my life?

I started this blog fall last year, cause the derby-ness was overwhelming me and so much was going on, I wanted to make sure I would make a documentation of what I was experiencing. And I am happy I did.

Because in this past year (and a few months-but let's not get into details now) I have gone from a girl knowing not much about roller derby, except for watching a bout in the US, to derby-crazed girl, having not only derby on the mind 24-7, but practicing it in every way too.

Being part of a group
My whole life I have been involved in groups in different social settings, like most people.
I have been a part of several groups of friends, from primary school to college, I've always had a group of friends I called 'mine'. As a kid I was a scout and participated in lots of group activities, like acting classes and such.
In the last ten years I walked around in the more cultural and political groups, like squatters, activists, musicians and punks.
But also in work, i've been part of teams, organizations and companies.
And to say so myself, I usually work pretty well in groups. I am a social being. So comes quite natural to me, I didn't become a social worker for nothing! ;)

But a sports team, is the one thing on my list of groups-i-participated-in, that I could not cross off.
Also because, as I have said before, I am not quite the athletic type, to say the least.
When I found roller derby in Amsterdam and became part of this great league, the Amsterdam Derby Dames, I found myself to fit in quite easily. I guess it's just


because:
a) The ADD girls are awesome
And b) because being in a sports team is not much different then all the other groups I have participated in through out the years.
Except for of course for the part where we work our asses off and sweat like pigs!

But there is something a lot different about this group that unites because of Roller Derby, and not only because we sweat together.

This sport is athletic, we train a lot, so we see each other more then other (very important) people in our lives.
Roller Derby is a DIY sport. Everything (and I really mean every little thing) around this sport we need to organize ourselves and it's brand spanking new in the Netherlands, which together makes it a team effort to get this of the ground.
Roller derby might be new in the Netherlands, but there is a big community around Roller Derby, internationally and growing nationally as well.
And I think all those things combined, just makes Roller Derby in to a unique team/group/community/phenomenon.



*group picture of our last bootcamp*


Sucked in...
I have always been the busy and enthusiastic type, so I guess I should have know, this new "hobby/sport" was going to take up allot more time and energy then one or two practices a week....
But seriously I don't know what happened, within a little over a year, my life has completely did a 180.
I work 36 hours a week as a social worker, and have three practices during the week, additional practices (at least) once a month in the weekend.
Then there a committee meetings, board meetings, bootcamps, bouts, scrimmages, parties,blogs, lots of phone calls and even more emails...
And when I am not doing any of that, I am still ready in a magazine about derby, watching derby online or communicating about derby online, and even when I am asleep derby haunts me in my dreams. :)

I have exchanged my life with friends and family for a new group of friends that almost feel like family sometimes.
And of course I still love all of my friends and relatives. But this just happened. I have read about this effect Roller Derby can have one ones life, but just didn't realize it would happen to me, cause I thought I was to busy for that. How wrong I was... :p






Derby girl, to be or not to be, is that even a question?
Like I tried to explain above was how much of a community roller derby really is. It's so much more then just a sport. Which I guess is probably the same for more sports. But the cool thing about the Roller Derby community is, that I like it! :p It fits me well and I love being part of it.
The thing that is strange, is that we've been working hard, around the clock, on our league and on training. But because we haven't played our first bout yet, we are still pretty much newbies in the sport! So even though I feel completely sucked into this world of roller derby, I am not really comfortable about labeling myself as a Roller Derby girl. Which i know, is kind of a weird discussion anyways. But I am new to this 'world of derby' and not sure what the guide lines are. I know I get annoyed by girls 'posing' as being derby chicks, even though they can hardly skate. Then again, compared to people who can actually skate, and have played for years, like Tara Armov, I cannot skate for shit...
So where to draw that line? To be or not to be? To be honest, I think it's a no brainer. There is no choice, when you get that bug, and you start seeing your derby team mates more then the people you live with, I think it's clear, you have become a derby girl! Label or no label, it's just the way it goes.

To be honest, I am fucking proud of being part of this all!! I have so much love for our league and love the sport and the community more every day.
Yes Roller Derby has completely taken over each asset of my life, but I am actually happier then ever, so I am ok with it!




As an end to this very extensive blog (sorry bout that..), I would like to shout out to all of my friends and family that I have been neglecting over the passed months/year. I hope you won't hate derby because it took over my life and I cannot stop talking about it. :p And I hope you'll all be sitting (and screaming) in the front row when we are playing our first bout. :)
Love you all!!

- Furrrocious




Ps: All pictures in this blog where made by Edmond van As. Thank you!!!

L.A. Derby Doll just kicked my ass....

After the amazing (but tiring) weekend of EROC II, me and Lola Rock 'n' Rolla arrived in Amsterdam at our training space right in time.

Cause tonight we had a visitor, and not just some visitor,


Tara Armov from the L.A. Derby Dolls!! Skating for 7 years, she has to be the most experienced Roller Derby player we have ever had at our ADD practices.
Lucky for us, Tara is awesome, and she was more then happy to crack the whip on us.....

Practicing skills and learning new tactic pack moves and drills was just awesome! There is no other word I can use to describe that tonights practice: AWESOME!!

At one of the drills you had to push each other while skating, it's a balance exercise.
I was lucky enough to push Tara around, cause it's not very likely that it will ever happen for real! :p




Also we did a teamwork and communication drill, where you form a wall with 3 girls and you have one pivot. The pivot is the only one with it's eyes open and has to communicate to the wall of blockers and tell them what to do, cause they have their eyes closed. Well you can imagine how much fun this is! But also a very good pack communication exercise.





We did so much more, unbelievable how much information and training one person can transfer in a couple of hours!
We feel very privileged to have had her with us, so Tara thanks again!!!

And yeah, we do hate you now, but in the best way humanly possible. :)

- Furrrocious