Road Trip!

Last Saturday saw a group of CRoC's going to watch a double header of derby goodness in Birmingham. Our Small travel group consisted of the usual suspects that travel together on a Monday to training with the exception of my hubby who was coming along 'to see what this derby stuff was all about' - I wont bore you with the travel shenanigans, it was the usual banter with a bit of YouTube craziness thrown in.

After arriving at Cocks Moors Leisure Centre, we filed in, got our hand stamps and pootered off to get a good seat (right at the top was the decision!) at which point we met up with Mrs Baxter with her Pygmy CRoCs and Aoife. Having already clocked the merch stalls I sneaked off for some retail therapy, t-shirts are my thing at the moment so I had to add the CCRG and Dublin Rollergirls ones to my collection right? Sadly RWRG didn't bring any merch with them but there's always another event.

And so to bout 1 - Central City Slaybelles vs Dublin Roller Girls - this was Dublins debut bout and I believe also the first bout for CCR's Slaybells (correct me if I'm wrong please). The bout got off to a good start and although I may not be able to give a blow by blow of what happened I can tell you what I observed - there was alot of 'coasting' going on in the corners which confused me as I'd thought you'd put alot of effort into them and coast the straights, saying that there were a few times I'd noticed that crossovers seemed to be completely optional and that's where I think CCRG were getting the upper hand. Dublin were playing a very nippy game but CCRG seemed more technically proficient. The penalty box was nice and full at points lol and there seemed to be a bit of confusion when there were 2 jammers there at any one time in getting the other back out quickly. Team Zebra did their job extremely well and all in all it was a great debut bout. The only other thing I'd say, not just to the ladies that were playing but to any jammers out there is if you're gonna call off the jam make your signals nice and big so they get noticed quickly! Final score CCRG 106 - DRG 46

Half time hi jinx included getting a shout out to Cardiff City

Roller Girls (hahaha wrong!) and also Rhayfen getting her wonderful

homemade sign read out "I love my ladybrother Jinx'em G"

as well as hunting down snacks lol.

Bout 2 - Belles of Centrinnians vs Royal Windsor Roller Girls - as much

as we enjoyed the debut bout, we were looking forward to seeing this

one aswe knew it would be a faster paced game. I'd heard alot

about RWRG however CCRG seemed to dominate from the

beginning. The crowd seemed more 'into' this bout and RWRG's fan

section were even wearing gold crowns - team love at its finest!

The pack work and footwork of both teams was great to watch,

it was good to see what we'd been learning

about in our training sessions in practise with experienced teams!

Unfortunately, with the faster paced game came injury -

Loopy Lucy (14) of RWRG took a tumble backwards on to

the small of her back and you could see she was in serious pain!

The game stopped and after the medics assessed the situation she

was able to get up and back to the team bench with a huge round of

applause (even if the medic in my head

was grumbling about moving and back injuries!) Hope it

was nothing serious and you have a swift recovery Lucy!

Standout skaters in this bout for me have to be Viv La France,

Madame Flutterbye (my derby role model now!)

and Tragic Wrath for CCRG with Ann Dracula and Liddy Savage

being the 2 for RWRG that most caught my attention!

With a final score of CCRG 156 - RWRG 48 the

home teams were 2 for 2! It's amazing when you realise

how much you've actually learned about the sport just by sitting

and watching and I definitely came away much more inspired.

Thanks for a great day out to all teams concerned!

TTFN

xx