As our lovely Kate Push said below, we've had a pretty busy few weeks in MRD Land - what with marathons, bouts, getting a new amazing bunch of Heroes... we were all in definite need of a holiday. This was obviously misheard and we were packed off to Grantham to play in Jolly HoliSlay, hosted by the Lincolnshire Bombers.
Our car full of roller girls, NSOs and chauffeur took the scenic route, allowing for a quick viewing of the crooked spire in Chesterfield and making it seem like we were off on our hols across the rolling hills. It was a double-header so we got to watch Lincolnshire's B team, The Damebusters, take on Newcastle's B team, the Whippin' Hinnies, in the first game of the day. All the while our girls were mentally preparing themselves to take on the Bombshell Bruisers under the guidance of our captain for the day, Suffra-Jett and our bench and line-up managers Gwai-Lo and Darth Sebious.
Our car full of roller girls, NSOs and chauffeur took the scenic route, allowing for a quick viewing of the crooked spire in Chesterfield and making it seem like we were off on our hols across the rolling hills. It was a double-header so we got to watch Lincolnshire's B team, The Damebusters, take on Newcastle's B team, the Whippin' Hinnies, in the first game of the day. All the while our girls were mentally preparing themselves to take on the Bombshell Bruisers under the guidance of our captain for the day, Suffra-Jett and our bench and line-up managers Gwai-Lo and Darth Sebious.
I think it's fair to say that this was one of the more challenging bouts MRD have played and the team knew that we needed to be at the top of our game. I was sub for the game and usually this means feeling a tiny bit sad when you don't get to play though still thrilled to be watching and cheering on our team. This time, I was genuinely happy not to play as it was SUCH an awesome and nail-biting game to watch. I was really pleased to be able to take a step back and realise just how much we've grown as a team over the last few months and was immensely proud of our ladies.
From the first whistle it was clear this was to be a very physical game. Lincolnshire have some very good, very hard hitters but MRD started as we meant to go on with some tough blocking from our side. In the first jam, Fale took out two blockers single handedly, not even flinching and leaving two bemused girls on the floor. G-Whizz made the most of a power jam bringing the score to MRD 8 LBRG 12, before our box filled up and LBRG did exactly the same. Helli Chopper and Catfight Candy did some top notch jamming for LBRG, widening the score gap slightly, although Psycho-Sis soon put a stop to that doing an excellent job of holding Candy up whilst Vic Tori Bee ripped through the pack to pull back some points for MRD.
Our PollyKiller got a power jam and soon we were back up to 52 against their 72 points. A combination of power jams and totally on-the-ball blocking saw the half time score being settle at LBRG 80 - 73 MRD. SEVEN POINTS! The Bombshell Bruisers were not going to make it easy for us to score points but we really made the most of every opportunity to do so.
The score grew to MRD 109 - 115 LBRG and it was still anyone's game. I was starting to feel a tiny bit glad not to be playing as the hits came in hard and fast. LBRG's Diss Continued certainly caused our jammers some problems but we fought until the final whistle. The end score was MRD 128 - 145 LBRG but we were really pleased with our performance and with having held our own against a team as good as Lincolnshire.
A huge thanks to the Bombers for being wonderful hosts (even providing us with goodie bags in the dressing room) and for giving us a good game. Thanks as always to the refs, especially our very own SkaBarella who did a fantastic job of head reffing the NRG-LBRG bout.
We've got a busy few months coming up. Bout-wise we've a team of MRD-ers taking part in the UK's first co-ed bout in Sheffield on 17th September, the same day that an MRD contingent will be heading out to the seaside for Skatemania - an outdoor roller derby tournament. Before all that is our fundraiser, MuRDer in the Dark, to get us up to Aberdeen at the end of the month for a much-anticipated bout against the Granite City Roller Girls. It's certainly an exciting time to be part of this wonderful thing we call derby!
See you on the track!
Nyte Owl
Photos courtesy of me and my husband, Danny (RoswellJam Photography)
