Wildwood

Posted by osdaadmin on September 29, 2008 in Derby Demons, Derby Dudes, Flat Track, Games, Man's Ruin, Men's Derby, Roller Derby, South Jersey Derby

This Weekend Rocked My Socks Off! (Great post from Myra Venge)

So knowing the amount of driving to be done, the excitement experienced by this weekend’s events have left me with a renewed excitement for roller derby, which totally surpassed the extra mileage and gas money it took to make it all happen. It was completely worth while.

Teammate Wry Cooter and I went North of the Mason Dixon line this weekend to help out South Jersey Derby in their league’s Championship game. Held in the convention center at Wildwood, NJ, the Big Rig Betties and Rollin’ Barren Bandits battled it out to see which was the best South Jersey team. Luckily, Wry and I were on the same team: the Rollin’ Barren Bandits.

First of all, I must say that the event couldn’t have had a better location. For those of you who haven’t been there, the Wildwood Convention Center is on the boardwalk, and our rink was placed with a magnificent oceanview backdrop through the windowed wall. While I had skated on polished concrete before, I had never had the pleasure to play a game on it, and I must say that I think I prefer it to polished wood and sport court. It was fast and smooth…like skating on glass. Thank goodness my wheels had enough grip to keep me from sliding too much. However, the concrete doesn’t give at all like wood or sport court, and so I now have very faint bruises on my wrists from where my wrist guards dissipated the impact.

I hadn’t played with my team’s members before, but between jams and periods I think we did a stellar job of collaborating together on plays and position changes. The game itself was neck and neck until the very last jam, when the Bandits got ahead with 3 points for the win.

The next day, we added Miss Chievous to our party, and headed up the Jersey coast to the National Roller Derby Hall of Fame in New York since they were revealing the names of the 2008 inductees. Once there we had an awesome time meeting and talking with roller derby greats like Judy Arnold, Little Richard Brown, and Judy Sowinski. As always, Gary Powers was a most gracious host, and the collection memorabilia that he offers for display cannot be beat! It was a true pleasure.

Make sure to check out the pictures from this weekend. My only regret was that I didn’t take more…

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