Blitz Dames Roller Derby Boot Camp

Daphne Does Tattoo Freeze 2012

2012-01-24T20:46:00.002Z

What do you get when you mix up the top UK derby teams, tattoos, camper vans and ice-sculpting? A typical rollergirl outing!

Tattoo Freeze is a convention that takes place yearly and hosts a mini roller derby tournament with the eight teams battling it out. The tournament was held in a huge hall with ice sculpting at one end, a stage where live bands played, a BMX ramp and then the track and stands set up for the roller derby.

There were eight games in total, each lasting only 30 minutes, with a maximum of two time outs and a stricter penalty system: only four minutes in the box was grounds for ejection, rather than the typical seven. So, er, maybe that explains why five Blitz Dames skaters managed to foul out... We're not sloppy, we're spirited!

The teams in attendance were: The Birmingham Blitz Dames, The Auld Reekie Roller Girls, Glasgow Roller Girls, London Rockin' Rollers, The Dolly Rockits, London Batter C Power, Lincolnshire Bomber Roller Girls and the tournament was organised by Central City Roller Girls.

The first game was ARRG against the Dolly Rockits. DRR had some powerful jammers, including Gob Stop 'Er, Truckin' Elle and of course Rogue Runner of Team England fame, but after a close game, ARRG emerged victorious.

Next, the London Rockin' Rollers played Lincolnshire. The Bombers looked very professional in their kit and pulled off some impressive assists, particularly Synyster Motives, but the Rockin' Rollers were the stronger team, with an array of high standard players such as Jack Attack, Von Bitch, and The Mighty Mighty Bash who was playing her final bout for the team. The final score was something something.

Then it was finally time for the Blitz Dames to play CCR! The Dames took a quick lead and were initially showing strong pack work and communication. Violet Attack jammed alternatively and Penny Block experienced her bouting debut with a fantastic hit to Hustle'Her. It was all going well until a few skaters started hitting the four minutes in the box limit and getting ejected. By the end of the match, four of the most experienced skaters had been ejected and the BBD game suffered considerably.

In the final of the first round games, Glasgow played London Batter C. It was the first time most people had seen LRG's C team play and they had a hard time against the more experienced Glasgow team.

The semi finals saw a fast paced game between London Rockin' Rollers and ARRG with the latter losing over only 19 points and sending LRR to the finals.

CCR triumphed over GRG in a very close game where Billy Whizz and Hustle'Her worked as effective jammers, catching the points even though GRG often got lead jammer. GRG had wonderful blocking and waterfalling, but at the end of the thirty minutes, CCR had the higher score and went through to the final.

After ARRG played GRG in a tight All Scottish battle for third place the final had CCR up against London Rockin' Rollers. With the help of Jack Attack, LRR took an early lead and maintained it, staunchly preventing CRR from closing the point gap and taking the Tattoo Freeze trophy for 2012 with a score of 105 – 22.

Although the Dames didn't win, we put up a good fight and enjoyed meeting up with the other teams and watching the other matches. All in all a day of great derby!

See you all next year!

~ Daphne du Gorier #905

(Roller derby is serious bananas and Daphne is the most serious banana)

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T16:57:00.000Z

Lost in weekly practices, the run up to bouts and the signing up for bootcamps, it's hard to believe the year has passed so quickly. 2011 draws to a close on a very different Blitz Dames than it welcomed it, but while we've made a lot of changes, our spirit remains the same! Here's a rundown of this year's achievements.

Just Awesome proves Outstandingly Awesome
Being off skates for an injury is an unfortunate aspect of derby no player looks forward to. This year the very lovely Just Awesome had to take time off to rest her knee, but in the meantime took on the demanding and stressful role of line-up manager. This requires indepth knowledge of tactics, skaters' abilities and how not to fall apart when faced with fourteen adrenaline-loaded rollergirls.

Claiming New Territory
Halfway through the year we made the transition from spreading our three practices across two venues, to our new home, the Birmingham Futsul Arena. At first we were uncertain of the sports tile floor, but we soon realised that our wheels on the tiles sounded like a helicopter. The only problem is the excess of blue gives one an urge to do the breast stroke while skating in a pace line.

A New Drill Sergent
Previously the strange guy who skated so fast he was often called for a multiplayer block on his own, the Blitz Dames voted Rex Tangle in as their coach and he's stepped up to the challenge admirably. The hardest part no doubt is to get us to shut up and do the damn drill. About six months after he was appointed, I finally figured out what his name is about. Rex Tangle. Rectangle. Get it???

Supplies
We are proud to announce we finally have our own online store, where you can buy merch to support us and look mighty fine at the same time. Coming soon, sweat, blood and tear stained items from our top skaters! (Subject to availability.)

Bouts Hosted
Although this year had its share of away bouts, we also hosted a handful of at home double headers, giving our B team skaters a chance to show their skills. The Bout production team had a lot of new members this year, but they functioned professionally and pulled off several stellar events.

The World Cup
This year there was a little thing known as the Blood and Thunder, First Roller Derby World Cup ever, held in Toronto, Canada. You might have seen that Violet Attack's hot pants were there! Infact, Violet Attack were also there, representing Team England, while Roisin Roulette represented Team Ireland. To celebrate we made an Attack of the Rollergirls tshirts. We offered to make a similar shirt for RR, but she just gave us an unnerving stare and asked if we were feeling lucky.

Pretty good work for a year! Roll on 2012!

~ Daphne du Gorier #905

Daphne Does Derby: All Ireland Roller Derby Vs Blitz Dames and All Star Challenge

2011-11-22T19:45:00.003Z

Daphne du Gorier #905 played her first ever bout for the Blitz Dames travel team on Saturday, and it was against the Irish World Cup Squad! Here is her take on the day:

"Today the Birmingham Blitz Dames played host to two fantastic bouts against the All Ireland team representing Ireland in the Roller Derby World Cup. The first was with the Blitz Dames, while the second pitted the Irish team against an All-Star lineup made up of teams from the Midlands, termed the Midlands Massive.

The BBD bout was my first time bouting for the A team, while the second was much anticipated as it gave me a chance to watch some of my roller derby crushes play at close quarters.

The All Ireland team took an early lead which they maintained throughout the game using their formidable blockers to create a solid defence even the nippiest of jammers had problems getting through. The Dames were at a clear disadvantage with two skaters playing on the A team for the first time, Violet Attack only jamming and Roisin Roulette playing for the other team! Despite this, we made AIRD fight for their points. In the second half the dames adjusted their game and Izzy Dauntless and Thunderkat made some great blocks while Suzette la Flamme and Nico Warrior racked up the points in some beautiful passes.

As virgin voyages go, I couldn’t have asked for a better bout. The atmosphere was relaxed and I was confident in the positions and lineups I was being played in.

The game ended with a score of BBD 55 AIRD 244 but the dames felt satisfied with their performance and grateful to AIRD for the opportunity. No sooner had the teams done their laps of honour, the Midlands Massive team started to warm up, and excitement was in the air!

The second bout was one that proved just how much of a spectator sport derby is. As if seeing Violet Attack, Helen Fury, Nuclear Miss-ile, Voodoo Ray, Inky Minx and Kid Block skating on a team together wasn’t enough, we had the tiny but deadly Mosquito jamming like it was going out of fashion, some mind blowing power jams and BB Bombshell slicing through the pack while skating on one foot as her toe guard had come loose.

Getting to watch this bout was a real treat as you get a completely different perspective from when you’re on track. I quickly fell in love with Zola Blood who darted off the jam line like she’d never heard of inertia, and ChemiKill Hazard (who was awarded MVP) also captured my heart. Crow Jane who I had been looking forward to seeing sadly went off with an injury but not before putting up a good fight for the AIRD team. Between these fearsome ladies, Violet Attack and Roisin Roulette, I had a hard time knowing who to cheer for and gave myself a sore throat from all the screaming.

It was a fantastic day from start to finish with a great effort from all the skaters, refs, NSOs and the BBD bout production team. Thank you to everyone who made my first A-team bout such a fantastic experience. Hope to see you all on track some time.

(If I’ve made any mistakes or not linked to profiles where available, let me know and I’ll edit!)"

Blog post taken from http://daphnedoesderby.tumblr.com where Daphne blogs about all things derby on a regular basis.

2011-10-19T21:47:00.000+01:00

The Rolling Dead...

2011-10-03T22:41:00.002+01:00

On Saturday Birmingham Blitz Dames and Leicester's Dolly Rockit Rollers faced off against each other in not one, but two bouts!

The first bout; Dawn of the Dames vs the Raggy Dollz was the Blitz Dames' B Team's first ever bout. With a little help from a couple of friends from Wolverhampton Honour Rollers and the Norfolk Brawds, they took on DRR's B Team. The final score was Dawn of the Dames 84 - 123 Raggy Dollz.

The second bout was a BBD vs DRR A team bout. After a hard fought hour of fast jamming, hard hitting roller derby, the final score was BBD 86 - 120 Dolly Rockit Rollers.

It was a double win for the visitors (at our first ever bout in our swanky new venue; Birmingham Futsal Arena), and a fun, zombie filled afternoon all round.

Dames and Dukes at Dodgebrawl

2011-09-20T22:38:00.003+01:00

Photo by Jason Ruffell

Last Saturday Birmingham Blitz Dames Violet Attack, Sleazy Rider, Roisin Roulette, Nina Nunchucks and our bench coach Rex Tangle took part in the UK's first ever co-ed bout at Dodgebrawl! (Plus BBD Line Up Manager extraordinaire, Just Awesome did line ups on the day!)

The Dames and Dukes were on a mixed team forming the Purple Cobras and were up against mixed team, the Average Joes.

The final score was Purple Cobras 118, Average Joes 123.... so close!

Rex Tangle got the award for Best Jammer and Violet Attack the award for Best Jammer. Nice one!

The Spy Who Shoved Me!

2011-09-20T22:34:00.002+01:00

The final score at The Spy Who Shoved Me was Blitz Dames 120, Severn Roller Torrent 56.

Huge thanks to our old mates SRT for being such wonderful hosts and giving us a great bout!

Mixed Scrim Fun with the Harlots

2011-08-30T17:21:00.002+01:00

The Dames would like to thank our friends the Hellfire Harlots for joining us once again for a mixed scrimmage last Saturday.

The mixed team scrimmage was loads of fun and ended in an astounding victory for the black team!

Thanks to everyone who helped the scrimmage run so smoothly.

If any other leagues would like to visit us for a scrimmage, as a league or mixed teams, drop us an email at info@blitzdames.com

Fabulous Skatefest!

2011-08-11T17:08:00.002+01:00

Despite the bout not starting until 11.30pm(!) the Dames had a great time with their friends Severn Roller Torrent at Skatefest. The final score was Birmingham Blitz Dames 102 - 54 Severn Roller Torrent. Thanks to Skatefest ofr having us and to everyone who helped out on the day.

We'd also like to thank everyone from leagues all over the UK (and the world!) who have sent us messages of support during the riots in Birmingham. We really appreciate your thoughts at this time. It's amazing how the roller derby community pulls together!

Dames take on the Torrent at Skatefest!!!

2011-08-02T21:41:00.002+01:00

The Blitz Dames will be taking on Gloucester's Severn Roller Torrent at 'The Spy who Shoved Me' in September. But if you can't wait that long to watch the two teams battle it out, they'll be skating against each other in an exhibition bout this Saturday at Skatefest at Rollerworld in Derby!

The bout starts at 10.30pm and there's an all night roller disco afterwards. Check out the website.

Oh, and if you want to go along and support the Dames, why not go along sporting one of our fanshirts from our online merch shop...?

Violet Attack and Roisin Roulette at the Roller Derby World Cup!

2011-08-02T20:33:00.001+01:00

Birmingham Blitz Dames are chuffed to announce that two of our skaters have made it on to the roster to represent their countries at the 2011 Roller Derby World Cup!
Violet Attack, Blitz Dames captain made the roster for T eam England and Roisin Roulette made the Irish team.

The Roller Derby World Cup will be held in Toronto from 2nd-4th December 2011. To support Violet Attack as she plays for Team England, why not buy a Violet Attack tshirt from our online store? And check out our other goodies available there too!

http://blitzdames.bigcartel.com/

(Roisin Roulette for Team Ireland shirts coming soon too!)

Our online merch store is up and running!

2011-07-08T17:31:00.002+01:00

Exciting news!

The Birmingham Blitz Dames online merch store is now up and running!

You can buy Blitz Dames Tshirts, badges, stickers and magnets and loads of other cool stuff too.
Whether you're a fan of the Blitz Dames or just a fan of roller derby, there's something for everyone.

Check it out at:
http://blitzdames.bigcartel.com/

Victory at Smacky Races!

2011-07-08T17:17:00.002+01:00

The final score from Smacky Races:
Birmingham Blitz Dames 80 - 43 Hot Wheel Roller Derby!

It was a tough bout which can only be described as 'an utter block-fest!'

We'd like to thank all the skaters that participated in the Fast vs Furious warm up bout which was also excellent :)

Extra special thanks (and Happy first Birthday!) go out to Hot Wheel Roller Derny for being such awesome opponents and one of the loveliest teams we have ever played against. Go Hotties!

Twisted Fun!

2011-07-04T17:30:00.002+01:00

Huge thanks to everyone who came to our Twist of Fete fundraiser. We all had a great time, and it turns out, people are willing to pay to throw wet sponges at referees! ;)

The event was the perfect end to a sweltering day which the Dames had spent hosting a mixed scrimmage with the lovely Northampton Shoetown Slayers.

Blitz Dames appear in music video

2011-06-17T16:34:00.001+01:00

Check out some of the Blitz Dames & friends in Joan Ov Arc's video for 'Seeds of Summer' - hosted by Bedfordshire RollerGirls

Twist of Fête

2011-06-16T23:58:00.003+01:00

If seeing the Dames on the TV made you think you can't get enough of them, come along to our Fundrasier on 26th June at Subside. It's a Summer Fête with a roller girl twist!

Traditional summer fayre games like tombola or 'splat the rat' are given a bit of a roller girl edge.... Throw a wet sponge at a ref anyone?

There will also be your typical Dames-favoured music, cakes and other shenanigans you come to expect from the Dames.

Price is £3 entry before 9pm, £4 entry afterwards.

Facebook Event

Catch up with the Dames on 4OD

2011-06-16T23:19:00.002+01:00

If you missed the Dames on 'Embarassing Bodies: Live at the Clinic' last night, you can watch it online at Channel 4 On Demand. Click here to watch the episode on 4OD.

Tomorrow: Blitz Dames team up with Embarassing Bodies again!

2011-06-14T20:33:00.001+01:00

Ever the advocates of female health, the Blitz Dames teamed up with the people behind Channel 4's 'Embarassing Bodies' for a second time back in March. Previously the Dames had promoted the diversity and also the importance of checking your breasts. This time, the focus was around the female genitalia. Razor Red #227 explains:

"I was fortunate enough to accompany some of my fellow Dames to a second visit to the Embarrassing Bodies Clinic, this time the topic was vulvas. I have to be honest with myself, at first I was a little unsure as to which part of the vagina the vulva was, but I was given a larger that life example of one, I won't give it away its quite a surprise you'll have to watch the show ;).

Once again so much information was brought to my attention about this area of my body, I was shocked to find out how little I knew and how little other women knew. We learnt about how to look for any abnormal colorations, this being something I myself had never even really thought about. We also learnt that the vulva itself is not one specific part of the vagina but is a collection of different parts of the vagina as a whole.

As always we had a really good day. It was very relaxed and very informative, we even had a live model; a lady called Daphne who was kind enough to show us her vulva, I think she was very brave. The crew were great and all female which was very considerate seeing as we had a live female model.

I recomend that if you're a lady you check out this episode, I really thought I was in the know about this particular area of the body but to my suprise there was a lot to learn about that needs to be made more aware! This episode will give you a much better understanding of how to check yourself for anything abnormal and indeed what to look for. I'm definitely richer from this experience, we had a good laugh, it was a real pleasure to be invited back to take part in the show!

Razor Red

xx"

You may (or may not?) be happy to know that the Dames do not bear all for the cameras themselves this time as they have done previously! ;)

The Birmingham Blitz Dames can be seen on Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic tomorrow night, Wednesday 15th June 2011, 8pm on Channel 4.

The Blitz Dames are available for interview and are happy to talk about the episode.

Swapping skates for trainers? Must be for Charity...

2011-06-14T18:52:00.003+01:00

Dames and other fun-runners for RMHC

Last Sunday, Dames and Dukes Superoxide, Suzette la Flamme, RUFFty TUFFty, Max Dissent, Nico Warrior, Coletta L Damage and Cherry KO ran the 8.5 miles of the Great Midlands Fun Run for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Ronald McDonald House is an independent Charity which aims to provide free ‘home away from home’ accommodation at hospitals across the UK, enabling families to stay close to their child and maintain a degree of normal family life. The charity is close to the Dames' hearts as our very own Freedom Fyta works for Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Together the Dames raised over £740 including giftaid for RMHC. It's not too late to make a donation though. Just click here.

Smacky Races

2011-05-30T17:48:00.003+01:00

Birmingham Blitz Dames are pleased to announce their next home bout: Smacky Races against Hot Wheel Roller Derby!
This is a double header including a mixed B team bout, Team Fast vs Team Furious.

Tickets £6 in advance from http://blitzdames.com or £8 on the door. Kids under 12 £4.

The bout will be held at the Doug Ellis Sports Centre on 2nd July 2011, doors open at 1pm, first whistle at 1.30pm.

Check out the Facebook Event.

Fundraiser Fun!

2011-05-22T16:02:00.003+01:00

Thanks to everyone who came to our Smells Like Blitz Spirit fundraiser at the Sunflower Lounge last night. We had an excellent time and rasied a fair bit of cash for the league in the process. Making money should always be this fun!

Smells Like Blitz Spirit!

2011-05-12T18:33:00.000+01:00

We'd like to thank everyone who came and supported us at Jam Busters, our first home bout in absolutely ages last Saturday! Extra special thanks to the Lincolnshire Bombers obviously who came down and were such awesomely tough opponents. The final score was 32 to the Dames and 84 to the Bombers. Well done guys, very well deserved!

But after all that bouting, now we're in the mood for a party....Smells Like Blitz Spirit!

Party with the Dames at the Sunflower lounge in Birmingham, cakes, rollergirls and DJ sets from Count Trackula and Hayden CollideHer. Only £3 on the door from 8pm till late.

Support your local roller derby, and have a good few beers while you're at it ;)

Good job then that we have a fundraiser coming up:

Helsinki & Hellfire Harlots Happiness!

2011-05-06T20:10:00.005+01:00

Last weekend Violet Attack, Roisin Roulette, Suzette la Flamme, Nico Warrior, X-Raych and Metal Ed attended MayDay in Hell hosted by Helsinki Roller Derby.

The bootcamp took place over the May Bank Holiday weekend (also a big Holiday in Finland!) and the Dames participated in two bouts. Bout 1 was Snow Whites vs Black Swans and Bout 2 was White Noise vs Black Metal.

For the first bout, Suzette la Flamme won the award for Hardest Blocker for the Black Swans. For the second bout, Roisin Roulette won the award for Most Valuable Player for Black Metal and Violet Attack won the award for Most Valuable Player for White Noise. A pretty sucessful day for the Dames!

The bouts were streamed live on DNN and if you missed them you can re-watch on Justin.TV here!

We'd like to thank all the guys and girls from Helsinki for putting on such a great weekend for us!

Those Dames who didn't spend their Bank Holiday weekend in Scandinavia were lucky enough to have been joined for a mixed scrimmage by the Hellfire Harlot s. It was a fantastic day and we'd like to thank the Harlots, and our friends from Severn Roller Torrent for joining us.

One last reminder....

The Blitz Dames JAMBUSTERS bout against Lincolnshire Bombers is TOMORROW!

Don't forget to buy your tickets now at http://blitzdames.com

Jam Busters Tickets: On sale now!

2011-04-27T13:09:00.003+01:00

On 7th May Birmingham Blitz Dames will be bouting the Lincolnshire Bombers at home from 3pm.

Tickets are on sale now from http://blitzdames.com for £5.

Blitz vs Bombers... who will win? Join us to find out. This is the Blitz Dames' first interleague home bout in nearly two years so it should hopefully be a good one! Get yourselves there!

Jammunition: Sirens 141 - 101 Bombshells

2011-04-17T16:18:00.004+01:00

Massive thanks to everyone who came and supported the Blitz Dames yesterday in our first open door intraleague bout. A big shout out too to the Mersey Misfits, an up and coming league from Wirral who chose Jammunition for their first league bout road trip! We are honoured ladies!

After a very close fought bout, the final score was Sirens 141 - 101 Bombshells, making it one bout win a piece so far for the BBD intraleague teams this season.

We'd also like to thank everyone who came along to help out, referee, pedle wares, NSO (looking lovely in their special grey t-shirts ;) ), play music, announce, lay the track and be generally helpful. We could not have done it without you all!

The Blitz Dames' next bout is 7th May 2011 at home to the Lincolnshire Bombers. More details coming soon!

Jammunition!

2011-03-22T18:24:00.004Z

The second Blitz Dames intraleague bout of the season. The Bombshells will be taking on the Sirens again on 16th April 2011 at Stockland Green Leisure Centre in their 'Jammunition' bout and this time YOU can come and watch.

It's only £3, what a bargain! Reserve your ticket here and pay on the door.

See you there!

(Facebook Event)

Wonderbrawl - Birmingham Blitz Dames vs Tiger Bay Brawlers

2011-02-13T14:27:00.003Z

Wonderbrawl was a week ago but I still have my number written on my arm (I have washed since, and more than once…) and I found bright orange threads in my elbowpad Velcro at skate practice yesterday. At least one Tiger Bay Brawlers uniform took a battering!

Birmingham Blitz Dames v Tiger Bay brawlers was the first bout at Wonderbrawl, Manchester Roller Derby’s first home bout at the Manchester Academy. A big black room, a stage, seating down one side, a balcony, bright spotlights and an oval track – magic in the making.

The Dames bouted Croydon away a week earlier, and four of us (Nina Nunchucks, Superoxide, Suzette la Flamme and Nico Warrior) took part in the Dolly Rockit’s birthday bash in Leicester the day before, so some of us still had numbers written on our arms from previous bouts… We were joined on the track by Tuxspeedo, a Blitz Dame who’s working away in Manchester, Razor Red as alternate and the team otherwise unchanged from the Croydon bout. We didn’t know much about Tiger Bay, other than that they won their first bout against Bristol Harbour Harlots quite recently ; and some of us had seen BB Bombshell skating in mixed teams, in Windsor and Manchester.

The game was a pretty close one; both teams had successful and less successful jams through the first half, neither able to develop a significant lead. Tiger Bay blockers I think were working hard on getting their jammers through the pack, with the smaller jammers often being towed through on the shirt-tails of bigger blockers, so the Blitz Dames pack found themselves working to contain Tiger Bay rather than to help their own jammers through, and BB Bombshell and Queen la Queefah in particular made it hard work for the Dames’ point scorers. Billie Pistol and Crash Bandicute showed some impressive jamming in the Tiger Bay style and Kid Block also stood out as a big presence in the pack. Tuxspeedo, skating in her first bout, jammed effectively for the Dames and strong skating from Violet Attack and Nina Nunchucks also got them past the Tiger Bay blockers. Nico, Suzette and Superoxide showed no signs of fatigue despite their heavy bouting schedule and kept working through the tiny spaces available in the disciplined Tiger Bay pack. Sleazy Rider and Violet Attack jammed and blocked tirelessly, seemingly on track almost the entire bout.

During the second half Tiger Bay’s Queen la Queefah was wheeled out with a broken and dislocated ankle. BB Bombshell and then the Dames’ Izzy Dauntless fouled out; both power blockers treading the line between heavy and illegal hits throughout the game and both made major contributions to their teams before one trip too many to the box saw them removed from play. Tiger Bay had drawn ahead with a couple of high scoring jams and at one point were 20-odd points or more ahead. With five minutes left the deficit was around 20 points; the Dames worked hard to pull the score back, sending out their more experienced players for the last few jams but time ran out with Tiger Bay ahead 123-110. I had a lot of fun this bout; mainly playing blocker 4 and concentrating on jammer killing. I got away with it for a couple of jams, and then Tiger Bay spotted what I was up to and it got harder!

Awards for the Dames went to Diabolus Rutilus for Most Feared Player, Roisin Roulette for Best Blocker, Izzy Dauntless for Pentalty Queen and Violet Attack for Best Jammer and MVP.
Awards for Tiger Bay went to Queen LaQueefa for Best Blocker, Crash Banicute for Best Jammer, BB Bombshell for Most Feared and Penalty Queen and Kid Block for MVP.

We’re learning all the time, and have identified some areas to work on for next time; it was a hard fought bout with plenty of incident. Then we got to watch Manchester Roller Derby take on the Hot Wheel girls – plenty of roller derby action in what we hope will become a regular venue!

~ Roisin Roulette #N17

Blitz Dames take over the media... and UK bouts!

2011-02-04T20:24:00.007Z

Today the Blitz Dames have entirely taken over Birmingham's media. They're on TV, radio and in the newspaper, all in the same day!

Tonight, Channel 4, 9pm - The Blitz Dames are on 'Embarassing Bodies' raising awareness of breast cancer and learning how to check their own boobs for lumps or abnormal tissue. (If you missed it, check it out on 4OD).

This morning the Dames were on BBC Radio WM - Violet Attack, Roisin Roulette and RUFFty TUFFty were on the morning show with Joanne Malin this morning. If you missed it you can listen to it online here. (If you don't want to listen to the whole show, skip to 2hrs 17 in!)

The Birmingham Mail features the Dames - Today on page 21 of the Birmingham Mail, check it out!

And if that's not enough for you, the Dames are invading TWO double header bouts this weekend! That's right... two!

Tomorrow, Superoxide, Suzette la Flamme, Nina Ninchucks and Nico Warrior will be skating in a mixed bout at the Dolly Rockit Rollers' 'Birthday Bash.' The Dolly Rockits will then take on the Romsey Town Roller Billies.

And then on Sunday the Dames take on the Tiger Bay Brawlers at Manchester Roller Derby's 'Wonderbrawl' Manchester then take on Hot Wheels Roller Derby.

Phew. That should be enough Dames action keep you going through the weekend!

Full Metal Track It Write Up

2011-02-03T00:53:00.004Z

Photo courtesy of Neal Humphris

30 January 2011: Full Metal Track It
Usually we’re busy stuffing our faces with roasted food, Sunday lunchtime, but not this week. No, this week the Dames bouting team, Refs, NSOs, lineup and bench team and travelling supporters were meeting up at the van hire centre or outside the Mailbox with skates, pads, snacks, flags, snacks, boutfits, make-up bags, snacks drinks and more snacks, ready for the 3hr drive to Croydon Roller Derby’s bouting venue in Carshalton.

Having agreed that it would be childish to race all the way there in our two minibuses, we settled in for a Dames road trip. Bus 2 took an early lead, but timing and an attention-grabbing moon from Violet Attack and Little Ruffty helped Ruffty (at the wheel of Bus 1) gain ‘Lead Driver’ status as we approached the M40 and the driving contest was effectively won there and then.

Croydon were well organised and when we parked at the venue just after 4pm the track laying was well underway and we were met and directed to the changing room. This was a first public bout for several Dames (Izzy Dauntless, Nico Warrior, Kathleen Hamma, Rip Lashes and Razor Red) and there was some nervous chatter, and some nervous silence, as we waited to warm up and have equipment checked before the game. But as soon as the first whistle began we just played roller derby.

The Dames hadn’t bouted as a team since April 2010 and some of the more experienced blockers were initially a trifle over-excited to be back on track; I for one didn’t play as sensibly as I should have done, being sent to the penalty box twice early on. The first half points were fairly evenly distributed but with there was a succession of Dames stuck in the penalty box, including one jam where the box was full and blockers were waved off. Croydon later had an amazing 20-point jam (Jessica Rammit jamming) to go into the lead and by half time the score was Croydon 50-41 Blitz Dames.

Dames Captain Violet Attack gathered her troops for a quick team talk: she told us that the Dames were allowing the Croydon jammers to fly past on the outside far too easily. If we could just keep 5 players on the track for each jam, we could stop Croydon scoring. Without their power jam, Croydon would not have been in the lead. Dames blockers just needed to play with less heart and more head, and stay on the track so that our jammers would have the help they needed to slip through the pack.

We don’t like to disappoint Attack. And so the second half was a different story, with the Dames holding the Croydon jammers back more effectively, and Dames jammers steadily scoring points. There was brave and determined jamming from Nico Warrior (and I’d like to send our thanks to the Warrior friends and family for their passionate and noisy support) slipping through walls and bouncing back up every time she was knocked down, and confident and crafty jamming from Nina Nunchucks; Violet Attack as ever caused problems for the opposition wherever she chose to play, and Sleazy Rider and Izzy Dauntless were tireless in knocking holes or positionally blocking in the pack. Rookie skater Razor Red worked well at the front of the pack with Bitchy or Doc, and teamwork across the second half saw the Dames outscore Croydon with 74 points in the half against Croydon’s 31.

Croydon players we were particularly wary of were Jessica Rammit and Amazon Dragstar, Mary Blockins, Mosquito and Jeopardy Jinx; we felt that the level of derby skills was good from both teams, and everyone will have learned something from the bout. Croydon were lovely hosts, we felt welcomed and well looked after (they fed us! brought fruit and water and cake! gave us goodie bags!) and we hope we can return the love in a home fixture before too long.

Everyone involved in a roller derby game has a slightly different view and interprets that view in their own way; whether you’re in the suicide seats, the back of the stands, skating in it or standing in the centre of the track, you can’t see everything. This, then, is my recollection of the game; I was on the track a lot, I am well known for my inability to think and skate at the same time and obviously missed a lot of what was going on around me. So if I fail to mention someone’s brilliant play or amazing piece of skill, sorry, I was probably in a world of my own at the time.

~ Roisin Roulette #N17

Full Metal Track-It Final Score....

2011-01-31T18:07:00.003Z

The final score from the Blitz Dames' bout yesterday against Croydon Roller Derby....

Birmingham Blitz Dames: 115 - 81: Croydon Roller Derby

Well done to everyone who skated yesterday, huge thanks to the refs, NSOs and Croydon Roller Derby for being such fabulous hosts. It was an honour to be in your first open home bout with you!

Blitz Boobs on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies

2011-01-28T20:32:00.005Z

Channel 4's medical programme Embarrassing Bodies returns tonight at 9pm. If you watch this series, you might spot a few of your favourite roller girls learning how to check their Blitz Boobies...

Back in July 2010, the Birmingham Blitz Dames were asked to appear on Embarrassing Bodies to assist in demonstrating how to do a breast check, looking for lumps or changes in tissue which could indicate breast cancer.

The producers were hoping for ‘at least six’ ladies from the team who knew each other and would be comfortable getting their boobs out in front of each other, the show’s doctor and the cameras. They came to see us skating for a typical training session at Stockland Green Leisure Centre, to get an idea of the make up of the team – they were looking for a group of women of different body shapes and ages.

In the end there were twelve Dames able to take part on the day. The filming was done in a small gallery at Compton Verney on Tuesday 27 July 2010. Everyone was a bit nervous at first, because it is a strange way to spend a morning. They were introduced to the all female team of director, doctor and camera crew, and signed some waivers saying they were happy for their breasts to be shown to the nation(!)

The breat-baring Dames were then filmed having a look round the gallery where there were photos on display showing different shapes and sizes of breasts belonging to different women, all healthy and ‘normal’ but incredibly diverse.

It was then time for the Dames to whip their tops off and stand in a semi circle while Doctor Dawn talked about how useful the programme was, and explained that they film this same segment every year with different sports teams, and every year after it airs they get calls from women who have never done breast self examination before but have done so because of the show. She’s quite sure that lives have been saved through this. This is the reason that the Blitz Dames are proud to have volunteered to take part in the show.

During the filing, the girls were assured that the camera would not focus on any one person for too long, and that generally it would be at either face or breast level, rather than showing face and breasts in the same shot. There was a discussion about bra fit and breast size and shape, how the girls felt about their boobs and generally, it was agreed that we’re all bloody gorgeous clothed or naked!

Promise Payback agreed to be the guinea pig, standing next to the doctor and demonstrating how to work around the breast, checking all of the breast tissue under the fingers and extending the examination up towards the armpit. Then everyone gave it a go, taking it in turns to look in a mirror, and nobody found anything worrying. Violet Attack volunteered for her boobs to be used as a backdrop for some facts that the production team will put up on the screen.

The following Tuesday, the camera crew joined the Blitz Dames again at the training session at Stockland Green Leisure Centre, filming the Dames in action in their natural environment, this time, with tops on ;)

The Birmingham Blitz Dames can be seen on Embarrassing Bodies on Friday 4th February 2010, 9pm on Channel 4.

For all press or media enquiries please click here. The Blitz Dames are available for interview at short notice and are happy to talk about the episode.

Luludemon Forty Four & Blitz Dames coaching session

2011-01-18T20:35:00.002Z

Luludemon Forty Four, the roller girl behind the Pivotstar brand and a member of the Terminal City Rollergirls’ travel team, dropped in to coach a Thursday night practice for the Birmingham Blitz Dames on a chilly January night recently. On an extensive roller derby tour of her native UK, Luludemon’s enthusiasm for playing and coaching roller derby was still evident mid month when she reached Birmingham.
Sleazy Rider and Roisin Roulette had skated with Luludemon before, on a boot camp in Washington State in 2010, and she’s a ‘facebook friend’ of Bitter Sweet and other Dames, so it felt like having an old friend come visit.
After a lane drill warm up and stretch, we moved into the jammer skills coaching we’d asked for. Luludemon is one of those jumpy jammers with quick feet who create openings for themselves by dodging from side to side and she soon had all the Dames hopping and jumping from one foot to the other with fierce concentration. We then moved on to perfecting our cross-overs and skating form to maximise speed round the track; some of the Dames remembered working with a speed skater last year on many of the same points while there were some genuine breakthrough moments for others.
We practiced working as a blocker with the jammer to draw a wall to the inside or the outside, toe stop starts and running on toe stops; and Luludemon talked us through her tips for jammer confidence and how to take control of the jam from the starting line. Some of the Dames were entranced by Luludemon’s wise words and obvious skating skills; others were just entranced by how cute she is and how good she looks in Pivotstar shorts. There was a bit of a rush on the Pivotstar merch table after practice as a result!
So we were delighted to welcome Luludemon to our Thursday night practice, and will be repeating her drills over the next couple of Saturdays for those Dames who couldn’t make it.

~ Roisin Roulette #N17

Also, check out Luludemon's own blog about her visit to us!

Luludemon Forty-four coaches the Birmingham Blitz Dames

2011-01-16T13:46:00.006Z

Bombshells vs Sirens Intraleague Bout Write-up

2011-01-12T21:52:00.001Z

Bombshells v Sirens 8 January 2011.

The Birmingham Blitz Dames got 2011 off to a passionate start as the Bombshells and Sirens met on the track for their first intra-league bout of the year on Saturday 8 January 2011. Trash talking and rivalry aside, this was a first opportunity for many of the league’s rookie skaters to take to the track under bouting conditions and in all 17 skaters made their bouting debuts in front of a small but appreciative closed-door crowd.
Head Ref on the day, Metal Ed, had recruited Referees from Manchester Roller Derby and London Rockin Rollers and the home NSO crew were greatly assisted by El Toupee, Lorna, Alex and Russ. This was a first bout for BBD referees Mr Kripling and Paul also.

The Bombshells, led by Saintly Sin and co-captain Superoxide and wearing team colours of red and black, were skating under a temporary red warning sign logo, versus the immaculately turned out Sirens in white and purple with silver details. Bombshells Razor Red and X Raych in particular both displayed serious war paint and boutfit preparation while Tuxspeedo picked up Best Boutfit for the Sirens.

Initial predictions were that the bout would be close. There were last minute lineup adjustments on both sides; the Sirens were picked from a larger pool of eligible skaters, but overall the Bombshells had more experienced skaters.

The Sirens took to the track without their power blocker and tactical wizard Diabolus Rutilus, still celebrating with the Barmy Army down under, and Kylie Volatile, temporarily sidelined due to injury; they were led by Izzy Dauntless and Rip Lashes both making their bouting debuts (although Rip Lashes has taken part in a number of bouts as a referee since joining the Dames in 2008). Raging Bulmer was a last minute addition to the Sirens, while Kylie ran their line-ups and Rex Tangle bench coached.

The Bombshells were without Bitter Sweet due to injury and Cherry KO due to unforeseen circumstances. Sirens rookies Nigella Awesome and Thunderkat joined the Bombshells for the day.

Bombshells took a decisive lead towards the middle of the first period with a 14-point jam from Sleazy Rider; throughout the bout they frequently played one rookie per jam with four more experienced skaters; this meant that Saintly Sin , Sleazy Rider, Roisin Roulette, Nina Nunchucks, Queen Boudi See-ya and Superoxide had a lot of track time. One of the new Bombshells (Dirtbag Dan) had turned up for a practice unaware that she might be on the roster and played blocker and pivot; another rookie (Razor Red) played pivot, blocker and jammer at various stages in the game. Bitter Sweet ran lineups and bench managed confidently, getting the Bombshells on the track within seconds of each jam being called off, and the ‘simple plan’ Bombshells tactics worked well; Violet Attack was the only Sirens jammer to score significant points more than once, while Nina Nunchucks had three high scoring jams for the Bombshells in the second half (15-0, 15-0 and 10-0) which helped build an unassailable lead. Superoxide sustained the worst injury of the game (taking a block on her lower jaw) and was forced to retire from jamming towards the end of the second period, but there were thankfully few other injuries. Margo Headsplitter and Maddie Hit-her played as utility blockers, fitting into the pack as and when required.

The Sirens were playing a long game with an eye to building their team of the future, and sending out their rookies in 2s and 3s to gain maximum exposure and experience from the bout (while making the best of their situation since they had fewer ‘old hands’ to call upon). Violet Attack, Suzette la Flamme and Bitchy the Killer were the cool heads directing the newer skaters, such as Drue Darkness, Section Her, Ruffty Tuffty, Raging Bulmer and Promise Payback, but with strong performances from Nico Warrior, Kathleen Hamma and Tuxspeedo and determined blocking from Izzy Dauntless and Rip Lashes, none of the Sirens rookies looked lost or struggled to keep up with play. Izzy Dauntless was the Sirens’ hardest blocker as voted for by the Bombshells; other awards went to Nico Warrior and X-Raych (best rookies on each team) to Violet Attack and Nina Nunchucks (best jammers).

Final score was Bombshells 132-65 Sirens, or, Blitz Dames scored 197 points in their first bout of 2011! Many thanks to the Dames, Dudes, Refs and NSOs who helped make it such fun; we had a blast and we’re going to do it all again as soon as we can.

~ Roisin Roulette #N17

Intraleague Bout final score

2011-01-08T19:23:00.004Z

Final score:

Bombshells 132 - 64 Sirens

Well done to everyone who bouted today and big thanks to all the refs and NSOs for making it go so well!

Intraleague Bout!

2011-01-07T18:29:00.002Z

Tomorrow afternoon, the Birmingham Blitz Dames will be having their first intraleague Sirens vs Bombshells bout!

The event is by invitation only.

This will be the first bout for a number of the Dames and we are all very excited!

Izzy Dauntless, Rip Lashes, RUFFty TUFFty, Nico Warrior, Kathleen Hamma, Tuxspeedo, Drue Darkness, Evil Twin and Section Her will be bouting for the first time for the Sirens and Cherry KO, X-Raych and Razor Red from the Bombshells will be bouting for the first time.

Watch this space to see how it goes!

Dames at Silent Fight!

2010-12-15T17:57:00.005Z

This Saturday, Dames Sleazy Rider and Roisin Roulette will be skating for Team Fried Eggs at the Silent Fight double-header, hosted by the Lincolnshire Bombers at Newark Showground. ...But there's a bit of in-Dames rivalry as Violet Attack will be bench coaching for Team Melons!!!

The event also sees a bout between Team Amazon and Team Titch.

Proceeds from the raffle will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Facebook Event

Blitz Dames in Joan OV Arc music video!

2010-12-09T16:55:00.003Z

On 20th November, Blitz Dames Roisin Roulette, Nina Nunchucks, Kylie Volatile, Suzette la Flamme, Nico Warrior, Bitter Sweet and Metal Ed, joined Bedford Rollergirls for a mixed scrimmage to produce a music video for all female band Joan OV Arc!

Check out the behind the scenes/making of video here! See if you can spot any Dames whizzing past ;

And stay tuned in the New Year for details on when the video will be released.

The Dames have sorted your Christmas shopping for you...

2010-12-05T11:38:00.005Z

You need to get people Christmas presents. There's no escaping it.
But you don't have to go to SHOPS to do it! Wouldn't doing your Christmas hopping from the comfort of a lovely PUB be so much better?!
Forget the Bullring today. It's just full of morons who will get in your way and queues. Horrible horrible queues.
Come to the Victoris instead and buy people something unique and unusual that they'll actually appreciate instead of the usual tat from New Look.

Then congratulate yourself with a cake or two and a pint.

Sorted.

Metal Ed is our NER*D!!!

2010-11-16T22:14:00.003Z

Blitz Dames Ref Metal Ed, competed in his first merby bout last Sunday for N*E*R*D against Southern Discomfort. By all accounts he did some awesome blocking in the name of the Dames, even though they came in a gallant second :P

Final score: Southern Discomfort 209 - N*E*R*D 69

Go Metal Ed!!!

Kate's Clothing Video

2010-10-28T23:45:00.002+01:00

Here's the promo video taken at the Kate's Clothing party the Dames were special guests at last month... see how many roller girls you can spot skating and strutting their stuff!

...if you like the look of hanging out with the Dames, us for our Clothing, Crafts and Cales sale, this Sunday!

The Dames invade Croydon!

2010-10-28T18:48:00.002+01:00

A last minute invite to Croydon Roller Derby's Fenris Flyer's and Brighton Rocker's Closed Mixed Scrimmage saw me (Bitter Sweet), Nina Nunchucks and Nico Warrior (and not forgetting Metal Ed!) make the traffic riddled and arduous journey down to Croydon for some real Roller Derby fun.

With Mixed teams from Croydon, Brighton, London Rockin' Rollers and of course the lovely Blitz Dames (Biased? Much!) Team Black and Team White faced off against each other! Both teams quite nervous to start with as most skaters on the teams were new to the sport but nervousness soon turned into the drive to kick some Rollergirl ass!

Team White, dubbed White Spirit (which had players like Nico Warrior, Nina Nunchucks from the Dames and Flash Bang Wallop from LRR on) took an early lead with Team Black (Dubbed the Black Pearls) failing to score for the first 3 jams. Team White 20 - Team Black 0. Ouch!

But Team Black (Consisting of players such as Bitter Sweet of the Dames, Mosquito, Liv Fast of CRD and Deadly Devito and Taco Hell of LRR) weren't gonna take it lying down! Jam 4 saw Liv Fast of the Black Pearls nabbed herself a Power Jam scoring 25 points and getting Team Black on the score board! Team White fought back but Team Black played it tactically, controlling the pack and jamming their lil hearts out! the score remained close all the way through, the lead changing many a time!

By half time Team Black had secured an uncomfortable lead! By half time the happenings of the Rollergirls had attracted the attention of the staff and users of the Leisure Centre! As the Ladies left the track they were bombarded by questions about the wonderful game!

Drinks and Fags and Tactical talk over the girls returned to the track, Team White determined to close the gap and Team Black determined to skate away with the win!!

The second half was, at times, scappy and intense with lots of penalties and lotsa points scored who came out the winner.....

The Black Pearls AKA Team Black!

Team White 63 - Team Black 79

I think all players on all teams came away from the Scrimmage with new knowledge of the game and tactics and a whole new confidence in their own abilities!

I'd just like to thank Ghouldielocks, who unfortunately couldn't skate (Next time woman *shakes fist*), for inviting the Dames to come along, for the whole of Croydon Roller Derby for setting up such an awesome Mixed Scrim and all of teams, skaters, refs and NSO's that got involved and made the day such a great success!

Bring on the next one :)

Peace out!

Bitter Sweet ♥
#<3

Join us for clothes, cakes and crafty craziness!

2010-10-22T18:36:00.001+01:00

See you there!

Kitten Squeal blogs about the Dames mixed scrimmage

2010-10-06T21:13:00.003+01:00

Kitten Squeal from the Milton Keynes Concrete Cows joined us for our mixed scrimmage last month as an NSO and blogged about her first experience of a mixed scrimmage.

Read all about it on her blog:
Kitten Squeal - The Birmingham Blitz Dames Mixed Scrimmage

New Season, Back on Track...

2010-09-29T21:33:00.006+01:00

Thanks to everyone who came along to support us at Kate's Clothing Party on 24th September.

Izzy Dauntless, Violet Attack and Superoxide in samples of Kate's Clothing.

We had a fabulous night and particularly enjoyed skating around a rock club, free shots, and boylesque! ;) Keep checking back here for more opportunities to party with the Dames!

We'd also like to say a massive thank you to our friends from Severn Roller Torrent, Rainy City Roller Girls, Bristol Harbour Harlots, London Rockin' Rollers and Milton Keynes Concrete Cows who came and joined us for a mixed scrimmage to celebrate our first birthday as Birmingham Blitz Dames last Sunday!It was a fantastic day and we can't wait to hit the track with you guys again soon! Well done to Team RAF who eventually beat Team Army and Team Navy to be overall winners of the day!

And don't forget, this Saturday is Fresh Meat Saturday! If you think you want to get involved with Birmingham Blitz Dames, send us an email to info@blitzdames.com or reply to this blog and come along at 9.30am on Saturday to Stockland Green Leisure Centre!

Mixed Scrimmage this Sunday!

2010-09-22T23:14:00.002+01:00

Email ninanunchucks@yahoo.co.uk or check out the Facebook Event for more information.
Tickets available from blitzdames.com

And don't miss your chance to party with the Dames at Kate's Clothing Party this Friday!

Kate's Clothing Party and Mixed Scrimmage!

2010-09-13T21:47:00.003+01:00

Firstly, well done to all our new skaters who attended your Fresh Meat session this month! It was great to see so many enthusiastic new Dames, definitely some seriously tough roller girls in the making there!

For those of you looking for your next oportunity to party with the Dames, come along to Eddie's on 24th September to celebrate the relaunch of 'Kate's Clothing.'

The Dames will be there on skates, modelling the clothes and handing out shots in exchange for craaaaaziness... along with Nympherno, Badlands Boylesque and stilt walkers! Be there!
Facebook Event - Kate's Clothing

Aaaaand finally...
The Dames are hosting their first mixed scrimmage of the season! It's on Sunday 26th September at Xcel Leisure Centre, Coventry. Skaters who have passed WFTDA minimum skills are welcome to participate, as well as Refs and NSOs. Tickets are £7 for skaters and £5 for NSOs.

For further information and to let us know you can make it, check out the Facebook Event.

Hope to see you there!

September 2010 Fresh Meat Induction - Tomorrow!

2010-09-03T14:21:00.002+01:00

A reminder that tomorrow, 4th September 2010 is our first fresh meat induction session of the season.

If you fancy giving roller derby a go, just give us a shout and feel free to come along! We have equipment for you to borrow and the first session is free!

The session starts at 9.30am at Stockland Green Leisure Centre, Marsh Lane, Erdington, Birmingham. See you there!

Thank you!

2010-09-03T14:10:00.002+01:00

Just a quick thank you to everyone who came along to our end of season 'Scary Tales' party last Sunday at Subside.
We had a great time and raised some much needed funds for the league.
Keep checking this blog for more opportunities to party with the Dames!

Scary Tales Tonight!

2010-08-29T14:35:00.006+01:00

Don't forget to come along to our end of season party tonight from 8pm at Subside!

Facebook Event

More Roller Destruction @ Arcadia!

2010-08-25T20:49:00.002+01:00

What do you get when you combine 40 roller girls from across the country, their fans and refs, sprinkle on a little pizza and cake, then stir for 24 hours? A whole big pile of awesome, that’s what!

August 14th was the date of Roller Destruction in Manchester. The venue of the Arcadia in Levenshulme, where the Manchester Roller Derby girls train, is enough to make any derby dame swoon. A full size hall with a gallery for the spectators, digital timer, and the track painted out on the floor. No cones for these women! Skating there was a dream - nothing imparts the feeling of professionalism like a venue designed exclusively for rollersports.

After the warm up & group stretch we rocked off with the first bout. It was hard-fought and exciting, with players mixed up with people from all over the country having to work on quick tactics & teamwork. The crowd couldn’t have guessed though - the defensive teamwork of the blockers was seamless, and the jammers moved around the track like greased lightning, getting whipped through the pack like the teams had trained together far longer than the 10 minutes we had all known each other.

At the end of the first bout the black team had thrashed the whites, although both teams had displayed some epic play. The crowd was excited, everyone was in high spirits, and it was time for some awesome pizza & learning how to maintain our skates on the sunny grass with Paul The Man. There was a fount of useful information, modified spanners, and some cunning use of bike oil & concorde grease; but words cannot share the wonders of what Paul can do with a filmcase & a can of WD40.

For me the most fun part of the day was a game of roller hockey, this time blacks versus greens. Everyone could take part, including some who were probably too young for roller derby (though getting my skating skills mocked by said 3-year-old child was less fun!) It was a game most of us had no training in apart from some chilly lessons at school, but what we lacked for in skill we made up for in enthusiasm. The ball was whacked all around the court, players collided and points were scored. The greens won the first time round (Woo!), although the blacks won in the second game (Boo!) Definitely something I want to play more of.

The fun carried on far into the night, accompanied by a lot of laughter and hugs. Overall, it was an amazing day, and I’d love to offer my adoring thanks to all those who made it possible. A shining example of the awesome fun of roller derby!

Purpletrator
#7

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS - Don't forget our Scary Tales end of season party on Sunday!

From Atta Grrl to Scary Tales...

2010-08-24T21:41:00.008+01:00

The Blitz Dames would like to thank everyone who came along to our fundraiser at Subside on 29th July. :)

The event featured a DJ set from female-vocalist-loving Atta Grrl, as well as the typical cakes, Blitz Bomber cocktails and general debauchery you've come to expect from a Blitz Dames party. Oh, and we managed to raise a nice bit of cash for the league too!

See? ;)

And if you're wondering when you can get yourselves in on some of this partying with roller girls business... Our next event is our end of season party on 29th August 2010 at Subside!

Our 'Scary Tales' event, is a Blitz Dames party with a twisted fairy tales theme! There will be the usual partying and cakes and fancy dress in a scary fairy tale manner is pretty much a given!

There will also be fire breathing and dancing from the gorgeous Nympherno, as well as live music from Great Uncles, Laughing in the Face Of and The Glass Gods.

The event starts from 8pm and we won't even try to kick you out until 2am. And all this for a measley £3 before 9pm and £4 after that! Bargain!

And for those 'facebook or it doesn't happen' types, check out our event page.

Don't forget, the next day is a Bank Holiday Monday so there's no excuse not to stay out partying with us!

Hope to see you there!!!

2010-08-24T21:37:00.003+01:00

The Dames are back from an awesome weekend in London courtesy of the London Rockin' Rollers.

Our very own Violet and Attack and Sleazy Rider, skated in the intraleague bout for the Voodoo Skullcrushers and the Goldie Looking Chain Gang.

After a reeeeeeally close match, the final score was 199 to the Voodoo Skullcrushers and 120 to the Goldie Looking Chain Gang!!!

Thanks to LRR for having us, we all had a fantastic time :)

Skate Battle n Roll!!!

2010-08-20T18:59:00.002+01:00

Exciting news! Blitz Dames skaters Violet Attack and Sleazy Rider will be guest-skating at Skate Battle n Roll, the London Rocking Rollers' next intraleague bout!

Violet Attck will be skating for the Voodoo Skull Crushers and Sleazy Rider for the Goldie Looking Chain Gang, so if you fancy seeing a bit of Dame on Dame action, head on down!

TOMORROW! 5-15 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London

Doors open at 4pm, Bout starts at 5pm.

See you there!

Pride...In The Name Of Blitz

2010-06-03T09:55:00.005+01:00

With lots of promising newbies learning to roller skate, and a revitalised training programme to stretch the more experienced, these are exciting, hard working times in the Blitz camp. Time for a round up of recent happenings:

Viva Bash Vegas saw us thoroughly beaten by a fearsome Leeds Roller Dolls. While we're not fans of being on the losing side, several Dames got to pop their bouting cherry, and everyone learned a lot. Big thanks to LRD for hosting us and throwing such an awesome afterparty.

Many Blitz Dames made it to the Texas Rollergirls Bootcamp in London, and then to the Blood and Thunder Bootcamp here in Birmingham. Hanging out with the the international roller family is fantastic fun, but as well as picking up hints and tips and socialising, B&T saw Dames on the track. Sleazy Rider and Violet Attack made it onto the all-star squad, and the officiating team was blessed with the presence of our Zebras, Cyndi Vortex and Mimey Vice. Thanks to all the hosts and teachers, and hope everyone who got broken and bruised is recovering speedily.

With bad helmet hair and smelling of hardcore training and leisure centre floor, we did our bit to spread the Blitz message and show our support for the LGBT community, at Birmingham's Pride event. Unveiling our new flag, creation of the ridiculously talented Izzy Dauntless was one of the high points. As well as partying, rain and shine, in the gay village and meeting up with our non-derby friends. Rainbow plus khaki is such a good combination.

Proud Dames in Hurst Street

Don't forget, if you're not already skating with us, we'd love you to join. Contact us and find out how you can get involved.

Dames Whip It Up!

2010-04-18T01:53:00.000+01:00

Last Friday, the Birmingham Blitz Dames were invited to the Empire Cinema in Rubery to help promote the roller derby film Whip It, starring Ellen Page and directed by Drew Barrymore.

The Dames, pretty excited to see a mainstream film starring our favourite sport, started whipping up some excitement for the film by skating around the foyer and outside the cinema and giving badges and leaflets about roller derby to curious cinema goers.

As you may suspect, such activities tend to attract attention. But nothing attracted quite as much attention from the male cinema employees as Diamondback Belle's ass...

... and who could blame them?! ;)

For those of you who haven't read about this already, Whip It is based on the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, who used to skate for Los Angeles Derby Dolls under the name of Maggie Mayhem (a name shared with one of the characters in the film), she also wrote the film's screenplay.

The film follows Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), a misfit from a small Texan town, who finds escape from the monotony of her family, beauty pagents and small town life by playing roller derby. The film marks Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, and she also plays the role of Smashley Simpson, a lovably ditzy, yet feisty (read: violent) roller girl.

Although excited to see the film, prior to watching it the Dames did express some cynicism about how the film would actually portray derby and its roller girls. The trailers we had seen already appeared to focus on it being a teen-misfit/romance-type-story and we weren't even sure how heavily roller derby would feature in Whip It. There were a few concerns that roller derby might be glamourised in a typical Hollywood fashion in the film, or perhaps even not taken very seriously. With this at the back of some of our minds, we skated into the screen, started stuffing our faces with popcorn, and settled down to watch the film.

Having seen Whip It, and discussing it at length afterwards whilst nursing bellies full of popcorn and nachos, the Dames agreed that the film actually does roller derby and its skaters a lot of justice, and is generally feel-good, funny viewing.

Although there are certain parts of the film where it might appear that the rules are optional (fighting on the track?!), it was otherwise agreed to be a pretty good representation of what it is like to enter the world of roller derby. The way that derby can become an all-emcompassing obsession very quickly was accurately shown in the film, as well as some quite poignant moments that will strike a chord with all roller girls. Moments such as when Bliss opens the box containing her own pair for Reidells for the first time, or the comments people make in the film about whether girls with so many tattoos can find a job, comparing bruises, or chosing a skater name, raised a smile with the Dames as something all derby girls can relate to.

We also agreed that we liked the way the diversity of roller derby was shown in the film. It would have been easy to use typically 'Hollywood' pretty, big boobed, skinny actresses to play the skaters and make the whole thing very glamourous, yet, just like in any league, there was a mixture of size, race, sexuality, lifestyle and age portrayed in Whip It and one of the Mason Sisters (who skate with the LA Derby Dolls in real life) was portrayed as a deaf character. The skaters are realistic, they swear, they make rude jokes and they make mistakes (just like most of the Dames...)

It was also nice to see that roller derby was shown to empower Bliss. There was a side-plot where Ellen Page's character falls for a dashing young chap in a band, and yet when she's not happy with the situation, she ends it. No angst, no weeping, and none of that oh she got the boy and lived happily ever after rubbish. She takes control and decides what she wants, which is a refreshing change for a teenage love story and made the Dames breathe a sigh of relief that Whip It was not just the slushy chick flick that it seemed to have been promoted as.

In some ways however, the film was quite formulaic in a sports/coming of age movie kind of sense, though this may have been necessary to widen the appeal of Whip It to an audience who may not be aware of anything about what is essentially still an underground sport in this country. The Dames agree that Whip It was definitely has the potential to spread roller derby to the masses and it is a shame that it was not promoted better, as the trailers seemed to focus on Bliss' not fitting in and then finding a boy, rather than pushing how awesome roller derby is (then again, we would say that wouldn't we?!)

Overall, the Dames were pleasantly surprised with Whip It. We laughed (a lot) we cringed (in all the right places) and we all identified with someone in the film. If we weren't already wearing our skates in the screening, Whip It would definitely have made us want to strap some wheels on and find out what this roller derby thing is really all about.

Fancy being your own hero?

If you've seen Whip It (or even if you haven't) and fancy trying out roller derby for yourself, come to Birmingham Blitz Dames' next induction session on Saturday 1st May 2010, 9.30am at Stockland Green Leisure Centre, Birmingham. Unlike in the film, it doesn't matter if you've never skated before and we can lend you the skates and safety equipment you'll need.

Or, if you'd prefer to watch first, Birmingham Blitz Dames are bouting against Leeds Roller Dolls on Saturday 24th April 2010, 2pm at Leeds University. Tickets are available now from http://www.leedsrollerdolls.co.uk for only £6!

(Facebook Event)

Birmingham Blitz Dames would like to thank all the staff at the Empire Cinema in Rubery for their awesome hospitality, and for letting us skate around their cinema!

Viva Bash Vegas - BBD vs LRD - 24th April 2010

2010-04-14T11:18:00.004+01:00

Get ready to get down and derby as we bring you Viva Bash Vegas!

Those Rollin’ Aces the Birmingham Blitz Dames are heading north to take on those Ace Venturas the Leeds Roller Dolls in a Clash-ino Royale to remember! The last meeting of these Queens of the Pack saw Birmingham royally rush away with victory but a year has passed and Leeds are gunning for some Vegas vengeance! The girls have got their laces high and their poker skates on so place your butts, it’s gonna be a Las Vegas Takedown! When the (c)hips are down, who'll be victorious in this game of Rushin' Roulette?

Roller derby is a fast paced, high adrenaline, full contact sport. Sunset tripping up other players is strictly forbidden, along with use of the elbows and royal pushing other players over and play is carefully reffed to ensure there's no Casino Carnage on the track.

We promise you high rollin' fun, cakes, booze, a raffle and Royal Rumble of a bout. There'll be no fear and loathing in this Bash Vegas, just million dollar derby!

Don't gamble your money away! Bring it with you and buy some lovely things. We'll have stalls on the day from;

Finest Imaginary - www.finestimaginary.com
Dolly Cool - www.dollycool.moonfruit.com
Amazing Skates - www.amazingskates.com
On the Wall - www.onthewall.co.uk
Martha's Marvels! - www.marthasmarvels.etsy.com

And Play your Cards Right at half time! What more could you want?

Venue Address:

Leeds University Sports Hall
Willow Terrace
Leeds
LS2 9JT

TO FIND YOUR WAY TO THE SPORTS HALL - SEE LINK BELOW -

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library-old-site/sites/campus.jpg

The Sports Hall is marked with the letter G on the map, and there is a carpark right outside!

Tickets are available NOW from http://www.leedsrollerdolls.co.uk
Standard tickets are £6
Students/OAPS £5
Under 10's Free

Hope to see you there!

Thank you for the support!!!

2010-04-12T20:51:00.008+01:00

Birmingham Blitz Dames would like to extend a MASSIVE derby thank you to everyone who attended our Monsters vs Aliens themed 'Attack of the Rollergirls' fundraiser on Easter Sunday!

In true Dames style, there was non-stop karaoke and a mountain of cakes. Thanks to your support we managed to raise a phenomenal amount and have an awesome night as well.

The Dames all appreciate this and encourage you all to continue to support your local roller derby!

Attack of the Roller Girls!

2010-04-03T22:20:00.005+01:00

Join us tomorrow evening for Cakes, Karaoke and Blitz Bombers!

Subside, Fletchers Walk, Birmingham.

Facebook Event

Blitz Dames on Eggheads!

2010-02-10T13:20:00.003Z

The Dames filmed an episode of Eggheads way back in March 2009 and it was finally shown on BBC 2 last night.

For those that missed it or would to view it again, you can watch it until 6.29pm on Tuesday 16th February on BBC iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00q t1s0/Eggheads_Series_10_Episode_143/

Tattoo Freeze

2010-01-20T18:20:00.004Z

On Sunday 17th January, the Blitz Dames popped down the road to Telford to the Tattoo Freeze convention to play their first bout of 2010. Tattoos and a day of derby you say? Was this the best day ever? Why yes it was!

A mini tournament was set up composed of half hour bouts throughout the day. With stiff competition from the formidible London Roller Girls league teams; The Ultraviolent Femmes, The Suffrajets and The Steam Rollers, the Dames decided to call in some help from their allies. Our roster was made up of 7 Blitz Dames skaters, plus 7 guest skaters from London Rockin' Rollers, Severn Roller Torrent and Leeds Roller Dolls to form The Blitz Dames Allied Army!!! (It was also the first time the Dames had had the opportunity to bout wearing our shiny new logo!)

(The Blitz Dames Allied Army: Bitchy the Killer, The Skatrix, Bruise 'em Banshee, Jack Attack, Violet Attack, Sleazy Rider, Roisin Roulette, Saintly Sin, Diamondback Belle, Von Bitch, Moxie Blitz, Cat A Sonic, Hooligal, Helen Fury and Frantic)

The first mini bout of the day was The Ultraviolent Femmes vs The Steam Rollers. In a closely fought match that turned the LRG inter-league expectations on its head, The Ultraviolent Femmes won with 31 points to The Steam Rollers' 28.

After a short break it was time for our first bout of the event against The Suffrajets. After a fairly good start, our jammer ended up in the box, allowing the jammer from The Suffrajets to get a 30 point jam. This left the Blitz Dames Allied Army trailing at the end with 20 points to The Suffrajets' 86 points. Ouch!

Next up was The Steam Rollers against The Suffrajets. The Suffrajets, tired from playing their second match in a row, caused The Steamrollers to win this bout 28 points to 60.

The Blitz Dames Allied Army then took on their second team of the day, The Ultraviolent Femmes. With blocks that were notoriously difficult for our jammers to get past, and some excellent jams from the Femmes' Kamakaze Kitty, the final score was 17 to the Blitz Dames Allied Army and 89 to the Ultraviolent Femmes.

The Femmes went from victory against us, straight into victory against The Suffrajets, winning their match against them 97 points to 12.

Our final round robin bout of the day, was against The Steam Rollers. After what seemed a promising start, The Steam Rollers secured a win with 88 points to our 21.

As the Allied Army and The Suffrajets had won the least games so far, we then went on to play them for third place in the tournament. The Allied Army fought valliantly, but determined not to be in 4th place, The Suffrajets pulled out all the stops and used their most effective tactics to break the 100 point barrier and win the game with 126 points to the Allied Army's 12 points, securing them third place in the tournament.

The final between The Steam Rollers and The Ultraviolent Femmes was nail-bitingly close for the entire half hour. With the team in the lead changing many times throughout the bout, it really could have been anyone's game. However, in the final jam, Fox Sake managed to clock up enough points for The Steam Rollers to lead them to victory. The final score; The Ultraviolent Femmes: 33, The Steam Rollers: 36.

(Raw Heidi for The Steam Rollers, recieves the trophy for the winning team. Photo by Teshi)

Although the Blitz Dames Allied Army didn't even get a whiff of a win all day, it was unanimously agreed to be a great day of derby. The atmosphere was both electric and friendly, with derby-types from leagues all across Britiain helping to organise, officiate, and promote roller derby!

The event also drew a huge number of fans from the tattoo convention who came along to see what all the fuss was about and there wasn't a time during the day when there wasn't a large crowd of people against the barriers, craning their necks to see oddly-dressed girls skating around bashing each other! It has to be said it went down very well with the punters at Tattoo Freeze.

The Dames all had an excellent day and would like to thank all three LRG teams for not going easy on us and making us up our game. It was a tough, challenging, but awesome event. We'd also like to thank Tattoo Freeze for having us there, and our allies from LRR, SRT and LRD for going into battle with us. It was an honour to fight beside you!

Winter Wheelies

2010-01-10T10:31:00.004Z

Time for a little review of recent times to distract us from how all this weather is unsettling the normal schedule for skate practice. You'd think roller girls would be used to sliding all over the place and therefore ideally suited to arctic conditions, but eight wheels is NOT the same as an icy road, sadly.

November brought us the great fun of bouting the London Rockin Rollers away. Thinking about the wonderful warm welcome we received might just melt the snow! Possibly the fastest pack speeds ever seen in UK derby, and some awesome defensive play, took the LRR to victory, beating us 179 to 61. The grins on so many Blitz faces after the bout suggests that we at BBD don't like the easy life, there's so much to learn when you're being challenged, LRR were generous hosts and it was a pleasure to skate with them. Special thanks for the medals!

I will NOT be mentioning any of the silliness that took place travelling between Birmingham and London. Let's just say it can be a lot of fun hanging out with Dames in a confined space and we've no intention of growing up and getting boring any time soon. :-)

Such fun was had with LRR that we were setting a date for another chance to skate with them before the bruises had even had a chance to show. So right after new year, bulging with mince pies, we held a mixed scrimmage at Aston Arena welcoming skaters and officials from LRR, Rainy City, Severn Roller Torrent and Bedfordshire Roller Girls, among others. We had a wonderful day, despite the cold, and were so glad that so many roller girls and guys made the effort to get to us. It was really great to pack up in different combinations and learn to work different tactics and with different on-track personalities. Hanging out in the bar with cake and pizza, to witness the Derby Marriage of our Sleazy Rider and Roisin Roulette, was a great way to finish the day. Again, massive thanks to everyone who was there. We hope we'll be able to repeat the event and get even more leagues involved soon!

As well as having fun at Subside for our Christmas fundraiser, and getting to see lots of bouty goodness courtesy of Rainy City and LRG, we've been training hard and welcoming lots of lovely new Dames into the derby way of life. We're hoping the snow won't disrupt our attendance at Tattoo Freeze, where we'll be bringing a team with guests from LRR, Leeds Roller Dolls and SRT to take on the three LRG teams in the hope of converting a fan or two to our sport. Tattoo enthusiasts and roller derby? Doesn't sound like a promising mix... ;-)

The future's bright: the future's roll-y.

New Year, New Logo!

2010-01-04T13:46:00.005Z

For the New Year we’ve decided it’s out with the old and in with the new and we’ve had a new and improved logo designed by Mr Volatile, our very own Kylie Volatile’s derby widow.

The Dames will next be bouting, with special guests from Severn Roller Torrent, London Rockin Rollers and Leeds Roller Dolls, against all 3 London Rollergirls teams at the Tattoo Freeze tattoo convention at Telford International Centre on Sunday 17th January. The fun kicks off at 11am. For more info on the convention got to - http://www.tattoofreeze.com/

The Birmingham Blitz Dames would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

Blitz Dames do talkSPORT Radio

2009-12-31T17:57:00.005Z

On Friday 18^th December the Blitz Dames were invited to be on the talkSPORT breakfast show, which was being broadcast from the City Inn hotel at a breakfast party hosted by Marketing Birmingham. The show that day was all about sport in Birmingham and even though a lot of different sports were represented on the show, we were the only women’s team or sport to feature. Nevertheless, we were all very happy to be speaking about roller derby on national radio.

As well as partaking in the very nice breakfast that was laid on (some of us more than others!) and having a great time skating round the hotel lobby we also got to meet former Aston Villa player Ian Taylor.

Violet Attack

August -October

2009-10-29T11:26:00.009Z

Time for a little catch up on the happenings of the Blitz Dames as the season gets underway.

August started with the Goodwood Roller Marathon and raising vast sums for Zoe's Place and earning lots of blisters.

L-R Kiki, Attack, Suzette, Lornatik, Fyta, Margo and Vortex.

The August Bank Holiday saw us hosting our inaugural Dames Awards Ceremony. With Hollywood glamour, in the sparkle of the camera's flash, we got together at our sponsor Subside bar to celebrate the strengths of the last season and look forward to the next.

Awards included: Most Valued Player and Highest Scoring Jammer for Violet Attack, Penalty Box Queen and Best Overall Hitter for the much missed Union Jack-U-Up. Bitchy The Killer as Best Rookie, Kylie Volatile as Most Improved and the inevitable Smelliest Pads going to Saintly Sin.

It was another fab Blitz Dames event, with much consumption of our Blitz Bomber cocktails and many people releasing their inner diva on the karaoke stage. Big thanks to the fabulous Voodoo Kings who rockabillied our night away!

Then in September our Saintly Sin and Kylie Volatile skated with Severn Roller Torrent's Quad Squad in the Middlesborough Milk Rollers' Northern Exposure event in Darlington. It wasn't easy, with Leeds Roller Dolls bouting so well, and Quad Squad comprising members from several teams who hadn't skated together before, but as always, our girls went out there to do their best and have a good time. Mission achieved! Great to see MMR and CCR on the track too!

And ending October we found ourselves invited by pop artist Jann Haworth to the private view of her new exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Ms Haworth is the mother of England's Glory, jammer for Utah team Leave It To Cleavers, and roller derby has inspired some of her work. We had a fabulous chat about derby with her, and a great time exploring her soft sculpture. A big Blitz Thumbs Up to a very interesting exhibition: Go see it!

L-R: Attack, Elle, Lornatik, Jann Haworth, Maddie Hit-her, Mimey, Vortex and half a Sprite.

The end of October also see the launch of the Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum's The Event, our Rip Lashes' baby, bringing together many artists in unexpected exhibition spaces around the city. Should be good!

Looking to the future we mustn't forget our next away bout on the 21st of November. Click HERE to get your tickets for The Fightmare Before Christmas against London Rockin Rollers. Whooop!

The Fightmare Before Christmas

2009-10-28T15:36:00.004Z

It's been a while since the Blitz Dames had a bout to get excited about, but it's not long now until the fabulous London Rockin Rollers host us in a bout they're calling The Fightmare Before Christmas. Both teams have been training hard, and after seeing each other pull out spectacular performances at Roll Brittannia, it's fair to say it will be a hard fought and closely matched battle.

The event takes place at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London on the 21st of November, and tickets are available at LRR's website right now. It's a beautiful venue with a well equipped bar, so everyone needs to be there to cheer us on and support the sport of roller derby.

Click HERE to get your tickets.

And to check out the event on facebook go HERE.

Off Wheels

2009-10-03T18:05:00.004+01:00

Exciting times, as ever, at the Blitz Boot Camp. We're all training hard to get ready to kick start this season and a quartet of our lovely skaters have decided they needed more of a challenge. Four of our heroines in khaki: Training Director Sleazy Rider, hard hitter Bitchy the Killer and star jammers Roisin Roulette and Kiki Kasplat, will be leaving their wheels at home and running 13.1 miles on Sunday 11th October to raise money for the Birmingham Women's Hospital.

Of course we want everyone to have the opportunity to support us, so click here and with a bit of luck you'll be able to drop off a few pennies for a good cause. All gifts appreciated, so if it's just fifty pence, rest assured, you've warmed the cockles of the Blitz Dames' collective heart and helped us make a difference. We'd also value your support on the day. You'll easily spot these dames running together in bouting kit (minus pads and skates). Also, look out for many of our supporters and team mates in the crowd and come and say hello!

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters in the summer, after we raised well over £1000 for Zoe's Place when a bunch of us skated the Goodwood Roller Marathon. HUGE thanks to everyone who donated so generously. I think all our blisters have now healed.

The End of an Era

2009-09-01T09:10:00.001+01:00

The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames wish to make it known that as of today, 1st September 2009, Bee Sting 101 is no longer affiliated with this league. We acknowledge and thank her for the work she put in to create this league, and wish her every success in the future.

Please direct any queries or comments to league-liason@blitzdames.com and we'll do our best to help.

Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames #2 in Europe!

2009-08-04T12:33:00.004+01:00

BIRMINGHAM - The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames Roller Derby Team has returned from a weekend full of knocks, blocks and fierce competition to rank #2 Best in Europe!

Roll Britannia was the first ever European-wide roller derby tournament to be held (18-19th July). Where 12 teams met to fight it out over two days at London's Earls Court London to be named winner.

The Blitz Dames played Leeds Roller Dolls and Berlin Bombshells in the first heat emerging successful wins for both to be put through to the semi-finals to take on Auld Reekie Roller Girls from Edinburgh. Both teams were hungry for a win after having their last game determined a controversial draw. The Blitz Dames fought hard and got the win placing them firmly in the #2 position in the tournament.

The final saw the Dames take on tournament favourite London Brawling. Although they lost this one, the Dames were happy to have scored more points than any other team during the tournament against this notoriously hard team.

This tournament marks the end of the Blitz Dames' 2nd successful inter-league season where they competed against Stuttgart, Germany; Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland; London, Middlesbrough and Leeds. They ended the season with a 7 wins 2 loss and 1 draw making them one of the most prolific and successful interleague roller derby teams in Europe.

The Blitz Dames will be on a break over the summer but will return with new fixtures beginning in September to bring Birmingham more fast, furious live roller derby action from their new bouting venue at Aston Arena.

The team are actively recruiting and training women interested in skating and men who would like to learn how to referee.

Video Highlights:

*** THANKS TO THE LRG FOR HOSTING SUCH AN AMAZING WEEKEND!!! YOU ROCK! DERBY LOVE TO ALL THE TEAMS WHO PARTICIPATED AND SKATED AGAINST US WITH HEART, YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT EASY AND WE NEVER EXPECTED YOU WOULD! CYA ON THE TRACK SOON!

FOR MORE INFO ON LONDON ROLLERGIRLS AND ROLL BRITANNIA CLICK HERE:

www.londonrollergirls.com

Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=britannia+london+birmingham&m=text

http://forum.londonrollergirls.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10030

the naughty step..... ooooo

http://forum.londonrollergirls.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10015

A Head Ref Speaks

2009-06-21T17:10:00.003+01:00

Yesterday's Fear and Lothian bout between Auld Reekie and the Blitz Dames was a close, evenly matched event. It was our last bout of the season and my first as Head Ref, and it ended with a somewhat controversial draw of 117 all.

We've had some pretty tough and demanding times at BB*DD of late. Some because we've had the happy stress of about a bout a month during 2009, some because of the expected personnel changes and injuries, some for a wide array of personal reasons. Amid all kinds of busy and a change of venue I was well aware we were doing the best we could, but that it wasn't perfect. But I was hoping everything would go smoothly.

Unfortunately towards the end of the second period a problem with communication regarding scoring was observed. Even more unfortunately the full extent of these problems was not discovered until the period had ended and the scoreboard showed a Blitz victory. A full enquiry has yet to be undertaken, let's hope video footage helps clear up any grey areas to help prevent anything similar happening in future bouts, but it was clear that there was a discrepancy and Auld Reekie had been disadvantaged by this.

The obvious response was an overtime jam, but once the discussions between refs and captains had taken place, the skaters were cooling down and worn out from an hour of play. The Auld Reekie girls seemed quite sure they didn't want to get back on the track. The scores were reasonably close at the end and had been throughout, Auld Reekie we presume were missing points from some of their jammers' passes through the pack, so both sides agreed the fairest outcome would be to declare a draw. It might not be quite how WFTDA rules would have it called, but there was no way I was going to let our guests leave feeling cheated by our mistakes, so I believe this was the best call in a difficult situation.

The thing I'm taking from this is how keen I am to implement the changes that need to be changed, and how I cannot wait to have my second bout to Head Ref and prove how much better we can organise and officiate a bout. Much much derby love to our two visiting referees LRG's Ragged Reaper and ARRG's Ella Bella Bang Bang, who both displayed a fantastic understanding of the game and gelled into a focused team with the BB*DD refs. You both taught me so much, and I'm massively grateful.

I would like to make it absolutely clear that no one at BB*DD would feel any victory in falsely gained points or illegal behaviour, and we do set out to be absolutely fair. We love roller derby and we love being part of this ever growing wonderful community, but it isn't easy to produce and run a bout and, being human, mistakes are made. As Head Ref I want to say a big sorry to anybody who had a disappointing experience and a big thanks to ARRG for coming down and playing so well. Can't wait to see you all at Roll Britannia!

Derby love, Mimey Vice x

A Savage Journey to the Heart of Roller Derby

2009-06-13T21:18:00.003+01:00

So it's only one week since we faced the London Roller Girls and already the next bout is almost upon us.

London Brawling won 249 - 20. A scoreline not dissimilar to the first time we faced each other, but the bouts were miles apart. We have some fearless hitters, LRG have even less fear and even more hit. We have some super sleek, powerful jammers who can weave themselves through tiny spaces between roller girls...until they meet an LRG wall at the front of the pack. We have jammers who look fast and sneaky, until an LRG jammer whooshes past them. We've come such a long way since we first faced LRG on the track last October, but, sadly for us, LRG weren't snoozing in the intervening months either.

BB*DD had an awesome day (and night) of derby in London, and what the scoreboard showed after two chunks of thirty, really was not the most important thing. All of our skaters finished the bout with a massive grin on their face, many proud bruises and aching limbs, and a sense of achievement. We played hard, learned masses, and played as a team; nobody could ask for more than that.

LRG were friendly and helpful hosts. The first bout of the double header, between Leeds Roller Dolls and LRG's B-Team, the Brawl Saints was fantastic. The crowd was amazing, lively and supportive. The fun flowed freely at the after party. Memorable moments as this blitz dame remembers it:

~Correctional Felicity seeming to be an impenetrable wall even without any team mates. What's a word that means more impenetrable than impenetrable?
~Union Jack-U-Up finally getting back on her feet, and being ok, after she'd flipped into the wall and lay shaking on the floor for what seemed like hours.
~Kitty Decapitate and Fox Sake lapping the pack far too quickly. Far too easily.
~Those few happy jams where our jammers made it through the pack and scored some points.
~Realising roller derby has made it as a legitimate sport, when a newly naked man completed his first lap of the pack. Our first streaker!!!!! A naughty man who was properly punished for interfering with play. A very naughty boy who amused many.

Massive respect to LRG for being such an amazing league of skaters and much appreciation for treating us to such fun. <3 <3 <3

Here's to hoping we offer Auld Reekie a similar experience at our last bout of the season. Fun, frolics and fearsome derby action guarranteed at our new home Aston Arena. Tickets available here.

Share the Skate

2009-06-05T06:32:00.006+01:00

These have been super busy times for the Blitz Dames. We're all fired up and ready to cause (legitimate and fair) carnage with London Roller Girls which is, eek, tomorrow. Thanks for hosting us, London, here's to a great sportswomanship, excellent entertainment and every Dame coming home knowing they've done their best. Preferably in one piece. Good luck to all skaters and officials. Then a mere two weeks later we're hosting Auld Reekie in our new home Aston Arena. It's boutiful!

We've been lucky to spend time with skaters from other leagues. Last month saw BB*DD sharing a scrimmage with London Rockin Rollers, skating several sessions with Blue Ruin from the Emerald City Roller Girls, and having a training session led by Winona Fighter from the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls

We've picked up new drills, honed old techniques, gained insight on aspects of gameplay and most of all, enjoyed basking in the love of the derby community. It's been amazing for us to meet so many fabulous people in the name of derby. MASSIVE thanks to all the skaters and skate lovers who took part in all of these meetings and made it happen. And big derby love.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-05-10T20:19:00.005+01:00

And busy is the way we like it! While our bouting team is hard at work training up to face LRG for the exciting double header on the 6th of June away in London and ARRG at home on the 2oth of June, the ranks of fresh meat are swelling and developing a passion for roller derby too. Quite right.

But focusing on our forthcoming missions and getting the noobs rolling hasn't got in the way of other important activities. Blitz Dames know how to party, and we shared this with Birmingham with our successful fundraiser Cirque du Soul Pain.

Blow Up Betty may be a growing force to be reckoned with on the track, but with a mic in her hand, she's dynamite!

The lovely Rip Lashes, Gun Bunny, Violet Attack and Mimey Vice pout and pose, welcoming our supporters, in our sponsor bar Subside. That's not fancy dress; it's normal attire for a Blitz Dame.

The night also saw the birth of our very own cocktail the intoxicating green Blitz Bomber. A fine, refreshing beverage that caused much happy carnage. There were loads of bands, brave gentlemen wowing the crowds by playing with fire, our super ref Justine Credible and her troupe belly dancing to Guns N Roses and some amazing cakes constructed by the sickeningly talented Roisin Roulette. It was a really happy event, reflecting the high morale and team spirit in the BBDD camp, showing what can happen when you get a bunch of Dames working together. If we can keep it up through June, and transfer it onto the track, that'd be good too!

Cirque du soul Pain

2009-04-28T22:27:00.003+01:00

This Blitz Dames fundraiser is happening this Sunday night! Click on the picture for more details and be there! Fancy dress encouraged!

Dollhouse Devastation

2009-04-28T17:44:00.006+01:00

Dollhouse Devastation: Blitz Dames vs Leeds Roller Dolls - 18.04.09 - Birmingham

Our gorgeous Diamondback Belle was charged with putting together her bout-thoughts from the audience, after taking herself off the roster by sustaining an injury during practice. Heal quickly, DB, your words are lovely but we'd rather see you skating! So here it is:

Wow! What a fantastic bout on Saturday 18th April. First and foremost, I and everyone in the Blitz Dames want to thank Leeds Roller Dolls for being such fantastic girls, on and off the track. Leeds are definitely going to be a league to watch out for!

They gave us a really good game, but BBDD’s experience in bouting interleague pulled them ahead of the pack. Our girls love to play Derby, as hard and as often as we can!

We had a great crowd – Derby girls from up and down the country game along and gave Leeds sterling support, while we received much love, hollering and stomping from our regular home supporters (and we may have even recruited some Death Metal Jeerleaders – watch this space!).

The first jam showed straight away how close a game this was going to be, with Gun Bunny (BBDD) and Rushin’ Doll (LRD) both speeding to the front of the pack, with neither quite able to break through. Rushin’ was sent flying off the track first – apparently by one of her own blockers – with Bunny quick to join her on the side.. Both girls were fast back on their skates, but Bunny took lead jammer… this time.

Second up was our newest Jammer – Kiki Kasplat – against LRD’s guest skater (AARG), Candy Savage (definitely a girl to look out for on the track). Candy powered through the back, only to be held back by a strong wall from BBDD’s Union Jack-U-Up and Saintly Sin. She broke through and took lead jammer, scoring points for LRD.

The first half was neck and neck with first the Dames, then Leeds, then the Dames pulling ahead. It was also definitely eventful as our own jammer Kiki Kasplat received a double block from the Leeds defence that put her in the hospital! Get Well Soon to our Keeks, who split open her appendix scar in the name of Derby – ouch!

With Kiki off the track, Twink T was doing some amazing skating and quickly caught up with the pack second time round, but couldn’t get beyond BBDD’s Victoria Cross’ fine Derby ass and brilliant positional blocking, forcing Twink to call off the jam.

At the end of the first half it could have gone either way with the scores at 51 to the Home team and 44 to Leeds Roller Dolls.

The start of the second half saw BBDD Jammer Gun Bunny nip right through to the front of the pack as our own Bee Sting blocked LRD Jammer, Twink T into the ref not once, but twice! It’s a dangerous job, reffing these roller girls!

Then there was a Derby pile-up on the track as BBDD’s Union Jack-U-Up wiped out the Leeds jammer, Candy Savage and took three Leeds blockers AND our own Gun Bunny with her. Bunny looked out for the count as trackside paramedics shone a light into her eyes but, although she was off for the next three jams, we’re glad to say she was up and partying late into the night. Candy escaped with an ice pack on her ass and was quickly back on the track.

There was plenty more drama to come with Bee Sting being majored off the track for a magnificent BOOBY block! Some less than eagle-eyed observers have suggested that hands were used, but no, Bee turned around as LRD Jammer Frantic took her second lap through the pack and sent her flying with a power block straight from her Bristols.

Now, Derby Fact Fans (and those just wondering what the hell happened!), this block would have been perfectly legal, even though Bee was facing backwards, if she had continued to move in the normal skating direction or anti-clockwise – you don’t have to be facing the right way, just skating the right way! But Bee’s failed to execute it correctly - her skates moved clockwise and so she was straight in the penalty box to appreciative cheers from the home crowd – naughty, naughty Bee!

Frantic was straight back up and breaking back through the pack but was taken out in a fantastic sweeping block from BBDD’s Roisin Roulette.

Roisin herself was up and jamming soon after, but was soon in the box, alongside BBDD Pivot, Sleazy Rider. There was a brief moment of chaos and Sleazy was ejected from the period for Gross Miscounduct. As the dust settled and the Jam was reset, we found out that Sleazy had removed her pivot helmet in the Penalty Box, which led to another BBDD pivot being put on the track. Sleazy was hollering and waving the panty, but she couldn’t make herself understood in time, so the BBDD pivot on the track was majored straight off. The refs are harsh, but they are fair and their decisions are always final, so Sleazy was out of the remainder of the period..

By this point though the Dames were powering ahead, with Union-Jack-U-Up breaking through the pack once, twice, three times in the penultimate jam before being sent off, leaving the Dames with no Jammer against the whip-fast Frantic for the start of the final jam. Frantic dived through the pack, but couldn’t get past a Helen Fury and Roulette defence at the front of the pack, leaving Union to take the lead straight out of the penalty box and bring the bout home, 141 points to LRD’s 88.

Well, we’ve had a fantastic season so far, playing great teams and getting a lot of experience doing what we love to do best – playing Roller Derby! Our next bout is away against London Roller Girls on June 6th, then we’re back on home turf to take on the formidable Auld Reekie Roller Girls on June 20th to wrap up a fantastic, bout-iful season – see you all there!

All photos courtesy of JHT Photography

Sweet Journeys

2009-04-25T08:59:00.006+01:00

First of all a big virtual good luck wish to all the skaters bouting in London today from all the Blitz Dames. There are a load of Dames coming down to support, and many who wish they were with us. It's going to be awesome!

Though how I'm supposed to sit on the floor and cheer with a rink rashed and bruised behind from Thursday's practice, I don't know. ;-)

But the main event in the Boot Camp today is some words from one of our newest skaters to make it into the advanced pack. A little piece our gobby Australian (her words) Blow Up Betty has been working on for a while, to express how being a part of BB*DD and the roller derby world has made her feel. If you're a proud dame, or even just a proud member of the rollerhood, it might bring a little tear to your eye. Or am I getting soppy in my old age?

Notes From A Newbie - Betty Speaks:

It’s not too often that one can pinpoint those moments in their life that definitively change them, but I am lucky. So incredibly lucky. Because in the last 3 and a half months I’ve had several of those moments, and I can remember them all like it was yesterday.

I walked into my first Blitz Dames induction day in early February 2009. An ex-pat Aussie here on a study exchange looking for a surrogate family, I had always wanted to try roller derby at home in Adelaide but had never had the time to do so. Halfway across the world, and in Birmingham with no friends or family to distract me, I had nothing to lose. Super keen to get on skates, I arrived at Erdington for newbie practice really early, immediately striking up a conversation with the soon-to-be Bitchy the Killer, and someone who I am proud to call my closest friend and ally on and off the track. The arrival of the rest of the Dames and other newbies like myself bought many smiles, jokes, gossip, catch-ups and the general camaraderie that only females tend to understand when around each other. After cracking a joke at my expense and acquiring the nickname of ‘Skippy’ (for obvious reasons) I got walked through the basics by Bitter Sweet and Saintly Sin. A marginal background in street skating gave me more confidence than my ability warranted, but once thrown into the main pack, instinct takes over. Being on skates and going fast feels so good. I’m hooked.

Fast forward two months, and I’m on the verge of passing basic skills thanks largely due to my ‘derby mum,’ Union Jack-U-Up, a fantastic teacher and a skater who embodies the fearlessness I crave. I’ve developed a healthy little competition with Bitchy, and taken a liking to Friday night casual skates with Rip Lashes, Lornatik, Tekila Rose and Kiki Kasplat amongst others at a random hall in the middle of the sticks. Long car trips and longer conversations on and off the track with Lashes makes me realise that I’m not just acquiring teammates, but making friends. The homesickness subsides with the thought of Fridays and Saturdays, and my time spent in the gym during the week all goes towards cracking into advanced training. Off the track, the girls are becoming used to the cocky, gobby Aussie that always makes her presence in the room known. I’ve never been able to hide the fact that I am an extroverted, opinionated, attention-seeking, honest and loyal woman – here I don’t have to. I’ve finally found a place where I fit, and it’s with all the other misfits. And we’re the coolest of the bunch.

By April, I’ve cracked basic skills, and Bitchy and I are into advanced training on Thursday nights. Violet Attack, Sleazy Rider, Bee Sting, Diabolous Rutilius and Victoria Cross are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of making me eat track. Hilda Blizzhard doesn’t even threaten me verbally – just a death stare and a smile to let me know I’m about to cop it. I’m just hoping I stay upright. Justine Credible is reassuring me that it will be okay – she’ll spend the trip home still reassuring me, and in the end I won’t care, because Guns ‘n Roses will be cranking and at that moment, singing and head banging will become more important than a few bruises I acquired from the floor or a wayward hip-bone. Off the track, I’m immersed in derby life with derby mates – whether it’s comparing fundraising events, helping Cross make awesome uniforms for intra-league bouts, spending hours on bout programmes, getting my arse whooped at quiz nights, strutting my stuff on the karaoke mic, attending art exhibitions or enjoying a quiet bevvy in the garden at Subside with whoever is around. I’ve managed to come over here with nothing and construct a life for myself, which fills me with a sense of pride, and overwhelming gratitude for the Dames. Our Dames. And now my Dames too.

I don’t ever like to speculate on the future, however, I know that my time here (for now) is limited. I know that, if I want to debut with the Dames before I leave, it’s going to take many practices, much more falling and a whole heap of advice and encouragement from anyone who’ll give it. And I’m going to lap it up. And it’s going to be a whole lot of fun on the way. I want to skate out in the khaki green, I want all of the effort I’ve put in to be eclipsed by that moment. Most of all, I want to show my non-derby friends (including my Aussie mates scattered around the UK) why I spend so much time on the track with these wonderful women, and how happy I am to have found a family.

Why am I so grateful for the last 3 and a half months? I think it’s because I’ve been given the room to form my own opinions about myself and those I surround myself with. The reputation of the Dames precedes them. Never have I met a team that so polarizes opinion – you either love them or you hate them. I fail to see why you would do the latter. Roller derby is a sport of dominant, opinionated women – this is why we are all so attracted to it. What I have learnt is that things get tough and stressful, but at the end of the day all animosity is left on the track. The Dames train hard, play harder and party hardest. Hatchets are slowly being buried by the vanguard, and UK roller derby will be stronger for it. The Dames will meet anyone on the track whatever their circumstances, and I have come to admire this spirit and belief in the team and the khaki green. I’ve come to be a part of it. The last few months have been a privilege – my privilege. There are previous blog posts that break down bouts play by play, that talk of the spoils of partying and impending road trips. For me, the last few months have been all about the people. Not only have I had the chance to learn a new skill, increase my fitness and discover a new passion, but I’ve also had the chance to get to know some fantastic people who I am proud to call my dear friends and teammates. Roller derby is an amazing sport, but it is the people I have met along this journey that have made it that much sweeter.

Once a dame, always a dame…Love Skip xoxo

Lovely words. Now will you stop hitting me on the helmet please, Betty?

A Good Time To Be A Dame

2009-04-24T06:06:00.005+01:00

It's been a tough, but enjoyable year so far, and now the Blitz Dames have something like a breather approaching.

We spent January in Stuttgart, then rolled off to Glasgow in February, followed by hosting Middlesborough and Leeds in March and April, and we're skating in NO bouts during May! One bout a month has been a punishing schedule for us, as the injuries have shown; but if this is how they play in the United States, and hey those wimpy footballers can face each other twice a WEEK, then this is what we need to aim for.

We certainly aren't complaining. Every bout has tested and challenged us. With the fierce competitiveness and commitment to the sport shown by every woman we've met on the track, there is never going to be an 'easy' bout. And with roller derby still being such a new sport in this country we still have lots of mistakes to make in order to learn not to make them again. No Blitz Dame is EVER going to take her helmet panty off while serving time in the penalty box, after Sleazy Rider's educational incident during Dollhouse Devastation.

But this learning through bouting is one of the aspects that makes involvement in derby so fulfilling. We are doing it for ourselves and finding out HOW to do it as we go. Hard work? oh yes. Scary at times? certainly. Exhausting? enormously. But worth it? a million times yes.

June promises to be a massively educational month for us. Early on we're away in London to try to regain a little pride against the London Roller girls in our rematch. Capital Punishment was a bout that certainly lived up to its name, as we were conclusively and resolutely shown who had the superior skaters. Was it a 200 point lead? Woah! We've been involved in several bouts since then, and our tactical understanding and stamina is always improving; we're in a much stronger position than back in October 2008, so it's looking positive. But then again we've seen how skilled, hard and fast those LRG girls are. We'll be in it to win it, (how could we NOT?), but having fun, learning from LRG and taking another step towards broadening the foundation of British roller derby will be our priorities.

Later in June, (that's the same month!!!! Two bouts in one month!!!! *faints*) we will be hosting Auld Reekie. Now we've been lucky enough to spend time on the track with a number of ARRG's girls who guest skated for LRD and MMR, so we're prepared to be scared there too. They're looking good as individuals: what terror will they unleash when there's a whole team of them? It'll be hard work, it'll be punishing, but it'll totally be worth it.

Quite apart from the bouting we've got an exciting roller-schedule. This weekend we're super excited about going down to London for TWO BOUTS IN ONE DAY *cheers* as the LRG teams battle each other in their Grand Slam event. It'll be so lovely, if a little unusual, to be able to just enjoy the derby without having a million and one other things to worry about and do. (Although personally I'm a little torn. I made my LRG team allegiance during Clockwork Carnage, and want to cheer for the Ultraviolent Femmes, but they're up against Barock City, who were so supportive of BBDD when we travelled to Germany for the New Year's Massacre. Decisions, decisions. Can I cheer for everyone?)

During May we're looking forward to our night of entertaining the punters at our sponsor Subside with our event Cirque du Soul Pain. And then we're due to have some fun, skating and socialising with the London Rockin Rollers. July has the opportunity to celebrate the sport we love so much, and spread the word, at NASS fest and Roll Britannia.

Isn't it funny how roller derby takes over everything once you get involved! Love it! <3 <3 <3

ADDENDUM

And how could I forget to mention that we're skating with The Fox during Brum's Pride???? The theme is pink and green. I'm hoping this means the pink of roller bruises allied with the green of BB*DD's khakis!

Dollhouse Devastation

2009-04-22T17:08:00.006+01:00

This weekend the Blitz Dames hosted Leeds Roller Dolls' first public bout in Dollhouse Devastation. It was another friendly, fun and hard fought bout, not without educational incident, which ended with a Blitz Dames victory. The final score was 141 to Leeds' 88. Full write up coming soon, but a big thanks to the lovely Roller Dolls, and their lovely guest skaters, who were a pleasure to skate and party with. We're looking forward to the re-match!

And wowsers, that was an AMAZING merch display, must take a few notes... :-)

Smack Attack

2009-04-16T17:33:00.003+01:00

As the bout with Leeds is almost upon us, tickets still available here, at long last here is the write up from Smack Attack!

On the 21st of March 2009 the Middlesborough Milk Rollers rolled up to Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre, Birmingham, in the bright spring sunshine to take on Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames for Middlesborough's first public bout. Although there was a smaller crowd than most of BBDD's home bouts, largely due to the London based Glasgow Roller Girls/London Rockin Rollers' bout scheduled for the same day, there was a cracking atmosphere. MMR and visiting referees received a warm welcome and were fabulous guests.

The referees were:
Head Ref: Justine Credible (BB*DD)
Jam Ref: Cain Unstable (ARRG)
Jam Ref: Scrim Reaper (BBRG)
Pack Ref: Karl Lagerfilled (RCRG)
Pack Ref: Matt the Knife (LRD)
Pack Ref: Noise Pollution (MMR)
Pack Ref: Pink A Boo (MMR)
Announcers:
Blow Up Betty and Jack Off Licence
BB*DD Line Up Manager: The Skatrix
MMR Line Up Manager: Moody Fuse

MMR Skaters:
Captain: Rita Von Sleaze #7
Co-Captain: Germaine Leer #27
Oompah Thump-Ya #410
Darcey Hustle #28
Fraulein Wunder #6
Smokin Ace #23
Eve O Lution #666
Inky Minx #81 (BBRG Guest Skater)
Tartan Tearaway #509 (ARRG Guest Skater)
Track Widow #8 Ball (BBRG Guest Skater)
Armalite Angie #30-30-150 (ARRG Guest Skater)
Ciderella #-3C (ARRG Guest Skater)
Hurricane Hayles #74mph (ARRG Guest Skater)

BB*DD Skaters:
Captain: Violet Attack # 16
Co-Captain: Union Jack-U-Up #333
Roisin Roulette #N17
Sleazy Rider #15
Hilda BlizzHard #52
Bee Sting #101
KiKi Kasplat #79
Saintly Sin #14U
Elle Fire #11
Victoria Cross #27
Gun Bunny #888
Diamondback Belle #77
Bitter Sweet #<3
Diabolus Rutilus #55
Alternate:
Talula Trash #86

Period One:
Jam One. Gun Bunny gets lead jammer, Inky Minx gets to check out the penalty box. BB*DD 4 - MMR O
Jam Two. Inky Minx comes out of the penalty box to gain lead jammer status before KiKi Kasplat can get through, despite a lovely whip offered to the Birmingham jammer by Victoria Cross. BB*DD 15 - MMR 6
Jam Three. Sleazy Rider beats Oompah Thump-Ya to lead jammer. BB*DD 18 - MMR 7
Jam Four. A great jam for Violet Attack, the only jammer to pass through the pack. BB*DD 27 - MMR 7
Jam Five. Hilda Blizzhard is beaten to lead jammer by Fraulein Wunder. BB*DD 30 - MMR 1O
Jam Six. Neither Oompah Thump-Ya nor Gun Bunny make it through without penalties, and Bunny is sent to the penalty box. BB*DD 36 - MMR 18
Jam Seven. Gun Bunny starts in the box, Ciderella ends up in it. BB*DD 39 - MMR 18
Jam Eight. Attack’s second turn as jammer. BB*DD 48 - MMR 18
Jam Nine. Blizzhard vs. Thump-Ya. BB*DD 54 - MMR 22
Jam Ten. Gun Bunny beats Inky Minx to lead jammer, Union Jack-U-Up offers Violet a whip and there is cold, ruthless blocking from Roisin. BB*DD 57 - MMR 22
Jam Eleven. Ciderella beats KiKi Kasplat to lead jammer. BB*DD 60 - MMR 41
Jam Twelve. Sleazy Rider takes lead jammer ahead of Germaine Leer, who ends up in the penalty box. BB*DD 63 - MMR 41
Jam Thirteen. Germaine Leer remains the MMR jammer from the box and rejoins Violet Attack on the track, but neither make it to lead jammer. BB*DD 72 - MMR 41
Jam Fourteen. Hilda Blizzhard is lead jammer, Oompah Thump-Ya is held back. BB*DD 77 - MMR 41
Jam Fifteen. Gun Bunny gets lead jammer, and this time the pack prevents Germaine Leer from getting through. BB*DD 83 - MMR 41
Jam Sixteen. Union Jack-U-Up gets through first to get three points as lead jammer, but Rita Von Sleaze gets four. Half time score: BB*DD 86 - MMR 45

Period Two
Jam One. Gun Bunny is the first lead jammer of the second period. Oompa Thump Ya comes crashing off the track, through a table and into Noise Pollution. BB*DD 92 - MMR 45
Jam Two. KiKi Kasplat skates furiously focused but Inky Minx slips through. BlizzHard gets majored. BB*DD 95 - MMR 48
Jam Three. Fraulein Wunder slides through the pack and into lead jammer, but Sleazy Rider’s right on her tail. BB*DD 99 - MMR 51
Jam Four. Hilda BlizzHard is still in the penalty box. The pack is loose and no one is awarded lead jammer status. An excellent jam for Violet Attack who gains 19 legal passes. BB*DD 118 - MMR 51
Jam Five. Jammer Hilda BlizzHard and Roisin Roulette are sent off. Ciderella takes lead jammer and five points. BB*DD 118 - MMR 56
Jam Six. Violet Attack seems to be holding off the MMR insurgence single handed, or solo behinded, as she positions herself in front of everyone. Blizzhard gets six points on her return. BB*DD 124 - MMR 57
Jam Seven. Sees a pile up and OSMS rushing on to ensure everyone’s in one piece. Smokin Ace goes down with a dislocated shoulder and everyone drops to one knee hoping her injuries aren’t serious. Roisin’s tenure as lead jammer is short lived. BB*DD 125 - MMR 57
Jam Eight. Gun Bunny is knocked flying and Kiki is sent off. BB*DD 136 - MMR 59
Jam Nine. Fraulein Wunder makes hearty attempts to keep up, but Hilda BlizzHard is just too fast, determined and powerful. Diabolus Rutilus and Elle Fire show their skills as they glide effortlessly through the pack to be where they want to be. BB*DD 138 - MMR 61
Jam Ten. Hilda BlizzHard jolts through the pack like a pinball, taking lead jammer as the pack prevents Fraulein Wunder’s progress. And with twelve and a half minutes to go, the score is BB*DD 146 - MMR 61
Jam Eleven. A great jam for lead jammer KiKi Kasplat who slides through the pack, with Elle Fire attentively distracting the MMR pack, to pull Birmingham more than one hundred points ahead of Middlesborough. BB*DD 160 - MMR 61
Jam Twelve. Sleazy loses lead jammer to Armalite Angie. BB*DD 161- MMR 64
Jam Thirteen. Oompah Thump-Ya storms through the pack, beating Gun Bunny to lead jammer, but she is then sent to the box. Bitter Sweet and Bunny tangle up, and Bunny is later helped off the track by the medics. BB*DD 161 - MMR 72
Jam Fourteen. With Oompah Thump-Ya still in the box, Union Jack-U-Up storms into her finest moment. Again and again she whips round the track, slicing through the MMR pack like a hot knife slides through butter, racking up a whopping 26 points. Diabolus Rutilus shows her steel, absorbing a fierce blow from Germaine Leer. BB*DD 187 - MMR 72
Jam Fifteen. There can’t be much more now. Hilda BlizzHard waits for the second whistle with Fraulein Wunder again at her side, as Bee Sting‘s booty manipulates the pack. The Blitz Dames have clearly won the bout, but by how much, what have the Milk Rollers got to show in the final minutes? The Middlesborough jammer gets through first, showing the northerners’ spirit, it ain’t over yet, Birmingham! Middlesborough are still fighting. But BlizzHard is just too tough and scores seven to Wunder’s three. It’s BB*DD 194 - MMR 75
Jam Sixteen. With about half a minute left on the clock, the final ten on the track know this is it! Roisin Roulette and Ciderella are the last two skaters to jam. And though they must all be exhausted after an hour’s furious skating, the enthusiasm and determination remains undiminished. BB*DD 198 - MMR 78

We MMRemember, The Blitz Dames speak:

Roisin Roulette: “Bitter Sweet taking a hit, getting back up and catching the pack to try and knock Armalite Angie over (you have to admire her ambition! first bout and all .....) “

Victoria Cross: “Angie coming on to jam like a steam locomotive with everyone from both teams fighting to get out of her way!”

Roisin Roulette: “Diabolus Rutilus wanting to skate every jam…Kiki really making her mark as a jammer and also getting in some good hits”

Blow Up Betty: “Watching Roulette, Kasplat and Sleazy break up wall after wall with
fierce fearlessness had me in awe for the match.”

The Skatrix: “Diabolus made a fearsome blocker 4!”

Roisin Roulette: “Blizzhard, Sin and Elle Fire clearing the MMR blockers off the inside line towards the front of the pack, Diamondback and VC and Bee in the thick of it, UJ and Sleazy all over the track, hitting at the back and then
getting in front of the MMR jammer when she thought she was through; it was
a lovely bout to jam in.”

Blow Up Betty: “Their little jammers Ooompa Thumpa and Ciderella both did a great job at getting up again and again after getting trampled by the dames defence.”

Roisin Roulette: “U-J's look of baffled innocence when Germaine Leer said she'd elbowed her in the face (like how would she reach that high anyway?)”

Saintly Sin: “There we are, standing around, the air around us electrified and Skatrix tells us to get on the bench and the positions we are to play. “Kiki-pivot, Diamondback-2, Sin-3,UJ(?)-4, Roisin-jamming.” We park our backsides on the bench, quivering in excitement and Kiki turns to me “Wow, I’ve never been in the last jam before” It dawns on me then, oh my, this is it, this is gonna be the last jam, this is just the glory jam, we won it already, this will be fun.
Elle Fire turns to everyone and says “It is, it’s the last one, this is it. Shall we just batter them? Let’s just destroy them. Free for all dames, knock them down”. We all agree, we are just gonna have some fun with this and just do as much bashing as possible.
The whistle blows. Skatrix tells us to get on the track. We skate on, focused, and ready for some fun. We line up, a milk roller stands next to me and smiles, I grin back, she knows what’s coming. The pack whistle is blown, we start to skate, we’re partway round the track and I see white, blue and pink roll up next to me, is she a jammer? A pivot? A blocker? Quite frankly I don’t care, she is a Milk Roller and for now, she is the opposition so BANG and she is on the floor, oh yes, she is down, I make a fist for a personal little celebration of my take down and across he PA I hear Jack “Saintly Sin is celebrating her take down” thanks Jack.
As the Milk Rollers went down, our Roisin just slipped through the pack with ease, that’s our Roisin, jammer extraordinaire. Time ends and the final whistle blows with Roisin managing to bring the score to an amazing 198 to the Dames. We have done it, Middleborough Milk Rollers 78, Blitz Dames 198. It’s time for the victory lap, so many high fives, so many smiling faces from both the crowd and the amazing Middleborough girls. What a fantastic bunch and what a pleasure to skate with.
Party time, and even before my skates are off, a pina colada appears in my hand*…"

Roisin Roulette: “Bee scaring the MMR girls, UJ knocking 'em down, Blizzhard a quick and strong pivot and tireless jammer, Attack getting sent off at the start,
then getting into her groove and cutting through the pack with her usual incisive skating but taking responsibility as captain to pivot and let the new jammers have a go.”

The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames loved hosting the Middlesborough Milk Rollers and can’t wait for the rematch!

*although, of course, Ms Saintly Sin didn’t DRINK it until she had removed her skates. Blitzdames follow the rules TO THE LETTER!

Dollhouse Devastation

2009-04-15T11:16:00.007+01:00

Only a few more days to go until BB*DD's second home bout of 2009 against the Leeds Roller Dolls. Tickets to the bout at Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centure are still available through the website. Click here to get yours now.

Can BB*DD make it yet another victory? Who's going to be eating track? Will anyone beat Union Jack-U-Up's 26 points in one jam? Can BB*DD crash through the 200 point ceiling? And most importantly, who will win the raffle??? It could be you...

Dollhouse Devastation promises to be a hard fought display of entertainment that you'd be crazy to miss.

And if you are coming, why not make a banner for your favourite skater to cheer her on!

QUADrophenia

2009-04-04T20:49:00.003+01:00

Here it is at last, the much anticipated bout write up from the Glasgow Roller Girls:

Glasgow Roller Girls held the rematch against the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames on Sat 21st February in what proved to be a nail biting game. The Blitz Dames only had 10 skaters on their roster with the Irn Bruisers having 4 skaters on their debut and without a star jammer, who is pregnant.

Irn Bruisers
Betty Go Go
Cremola D'Ville
Evil Von Detta
Jaci Dodger
Lucky Hateball
Maddy Hacket
Mistress Malicious
Razor Rockette
Sister Grimm
Skate Edge
Switchblade Sarah
Venus Velocity
Viper Den
Whiskey Galore

Bench Managers:
Zena Phobia
Fox Sake

Brummie Bombshells
Bee Sting
Elle Fire
Gun Bunny
Helen Fury
Kiki Kasplat
Riosin Roulette
Sleazy Rider
Union Jack U Up
Victoria Cross
Violet Attack

Bench Managers:
Skatrix
Saintly Sin

The Referees:
Knuckles
Three Majors
Ballistic Whistle
Brutally Frank
Justine Credible
Reffin Rebel
Rip Lashes

The Announcers
Lil Cheesecake
Big Cat Merv

The first jam of the game had Jaci Dodger up against Roisin Roulette with Jaci getting lead. They both get through to earn 4 points each. GRG 4 BBDD 4

Violet Attack sails through the pack, but picks up a minor for Hands to lose lead jammer status. Bee Sting manages to keep Maddy Hackitt back while Violet comes through the pack again for a Grand Slam. Maddy keeps fighting but just fails to break through before Union jack U Up is sent off for her first time for taking Maddy down with a back block. The jam runs the full length with Violet lapping another twice and she earns her team 15 points, and also has the highest scoring jam of the bout. GRG 4 BBDD 19

Skate Edge makes her debut for GRG on the jammer line alongside Gun Bunny. This time it is Skate Edges turn to sail through the pack untouched to take lead jammer. BBDD fail to break the GRG defence and Skate Edge gets a Grand Slam. GRG 9 BBDD 19

Jaci Dodger dodges her way wonderfully through to get lead status with Roisin Roulette not too far behind. Jaci comes round to get her 4 points with Roisin managing to pick up 2 points before the jam is called. GRG 13 BBDD 21

A knock from Viper Den causes Helen Fury to cut track at the front and she is sent to the box just as Violet Attack gets through the pack. Maddy Hackitt is behind a Bee Sting and Union Jack U Up wall when the GRG pulls the pack back and, although the refs are signalling and shouting that they are out of play, Bee takes Maddy down to earn herself a trip to the box. By this time Violet has come around and caught out the GRG and sneaks through for a Grand Slam. Maddy breaks through but a messy GRG allow Violet through once more before she calls the jam. GRG 13 BBDD 30

BBDD only have 2 blockers on the next jam and Skate Edge easily gets through with Gun Bunny getting sent to the box for track cutting whilst trying to get up the inside line. The BBDD show their defence skills and keep Skate back but it isn’t long before Bee is sent back to the box by Ballistic Whistle for taking Skate Edge down using an elbow. Gun Bunny comes back out the box before Skate decides to call the jam after picking up 3 points. However, an officiating error also gives Gun Bunny 3 points. GRG 16 BBDD 33

For the third time Jaci Dodger and Roisin Roulette are jamming against each other and again for the third time Jaci breaks through first to gain lead jammer with Roisin hot on her heels. And again Jaci gets through to get the 4 points with Roisin picking up 2. GRG 20 BBDD 35

In the next jam Violet Attack took the lead with Maddy Hackit just behind her and Violet managed to pick up 4 points to Maddy’s 1 before calling it off. GRG 21 BBDD 39

Union Jack U Up was sent off again for using an elbow to take Skate Edge down. Gun Bunny takes several knocks and eventually a take out from Sister Grimm winds her and she doesn’t get back up. Skate Edge had gained 3 points as the Referees stop the jam and the medics attend to Gun Bunny. GRG 24 BBDD 39

Jaci Dodger is on the line this time with Violet Attack and yet again takes lead jammer with a nippy dodge up the inside line on one foot, however Violet is not far behind. Helen Fury takes Jaci down as she gets to the front on the scoring pass causing her to call the jam but not before Violet has got through. GRG 26 BBDD 43

Union Jack U Up takes her first turn of jamming up against Maddy Hackitt and both are held back by great defensive play. Union is the one who makes it through and laps around to find Maddy still to break the pack. Union takes Maddy down on her way past with an elbow which gets her sent to the box before scoring. The jam goes the full 2 minutes without any scoring. GRG 26 BBDD 43

BBDD jammer starts in the box but Sleazy Rider manages to keep Skate Edge back long enough for Union Jack U Up to come out and break through not far behind Skate and knocks her down on her way past to cause Skate to call the jam off. GRG 26 BBDD 43

Next Jaci Dodger shows her dodging skills by taking lead jammer over Violet Attack with Jaci taking 4 points to Violet's 3, with Lucky Hateball going to the box for back blocking. GRG 30 BBDD 46

Gun Bunny gets sent to the box during her first pass through the pack for her 4th Minor, leaving Skate Edge to battle through and earn 5 points before Gun gets back out the box. GRG 35 BBDD 46

This time Violet gets through the pack first but doesn’t get the lead, leaving Jaci Dodger battling to get past the BBDD defence. Union Jack U Up gets sent to the box for using an elbow to take Jaci down. When Jaci gets through she is declared lead jammer and calls the jam off just as Violet manages to pick up a point. GRG 35 BBDD 47

After picking up her 4th Major penalty Union Jack U Up is ejected from the rest of the period and is sent to the locker rooms and Roisin Roulette serves the rest of her time in the penalty box.

Mistress Malicious is on the jammer line for the first time up against Gun Bunny and manages to sail through the pack with a hip whip on Sister Grimm. Mistress picks up a Grand Slam whilst Gun is kept back by a strong GRG defence. Viper Den earns a trip to the box for using an elbow. Mistress takes another pass through the pack and calls the jam after earning 9 points. Half time score GRG 44 BBDD 47

The second period starts with Viper Den in the box and Mistress Malicious and Gun Bunny on the jammer line. Gun Bunny gets lead jammer but a helping push through from Helen Fury results in her falling and the pack passing her again. So Gun decides the call the Jam. GRG 44 BBDD 47

Next both Jaci Dodger and Violet Attack battle through the pack again, with Violet getting knocked down hard by Evel Von Detta but recovers very quickly to get lead jammer with Jaci immediately behind. As they reach the pack Violet gets knocked out of bounds by Cremola D’Ville and calls the jam just as Jaci sails through to the front. GRG 48 BBDD 49

Helen Fury’s hard shoulder keeps Skate Edge back a couple of times and Gun Bunny is helped through to get lead jammer but is closely followed by Skate who overtakes her on the way back to the pack so Gun Bunny calls the jam. A referee’s time out results in Maddy Hackit being sent to the box for track cutting. GRG 48 BBDD 49

Whiskey Galore falls in front of Union Jack U Up, tripping her up and gets Whiskey sent straight to the box. Union gets lead jammer with Mistress Malicious coming through the pack just behind. Viper Den knocks Union to the inside track but Union skates straight back in to the pack to earn herself a Major. The 2 GRG blockers help Mistress get through to earn a Grand Slam and Maddy Hackit coming out the box also helps her get the second one. Bee Sting comes out the box to rejoin the pack and takes Mistress down on her 3rd pass through but later Bee earns herself another major penalty for tripping. The 2 minutes is up and Mistress gets 13 points taking GRG into the lead for the first time. GRG 61 BBDD 49

Jaci Dodger starts jamming unopposed as GRG hold back the pack and Helen Fury earns a trip to the box for blocking out of play. Union Jack U Up comes out the box catching the GRG unaware and sails through to catch up and pass Jaci who calls the jam but not before Union gains a point. GRG 61 BBDD 50

Both Mistress and Violet are battling for several laps to break the pack and it's Violet who makes it first with Mistress just behind. Mistress is getting through the pack first when Maddy Hackitt’s toe stop comes off and trips her up leaving Violet to call the jam when she gets to the front. Both jammers get 3 points for their teams GRG 64 BBDD 53

Jaci Dodger knocks Gun Bunny down on the whistle and easily sails through the pack to get the lead. Cremola D’Ville gets sent to the box for taking Gun down with a back block and just as Gun has got up Jaci is coming round to lap her and takes Gun down heavily again. Gun doesn’t get up and Jaci earns a point before the jam is stopped by the Referees. Medics attend to a very brave and battered Gun Bunny who sits out the rest of the game. GRG 65 BBDD 53

Union Jack U Up gains lead with Skate Edge being taken down and kept back by Bee Sting. Union earns a Grand Slam before Skate manages to break the pack and Union gets through again to earn 9 points before calling the jam. GRG 65 BBDD 62

Mistress Malicious gets through on the inside to gain the lead with Violet Attack earning a trip to the penalty box. A pile up with Sister Grimm and Switchblade Sarah leaves Switchblade Sarah injured on the track and Mistress has earned 3 points when the Referees stop the jam. The medics attend to Switchblade Sarah and she is instructed to sit out the next 3 jams. GRG 68 BBDD 62

Jaci Dodger looks to be powering through the pack unopposed but an excellent hit to the inside corner by Roisin Roulette causes her to cut track and is sent to the box. However before she is there Violet Attack comes out the box and eventually, after getting past Sister Grimm, who is sent to the box for blocking out of play, gets through to immediately call the jam. GRG 68 BBDD 62

GRG start with 2 blockers and jammer in the box. Viper Den and Whiskey Galore wall up at the back to try to hold back Union Jack U Up but she gets through to score 9 points taking BBDD back into the lead. GRG 68 BBDD 71

Violet Attack gets sent to the box for bringing down Razor Rockette on her first pass through the pack leaving Maddy Hackit to battle through to earn her 5 points just as Violet is coming back on track. GRG are back in the lead again. GRG 73 BBDD 71

Sister Grimm takes down Union Jack U Up and Mistress Malicious manages to break through and she earns her team 4 points but delays in calling the jam which allows Union to pick up 1 point. GRG 77 BBDD 72

Next jam Violet Attack gains lead jammer but Jaci Dodger is taken down at the front by Helen Fury and doesn’t get back up again. The Jam is called whilst the medics attend to Jaci and she is helped from the track and has to sit out the rest of the game. GRG 77 BBDD 72

Betty GoGo takes a turn jamming for GRG but it is Violet Attack who picks up a Grand Slam before Betty breaks the pack. Violet comes round again and picks up another 2 points before taking a big hit from Evel Von Detta and calls it off. Evel is sent off to the box for Skating Clockwise to Block. BBDD reclaims the lead. GRG 77 BBDD 79

Next is the most controversial jam of the game. Union Jack U Up takes the lead in front of Mistress Malicious, with Helen Fury and Sleazy Rider both getting sent off for blocking out of bounds. Union laps to pick up 3 points on her scoring pass, gaining a minor for Cutting Track, but this time Union delays in calling the Jam which allows Mistress to follow her through the pack. However, an error means that the 4 points that Mistress gained is not reflected in the score and the BBDD lead is extended further. GRG 77 BBDD 82

Violet Attack gets held back by a GRG wall at the front and it’s Maddy Hackit who gains lead. Violet Attack gets sent to the box for taking Betty GoGo down with an Elbow, and then immediately picks up another for an Illegal Procedure when she takes out her gum shield on the track to shout at the Referee. Maddy manages to pick up 3 points before she too is sent to the box for Cutting Track resulting in a jammerless jam. GRG 80 BBDD 82

Skate Edge and Union Jack U Up take the star panties from the jammers in the box and the teams line up again but then Violet Attack is ejected from the game for picking up her 4th Major in the period. This means Union has to sit out Violets remaining time in the box and Skate Edge jams unopposed. Both teams know that this is the deciding jam in such a very closely matched game and both give it their all. Skate finds it hard to get through and it taken down several times. Union comes out the box and catches the GRG unaware and picks up a point before the jam goes the full 2 minutes. Final Score GRG 80 BBDD 83

The Glasgow Roller Girls would like to thank the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames for yet another hard fought and eventful match, and, as always, a big Thank You to all the officials and bout staff.

You'd Think I'd Get Sick Of It...But I Never Do.

2009-04-01T06:13:00.005+01:00

Winning I mean!

On the 28th of March the Blitz Dames did their first intra-league bout...it was only a mini demonstration at a skate show but man did we pack some action in those two 10 minute periods!

The Brummy Bombshells Vs The Birmingham Sirens!!!

We went into this thinking 'it's just a bit of fun! We don't want to hurt each other, we have too many bouts coming up!'.....that soon changed!

The Bombshells take an early lead...new Jammer KiKi Kasplat, a dab hand Hilda Blizzhard and the force to be reckoned with Helen Fury stack up the points while Victoria Cross, Saintly Sin and the Blitz Dames' newest blocker Kylie Volatile hold back the Sirens' Jammers and pound the blockers!

Half time arrives...Bee Sting is furious! Sleazy Rider is pissed, her first time as Captain will not be a loss! Violet Attack is not used to losing! Bitter Sweet is beaten and battered but raring to go...back to the penalty box *Rolls Eyes*! Talula and Doc are just ready to get back out there and whoop some ass! After a team talk the Sirens are back with a vengence that the Bombshells feel!

NO MORE MISSES NICE SIRENS!

Bee Sting starts belting the Bombshells like only Bee Sting can! Newbie Blocker Bitter Sweet shows herself to be a dirty player doing anything to get the other players down (paying the price in the penalty box, 2 majors and 3 minors in 10 minutes) and giving Victoria Cross a knock to remember! Doc takes on the mighty Fury and Talula's giving it all she has to change that score around! While Jammers Sleazy Rider and Violet Attack rack up those points...even with the dirty play from the Bombshells (20 foot Hilda and Fury ;) ) and quickly turn the Sirens' frowns upside down and that score around too!

Final score: Bombshells 47 - Sirens 57!

Bitter Sweet <3

L-R Violet Attack, Bee Sting, Sleazy Rider, Diabolus Rutilus (Doc), Bitter Sweet, Talula Trash.

A Small Victory

2009-03-28T08:11:00.005Z

We started the year with wins in Germany and Scotland, and now the Blitz Dames have their first victory of 2009 on English soil, after meeting the Middlesborough Milk Rollers. It was a good natured bout that saw us triumph 198 - 78. Full write-up of the thrills and spills coming soon.

Tired, sweaty, bruised, and champions.

Now we're preparing to take on the Leeds Roller Dolls. Cocks Moors Woods leisure centre on the 18th of April. Join us!

SMACK ATTACK: Blitz Dames vs Middlesbrough (home match)

2009-03-12T02:26:00.003Z

Blitz Dames Defeat Glasgow 83-80!

2009-02-22T20:32:00.003Z

photo credit: colin @ urbanpictures

Birmingham's Rollergirls Take Another Victory Against Scottish

BIRMINGHAM - The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames have returned victorious with a 83-80 win in Scotland having defeated the Glasgow Rollergirls in a nail-biting grudge match hosted Saturday 21st February 2009 at the Arc Sports Centre in Glasgow. This grudge match is the second win for Birmingham over the Glasgow Rollergirls having defeated them 91-74 in April last year.

The next home bout is set against Middlesbrough Milk Rollers on 21st March 2009 which will take place at Cocks Moors Wood Leisure Centre, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Tickets will be on sale for home games a few weeks before the match through their website at http://www.blitzdames.com/

QUADrophenia Blitz Dames v GRG - the rematch!

2009-02-22T12:15:00.003Z

BBDD have just returned from Glasgow where we participated in a hard, fast, furious bout against the formiddable Glasgow Roller Girls. Last year before I even started playing derby I watched BBDD v GRG in Birmingham, and it was this bout that got me hooked, so I was absolutely delighted to be involved in the rematch.

BBDD won by 83-80 yesterday, but Glasgow didn't make it easy for us. First one team was in the lead, then the other, then the first team took it back...and so on all night right up to the last jam! Jammers were sent off, injuries were sustained (get better soon Switchblade Sarah and Jaci Dodger), girls went flying all over the place... From a referee's point of view, this match was fantastic. And I'm reliably informed by the audience that it was exciting and fun to watch as well.

So, a big thank you to Glasgow for putting us on, and a big thank you to all the Blitz Dame fans for reading :) An extra special thanks to our two dedicated supporters who flew all the way up to Glasgow to watch us - you guys rock!

And as they say, there's no rest for the wicked - we're gearing up for our next bout already, on 21st March against the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers.

Until next time - take care
JCx

Dames bring back another UK victory over Germany

2009-02-05T14:02:00.002Z

You know what I love about being a Dame? Actually I can’t list it…. but I do adore the fact that I get to hang out with some of the world’s most fantastic people and travel the world with them.

This weekend saw the Dames head over to Germany to take on the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz in the New Year's Massacre. It was a much welcomed first away bout for us and it felt great to turn up and have no organising etc to do! And SVRG had done a fabulous job of that- they pulled a 620+ crowd and had to turn people away.

The venue was incredible, with balcony viewing for some lucky spectators. The only problem was that one corner was extremely slippy so Coke had to be poured down to help with that. Unfortunately no-one told me that they were still waiting for it to dry before mopping up whilst I was locked away in the ref’s meeting, so I skated out in front of the huge crowd and really embarrassed myself by slipping over….

I had to don the zebra stripes for this one after an emergency operation that ruined my Christmas and though I missed the track, I enjoyed every second of reffing. The ref gang were a great bunch to work with.

I can’t really comment on the bout because I was concentrating so much (it’s tricky!!!!) but I did see some excellent skating from both teams. The Dames go from strength to strength and were looking rightfully confident out there, even though they were skating 11 grrrls to 14. Better strategy and fewer penalties- they looked hot. And we won!! 71-98. Oh yeah!

SVRG hosted an excellent bout and afterparty (Das ActionTeam and The Teaserettes- what can I say?) and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that was a part of it. Also, it was a shame to find that Miss Tsunami wasn’t skating and I wish her all the best with her back.

Our next bout is QUADrophenia in Glasgow on February 21st and the next home bout is on March 21st against Middlesborough Milk Rollers. We’d love to see you there.

Kiki Kasplat #79

Dames in Stuttgart - our experience

2009-02-04T20:55:00.006Z

Final Score 98 – 71: The Blitz Dames skate to victory in our first international away bout!

Well, the travel team are having a well-deserved rest after a fantastic weekend in Stuttgart, hosted by the fast, fierce and foxy Stuttgart Valley RollerGirlz at the Sport Stuttgart Arena.

It was the first time the Dames have travelled abroad for a bout and it was definitely well worth the air fare! We pulled ahead to a decisive lead early in the bout, but it was very evenly matched for the rest of the first half with Stuttgart giving as good as they got. The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames led 68-39 at halftime.

In the second period, Stuttgart came out hitting hard and gained some ground on us, but they were no match in the end for the stunning jamming skills of Hilda Blizzhard, Tear E. Hatchet, Union Jack-U-Up and especially Violet Attack, who zipped through the pack again and again! Stuttgart were great hosts as well as great players.

They and their massive crowd of enthusiastic supporters couldn’t have given us a warmer reception, or a better afterparty! We partied till the wee hours at the Keller Klub, with badass music, a riotous burlesque show and the crazy band, Action Team (imagine Electric Six crossed with the 118 118 guys…), plus plenty of beer a-flowing.

Kudos also to the stripey ones. As well as SVRG’s own refs, and two of our lovely Blitz Dames (Justine Credible and Kiki Kasplat), we were lucky enough to be joined by LRG’s own Ballistic Whistle and Crash Test from Canada’s Terminal City RollerGirls. Crash Test congratulated us afterwards on skating well and playing ‘a good, clean game – for roller derby!’

Check out these videos & photos!

http://www.kay-dee.de/events/rd_svrg_0109/

Birmingham Mail 5.2.09 - Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames Beat Their German Rivals Again in Roller Derby Rematch!

2009-02-04T20:53:00.001Z

See the whole article here:

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/02/05/birmingham-blitz-derby-dames-beat-their-german-rivals-again-in-roller-derby-rematch-97319-22856749/

Rollergirls Wanted! (and Rollerdudes too!)

2009-01-05T14:44:00.005Z

The Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames are now recruiting ladies 18+

Ladies, would you like to be a kick ass dame on wheels?

Guys, would you like to participate in the wild world of roller derby but thought you couldn't because you're a guy?

Do you feel you're too old or "not in shape" to skate? Do you think "If I knew how to skate, I'd do this"? Well, think those thoughts no more!

We are recruiting skaters or if they prefer, other non-skating positions.

It does not matter how old you are or what your shape or size is! And it does not matter if you have never put on a pair of skates in your life or if you need help learning, we will teach you!

New member inductions are on the first Saturday of every month (except when there are holidays!) Click here for training dates: www.blitzdames.com/training.html

We have all types of positions, of course including skaters (for the ladies), Referees, Scorekeepers, Announcers, Photographer, Videographer anyone interested in this crazy sport of roller derby!

Spread the word to all you know! Support your local roller derby!!!

Canada or BUST - Ramshackle Xmas Roller Disco!

2008-12-15T23:20:00.003Z

Come shake off the cold an boogie down to some old skool roller disco tunes at the Ramshackle Roller Disco this Friday, Dec 19, 2008.

Dames will be on hand looking hot, selling our brand new 2009 calendars (great stocking stuffers!) Help us raise some much needed dosh by buying our cakes and raffle tickets!

Tickets £6 advance from http://www.birmingham-academy.co.uk/ Bring a load of your mates! Groups of 10 or more £2 each!

Time and Place
Start Time:
Friday, December 19, 2008 at 8:00pm
End Time:
Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 3:30am
Location:
Carling Academy Birmingham
Street:
52-54 Dale End
City/Town:
Birmingham, United Kingdom

My year on wheels - by Roisin Roulette

2008-12-01T17:42:00.000Z

My derby year - 2008

My name is Roisin and I am addicted to skating.

I first came to the Blitzdames open practice in September last year, then took a couple of months off for an op, coming back in November 2007. I’ve had quad skates and in-lines before, skated on streets and in parks and at roller discos but never really learned to do any more than go quite fast and stop quite slowly. I think I have skated more in 2008 than all the rest of my life put together; and as I learned to skate in 1975, that’s quite something. It has all been great. So what were the highest points of 2008?

Early in the year, the Blitzdames took a minibus load of skaters down to the London Roller Girls Boot Camp. This was a grand day out, marred only by Kiki Kasplat breaking her thumb in the newbie scrimmage (some girls apparently didn’t understand the ‘light contact for safety reasons’ instructions) and Rip Lashes sustaining a knee injury; I also travelled to Tottenham Green to watch 3 bouts in London in 2008 and enjoyed the atmosphere, skating and cupcakes. Sadly our home venue doesn’t let us sell food or drink….. Blitzdames also travelled to support their favourite teams bouting in Glasgow.

We had a great mixed practice with Middlesbrough in the spring and were kindly provided with beds or floorspace and a top night out in Middlesbrough with the Milk Rollers, which we followed by skating (somewhat gingerly) with Leeds Roller Dolls the next day.

My first bout was against Glasgow in April – the first bout for me and quite a few other Blitzdames; we had seen Glasgow bout in London (with our Violet Attack guest skating) so we knew it was going to be a close game; they had 13 skaters to our ten and were in the lead at half time. I think our endless endurance drills paid off and we came back to win by a narrow margin. It was a fiercely contested bout; I played blocker and jammer and was knocked into a complete backwards somersault at one point. Just before the end of the bout I trailed my right hand behind me as I fell and bent back 3 fingers - two of them are still swollen now in December… for months I couldn’t dress or wipe without thinking of the Glasgow girls…!

In sunny May we skated 20 hot and bumpy outdoor miles round Cannon Hill Park raising money for PHAB camps (a local children’s charity), and hosted a roller disco. With cakes!
June was all about the Team Canada bout; we met them at their hostel and had a meal together the night before and partied with them after the bout, but the actual bout was the most physical and competitive event in which I have ever been involved. I hit the wall wheels first on two occasions, and we have a big venue with loads of trackside clearance. Every Dame was battered and bruised after that one; Gun Bunny broke a toe but still get her heels on for the after party.
In July we screened the UK premier of Hell on Wheels and on the same day had a boot camp/open scrimmage event. Some of our girls went to Rollercon; the rest of us made the most of the summer and skated outdoors in venues as far afield as Wolverhampton and Kings Norton.
August and September were quieter months, apart from Leeds Boot Camp, with some time spent fund raising and promotional skating. Eliza Doolethal broke her hand in practice. We had a fabulous day shooting our 2009 calendar at various glamorous locations round Birmingham; my husband remarked that if we spent as much time training as we did posing we’d surely be world beaters by now, but he’s just jealous. And he can’t skate.

In October we travelled to Glasgow for the fabulous Glasvegas training camp hosted by the Glasgow girls with Ivanna S Pankin and Trish the Dish; we bouted London Roller Girls travel team, London Brawling, the following week and although we knew they were very good we were still surprised by the eventual score. We had Armalite Angie, Marla Mayhem, Sister Grimm and Liv or Die helping out as we had injuries and unavailable skaters; hopefully the rematch will be closer… we definitely learned from the experience.

We had planned a bout against Birmingham Alabama this winter but the Tragic City girls couldn’t raise the funds needed to travel and we had to find a replacement fixture at short notice. So November brought the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz to Birmingham and a more evenly matched bout, although there were a number of issues with interpretation of the rules. Bee was injured, Sleazy Rider was away, Gun Bunny hadn’t jammed for months, Eliza Dolethal was still out, and I was vomiting on the day and had to sit the match out after the first few jams, so we were pleased to win. We’re looking forward to going to Stuttgart in January for the return match. (Birmingham Alabama is rescheduled for summer 2009).

There has been plenty of drama off track too; engagements, break ups, moving in and moving out, derby weddings, tempers lost and truces reached; skaters have taken on and given up responsibilities in the league for work and family reasons; Helen Fury and the Skatrix (now known as Cupid Stunt) are tearing themselves away to concentrate on developing Severn Roller Torrent and Justine Credible has taken over as our Head Ref.

And that’s just the stuff I’m allowed to mention…

So, in December we’re having an open practice on 6th (new starters welcome) and a mixed practice with the Leeds Roller Dolls on the 13th. That’s a pretty busy derby year for a league which this time last year was struggling to recover from the mass departure of the girls who then formed Central City Rollergirls. Maybe we’ll see them on the track next season.

Maybe we’ll see you?

Merry Christmas everyone.

Roisin Roulette
N17

Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames ENGLAND defeats Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz GERMANY, 81-75

2008-11-27T16:13:00.007Z

22 November 2008 at Cocks Moors Woods, Birmingham, England UK

Bout Recap

Making roller sports history again the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames hosted the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz in the first ever pan-European bout held in the UK. Both leagues seemed closely matched in terms of physical size, experience, speed and strength. Birmingham skating without two of their most experienced and very strong players, Bee Sting (injury) and Sleazy Rider (work obligations) but were bolstered by the presence of Helen Fury, who stepped in at short notice after being originally unavailable to skate this bout. Each team were skating with 12 skaters, however Birmingham jammer Roisin Roulette began feeling ill and struggled to keep up with the pack on the warm up laps and this was potentially a problem since Birmingham were already short of jammers, with another jammer, Tear E Hatchet just back from injury. Victoria Cross made her bouting debut for Birmingham as a blocker.

First Period

Scoring was close for the first few jams as the skaters sussed each other out. Jam 1 of the first period was Tear E Hatchet for Birmingham against Blitzkrieg Baby for Stuttgart taking lead jammer but scoring zero points. Birmingham’s defensive tactic in the pack seemed to be paying off but Stuttgart responded and differences in playing style became apparent; the Stuttgart girls play a physical game and there seemed to be a bit of confusion as to the rules as Birmingham skate to the WFTDA 3.1 ruleset where blocking out of bounds and cutting the track are major penalties with Justine Credible as Head Ref strode the infield with authority and kept the proceedings in order despite a number of official time outs and language barriers.

Jam 2 Violet Attack for Birmingham gets lead jammer and calls it off just as SVRG's Dolly BustHer hit the pack scoring only one point. Birmingham's blockers Helen Fury and Union Jack-U-Up were delivering some heavy hits, with Violet Attack jamming and blocking at the same time with her usual forceful impact.

Jam 3 Hilda Blizzhard for Birmingham against Miss Tsunami gaining lead jammer status and scoring four points before calling it off with Birmingham gaining zero on this jam. Jam 4 Birmingham's Roisin Roulette first and last jam as she gets lead jammer gaining two points against Polly Purgatory who gets zero points to help. At this stage there is only one point between the teams with Birmingham 6 against Stuttgart 5.

Lining up for Jam 5 up for the first time jamming is Dame Union Jack-U-Up against SVRG Public Enemy who gets lead jammer, as Birmingham blockers Kiki Kasplat appeared to try out a horizontal block at one point and Elle Fire was solid at the front whether as blocker or pivot, combining well forming walls and preventing the Stuttgart jammers from progressing through with Union gaining four points for Birmingham and Public Enemy calling off the jam after gaining only two.

Jam 6 Birmingham jammer Tear E Hatchet skates against Noxious Angel as lead jammer gaining four more points for SVRG with Birmingham gaining zero. Jam 7 Birmingham blocker Saintly Sin was a constant bother to the Stuttgart players usually causing trouble towards the back of the pack as Violet Attack gains lead jammer status against Dolly BustHer who manages to gain three points over Attack's one before she called it off.

The UK’s youngest rollergirl, Gun Bunny skating for Birmingham, was asked to jam despite a lack of recent jamming practice when Roisin Roulette went off to be sick after the fourth jam leaving Birmingham down to 11 skaters.

Jam 8 started with some confusion where SVRG started with two skaters in the penalty box and full four skaters on the track; despite efforts from officiator Promise Payback to signal to the refs, the jam progressed with too many SVRG skaters on the track and but Gun Bunny manages to gain lead jammer status against Stuttgart jammer Dolly BustHer both jammers earning three points.

Jam 9 had Birmingham’s Hilda Blizzhard jamming and blocking tirelessly and gaining four against lead jammer Miss Tsunami gaining only three. Jam 10 Birminhgam's Tear E Hatchet jammed with determination despite being knocked down by Stuttgart blocker who trampled over her to get back up near the penalty box.

Jam 11 both teams were demonstrating fantastic strategy in the pack holding back each jammer successfully leaving each team scoring zero on this jam with Violet Attack who had lead jammer against Public Enemy.

Jam 12 had lead jammer Hilda Blizzard gaining a fantastic eight points for Birmingham over Blitzkrieg Baby who failed to score. At this stage Birmingham was beginning to widen the point spread on the game leading by 10 points at 30-20.

Jam 13 lead jammer Violet Attack gains four points over Noxious Angel who failed to score. Jam 14 no lead jammer was called leaving Tear E Hatchet gains zero against Public Enemy gaining four points skating two full minutes. Jam 15 gains lead jammer and two points over Blitzkrieg Baby who fails to score.

Jam 16 had Gun Bunny who gains lead jammer and four points over Blitzkrieg Baby who failed to score. After the jam was called off and the ref’s whistle Gun Bunny was taken out in a very hard hit, from Stuttgart player, Miss Tsunami who was majored by the referees and sent off. An official time out is called whilst Gun Bunny gets checked out by the on-site medical technicians.

The Birmingham Dames were beginning to feel the strain of being down a jammer as Roisin Roulette was out for the game with sickness so skaters were required to skate more often with fewer breaks and this would have made a big difference in the second half. Less experienced skaters for Birmingham, such as Diamondback Belle and Victoria Cross had to skate more often than planned and as Roisin Roulette also skates as a pivot and blocker. At this stage the entire line up plan was re-jigged by the very capable Von Bitch and Jack Attack from the London Rockin Rollers, who were managing the line ups as honorary Blitz Dames for the bout.

Jam 17 Tear E Hatchet gains lead jammer and four points for Birmingham as Public Enemy fails to score. The final jam of the first period, Jam 18, had lead jammer Hilda Blizzhard scoring nine points over Polly Purgatory six. At the end of the first period Birmingham had widened the score to 49-30!

Second Period (49-30)

The second half began as it was notable that Stuttgart changed up their game responding in kind to the Dames tactical approach and had lead jammer seven times to Birmingham's three, with several jams lasting a full two minutes as neither jammer made it through without penalties - whether down to tired jammers or tighter blocking. Both teams made good use of walls at the front of the pack. All the blockers kept each other busy, and got right back into it after taking hits.

Jam 1 Tear E Hatchet jamming for Birmingham gaining one over lead jammer Blitzkrieg Baby who called it off after scoring three points. Jam 2 had Violet Attack who got lead jammer over Dolly Busther who failed to score. Elle Fire as pivot and Helen Fury as blocker combined to hold the Stuttgart’s jammer and Attack although left mainly to her own devices as the pack concentrated on holding the opposing jammer got through to score four points before she called the jam.

Jam 3 Hilda Blizzhard was up against Miss Tsunami; the SVRG skater got lead jammer and skipped through the pack as Birmingham were engaged in clearing a gap for Blizzhard; Stuttgart scored six, Birmingham scored one point and just as Blizzhard was breaking free Miss Tsunami called the jam to prevent any further score.

Jam 4 Violet Attack jamming against Polly Purgatory who would skate for a full two minutes. Violet Attack was taken down hard by Blitzkrieg Baby; there was no lead jammer although Polly Purgatory having passed twice through the pack tried to call off the jam to some confusion on and off the track. Scores were then showing 56-47.

Jam 5 Tear E Hatchet jamming against Public Enemy. Stuttgart got lead jammer but Tear E Hatchet pulled it back to outscore her with four points to Public Enemy’s three. Jam 6 Gun Bunny got lead jammer, assisted by the Dame’s pivot, blocker 2 and blocker 3 combination at the front of the pack holding back Blitzkrieg Baby. Bunny scored a fantastic eight points and called the jam, with Stuttgart jammer only managing to gain four points. At this point Birmingham lead 68-54.

Jam 7 Violet Attack and Public Enemy was a no-lead-jammer affair, hard fought points going Attack’s way as she scored six to the SVRG three (74-57).Jam 8 Tear E Hatchet against Polly Purgatory and after her initial pass was frustrated by a solid defensive wall at the front from Birmingham blocker Helen Fury and Union Jack-U-Up. Polly stepped inside the track to pass the wall and was promptly sent off for cutting the track for a major penalty to the penalty box. However, SVRG rallied and blocked effectively to prevent Tear E Hatchet capitalising on having the being the only jammer on the track (74-58).

Jam 9 Birmingham’s Tear E Hatchet was sent to the penalty box leaving them without a pivot. There was no lead jammer so Gun Bunny jammed but scored zero while Helen Fury and Violet Attack at the front of the pack did an excellent job holding Miss Tsunami, who scored one point but was eventually sent to the penalty box before the full two minute jam finished.

Jam 10 Hilda Blizzhard jammed against Blitzkrieg Baby. Helen Fury was sent off to the penalty box and Union Jack-U-Up delivered a stunning block taking out Blitzkrieg Baby. There was no lead jammer so the jam ran to the full two minutes with the jam ref reporting nine points gained for Stuttgart and only three for Birmingham giving a much needed boost to the visiting team.
Jam 11 Birmingham jammer Tear E Hatchet got tripped by blocker Blitzkrieg Baby who was sent off by the referees for a major penalty. Public Enemy was lead jammer as strategic blockers for Birmingham, Helen Fury and Violet Attack combined well to hold Public Enemy back only scoring two points while Tear E Hatchet caught up and the jam was called before Tear E could score (77-69).

Jam 12 Union Jack-U-Up jamming for Birmingham who concentrated on holding back Stuttgart jammer Polly Purgatory who gained lead jammer and scored four points, giving Union Jack-U-Up little assistance failing to score. Blocker for Birmingham Victoria Cross sent off (77-73).

Jam 13 with the score so close double-trouble Violet Attack came on to jam against Blitzkrieg Baby who got lead jammer and but was sent off for penalising. Violet Attack got trapped at the front by two Stuttgart blockers, with Hilda Blizzard struggling to assist Violet Attack chasing the defensive wall and making a bridge to the remaining pack so that the Stuttgart girls were still in play and able to hold Birmingham’s jammer back. No points by either jammer were gained. Very frustrating for the fans to watch from the stand but so difficult to spot when on the track.

Jam 14 Tear E Hatchet gains four after getting lead jammer against Polly Purgatory who scored two but despite Birmingham defensive dream team of Helen Fury, Hilda Blizzhard and Union Jack-U-Up combining to delay the Stuttgart’s jammer before the jam was called with scores at 81-75.

With very little time on the clock Birmingham jammer Violet Attack came out again against Blitzkrieg Baby; knowing that if the scores remained the same it was a Birmingham victory Violet Attack got in front of her opposing jammer and did some amazing positional blocking preventing the Stuttgart jammer from scoring at all as neither jammer passed through the startled pack a second time. Some of the crowd were confused, with Violet Attack receiving boos from the Stuttgart supporters but cheers from those supporting Birmingham. This was a fine demonstration of tactical thinking, positional blocking and the power of a properly deployed backside winning it for Birmingham (and England!) 81-75.

MVP for Birmingham: Gun Bunny

MVP for Stuttgart: All 12 of them

Most Points Scored by a Jammer: Hilda Blizzhard

Penalty Queen: Miss Tsunami

Birmingham will travel to Stuttgart, Germany on 31st January 2009 for the rematch.

BLITZ DAMES

16 Violet Attack - Captain

333 Union Jack-U-Up - Co Captain

N17 Roisin Roulette
57 Tear E Hatchet

52 Hilda BlizzHard

10 Helen Fury

79 Kiki Kasplat

14U Saintly Sin

11 Elle Fire

27 Victoria Cross

888 Gun Bunny

77 Diamondback Belle

STUTTGART

21 Miss Tsunami - Captain

7 Dolly BustHer – Co-Captain

13 Polly Purgatory

187 Evil-Lynn

6 Rambona

17 Noxious Angel

20 Spin Up

85 Public Enemy

99 Miss LizzFits

16 Teazer

81 Titty-Twista

9 Blitzkrieg Baby

A quick word from the Head Ref

2008-11-20T14:45:00.000Z

With Band of Brawlers a mere two days away, and the full impact of being Head Ref at this bout slowly dawning on me, all I can really say is I want to see everyone there that can possibly make it! I want to see a good clean bout aginst two teams who have everything to prove to themselves and each other - both BBDD and SVRG lost their last bouts and so the competition is going to be blisteringly hot.

And after the last whistle has blown, and the dust has settled on the track, two teams of derby demons will be partying the night away at Subside, comparing bruises and drinking more than the UK Government recommends!

See you all at the bout!

Justine "JC" Credible

Blitz Dames vs London Brawling - Video Hi-Lites

2008-10-29T12:48:00.002Z

Viva GlasVegas!

2008-10-17T15:38:00.002+01:00

A troop of Dames will be heading off for fair Glasgow to join in the UK's first ever roller derby boot camp event with guest coaches from the United States --- Ivanna S Panking & Trish the Dish both from Arizona Roller Derby (formerlly from Sin City Rollergirls).

Both are legends in skating... heading up the resurrgence of our sport, they are more than fantastic skaters, they are LEGENDS!

We're soooo excited to be participating... we've forgone a regular bouting practice to attend (one week before our bout!) --- there's loads of activities planned --- including mixed scrimmaging and the UK's first roller derby wedding... now this is a special occassion being officiated by Elvis himself!

It's a unique opportunity for skaters in the UK to have a wee taste of RollerCon --- Glaswegian Style!

Look out skaters --- we're coming for yer wimmin!

More information check here http://www.glasgowrollergirls.com/mouthing_off.html

We'll post the photos we won't be too ashamed to share following the weekend!

Blitz Beauties Calendar Shoot

2008-09-23T20:42:00.013+01:00

Exclusive on the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames Photoshoot!

So what have you been up to? We’ve been on a fabulous photo shoot darling! Imagine it’s early Sunday morning and you spot a bevy of blitz beauties (plus Chester Drawers) in skimpy uniforms hanging around the Birmingham bull. What would you do? Well I’m sure you wouldn’t send your obnoxious security guards to force us to leave the er ‘private property’. Anyway, who needs the bull when we have much more in common with ‘the floozy in the jacuzzi’ for our stunning snapshots.

After managing not to fall down the steps or in the fountain we headed down to Birmingham Backpackers (it’s like our second home, but with better décor!). Some of the girls were captured on film in the bedroom (ooh er!) while the rest of us chilled out in the lounge, or got our hair done by clever Kiki Kasplat- mistress of many trades! Some lucky ladies got to dress up in leather and sit astride some rather hot rides – Harley Davidson bikes that is – and the rest of us are not at all jealous, no really!

Next we went off on an adventure to Paintball Park in Kidderminster, where we commandeered a tank and entertained the troops by posing to our hearts’ content! Got a bit icky with the paint and dirt but we succeeded in our mission and got pics of Violet Attack straddling a rather large gun (it was her idea!).

While Violet and Kiki went to play dress-up in a grave yard (I can’t wait to see those photos) the rest of us headed for The Cross in Moseley. A few drinks (and some rather nice grub) later we were all raring to have more photos taken: The psycho valentines got saucy, the 50s femmes got fatal, the mad hatters got minxy, the spring pin-ups got super sexy, the boxing babes got bad, and then everyone hit on Santa (in a brutal beating by blockers way!). Finally, the evening saw most of us back at a favourite hangout – Subside – for yet more fabulous photos in our more natural habitat – a bar!

Please note: the pictures included here are from a previous shoot. If you want to see the sexy, sassy Blitz Dames’ pictures I’ve described you will just have to wait for our limited edition calendar to be published!

Derby love from Promise Payback #20-20

P.S. Santa survived and he wants you all to buy a Blitz Dames calendar for Xmas!

Viva Las Vegas! Report from the Road from Violet Attack

2008-09-01T12:57:00.000+01:00

This was the final team line up, so there were 4 UK teams that made up Team UK (Corr Blimeys), Blitz Dames, London Rollergirls, London Rockin' Rollers and Middlersborugh Milk Rollers.

The Roster:

Sleazy Rider - BBDD

Tear E Hatchett -BBDD

Violet Attack - BBDD

Bette Noir (captain) - LRG

Kitty DeCapitate - LRG

Sky Rockit - LRG

Jack Attack - LRR

Speed Pixie - LRR

Von Bitch - LRR

Germaine Leer - MMR

Rita Von Sleaze - MMR

Miss Sinnocent - LRR

Slice Andice - LRG

Spooky Von Strange - LRG

Team Australia (Farkin Elles) was made of of 3 leagues from Brisbane (Sun State Roller Girls), Adelaide (Adelaide Roller Derby) and Victoria (Victorian Roller Derby League).

We played on Friday afternoon at the Las Vegas Roller Hockey Centre (http://www.lasvegasrollerhockey.com), after being moved from our oringinal location of Flamingo Banks on the Thursday night (which was good cos I had a stinking hangover on Thursday morning!).

None of the UK girls had skated on a surface like that before, which were weird tiles that were quite slippy, apparently that's what they called 'sports court' over there.

First jam went to Sky Rocket (LRG) against Evil Doll. Team Oz took an early lead by a few points.

Second jam went to Violet Attack. There was no lead jammer. I got through the pack first and when I came back round again I got a great whip assist from our pivot Bette Noir (LRG) to take Team UK ahead. I also lapped the Oz jammer.

Forth jam I was up again, this time getting lead jammer. I was able to cut through the pack with ease and call off the jam before the Ozzies got any points! At the end of this jam score was Oz 10, UK 15.

Seventh jam was Tear E Hatchet. It started off great with Tear E getting lead jammer, but as two UK blockers were sent to the penalty box Team Oz's defence was able to strengthen and their jammer was able to pass her taking them to a slight lead. Unable to get through the pack

Tear E called off the jam.

After this the UK tightened up their game. Even though though Team Oz got lead jammer a few times the speed and agilty of UK jammers Kitty DeCapitate (LRG) and Jack Attack (LRR) meant they were able to sneak past the Ozzie jammers, racking up extra points before they even had a chance to call it off.

The last jam of the game went to Violet Attack. After going crashing to the floor early in the jam (I some how landed on my ribs, and it bloody hurt!) I got up and skated through the pain just as the jammer for Team Oz was being sent to the penalty box. Just after I got through the pack the first time a Team Oz blocker was sent off for tripping me! I again rose to my feet and gave it all I could to get those last few points for Team UK.

FINAL SCORE = TEAM OZ, 28 - TEAM UK, 43

Here's some other info/highlights of our RollerCon:
Me and Sleazy being upgraded to business class on our flight out there.
Me being scared shitless of taking off any little bit of turbulance we had and Sleazy having to hold my hand!

My ears popping so badly that I could barely hear anything and sleazy not being able to hear anything I said cos I was mumbling (It seems with your ears blocked you sound alot louder in your head than you actually are)!

Leaving Las Vegas airport for the first time and being blasted by the 45 degree heat, we ain't exactly used to that in England!

Me and Sleazy being stopped in the lobby of the hotel by the Chicago Outfit cos they recognised my picture of our Myspaz!

Everyone loving the Violet Attack badges!!!

The amazing abilty Tear E Hatchet has of aquiring the biggest bruises in the world!

After partying the night away with LRR I was so ill I ended up spending half the night on our bathroom floor and had a stinking hangover the next morning!

My amazment at the fact that in Vegas you get chips with your breakfast! (WTF, no wonder they're all fat!)

Me bemoaning to Sleazy that I hate the whole American tipping culture (why the fuck should I tip someone for just doing their job?!)!

Me arguing with Sleazy that planes AREN'T the safest form off transport...

While taking part in the co-ed scrimmages I took out one of the male jammers, Quadzilla!!! (Although I got sent off for it, think I ended up blocking him out bounds!)

All four of us being totally bemused by the extremeness of US TV (apparently just using a mobile could kill you, judges advertise themselve on TV, if you go to a snazzy private hospital you will no longer have terminal cancer!!! and everything is, like TOTALLY amazing!)

Me complaining to Sleazy that she went to bed too early cos I wanted to go out and party (I mean, all three of them were normally in bed by midnight for God's sake, in Vegas!!! So I went off to explore at 1am by myself!)

The 'Dealetainers' at the hotel. How do you fancy Elvis, Tina Turner, Billy Idol or Freddy Mercury dealing you in in a game of poker?! Then, they performed (mimed) in the evening. The rollergirls definately showing Freddy the most love.

Me being pissed that all the UK girls left the black and blue ball early so i had no one to stay with and had to leave too, when my outfit was totally rockin!

Me being the ONLY skater from the UK to take part in the 3 hour Team Awesome workshop on Saturday afternoon (cos the rest of them pussied out!) and being so knackered that I slept through the entire second half of the WFTDA bout that happened after it!

Me being personally fitted for skates by the guys from Riedell! After trying the Black Widow's I was asked by them to try on their brand new boot, the 965. As soon as I put them on I was sold. But have to wait til October for my bright red Minx skates (http://sincityskates.com/2nd/minx.html) as they haven't been put into production yet cos they're waiting for the BRAND NEW plates I ordered them with to be made! (They're the first plates to be made specifically to go either on the right or left boot) Think I'll be the first skater in the UK to have a pair!

Me being asked to be on someone challenge team next year!

Me being pissed that Sin City didn't have my size in the wrist guards I wanted and that the WFTDA stall sold out of the 'Some girls are built for speed vests', but happy that I got to use the money to buy my leather Converse!

Mine and Sleazy's plane to Chicago being delayed because of storms in chicago, missing our connecting flight and having to spend 15 hours in Chicago airport without them even giving us so much as a bottle of water! Luckily, Sleazy had a bit of cash and bought us McDonalds! We ended up getting back to England a day late AND our luggage wasn't even on our flight, mine was delivered the next day!!!

ATTACK

Helen Fury's Derby Widow Guide

2008-08-30T20:16:00.001+01:00

A Roller Derby Widow’s Guide to the Grief Process

So, fellas, and some lucky ladies, your partner has joined the derby. You thought it would be fun for your woman to pick up a new sport, and now you sit in a house full of sexy hosiery wondering when you will see your partner again. This is a challenging time fraught with confusion and loneliness. Know that you are not alone. The mourning process is real. Every widow’s experience is unique, but you may recognise the following:

Denial – Many of us are ashamed to admit that early in the derby widow experience, it is actually exciting. Suddenly, it’s ok to watch a mass of women in short skirts plow into each other without turning off the internet browser filter. Your home is often filled with your wife’s hot, hilarious teammates. Your lover’s fitness is advancing at an astonishing rate, she’s taken over changing tyres, and she seems to have found an inexplicable comfort with firearms. When she drags you to the local all-night roller disco, you beam with pride at her skating skills.

Anger- It’s 9:30 p.m. and you haven’t seen Madamoiselle de Derby since yesterday. The house is littered with skates or wristguards that smell like week-old roadkill that previously subsisted on a diet of limburger. She’s spending all her time doing ‘tracking stats’, writing ‘line-ups’ or glued to some message board discussing the merits of taping make-up sponges to her blisters. Then, when you slump off to the pub to drown your sorrows with your mates, she rolls in two hours after you, red-faced and laughing about the ‘after party’.

Bargaining – You are a product of the modern age, no? You can handle this if she’ll just give in a bit. But your attempts to keep Wednesdays for ‘us’ time and coax her to take the summer hols somewhere where she can’t visit a local league just aren’t making it go away.

Sadness - You miss her. It’s common to experience ‘What if’ questions at this stage, like ‘What if I had just encouraged her to join something more delicate, like street fighting or kendo instead?’

Acceptance – Hard as it may be to understand this, you will eventually learn to embrace your roller derby girl. You may start to realise that your mates crowd around with anticipation to hear about the latest pile-up at practice, that when you finally watch a bout it feels like your first rock concert, or that you’ve tried on the referee stripes and have developed a taste of your own for the track. The women of the roller derby are a rare breed who will find the derby with or without you. All you can do is thank the derby goddesses above, and start on that sign for the next bout.

For more to soothe your soul, visit Birmingham’s own original roller derby league at www.blitzdames.com. Better yet, come to our next bout on the 25th October against London Rollergirls at Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre, Kings Heath and see what the obsession is about. Doors open at 3p.m and the action starts at 4pm. Tickets soon to be available online.

Written by “Helen Fury”, #10 Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames, and approved by my own dear derby widow.

Viva Las Vegas! Blitz Dames Represent Team UK!

2008-07-31T17:59:00.003+01:00

Four of our Blitz Dames have travelled to Las Vegas Nevada to attend Rollercon - the Annual International Roller Derby Convention where over 5,000 skaters from leagues across the world congregate in celebration to skate, party and skate some more!

This is the second year that the Blitz Dames have pilgrimaged to the high deserts of Sin City to join forces with other skaters in fever-pitched (and fever-pitched temperatures!) to compete in challenge bout.

Last year, Blitz Dames were joined by other girls from London, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, collectively forming Team World, prevailing against opponents Team USA 46-24!

This year, four of the hardest, fastest and most fearless skaters on the league go to represent Birmingham & the West Midlands on the roster for 'Team UK' to face-off against the Australian dream-team the 'Farkin Elles' for the very first time in history!
Double-Trouble jammer / blocker Violet Attack will show them her back on the track.... Hilda Blizzhard will bust that pack wide open with her fearless rampages. TearE Hatchet will no doubt give them a sneer as she slides by them with the longest legs roller derby ever saw... and making them eat track is our legendary Sleazy Rider!

Team UK is a dream-team of skaters from the Blitz Dames, London Rollergirls, Leeds Roller Dolls, London Rockin Rollers and Glasgow Rollergirls.

The challenge bout happens Thursday, 31st July at 10:15pm PDT - (that's 7 hours behind us!) - UPDATE TEAM UK VS TEAM OZ HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY - MORE DETAILS TO COME!

Even at this time of night the temperatures will be soaring over 41°C!

Best of luck to you Dames --- our wishes and at that time, dreams of your victory will be at mind... We want video, photos and if you can pack me a mai thai!

Skate Hard, Hit Harder.

Bee Sting #101

PHOTO: L-R Sleazy Rider & Violet Attack

Blitz Dames Roller Derby Boot Camp

Daphne Does Tattoo Freeze 2012

2011 in Review

Daphne Does Derby: All Ireland Roller Derby Vs Blitz Dames and All Star Challenge

The Rolling Dead...

Dames and Dukes at Dodgebrawl

The Spy Who Shoved Me!

Mixed Scrim Fun with the Harlots

Fabulous Skatefest!

Dames take on the Torrent at Skatefest!!!

Violet Attack and Roisin Roulette at the Roller Derby World Cup!

Our online merch store is up and running!

Victory at Smacky Races!

Twisted Fun!

Blitz Dames appear in music video

Check out some of the Blitz Dames & friends in Joan Ov Arc's video for 'Seeds of Summer' - hosted by Bedfordshire RollerGirls

Twist of Fête

Catch up with the Dames on 4OD

Tomorrow: Blitz Dames team up with Embarassing Bodies again!

Swapping skates for trainers? Must be for Charity...

Smacky Races

Fundraiser Fun!

Smells Like Blitz Spirit!

Helsinki & Hellfire Harlots Happiness!

Jam Busters Tickets: On sale now!

Jammunition: Sirens 141 - 101 Bombshells

Jammunition!

Wonderbrawl - Birmingham Blitz Dames vs Tiger Bay Brawlers

Blitz Dames take over the media... and UK bouts!

Full Metal Track It Write Up

Full Metal Track-It Final Score....

Blitz Boobs on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies

Luludemon Forty Four & Blitz Dames coaching session

Luludemon Forty-four coaches the Birmingham Blitz Dames

Bombshells vs Sirens Intraleague Bout Write-up

Intraleague Bout final score

Intraleague Bout!

Dames at Silent Fight!

Blitz Dames in Joan OV Arc music video!

The Dames have sorted your Christmas shopping for you...

Then congratulate yourself with a cake or two and a pint.

Sorted.

Metal Ed is our N*E*R*D!!!

Kate's Clothing Video

The Dames invade Croydon!

Join us for clothes, cakes and crafty craziness!

Kitten Squeal blogs about the Dames mixed scrimmage

New Season, Back on Track...

Mixed Scrimmage this Sunday!

Kate's Clothing Party and Mixed Scrimmage!

September 2010 Fresh Meat Induction - Tomorrow!

Thank you!

Scary Tales Tonight!

More Roller Destruction @ Arcadia!

From Atta Grrl to Scary Tales...

Skate Battle n Roll!!!

Pride...In The Name Of Blitz

Dames Whip It Up!

Viva Bash Vegas - BBD vs LRD - 24th April 2010

Thank you for the support!!!

Attack of the Roller Girls!

Blitz Dames on Eggheads!

Tattoo Freeze

Winter Wheelies

New Year, New Logo!

Blitz Dames do talkSPORT Radio

August -October

The Fightmare Before Christmas

Off Wheels

The End of an Era

Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames #2 in Europe!

A Head Ref Speaks

A Savage Journey to the Heart of Roller Derby

Share the Skate

Busy Busy Busy

Cirque du soul Pain

Dollhouse Devastation

Sweet Journeys

A Good Time To Be A Dame

Dollhouse Devastation

Metal Ed is our NER*D!!!