2011 in Review

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

From Atta Grrl to Scary Tales...

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!!!

Pride...In The Name Of Blitz

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.

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

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!

Tattoo Freeze

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!

Blitz Dames do talkSPORT Radio

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

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

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.