Daphne Does Tattoo Freeze 2012

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)

A Good Time To Be A Dame

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!

Blitz Dames vs London Brawling - Video Hi-Lites