2011 in Review

-The Season-
RTR scheduled a challenging bouting season in preparation for becoming an official league of the WFTDA.  
We fought hard, learned a lot, and made a lot of great friends throughout the region during our 11 games.
In July, we were rewarded with official membership into the WFTDA.
Be on the look out for our 2012 season - to be released soon!


-The League-
Although RTR said goodbye to some wonderful players due to new careers and life events, we also picked up some wonderful new ones. 
New Skaters:  Rosie the Retaliator, Revenga d'Nerd, Smashley Wheel'ams, and Cheetah Chrome.  
Fresh Meat:  there are just too many to list!!!  But be on the look out, because they are learning fast and you will definitely see some new faces in 2012!
Officials:  our officiating crew is one of the best in the area!  Big thanks to our Referees Bishop (now with River City Rollergirls), Rocktimus Prime, Canadian Breakin', Art Vandalay, Starecrow, and our officials Sanity Claws and VanGO Berzerk.
EMTs: we love our EMTS Bobby and Christina from Staunton/Augusta Rescue Squad!


Want to join us as a skater?  Referree?  Non-skating official or volunteer?
Our next "Try it Out" Open House is Sunday, 1/15 6:30pm-8:30 pm at Funky's Skate Center in Harrisonburg.


-The Service-
RTR had a great time volunteering this year!  Highlights include:  cleaning Blacks Run River, Meals on Wheels, United Way's Stuff the Bus and helping at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.
Of course we are also grateful for the opportunity we had to raise money for the following charities:  Gus Bus Reading Road Show, Mercy House, Meals on Wheels, Wounded Warriors Project, Cat's Cradle, Shenandoah Spay/Neuter Clinic, Stuff the Bus and the Staunton/Augusta Rescue Squad.


-The Support-
We are incredibly grateful for the local businesses who offered their financial support to help us fund our practice space and travel expenses this year!


Lastly, but certainly not least, we had an amazing group of photographers who helped capture the moments of our bouts this year.  We can't thank you enough for donating your time and talent to our league!

BRAAAAAAAAINS

Join us this Saturday for the Zombie Walk downtown!

Visit the Facebook page for more information about this awesome event!

What are we up to?

Here's what we've been doing lately:

• Skating
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Training for our last 2 bouts of the season
• Working
• Going to school
  
  

• Cross-training

• Nursing injuries
• Moving
• Recruiting fresh meat & ref meat
• Preparing for elections (RTR elections, not the other ones)
• Watching bout footage
• Watching WFTDA regional playoffs
• Reading derbylife.com and examiner.com
• Going to football games (college & high school)
• Washing our stinky gear
• Raising money for RTR
• Doing community service

What we're looking forward to...

• Our rematch against the Charlottesville Derby Dames on October 22
• Playing Lehigh Valley (away) on November 19
• Skating in the Harrisonburg Christmas parade on December 2
• Seeing you out and about in your Rocktown gear!

The End Is Near...

The last home bout of the Rocktown Rollers 2011 season is almost here!

This bout is a double header! The Black Rose Rollers of Hanover, Pennsylvania and the Appalachian Roller Girls of Boone, North Carolina have arranged to meet in Harrisonburg for a bout followed by your Rocktown Rollers taking on the New River Valley Rollergirls of Christiansburg, Virginia for this year's Battle of the Burgs!

The bout is Sunday, September 11. We will be honoring all public safety employees as well as military both active and veteran.

Pre-sale tickets are $7 and tickets will be $10 at the door. There is a discount for military & public safety. Please contact Rosie@rocktownrollers.com or Mama.Meat@rocktownrollers.com for details.

Tickets are available through Midtowne Market and the Artful Dodger in Harrisonburg, with your favorite roller girl throughout the Shenandoah Valley, and online with Brown Paper Tickets.

Remembering Kitten

Last year, our own Tallulah Bankrobber wrote an obituary for our own Kitten Vicious. A year later, and everything she said is still relevant.

We're Out There And We're Lovin' It!

Part of being a Rocktown Roller is committing to community service. We are a non-profit corporation and one of our values is to give back to the community in which we live!

We do this a number of different ways:

1. We give a portion of our proceeds from every bout to a designated charity. 15% of the proceeds from our April bout went to Mercy House, a local charity designed to help families get back on their feet. At our May bout, we gave 15% of the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project. At our August bout, we designated 15% of our proceeds to the Stuff the Bus program in

Rockingham and Augusta Counties.

2. We also volunteer our time! This past weekend, we helped "Stuff the Bus" at three different locations where the supply drive was taking place. We encouraged shoppers to purchase school supplies for local kids in need and collected the supplies the brought out. Earlier this year, we did some activities with kids in an after-school program at Mercy House. We have delivered meals, giving new meaning to the "Meals on Wheels" program for the elderly, helped clean up Blacks Run, a local waterway, and guided tours at our local food co-op!

In addition, we are hosting the Kitten Vicious tribute bout in honor of our fallen teammate on August 20. It will be held at the Augusta Expoland and all proceeds will be going to Cat's Cradle, a local no-kill shelter and the Shenandoah Spay and Neuter Clinic.

If you have any ideas about where the Rocktown Rollers could volunteer their time, please let us know!

Kitten Vicious Remembered

Not quite a year ago, the Rocktown Rollers sustained the loss of a teammate, Kitten Vicious. Kitten was a proud member of the team and although nearly a year has passed, we still miss her smile and sass.

In her honor, we are hosting an all day event, the Kitten Vicious Tribute Bout on Saturday, August 20 at Augusta Expoland. Skaters from all over the East Coast will participate in 3 roller derby bouts, honoring the memory of a fallen skater, Kitten Vicious.

If you hold a season ticket, that will get you in to the event. Otherwise, tickets are $15 and available through Brown Paper Tickets.

The action will start at 2pm on Saturday with a full 60-minute women's WFTDA bout, followed by a 40-minute exhibition coed bout under the MADE ruleset. The evening will conclude with another 60-minute women's WFTDA.

If you are a skater, please check with your interleague coordinator for the details about how to sign up. There are still a few spots open and we would love to see you there! If you haven't received it, please contact Betty Crasher for the info.

There will be a ton of hard-hitting action - all for a great cause. All proceeds will be going to charities that were important to Kitten. So come out and show your support!!

No Days Off In Derby!

Even the most loyal derby follower may wonder if a derby girl gets a day off. The correct answer is no, no we don't. If we're not on skates, we should be cross-training. A skater can take a day off here or there, but when she goes on vacation, her skates usually go with her. This summer, many of the Rollers have been travelling to other states and countries and have taken the opportunity to spread derby love from the Shenandoah Valley in the form of hip checks and can openers.

Revenga d'Nerd travelled to Bogota, Colombia, where she skated with the Bogota Bone Breakers. Nerd shared, "Bx3 is one of 4 teams currently in Colombia's capital. Although the teams are fairly new to roller derby, Bogota has

a long history of athleticism so many of the women come from backgrounds of soccer, speed skating or roller hockey who need help with the WFTDA rule set. While there, I not only skated, but I led drills and reffed scrimmages to help with rule learning. This past week, several girls from the different teams traveled to Cartagena to take part in the International Congress of Skating to add Roller Derby to the list of acknowledged roller sports in Colombia."

Rosie the Retaliator (me!) travelled to Michigan to visit family and spent two practices with theAnn Arbor Derby Dimes. A2D2 is also a new team, having been formed just a little more than a year ago. They are a banked track team but do not yet have a banked track as they are still raising money to build their own. They are a huge league already though and had more than 40 skaters at the combined practice and scrimmage I attended. They are currently following the WFTDA rule set, and it was great to be a part of their practices. I was able to work with theHuron River Rollers interleague team and also was invited to sit in with their All Stars for a practice. Practicing with another team gave me a chance to help a new team learn some of the strategies more experienced teams are practicing and I was able to learn some cool new skills... waitress whip, anyone?

A few of our refs also sharpened their skills this summer by visiting other teams. Bishop became a Level 2 WFTDA referee and travelled to France to call a few bouts. Art Vandalay skated with the Kill Devil Derby Brigade in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a couple of practices and then joined his wife, Revenga d'Nerd, for a practice with the Bogota Bone Breakers.

Some skaters took advantage of visiting special facilities. Anayaphalactic Shock visited Las Vegas and skated in a skate park there. Van Gogh Berserk visited Virginia Beach

and skated in a facility specifically geared toward roller derby skaters and referees. While in Bogota, Nerd had the chance to skate in a Skate Gym, complete with skating treadmills!

We also had four skaters attend the Team USA World Cup tryouts during the weekend of the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. Betty Crasher, Bam Bam Brawler, Ramsey McDirtbag and KILLnitzki all represented Rocktown at the four hour tryouts. Each one came back having learned something new and with new determination to help Rocktown reach the next level of derby.

In addition to our travels, skaters have maintained three practices a week in Harrisonburg and Augusta County. We are all hoping that you won't be on vacation on August 7 and will be at our next bout!

Becoming my own hero

It's much safer behind the notebook. Much safer than a world of can openers and rink rash and knee gaskets. Both are immensely rewarding.

Being a reporter is an awesome job. Sure, people are suspicious and judge your every word and move, the pay's not great, and you often work nights, weekends and holidays. Still, every day, you get to throw yourself completely into a new subject or issue and pick the brains of the people who know all about it.

This is how I discovered the Rocktown Rollers. I'd heard about a women's flat track roller derby team and wanted to do a story about it. I dove into interviews with Troch, Janna-cide and Betty Crasher, and wrote this feature, which ran last Easter. (Pat Jarrett and I put this video together, too.) Yes, the story includes the "by day, by night" cliche (Sorry, guys.), but I was impressed by the team's dedication to dispel negative stereotypes about the sport and launch the league into the national sphere.

I've never enjoyed sports before, but had to get in on this team. Amazingly enough, they let me.

I began Fresh Meat training at the end of April 2010, the same day as Revenga d'Nerd. It took months and months of practicing falls, hits and skating techniques before I was allowed to skate with a pack. Slowly, the milestones came: Surviving a J-block from Janna-cide, helping goat Betty Crasher behind a pack. By the time of my first interleague scrimmage at Season's Beatings that December in Richmond, I felt ready. (For the record, I still played like a freshie. It was an awesome day anyway.) I've played four bouts with RTR now. We've won two of them. I have a long way to go (damn 180-toe stops), but look back proudly on the skills I've developed and the strategies I've learned.

It's not all fun and bouts. When you work closely with so many strong women, you make deep friendships and ride out uncomfortable conflicts. You suffer together.

On the day Kitten Vicious — who joined our team a month earlier, and whom I had adopted as a big sister — died, I cried at work. Then I wrote an obituary for her in the newspaper. Then I read it to my teammates and spent the evening with them, consoling and being consoled. The rest of the derby community followed suit. I had emerged from behind the notebook and became part of a team, an international family.

At first, I chose the derby name Mia Feral after the tough elegant horror queen Mia Farrow, but just as I was beginning to answer to Mia, a player of the same name in Rose City asked me to cease and desist. I became Tallulah Bankrobber, an homage to the bawdy, adventurous classic Hollywood starlet Tallulah Bankhead. I was included on the magazine cover for another journalist's derby story. I became Rocktown's Treasurer, joined the board of directors and have help kick start the team's process toward federal nonprofit status. It's hours of outside work, meetings and decision making, but it's collaboration and problem solving that effects the team I love, the one that made my city a hometown.

I love the person I've become since starting derby. I've got an outlet for my sass, and appreciation for my ass. I never would have worn shorts as short as I wear them. I've never felt like such a woman before, and certainly not an athlete. My friends and teammates are so different, and I love them for their differences. And I love who they've helped me to become.

Rocktown Cleans Up

Hey, fellas! It's been a crazy month or so. Let me catch you up.

The RCR's Poe's Punishers came up from RVA in March to play with us. It was a good bout, neck-and-neck on the scoreboard for a while, but RCR won in the end (133-98) with some excellent game play. Congratulations, ladies, but don't get too comfortable! Rocktown never sleeps. We had a great turn out. A portion of door proceeds will go to Meals on Wheels and the Gus Bus.

RTR ladies have been running — er, skating — food to cars at Sonic in Waynesboro to raise funds for the team. (Check out this photo gallery the Staunton News Leader put together.) Revenga d'Nerd has become Queen Carhop, delivering Cherry Limeade and making change. (Please remind her that her teammates need her and she doesn't have time for a second job.) It's been a successful venture. Thank you to everyone who's come out to support us!

In honor of Earth Week, RTR ladies (and gentlemen) participated in Blacks Run Clean-Up day this Saturday. The stream cuts through Harrisonburg and has been suffering from heavy pollution for decades. Our crew of 18 hit the stream bank with work gloves and orange trash bags. In addition to bottles and Styrofoam, we found a wet, lumpy Memory Foam mattress and a Port-A-Potty. Check out this bottle I salvaged from the stream bank. (No, that's not when I fell in. That happened later.)



The following day, we hosted The Dutchland Rollers from Lancaster, PA at Funky's. Even after a four-hour drive, these girls skated fast and played smart. Still, Rocktown won the bout 131-83. Courting Harlots played some fabulous covers (Yeah, Four Non-Blondes!) during the half-time show. A portion of the bout proceeds will go to Mercy House and a the Gus Bus.

Miss us already? You can catch up with us around the area at some upcoming local events.

• Hosses and Hogs @ Shenandoah Valley Harley Davidson/Buell, Staunton (4/16)
• Rocktown Beer and Music Festival, Harrisonburg (4/23)
• Belmont Neighborhood Yard Sale, Harrisonburg (5/7)
  
• XtremeFest, Waynesboro (5/14)
• Staunton Jams, Staunton (5/21)

You've got plenty of time to get pumped up about our next home bout. We'll be hosting the Charlottesville Derby Dames at Funky's on Sunday, May 22! Watch RocktownRollers.com for more details.

For now, follow the advice of our Co-Captain Betty Crasher, "Train hard, SKATE FASTER!"

Smells Like... Victory

The Rocktown Rollers and a handful of committed fans traveled to Johnson City, Tennessee last Saturday to take on the Little City Roller Girls in their first bout of the 2011 season.

After a hard fought first half that saw the Rollers up 46-43, our girls pulled away in the second half for a 133-95 victory. Read the entire recap at RocktownRollers.com

Remember, season tickets are still on sale at Brown Paper Tickets, as are tickets for the first bout. Tickets are also for sale at the Artful Dodger and Midtowne Market in Harrisonburg and Crossroads in Staunton and Waynesboro.

It's going to be an exciting season! Hope we see you there!

Derby season? Derby season!

Spring is in the air, and that means derby season. And that means Rocktown is hustling like nobody's business.

Check us out on the cover of Around Harrisonburg Magazine! Thank-you to writer Victoria Kidd for the great article!


















Big ups to everybody who came out to our Derbyversary party at the Blue Nile last Friday to bid on some fabulous derby girl prizes and services. We had a great turn out, and your donations will really help the team kickstart our 2011 season. Thank you for coming to our birthday.


















This weekend, we'll be hauling our cookies to Tennessee to play the Little City Roller Girls at the Appalachian Fairgrounds. It's our first bout of the season, so if you haven't already booked seats and a hotel room, you've still got time to gear up for our home bout against RCR's Poe's Punishers on Sunday, March 27.

Speaking of home bouts, now's a perfect time to buy your RTR 2011 Season Tickets! At $25 each, it gets you into all six Rocktown home bouts. Considering that each bout is $5 in advance or $8 at the door, and it includes the Kitten Vicious Invitational bout at Expoland in August, a season ticket could save you more than $25! Buy yours in Harrisonburg at Midtown Market or The Artful Dodger. They're available in Staunton and Waynesboro at Crossroads.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for RTR around the community. Some of our girls helped guide tours around the future site of the Friendly City Food Co-op this weekend. We've got appearances at plenty of public events coming up, including Blacks Run Clean-up Day and the Rocktown Beer and Music Festival.

If you just can't wait to get a piece of Rocktown, check out our merchandise on Cafe Press.

See you in March!

It's Our Birthday!

You, yes, you! are cordially invited to join us at the 2nd Annual Derby-Versary party!

Come be a part of the...

• Silent auction, where you can bid on goods made or provided by the Rocktown Rollers!
• Live auction, where the bidding gets fast and furious on services provided by... all your favorite roller girls!
• First opportunity to get season tickets for the 2011 season!
• Dance party!

The big show is Friday, February 11 at the Blue Nile in Harrisonburg. A $1 donation at the door gets you in to a night you won't soon forget!

See you there!

Strength Training

If you're reading this, you're probably a huge fan of the Rocktown Rollers and possibly of roller derby in general. While the team is preparing for their first bout of the 2011 season, we have some tips for you on how to strengthen your skills in the off season!

• Come to the Derbyversary Party! The team will turn three this year and we want to celebrate with you! This includes an auction for goods and services provided by the lovely and talented ladies of Rocktown. Details on this must-attend event are coming your way soon!
• Learn the rules! Quiz yourself... think you know derby? Take the Women's Flat Track Derby Association test.
• Join the Rocktown Rollers group on Facebook.
• Check out our new online shop at Cafe Press. The shop has a number of items that are not available anywhere else! A percentage of all purchases go to support the team. Help keep us rolling!

We have some really exciting events and bouts coming your way soon! Stay tuned!