By Troy Lyle
Skating with the mercurial speed of a demon possessed Cerynitis, the Rollergirls of Central Kentucky (ROCK) handed the Hard Knox Brawlers their first defeat of the 2010 season. Not even the slippery concrete of the Knoxville Convention & Expo Center was enough to slow down the girls of ROCK, who despite a heartbreaking opening loss returned to form on March 27 for their first win.
Sugar Shock blasting her way to lead jammer.
ROCK set the tone early and often as Ellie Slay laid down the law in the bout’s opening jam. She put the gas to the Hard Knox’s Insecticide, leaving her buckled and bruised and on her back in front of ROCK’s bench.
“One of my goals for this bout was to hit harder and more often,” Slay said. “And to play together more as a team. In our last bout against Blue Ridge we lost our focus and became more concerned with what they were doing. Against Hard Knox we stuck to our game plan from the opening whistle until the last.”
And it showed. Four jams into the first half and ROCK was already beginning to build a lead on the skates of Slay, Bitty Bast‘rd, Sugar Shock and Ryder Die. But for Die it was ROCK’s blockers, not jammers, who made the difference.
“Paralethal, Sissy Bug, Kitty O’Doom … the entire team …. everybody kept the Knox jammers on the floor or in the pack until I could make a scoring pass,” Die said. “It was a beautiful thing! You can’t have high scoring jammers without great blockers.”
Subsequent penalties slowed the ROCK express, negating their initial push and allowing Crash Cymbal and Unsweet T to score several points for Hard Knox. But ROCK would not be denied.
Half way through the first half with the score knotted at 22, Rainbow Smite brought some serious pain to Knox’s Unsweet T. She blasted T into her own team’s jammer wall laying out three players in the process. Only to have the brilliant block whistled by the zebras and land her in the penalty box for two minutes.
No doubt Smite disagreed with the call as she displayed two thumbs down heading into the box. Hard Knox wisely used the penalty time to squeeze out two points in each of the next jams.
But Knox’s success was short lived as Slay slithered her way to five points in a full jam that seemed to wear out the Knox skaters. That was all the opening the ROCK wall made up of Sharon Moonshine, Smite and Shock needed to pound on Knox’s jammer Insecticide and give Die the space to brilliantly juke her way to the lead and another four point jam.
At the half ROCK was in firm control with the score at 42 to 25, but the bout was far from over. Knox started the second with a power jam resulting from a late first half penalty incurred by Slay.
To make matters worse two other ROCK skaters earned some butt time with penalties of their own. Leaving only two ROCK blockers on the track to fend off Knox’s onslaught. When the power jam was all said and done Knox had gained six points on the silky wheels of Unsweet T.
The one down point of the bout happened shortly thereafter when Knox’s Diable Diaz took a tumble which injured her right shoulder. She would later return after slowly skating off the track.
During her absence Knox did anything but fold, reeling off point after point as ROCK’s play was stymied by several unwarranted penalties. It took a massive effort from jammers Die and Bast’rd and key blocks from O’Doom, Ragdoll and Paralethal to slow Knox’s roll and hold on to a double digit lead.
“I was focusing on being more aggressive,” said O’Doom, who managed quite the fan club as several family members made the trip down to see her compete. “I have been skating for three years now and have all the skills necessary to make the key blocks. I just have to keep my head in the game and be fearless on the track.”
A fearlessness her family must have inspired with their ‘Kitty O’Doom Fan Club’ T-shirts.
“I was so nervous,” she said. “This was the first bout any of my family had ever seen me skate in, and I wanted to perform well.”
If punishing the other team’s jammers and blockers time and time again is performing well, then O’Doom had it in spades as she maintained an impenetrable front wall that helped clear the way for ROCK’s jammers.
By far the scoring highlight of the bout came on the hellishly fast wheels of Unsweet T. Once again ROCK yielded a power jam leaving a ton of open track for T. Track she used to the fullest scoring a bout high 15 points.
Much to the delight of everyone present, Diaz made another late appearance, only to be thwarted by a hard hitting Moonshine who was having no part of her return. When the final whistle blew the score differential was much the same as at the half, ending at 76-61.
Having lost in such dire fashion to the Blue Ridge Rollergirls two weeks earlier, ROCK changed it’s attitude and approach coming into Saturday’s match with Hard Knox. In the words of nearly ever skater — they knew they needed to play more as a team, hit harder and stay focused if they were going to have a chance to win.
“At Hard Knox we really amped up our communication and strategy,” Bast’rd said. “We took the Blue Ridge loss … absorbed it … and figured out how we can play more as a team.”
Sissy Bug echoed Bast’rd’s sentiment.
“We knew if we were going to win against Hard Knox we would have to train and play as a team and become effective as a pack,” she said. “We utilized the lessons we learned from earlier mistakes and trained harder and pushed ourselves further than ever before.”
For may of the ROCK crew like Bast’rd and Two Key Terror, the Blue Ridge bout was their first exposure to live derby action.
“I think some of our newer skaters were just learning the feeling of bouting versus scrimmaging against Blue Ridge,” Smite said. “You could tell they everyone felt much more comfortable this time around.”
Bast’rd couldn’t agree more.
“Just having that tiny bit of experience under my belt made me more ready in Knoxville,” she said.
Someone once said the only thing sweeter than wining once is winning twice. That’s exactly what ROCK will attempt to accomplish this coming Saturday in West Lafayette, IN, when they take on the Lafayette Brawlin’ Dolls. It’s the season opener for the Dolls and ROCK is hoping to play spoiler when all is said and done. But more importantly, ROCK wants to build on what it started against Hard Knox.
“For the first half of last season we kept losing and losing,” said Sugar. “Getting a win this early does a lot of great things for our team mentally.”
Or as Sissy Bug put it, “This win has set the trend for the rest of the season … so watch out girls … watch out Lafayette!”
Regardless of who wins or loses, there’s always one constant among the girls of ROCK and any other derby team for that matter — each other.
Derby is about being part of one big family, said O’Doom.
“Hard Knox is such a great team,” she said. “They’re all really sweet girls which makes the bouts all the more fun.”
O’Doom’s final words may sum it up best.
“The best party of derby is being able to knock each other around on the track and then go share a beer together at the after party.”
For more information about ROCK go to www.rocknrollergirls.com.
Saturday, March 27 at Knoxville Convention & Expo Center
ROCK Top Scorer: Ryder Die
Hard Knox Top Scorer: Unsweet T
ROCK Most Penalties: Ryder Die
Hard Knox Most Penalties: Hella Kitty & Miss Thang 2 (tie)
ROCK MVP: Team
Hard Knox MVP: Team
ROCK’s next bout is this Saturday against the Lafayette Brawlin’ Dolls. Doors open at 6 PM at the Family Sports Center in West Lafayette, IN. Bout begins at 7 PM. Tickets $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
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