In case you didn’t know, we’ve moved our online chit chat over to one magnificent place - our new website!
http://terminalcityrollergirls.com
All of the goodness you’ve been getting on our tasty little blog here can now be found on on the “News” page. New and improved with comments, bout tickets, media gallery, merchandise (coming soon) and team/player profiles!
See you there, derby fans!
Looking for something to do this weekend? Why don’t you hop on a ferry and go and support your Terminal City Rollergirls in Victoria on Saturday?
TCRG and the Eves have been great derby friends since the beginning and have been through a lot together - which just makes them want to smash into each other even more! These two evenly matched teams have been waiting for over three years for this day to come, so this is one away game that’s not to be missed for a true TCRG fan.
What: Eves of Destruction’s Spring Break Bout
When: Saturday, March 21, 6:00pm
Where: Eagle Ridge Community Center, 1089 Langford Parkway, Victoria
http://www.evesofdestructionrollerderby.com/
HURRAY! The season schedule is complete!! 
We are so excited to bring more hard hitting action to the best roller derby fans in the world.
April 11th - Bad Reps vs. Riot Girls @ Kerrisdale Arena in Vancouver (Event Link)
May 9th - DOUBLE HEADER: Bad Reps vs. Faster Pussycats, Riot Girls vs. Seattle’s Rat City Rollergirls @ Minoru Arena in Richmond
June 6th - DOUBLE HEADER: Riot Girls vs. Faster Pussycats, Bad Reps vs. Calgary Roller Derby Association’s Thrashin’ Lassies @ Minoru Arena in Richmond
July 11th - 2nd Annual Derby Night in Canada Invitational Tournament @ UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver*
August 8th - League Championship game, 1st place team vs. 2nd place team, 3rd place team vs. Visitors @ UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver
* If you are a Canadian league interested in taking part in Derby Night in Canada here in beautiful Vancouver this summer, send an email to interleague-relations@terminalcityrollergirls.com.
All dressed up in green, with nowhere to go? This St. Patrick’s Day, the fun and fantastic ladies of the Terminal City Rollergirls are hosting an exciting Beer and Burger night at the Pemberton Pub. The girls want to invite you all to come and enjoy a night of raffle prizes, contests, delicious beers, scrumptious burgers, and, of course, lovely roller girls on Tuesday, March 17th from 6:30-10pm.
Tickets are only $15 and can be bought from your local roller girl, so grab your green gear, and prepare yourself for a fun evening!
For more info on tickets, contact tickets@terminalcityrollergirls.com.
Place: Pemberton Station Pub, 135 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver
Date: St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 2009
Time: 6:30-10pm
We’d better see you there!
by Bijou DelaMort
Five months ago, a group of approximately 60 women laced up their skates, pulled up their knee socks, and skated their hearts out in an attempt to be a part of this year’s TCRG Fresh Meat. I was fortunate to be a part of this lucky group and I’m overwhelmed by how much fun I’ve had, how many friends I’ve made, how my confidence has risen, and in general how far our group of Fresh Meat have come over these past months. We have now all reached the light at the end of the tunnel, and our days of skating together as Freshies are at an end, with the completion of our Level Three (bout skills) testing.
Bijou (top) and her Fresh sistahs
The testing took place over a period of three weeks at our Friday evening practices. Being present for only the second and third week of testing, I came to practice feeling a bit anxious, as I’d heard we would be testing against some of the veteran skaters. Several other girls testing shared my anxiety, but in general everyone seemed to be feeling positive, and eager to get this final level of testing complete so we could finally skate on a team! Although we were all essentially competing against one another that night, I repeatedly heard “Good luck!”, “Keep breathing”, “You are doing great”, and other encouraging words from every girl there that night. The skaters were as eager to see their friends succeed, as they were for their own success. Unfortunately for me, my anxiety got the best of me that night, and I had to return for a second round of testing on week three.
Feeling more prepared for what lay ahead, my attitude was far more positive on this final week of testing, and all the girls seemed to share my upbeat attitude that night. Everyone was throwing their biggest hits, the blockers were taking up the track with their booty blocks, and the jammers were skating as fast as their skates would take them. While skating as hard as I could that night, I took a couple too many nasty spills and was told I could no longer skate for the duration of the practice. The tears flooded from my eyes due to a mix of pain and disappointment however, due to the kind treatment I received from my fellow skaters, my tears quickly faded as I came to appreciate these girls not only for their talent, but also for their compassion.
Level Three testing was our chance to show our coaches all that we had learned. On top of just our skating skills, I feel I have learned so much about others and myself over the past five months, with these being the highlights: it’s ok to fall down, as long as you are willing to get back up; you are always the hardest on yourself; competition is much more fun when it’s among friends; and finally, the people who make TCRG possible are the most encouraging, amazing group of people I’ve ever met. There are now only 25 Fresh Meat left, and we are all feeling ready and eager to skate in this upcoming season, knowing that our TCRG Fresh Meat boot camp has prepared us as much as possible for the hits and falls that lay in wait for all of us Freshies-turned-Rookies.
Future Bad Reputations, Riot Girls and Faster Pussycats anxiously await the results of the draft…stay tuned to this space for official draft results!
by Tiki Timebomb
(photo by Nicolas Charest for RollerGirl.ca)
For their first game of the year, the TCRG Travel Team headed south of the border on January 31 as guests against Jet City’s Camaro Harem. And what an eye-opener it was! The Harem girls played a rough, relentless game, and woke our TCRG girls up from a blissful post-Christmas rest. The fact that several of our players were sick didn’t help either.
The Harem took the lead right out of the gate, keeping all of our jammers except Rollergirl from scoring during the first five jams. Weed Whack-Her in particular seemed to be an unstoppable force. The second half of the period picked up, with our smashing blockers LA Gunns, Bustylicious, 8 Mean Wheeler, Shift Kicker, Suzy Shameless and Lorenagade keeping the Harem’s points to a minimum, while Lamb Baste-Her, Avi Hater, and Booty Quake did what they could to catch us up. It was in the final jam of the period that Rollergirl worked her well-known magic, scoring a triple grand slam and tying the score 51-51.
But the second period went much the same, minus the come-from-behind victory at the end. Weed Whack-Her, Missus Unshine, and Ivanna Hercha were at it again, racking up the points for the Harem. TCRG fans got a surprise treat when Avi Hater knocked opposing jammer I-Rock off her feet right at the jam start. But the Harem kept plowing through, and ruthless blockers like Trixxxie’s Trashen’em weren’t letting anything by. In the end they beat us 120-87.
There were a lot of other factors that seemed to work against us too, which gave observers plenty to discuss throughout the game. The floor was apparently fine for skating, but when girls got knocked down they slid for miles. Lamby had an incident with her laces in the first period. LA Gunns got ejected for too much time in the box. And what was that mix-up with Rollergirl, with a ref calling her lead jammer and then it turning out to be not true when she went to call it off?
Many people had complaints about the reffing of one particular guy in stripes that night, and if you don’t believe me, check out the blogosphere… But it was still a great game, full of big hits and big falls, and our girls gave it their all. I would have been quaking in my little freshie boots at the sight of one particular Harem pivot barrelling towards me. And now our team is getting back into intense training, looking forward to reclaiming our throne at our next travel game and to the start of our season!
Too busy to watch a whole bout!? You’re in luck!
(Be sure to watch it in High Def if you can.)
Thanks to the always rad video hotties with the Minnesota Rollergirls.
Terminal City’s still undefeated Travel Team will be taking on the Jet City Rollergirls on Saturday, January 31st at Jet City’s first bout of their 2009 season. We’re very excited for this one!
Did you wanna come too? Bet you did. Unfortunately, this hot-ticket event is already sold out. But - not to worry, there are still more Travel Team games to come, and of course TCRG’s own season opener on April 11. More info coming soon!!!
Makes you wanna be a ref, doesn’t it?
This Ref Helmet Cam video comes to us courtesy of the Mad Rollin’ Dolls out of Madison, WI from their WFTDA Eastern Regionals game vs. the Charm City Roller Girls of Baltimore, MA. Definitely the best way to watch derby. My favorite part is when the ref’s calling penalties and waving his arms around.
Hurt Reynolds says: “There’s quite a bit you didn’t get to see in the live stream, and the Referee Helmet Cam was one of those aspects. If you’ve seen helmet cam footage shot by competing skaters, you’ve probably noticed that it can be hard to follow because any alert skater keeps her head on a swivel at all times. Refs, though, are watching the bigger picture, and the change of aspect yields a much better result. Interesting to think what a dedicated camera-skater might accomplish this way.”
Tickets for our Great Shimmy Shake Showdown are now available for purchase online:
http://www.rollergirl.ca/cadcart/product_info.php/cPath/41_47/products_id/240
Advance tickets are only $12, tickets at the door are $20. That’s a savings of 1.5 cocktails!
