Derby Tripping: Charm City

The other night, I was emailing Juju from the Atlanta Rollergirls about a hook up for some roller girl housing in Savannah. She then reminded me that Atlanta was playing Charm City the next night. Charm City Roller Girls (ranked 4th in East) were hosting a double hitter that night; one against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby the other against Atlanta’s Dirty South Derby Girls, both unranked. I decided that morning as I was brushing my teeth that I was going to road trip it! Too short of notice to gather anyone from the rest of the league, I packed an overnight bag and headed out right after the morning practice. My stupid GPS took me a weird way through the Eastern Shore so that a trip that should’ve been about 4-5 hours lasted more like six. After hunting around for a legal parking space for a half hour, I gave that up and finally found an illegal one just a block away, just in time for the opening of the doors.

The Arena where the event was taking place looked like it was originally designed as an indoor soccer facility with a clear, plastic partition around green AstroTurf and bleachers behind the side with the partition. On top of the AstroTurf, Charm City had a sport court laid for this event. The team’s benches were on the side opposite of the partition.

I arrived to Charm City and HARD warming up on the track. After grabbing a PBR and a cookie, I staked my claim around turn two and settled in. I could tell HARD wasn’t used to skating on the sport court surface because they were sliding and falling all over the place. They looked like dogs that are trying to run and turn on a linoleum floor. Charm City, on the other hand, were flying by on the outside of the track and talking to fans. I ran into a friend of mine from HARD, Plenty O’Toole, and proceeded to chat with her for awhile. She ended up sitting next to me for the duration of her team’s bout which was good cause it’s always good to have someone to talk derby to during a bout.
Harrisburg was Charm City’s first opponent. Charm City took an early lead and kept a hold of that lead for the duration of the bout. Looking at the line-ups, HARD just looked so small in the physical size of their girls compared to the members of Charm City who looked more like softball or football players! CCRG used their size to their advantage by dishing out some strategic hits against the HARD jammers. HARD also had to battle the front wall of CCRG’s Dolly Rocket and Joy Collision. Joy Collision has a beautiful way of just stepping in front of an opponent instead of crouching or doing any other Ku Fu-like methods. The HARD girls were tenacious though and put up a good fight with some good jams by Nash Villian and Mother Trucker. Unfortunately, they couldn’t overtake CCRG’s powerhouse line-up. Final score 143-62 Charm City.

Next up, Atlanta. While watching the HARD bout, every so often I would take a look at the expressions on the Atlanta girl’s faces. Needless to say, they weren’t joyful. The previous bout’s score did not deter Atlanta from coming up to the lines and bringing it. The first half looked like Atlanta was trying to figure out how CCRG played and how the team played with each other. Ineffective strategic plays kept Atlanta from scoring and gave CCRG a huge advantage. By the end of the first half, the score was very lopsided with CCRG holding the bigger chunk of the points. The second half brought a more cohesive Atlanta team back on the track. Blockers like Amelia Scareheart, Queen Loosyateetha, and SK8 Outta Compton stepped up and delivered some big blocks to CCRG’s jammers and started using WFTDA rules against them as well. Big jams from Demi Gore, Juju and Thunder Enlightening brought some much needed points to the board to lessen the gap. Though CCRG had bouted right before this bout, ATL still could not break CCRG’s formidable defense. Final score 128-78 Charm City.

After the bout, I headed down to the track and congratulated Atlanta and which ever CCRG girl I could find on a very athletic and entertaining bout. Confirming that my car was still in the place I’d left it, I followed some “shady characters” with bout programs in their back pockets to the after party which was a few blocks down and in an office building lobby. There would’ve been no way I could have found it myself. I grabbed a pint of Yuengling and waited around for some of the skaters to show up; eying the buffet but keeping away all the while. No sooner after I’d gone to get another pint did the Atlanta people show up. Even though I was the lone Dominion Derby Girl there, and even though we’re playing them in May, and even though I’d gone to scope out the competition, almost every girl and even some of the refs came up to me and started chatting. I gave Juju my new beer and as I was trying to leave, she wouldn’t let me until she bought me a brew and I had to sit and chew the fat until the beer was gone. I didn’t mind in the least though because that girl and the rest of the league was so funny and nice I almost felt like family. I spent so much time with the Atlanta people that I really didn’t get to socialize with the other two teams. By the time Charm City arrived and the dancing started, I had to depart to crash at a friend’s casa and I didn’t want to show up there at three in the morning. Trekked it back to the car, texted my friend for directions, turned on the GPS, and hit the road; warm and fuzzy and more in love with Roller Derby than ever.