Bout recap: Queens Court vs. EMRD

QCRG Queen’s Court was created as a home for people who want to join our league and learn the sport of roller derby. It is a place for people to start skating, who have not yet passed assessments or did not get drafted to a team. It is a group that learns together, grows together and begins turning their derby dreams into a reality through hard work and sweat.

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, part of our new skaters from the Queen’s Court, as well as a few first-year rookies from the Alley Kats and Suicidal Saucies, took the scenic drive to Salamanca, NY where they scrimmaged against the women of Enchanted Mountain Roller Derby. EMRD is a league that began their first official season in 2011 and are close derby sisters to QCRG.

Although some members of the Court have been skating since last August, several others have only been around since January. This means the levels of derby within the Court are very different.

As the Court donned their white t-shirts and skated a warm-up, you could see in their faces excitement, nerves, anxiety, happiness, butterflies and maybe a dash of “what am I doing here?” But all of that disappeared as soon as the first whistle of their first jam blew. (Ok, maybe for some it was more like their second or third jam.) They all settled quickly into their roles and went to work following their coach, Lindy Ref, and bench manager, Cuban Mistress Crisis’ instructions.

Walls were formed, broken and quickly reformed. They skated hard for 30 minutes with few major penalties. They adapted to seven refs talking, yelling calls, the sound of multiple whistles blowing, and skating on a new surface. Some even got their first taste of sitting in the sin bin. The second half of the scrimmage found members from both teams mixed together. This half saw faster pack play, more points being scored by both teams and more difficult strategies put into place.

As the skaters were knocked down they smiled, got up and kept skating. This crazy, fun, amazing, dream they had of becoming a derby skater was coming true.

What was the final score? No idea.

Who won? Everyone!

The new Queens Court players got a chance to flex their newly acquired derby skills against an unknown opponent while the more experienced girls from both teams got to share their knowledge and experience. Even the refs got to try to new positions too.

Queens Court will be bouting throughout the summer so keep your eye on the QCRG calendar for more opportunities to watch. And keep your eye on the 2012 draft to see where these skaters land.