Scene Report: A Player's Perspective by Deja Deadwards

Note: Deja Deadwards is a blocker with the Mid Iowa Rollers. She is the Author of this piece.

Author's Note: Tyler asked me to write a “player’s perspective” piece about last Saturday’s MIR vs CRRG bout. Unfortunately, due to the nerve-wracking nature of the game, I don’t really remember any specifics. I spent most of the game sitting on the bench gnawing at my mouthguard and screaming “GET HER! GET HER” at my teammates. The time I spent on the track was a blur of smashing and crashing with the other blockers. So, instead I thought I’d write a piece about the days leading up to the game.

Game day. After a busy week of derby practice and activities, I’m rested and ready for the confrontation with Cedar Rapids Rollergirls. The nerves which have been fluttering through me occasionally throughout the week have built into a solid mass of tension. However, now that I’ve got a few bouts under my belt (and know I won’t have to jam in this one!) it’s a manageable state of nervousness and not an all-out terror that makes me want to puke.

The preparation begins weeks ahead of time as practices begin to ramp up. Players use the internet to scour videos of the opposing team’s other games, watching for strategies and gauging the potential threat of each player. The vets regale the rookies with stories from previous years’ bouts. Going up against Cedar Rapids, we knew we would have to stop their blockers. I’d played with Ali Assassinateher and A Few Screws Lucy as my teammates at our March Mixer and as I re-watched the video from that game, I was amazed by their front wall – it’s a derby-textbook thing of beauty! They stopped the jammer every time without ever leaving the engagement zone.

All week long we practiced drills to break up walls and slow the pack. Practices right before a game are always tense and sometimes slide into the realm of counterproductive negativity, but I felt that we avoided that this week with three great practices which left me feeling completely wiped out. The team understood that it would take every one of us working together to pull this one off and everyone was determined to skate as hard as they could.

I slept late on Saturday, showered and packed my bags for the trip. I headed out to meet up with the rest of the team at the truck stop in Altoona at 1:00pm. Surprisingly, everyone arrived fairly close to the scheduled time and we got ourselves on the road. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm and checked into our block of rooms. We were told to be down at the US Cellular Center at 5:00pm to start warm-ups. Grimm and my friend Jenn (along for the derby ride) and I went out to try to find some lunch. Unfortunately, we seemed to be in the deserted section of downtown CR and wasted precious minutes driving around looking for anything open. Eventually we found a Maid-Rite and grabbed some quick sandwiches. We got back to the hotel just in time to find the rest of the team suited up and getting ready to head out. Grimm and I did a quick change (alas, no face paint for me at this game!) and rolled over to the venue.

We had about ten minutes to gear up and hit the track for warm-ups. We spent a few minutes taking easy laps and doing some rolling stretches before our coach, Big Truck, started shouting instructions. Sprint laps came first, followed by a death star drill where jammers Lolli, Fanny and cTAL had to work through a pack made up of the entire team. We did some stretching while Big Truck and Lolli talked through some strategies and tips to remember.

When our warm-up period was over, the Helldorados took the track and we scattered for individual last-minute preparations. I checked my toe-stops (which had lately developed an annoying habit of coming loose) and filled my water bottle. I grabbed a program from the merch table and went back to our bench to continue stretching and to size up the competition. The Helldorados looked comfortable on their home track, running through some knee falls and sprints. The nerves in my stomach started up again; these girls were strong and could skate hard. They were going to knock the crap out of me!

We moved back to the locker room where we again ran through some strategy and our bench coach, Knock Around Suzie, prepared the lineups. She told Sin De Rolla to be ready to go in as a back-up jammer, but Sin wasn’t sure she had the right wheels for the floor (a super-slick concrete). A chaotic rush then ensued to get Sin’s wheels swapped out to a stickier pair which would allow her to grip the floor better while speeding around the corners.

A second warm-up period was scheduled for both teams together as the doors opened and the crowd poured in. I’d never skated a warm-up with the other team before and was a little concerned how that would go. I thought the Helldorados might take this opportunity to try to psych us out, and I mentally steeled myself to take whatever they would dish out. Turns out, derby sisterhood extends to joint warm-ups and the girls were nothing but friendly. There were jokes, some opposite team whips and even a little dancing (who doesn’t love Sir Mix-a-Lot?)

As announcers Your Dad, Bam Bam and our own Chuck U. started the show off, I noticed the suicide seats were packed with derby girls from several other teams around the state. Seems like this should have made me more nervous – after all, these girls would know if I made a mistake, unlike most of the fans who don’t really understand all the nuances of the rules. But, seeing the girls laughing and cheering both teams on helped me to relax. It reminded me of all the reasons I love derby: that it gives women opportunities to shine that most of us don’t get in our regular lives; that it celebrates women’s strength and beauty (in all shapes/sizes); that it fires such a passion in us that we willingly sacrifice our free time, extra money and even our bodies to it. We’re derby girls first and foremost, no matter what teams we’re on.

I also remembered the reason why we were in Cedar Rapids that night: the crowd had come to see a great show, and every woman warming up on that track was prepared to give it to them. Cheers to the Rollergirls, the Rollers and the Mayhem for delivering a night to remember!