A Midsummer Night's Scream write-up

I'm not going to lie - I don't think many MRD skaters were feeling particularly confident prior to our second home bout, 'A Midsummer Night's Scream'. A leak in our training venue The Arcadia's roof meant that a number of sessions building up to the bout had to be cancelled or cut short thanks to Manchester's relentless rain. Some of our stronger players were unavailable to play or had opted not to play to give newer skaters a chance. And then there are the usual organisational stresses that occur whenever hosting an event of this size - our first ever home bout sold out Manchester's Academy 1, with 600 people turning up to watch - and this time around it was to be broadcast live by rduk.tv.

'A Midsummer Night's Scream' had ruffs, ivy, fairies and even a real-life faun. It also, bizarrely, had a rather eighties themed playlist - but we discovered that worked pretty well! 

To kick things off the Montagues took on the Capulets, aiming to end their age-old feud 21st century style in a cherry popper bout featuring new skaters from across the North of England.

Montagues v Capulets
Photo by Jason Ruffell

It was a great bout to watch, and if any of the skaters were nervous it didn't show. The score was finally settled with the Montagues slaying the Capulets, 149 - 92.

Photo by Jason Ruffell

To the header bout...

Feeling the love...
Photo by Jason Ruffell

Given our leaky practice space woes, the day of the bout was the first time we had skated together in a couple of weeks and as this team.  The Central City Rollergirls 'Slay Belles' from Birmingham were our opponents and we had resolved to give it our best shot. 

Sui-Cider looking fierce
Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

The opening jams saw both teams fairly matched, but a gap soon began to appear with CCR taking the lead thanks to stunning jams from Madame Flutterby, Lethal Sizzle and Agent Dana Skurry. The end of the first half saw that lead increase to make it CCR 61 - 29 MRD, and we really had our work cut out in the coming half.

Lex Brawl and Gerty Go Go gang up on Manc Zappa
Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

I don't remember any specific team talk or strategy during half-time, everyone was very calm and collected - which made a nice change! We started the second half without a jammer, but secured our own power jam shortly after. 

G Whizz and Joanna Clout on the offensive
Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

From that point on we fought hard, and began to close that gap with lots of tactical play and awesome jams from Polly Killer and Vic Tori Bee. The second half flew by, it seemed that CCR's announcer Rolls Voyce had informed us there were 25 minutes left and then all of a sudden it was the last jam.  It's trite to say but given a couple more jams, I think we could've pulled it back.

Final score. Well done to The CCR!
Photo by Jason Ruffell

It felt as though we played our hearts out as a team, really gelling and working together instead of just trying to stay on our feet as we did when we first started playing together towards the end of 2010. In some ways, it seemed that the very things that had caused us to feel anxious in the run-up to the bout had actually ended up helping us. We weren't all trained out or relying on stronger players - and any organisational stresses turned into big fat blocks on the track.  CCR are a brilliant team, it was a pleasure to have them and MRD is chomping at the bit for a rematch!

Feeling the love... again!
Photo by Jason Ruffell

In the meantime, however, we can look forward to hosting our third home bout at the end of this month.

Lots of love,
Kate Push

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