MRD's Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012

What better way to bring in the New Year than flexing your knowledge muscles on the last one?

Come to Retro Bar this Friday 18th January 2013 and take part in MRD's Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012. The fun starts at 8pm until 10:30pm downstairs at Retro Bar and first prize is a crate of beer!

There will also be a "guess the weight of the cake" competition. The correct answer will win you the very cake you have guessed the weight of - and if you have sampled our tasty treats at a bout before you should already know that it'll be a darn fine cake.

There will be a sweet and savoury food stall, the bar will be staffed to serve drinks and there will also be a small clothes jumble. Items at the jumble will be 50p per item – better than any New Year's sale. The MRD merch will be making an appearance too!

To enter the quiz its £2 per person and free entry if you're not taking part. Quiz teams have a maximum of 6 per table.

RSVP here

CheckerBroads Take the Track in 2012

What a year we have had!

Last December Manchester Roller Derby were settling into our new training venue, Sporting Edge, and embarking on a new chapter for MRD as a league.

17^th December 2011 brought a winter home game, Mistletoe and Grime, which was the CheckerBroads first double header alongside our men's team New Wheeled Order. The Broads took on Croydon Roller Derby in what we knew would be a tough game. The visitors won 163 to 126 in a fast paced bout.

In Jan 2012 we traveled to play a return game against Hot Wheel Roller Derby in Halifax. The CheckerBroads had a comfortable win at the previous bout, but we underestimated how much the hotties had improved since then. Final score: CB 91 – 189 HW.

We needed a win. We had lost our last four games and we were facing a return game against CCR’s Slay Belles. The last game was lost by a mere 19 points. We traveled with our fans to Birmingham full of positivity and a coach load of tactics. We skated hard and fast and won 135 to123!

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

Two weeks later we went to play our friends the Liverpool Roller Birds. This was a strange game as we often scrimmage together, but we we’re all excited to play for real on the track. Final score: LRB 173 – 211 CB. It was the first time we had broken 200 points! It was a great game to play and we didn’t want the final whistle to go.

Then came Dundee Roller Girls in April. We beat them by 99 points last March and this time they traveled the distance to visit us. They turned things around and came out top: CB 129 – 202 DRG. The blow was softened by an amazing after party.

June brought us our next home game, a return bout against the mighty Severn Roller Torrent. We had a huge score to settle and we’re desperate for a home win…and we got it! Final score: SRT 84 - 203 CB.

In July we traveled across to Newcastle to play our return game against Newcastle Roller Girls. Last time we played the B-team and won by 7 points but the return game was against NRG's A-Team. We knew it was going to be tough. We went in cool, calm and waltzing...yes, waltzing was our skate out. Something did the trick as the final score was NRG 156 – 172 CB.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

Our training was paying off, our teamwork was stronger than ever, and the trust we had in one and other was being reflected on the track.

The fun continued in July when we were invited to the third Great Yorkshire Showdown. We were drawn against Sheffield Steel Roller Girls B-team the Crucibelles, and Hot Wheel Roller Derby. Final scores: MRD 48 - 95 HW and SSRG 56 - 75 MRD. It was a mighty day and we love LRD for putting on such a great event. We are ready for the next one!

In October MRD went international. We were invited to play the Amsterdam Derby Dames and sent a mixed A and B team to embark on our first European bout. We stormed our way to a win, ADD 131 – 201 MRD, and became international athletes.

November 17^th saw the biggest home event MRD had ever hosted. Our very own New Wheeled Order took on the formidable New York Shock Exchange, and we had our return game against the Impostors. Not to be out-shined by the boys, we opened the day with a big win: IRG 64 – 183 CB.

The last bout of 2012 brought 40 or so very bleary eyed rollergirls, refs and derby friends to Manchester Airport early on a Saturday morning for a bout in Dublin. Our wonderful B-team The Furies were played against Dublin's B-team, and the Broads brought our return game to Dublin's A-Team. This game was a challenge but we were able to narrow the point deficit from the last bout. Final score CB 93 – 164 Dublin. We traveled there and back in one day, and didn’t even time for a pint of Guinness!

This year has been a busy one. We have trained hard, learned from each other and the amazing teams we have played. We have sadly seen some of our best players go, but we have filled our team with some amazing new talent. We are all massively proud of how the CheckerBroads have grown as a team, we are definitely a strong force to behold!

The CheckerBroads are very excited to see what 2013 will bring and they hope to see YOU on the track!

HAPPY PACK!

Photo by Craig Richmond

New Wheeled Order: Year One

Twelve months, fourteen games. A year ago today, Manchester Roller Derby’s New Wheeled Order skated out to face Tyne & Fear in our first ever bout. Now that the season’s over, what better time to indulge in a little nostalgia and take a look back at the wins, losses and lessons learned over the year.

And what a year it’s been...

17th December 2011
Mistletoe & Grime: Home to Tyne and Fear

Okay, so we were a team then. Just. The twelve-man roster that took on Tyne and Fear included some very fresh legs (and shiny skates) and for some reason, the Order’s own Crash Matt was skating for the opposition...

Final score: T&F 206 - 113 NWO

9th June
Home to The Jakey Bites

Around six months behind us, the Jakeys paid us the honour of traveling from all over Scotland to play us in their first bout. With some great skaters - and three of Tyne and Fear  making guest appearances - the Jakeys played an aggressive game, but we’d been working to strengthen our walls since that first loss, and the Scots jammers struggled to break through.

Final score: NWO 272 - 103 TJB

Mens European Roller Derby Championships
Birmingham, July 28th/29th

Two days of derby, with seven teams playing each other in half-hour bouts to earn a top-four spot and continue through to the second day. A half-hour bout sounds easy, but the pace of each game was frantic from the first whistle, and staying focussed and energised was as important as the tactics.

Wins against the Crash Test Brummies, Tyne and Fear and (with a decisive points difference) The Inhuman League, saw the Order go through to day 2 in third place, finishing fourth overall due to a loss in the second of two painfully close games with The Expendables.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

The team voted our “game of the tournament” as the second bout with the Toulouse Quad Guards, proving that in roller derby, it’s not always about the win; sometimes it’s about setting a goal and achieving it. Despite the loss, taking so many points off the Quad Guards was a huge achievement for us, and every skater shares the pride in that result.

11th August/15th September
Talk Derby To Me: Away to The Inhuman League
Home to Lincolnshire Rolling Thunder

Two games coming close after the tournament taught us a lesson in the need to stay flexible in your tactics. Our strong defensive approach had been successful to that point, but facing teams playing “old-school” merby, with strong individual play and committed assists, saw us struggling to reform our walls and take control of the game. We took what we learned in both games back to training, and spent the next two months drilling a new style of play for us; our defence is still strong, but now so is our offence...

Final scores: TIL 148 - NWO 138 / LRT 170 - NWO 135

17th November
Shock the UK! Home to the New York Shock Exchange

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

This game had been in the planning for nearly a year, and was worth the wait. Playing to one of the biggest and most supportive crowds either team had experienced, the game played out as many had expected, with the NYSE taking a convincing win, but again we set ourselves a goal and we achieved it. Never mind our points, the NYSE jammers had to fight for every single one of theirs, and we never gave them a second to relax, keeping the pressure at 100% right to the final whistle.

Final score: NYSE 266 - 59 NWO

2nd December
Away to the Crash Test Brummies

We could have ended the year with an upset, with a frantic first half of aggressive play by the Brummies who - as at the European Championships - forced us to play their game up to the half way point, seeing us in the changing rooms with a two-point deficit. It was a more focussed, calmer and more controlled New Wheeled Order that returned to the track for the second period, taking the lead, and then the game, by keeping tight hold on their jammers, assisting ours through the Brummie walls, and keeping - as far as we could - an empty penalty bin.

Final score: NWO 236 - 123 CTBs

So that was our first year as a bouting team, and if you think that was a big year, you have no idea what we have in store for 2013. We’re coming back bigger, stronger, faster, and with our most ambitious goals yet.

Every skater in the Order would like to thank all of our fans for the love and support we’ve experienced at each game.

Happy Christmas.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

Roller disco in Manchester this Saturday, 6-8pm

Help us raise the funds to send our team to play Dublin Roller Girls. Go on.

And whilst you're doing it, have ALL the fun on skates with yer mates.

The roller disco theme is "Irish and 70's" (we're indecisive) and it'll take place this Saturday 1st December at Sporting Edge.  Fancy dress is optional... but dressing up is fun and the best dressed wins a prize. Either Irish or 70's, or a hilarious combination of the two, the choice is yours.

There will be cake. Of course. And a DJ. Plus we'll have an array of beautiful MRD merch on sale.

Everyone is welcome, children included. Come on down and throw some shapes on skates.

£3 entry (includes skate hire)
6pm-8pm
1 Silverlace Avenue, Openshaw, Manchester, M11 1GN

RSVP here

Our bout in Manchester this Saturday is so big it has its own trailer...

You know it makes sense.
TICKETS.

(Moving graphic by Pete Gomer, artwork by Chris Howker)

5 reasons to attend New York Shock Exchange's roller derby boot camp in Manchester this month

SHE SAYS

Bootay blocking (Photo by Kate Robson Photography)

My top 5 reasons for attending the NYSE Bootcamp
by Booty Treatment, aged 30 ½

1.  The New York Shock Exchange work closely (and share trainers and refs) with the Gotham Girls, who are only the best roller derby team in the whole entire WORLD. (I once danced with Suzy Hotrod at an afterparty and was close enough to Bonnie Thunders to sweat into her beer. They’re seriously amazing in person, ergo the men stack up, because such awesome ladies would not hang out with uncool people.)

2.  Other things I could spend that £75 on include:

a) One slap up night out with my derby wife, complete with hangovers and regret.
b) Three sessions with a personal trainer who’s never heard of roller derby and thinks I skate round to cheesy music waving my arms.
c) Six new bout tee shirts to cut up and ruin with my derby stink.
d) Eight new wheels which may make me a better skater or may get consigned to the
pile of ‘seemed like a good idea’ along with the shiny pink leggings.
e) Twenty five pairs of Asda’s finest tights.

On reflection, that £75 is probably much better spent on a whole day of learning that I will carry with me for the rest of my derby career.

3.  Part of my brain thinks I am nowhere near good enough to go to a boot camp run by these guys. Um, guess what? That’s what boot camps are for. LEARNING. It’s empowering to get in over my head and manage to get up off the bench and go back for more. Vivi Section from Circle City Derby Girls (Indianapolis, USA) sums up my reasons for wanting to get my ass handed to me perfectly: “Had I ever had the chance to be hit so hard and so expertly? No, I had not. Had I ever been in a rotation with a jammer who played at Nationals? No, I had not. Was I going to miss an opportunity, this unique chance to get my ass handed to me, to get beaten up by a blocker who operates in a higher stratosphere of jammer-killing than one I had yet encountered? No, I was not.”

4.  I’m not worried about playing with guys. I’ve been hurt much worse by rookie players who went down like a shot deer in front of me than I ever have taking a huge hit from someone bigger than me. In fact, I really like playing with guys. I like that as someone who’s bigger than a lot of female derby players, I have to work not to get pushed around on the track. I like that my munchkin sized teammates can sail past terrifyingly giant men without being touched because they present a target zone that’s like three inches tall. I like the camaraderie and the thumbs up when I make a good hit and the fact that when we’re on the track, it doesn’t really matter who has boobs and who has balls, just that we all have skates on our feet and have a common goal.

5.  I’m not sure if it’s cool to admit this, but I really get a kick out of schooling men on the track. I’d like to say it’s because I’m a feminist and I believe strongly in equality, but really it comes down to playground politics. Boys and girls aren’t supposed to fight, it’s not…nice. What’s really not nice is not letting consenting adults decide what they want to do. If I want to be hit by men, I’ll be hit by men (in a safe and controlled environment mediated by referees and the most complicated rule set known to mankind). They just better believe I’ll hit back, and in a much better way after I soak up all the learnings at this boot camp!

HE SAYS

My top 5 reasons to be absolutely gutted I can't attend the NYSE boot camp
By Station, aged 38 ¹∕₆

1.  I skated against Abe Drinkin at the Men's European Roller Derby Championships in July, and the way he pulled The Expendables together into a coherent, focused team still blows me away. A lot of these guys hadn't even met before the first day of bouts, but Abe had them all working together in both defence and offence as if they'd been playing together for years. That level of derby knowledge, coupled with the kind of confidence that permeates a lineup and gets people communicating and working to the same plan... I need to train with players of that standard and hope some of that experience rubs off.

2.  Jonathan R and Ladies Knight - these guys have peerless technique, and the chance to learn from them would take my skating - particularly my jamming - up more than a notch or two. I train with some fantastic skaters, but our focus on tactics and gameplay doesn't leave a lot of time for a newer skater like me to refine my style and work past those bad habits I picked up along the way. An intensive session on jamming techniques and skills would hopefully see me dodging through and around walls, instead of relying on strength to try and blam my way through.

3.  Our coach brings a seemingly constant supply of tactics to training, and we work on how to perfect those that work for us as a team, and how to respond to those that we might encounter on the track, but there's always room for new ideas - left-field thinking that shakes up your understanding of the game. Roller derby is still so new in the UK - were it a person, the men's game wouldn't be out of nappies yet - so the opportunity to train with coaches that have seen the tactics and rules evolve, who maybe have more insight than most into where the sport is going, is a huge opportunity to consolidate our understanding of where we are now, ready for the new rules in January.

4.  As part of Manchester Roller Derby, I regularly train and scrim with the girls, but Booty highlighted one area where I really struggle - those tiny, high-velocity jammers that I just can't seem to out-manoeuvre. Sure, once their speed is gone I can hold them, but getting them stopped legally, that's hard, and I was looking forward to the chance to skate against the girls - both from MRD and other leagues - with input from these coaches, sharing their techniques for getting in low and legal, without low- or high-blocking. I know most leagues don't skate co-ed, but with small, agile jammers common in both the men's and women's game, and possibly becoming more so under the new ruleset, that's a skill upon which I'll be increasingly relying.

5.  As a player, I don't watch the track during jams in which I'm not playing. Seriously - I'll get yelled at if I'm staring at the track instead of talking to my lineup about our plan for the next jam. And as fans, you're watching at least half of the action from the wrong side of the track, so the one thing I was looking forward to most about the bootcamp was being able to discuss, examine, and learn how the NYSE had played on the previous day: "you did X, show me why". You can see what they do on the archived footage, but learning about how they do it - what they're thinking about and the plan they're working to - takes your understanding of their play so much further.

So, yeah, I had a long list of skills and experience I was hoping to take away from the day, so I'm highly disappointed, and just hope that you get to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity.

NYSE BOOT CAMP WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY 18TH NOVEMBER. TICKETS HERE.

There is also a big important bout the day before, tickets and info here. 

New York Shock Exchange boot camp & bout in Manchester this month

New York Shock Exchange flee one wet city for another to bout Manchester Roller Derby and host a roller derby boot camp. What's more, both of these events will be happening on the same weekend.  How much roller derby can YOU handle?

First thing's first - THE BOUT.  This is one of only two bouts that the New York team is playing in the UK, and the only one to be held in the north of England.  This is the first ever intercontinental men's roller derby bout.  This is not to be missed.  The mighty New York Shock Exchange are one of the best men's teams in the world and will be crossing the pond to take on MRD's New Wheeled Order.  The Order are not to be sniffed at however, anyone who witnessed their impressive performance at the European Championships will tell you as much - expect fast and furious skating, hard hits and big spills!  In true MRD style there will also be full-contact female derby as MRD's CheckerBroads face off against Imposters Roller Girls.  The last time they met it was a hard fought game with Imposters taking it 117 - 89. This is a re-match that will sizzle.

Second thing's second - THE BOOT CAMP.  Manchester Roller Derby is very proud to be hosting its first ever boot camp in conjunction with the New York Shock Exchange.  The Shockers want to skate with you and share their tricks of the trade. With sections for both beginners and veterans, this bootcamp is open to all adult skaters of any gender. This is your chance to work on jammer footwork, blocking technique, wall building, pack speed control, and then put your new skills to test in a full on scrimmage.

BOUT information and tickets

BOOT CAMP information and tickets

KEY STATS

BOUT. DOUBLE-HEADER. SAT 17th NOVEMBER. 2PM. MRD CHECKERBROADS V IMPOSTERS ROLLER GIRLS. MRD NEW WHEELED ORDER V NEW YORK SHOCK EXCHANGE. ARMITAGE CENTRE, FALLOWFIELD, MANCHESTER. TICKETS £10.  

BOOT CAMP. SUN 18th NOVEMBER. 10AM - 8PM. NEW YORK SHOCK EXCHANGE. ARMITAGE CENTRE, FALLOWFIELD, MANCHESTER. OPEN TO ALL ADULT SKATERS OF ANY GENDER.  TICKETS £75.

Poster designed by Chris Howker