Amsterdam Derby Dames

How lucky are we to have hosted a two-evening bootcamp with the amazing Ballistic Whistle! This man has built up quite a reputation: trainer of the London Roller Girls and Team England during the 2012 World Cup and captain of the UK Merby Team Southern Discomfort.

It’s hardly surprising that the spots on these evenings were all gone in no time! Derby girls from all corners of the country made it to our training location after a long day of work or studying for another three hours of serious skating. A great bootcamp was had by all, as it was a fun and excellent learning experience.

On the first day, the focus was on super-tight transitions, jumps, juking, and some cool blocking drills aimed at beginners. Day two was totally different and featured a series of specific wall drills for both blockers and jammers, situational drills, backwards skating awareness, and a crash course in how major teams counter power jams.

In a nutshell: it was very inspiring being coached by Ballistic Whistle. Thanks to all participants for making it a great success!

This afternoon a group of Amsterdam Derby Dames completed the Mud Masters Obstacle Run in Haarlemmermeer. Everyone was dressed in ADD gear, with Mighty Morales representing in his ref shirt. Some ladies from the Parliament of Pain also ran along with us.

Our derby skills came in handy as we maneuvered through each obstacle! As we slogged and slipped our way through wide expanses of mud, someone yelled “derby stance!” and we all got lower and were instantly more stable. Things we learned during jumping drills helped when we had to leap over trenches filled with muddy water. Instead of breaking through walls, we had to climb over them. That’s when we used our teamwork: hoisting each person (and random strangers) over the walls. After each obstacle, we waited for everyone in the group and made sure we completed the course as a team.

Most of us managed to stay relatively clean, until one of the last obstacles where we had to cross a canal full of smelly hip-deep water. Some of us clambered over on the monkey bars; others waded through the sludge. Mighty Morales surprised us all by exhibiting some fine form on the monkey bars, until his entire body plunged into the water with a spectacular splash!

We had a cheering section as we approached the finish: Lola Rock n’ Rolla yelled out encouragements and Lee’s Lightning sprayed us with silly string and cheered us on with an air horn. In the end, we all completed the course, and received a t-shirt and a beer as a reward. Thanks Lee’s Lightning, for organizing this great experience.

The group before the challenge…

…and after

Article written by Abs of Steel, photos by Lola Rock n’ Rolla.

Just over a year ago we had our very first home bout: the Rollergirls of the Apocalypse came to Amsterdam for AmsterBAM. Saturday, it was our turn to travel to Kaiserslautern, Germany to have another face-off. Unfortunately, we were down three players, so our team consisted of only 9 skaters. We were not too worried: at our last bout we played with 9 skaters and we kicked ass!

From our sponsor Just Like Your Mom Tour Support we got two vans to drive to Kaiserslautern, and after a smooth ride we arrived perfectly on time. It was an absolute pleasure being hosted by RGA, as they are such a well-organised league. We had what we needed in our dressing room and felt welcome.

While the RGA The Night Terrors took on the RocKArollers, the first part of this doubleheader, we found a quiet spot to do some stretching.

The bout started slightly later than planned, but at the whistle, it did start with a POW! RGA clearly set the pace from the get-go. With a power jam against ADD, we were behind with about 30 points after only a couple of jams, but that didn’t stop us: at half-time there was a 1 point difference. The game was fast and intense. The second half was even more exciting, as the lead in points was constantly changing, even tied at some point! At the end we were left with only 8 players after one fouled out. In the last few jams, RGA got back in the lead and scored a large amount of points in a power jam to win the game.

It was an epic bout! A lot of hard hits, quick jammers, impressive tactics and let’s not forget: great officiating (led by the amazing London Derriere). A special thanks goes out to the officials crew who must have had a tough bout to officiate.

ADD All stars and Dominic! With his pink Mohawk the girls thought he should be our mascot:

After the bout we went back to the hotel to freshen up and to get ready for the after party at the sports bar. The RGA girls had prepared capes as awards for best blocker, best jammer and MVP.

For ADD RGA voted best blocker: Abs of Steel, best jammer: Vix Vendetta and MVP: Jamakaze.
For RGA, ADD voted for best blocker: Thora, best jammer: Jumpin’ Jax Smash and MVP NebrAss Kick’r.

We definitely tried winning the after party with a lot of dancing, singing, laughing and even some beer pong.

Thanks again RGA for hosting a great event and making everything run very smoothly!

Furrrocious

And it WAS a bloody valentine yesterday in Amstelveen, but both the B.ADD team and the ADD All Stars gave their all. And had a great afterparty!

For the first time, we played by the 2013 WFTDA rules: since minor penalties are no longer being called out by the refs – only the majors – we saw that many skaters had to do time in the penalty box aka the sin bin. The bout between B.ADD and the Northern Lightning Rollergirls saw three skaters being removed from the track, which resulted in a lot of power jams!

For the NLR it was the very first time they played a bout, and they did it exceptionally well: the final score was 201-109 for NLR.

Picture by Erwin van Dijk

The game between ADD All Stars and B.M.O. Roller Derby Girls proved to be an exciting one to watch: it was very fast-paced and a lot was going on! At half-time, B.M.O. seemed to be the underdog: the score was really far apart. However, these girls showed great character by coming back stronger than ever in the second half: they scored a whopping amount of points and almost caught up on ADD! Nevertheless, the All Stars won the bout: the game ended in a 229-197 score.

Picture by Kees Rijken

This weekend two skaters of our All Stars team were invited to the radio show Spijkers met Koppen to talk about roller derby. Furrrocious and Vegan Vengeance explained to Felix Meurders, Dolf Jansen, a live audience and the nation what our sport is all about.

In case you missed it: click here to listen to the show. The interview starts at 07.32