Rollerderby hits London....
Hey all,
This weekend was completely full with loads on - as the name of the post implies, we went to see Rollerderby!
For those who don't know it, the sport involves two teams of 5 girls (4 blockers and a jammer) skating around an oval shaped flat-track, trying to lap each other. Basically, the jammer for each team(they have the star on their helmets) starts behind the pack, and tries to push past the blockers to get to the front. Once there, they can skate clear and try to lap the players on the other team - for each player they lap, they get a point. If they get a good run, or are skilled, they can lap multiple times to really stack up the points.
During each play/round (or whatever you call it), the jammer that gets to the front first has the power to call off the current play whenever they like, otherwise the maximum 'jam time' is 2 mins. So if they are doing well and lapping a lot, they'll go for the max time... but if they are getting blocked and can't get past the opposition blockers, and the opposition jammer is getting points, they can stop. Then everyone goes back to the start positions and does it again.
The blockers are basically there to get in the opposition jammer's way. Sometimes they can wall-up and block, or push the jammer (and other blockers) out of the ring, while other times they'll try to bash a hole in the opposition blocking formation to let their jammer through (sometimes they will even sling the jammer through to give speed). They do hit hard too, with some particularly scary (and large) people doing well on the track. There are contact rules, but basically it's elbows in, and only use your body.
The total game is 2 x 30 mins halves, but with frequent stoppages when a jammer ends a play, or for a major foul or incident, so it goes for quite a while. The blockers and jammers all have subs, so they can keep up a good pace - but it is pretty brutal and they really do hammer each other. Some of the jammer skaters were unbelievable though, they were skating backwards, forwards, jumping other players legs, getting knocked off balance and turning etc - really amazing to watch.
We saw two matches, and while London got smashed in the first, the second was between two international teams and was a lot higher intensity and pace. We didn't stay for the third match because there was a major break, but apparently in that match one girl got taken away in an ambulance with a broken collarbone...... (she got it hitting the floor though, not from contact with a person).
Oh, one of the cool things about Rollerderby are the people there - think 50's kind of style, red hair, and tattoos ;) (and let's say as a man I wasn't getting a lot of attention there!). They have a lot of fun with it, and a lot of the names of the girls are crazy - they are totally rude (see pics).
Ok, so that was Saturday, on Sunday we got up early and headed across town for a coffee festival. Upon entering we were given like 2 free coffees, and about six little cake things.... and it didn't stop there. I think I had about six free espressos while there and we walked out with like 10 take-away desert things... It was awesome
.
After speding time in the Brick Lane area, we headed up to Camden for a farewell drink with a friend of ours who is leaving London to live in Italy. Good luck Sam!
On the way home we walked through Regent's Park because the weather was great and the flowers have really sprung out in the last week or so. Spring is really pretty in London, but it's over quickly with the flowers/trees literally springing up from nowhere, but then disappearing just as quickly. The white and pink blossoming trees are really amazing.
So yeah, busy but fun weekend!
Anka
Just adding to the post: This video shows the yellow jammer going through the pack, then doing a lap of everyone to go through the pack again, scoring four points, then doing the 'flappy bird' type action (touching their hips then raising the hands) to call off the play. The pack girls are smacking each other around a little, and a few go over, but the yellow pack does a good job of blocking the black jammer for quite a while before she breaks free (by which time the yellow jammer is coming around the lap the pack). Those who leave the outer ring and skate around have been bad and fouled, so they go off for 30 secs (or something like that), giving the other team a temporary advantage. As plays go, this one is medium pace, some were slower but many were a lot faster in bursts.
This weekend was completely full with loads on - as the name of the post implies, we went to see Rollerderby!
For those who don't know it, the sport involves two teams of 5 girls (4 blockers and a jammer) skating around an oval shaped flat-track, trying to lap each other. Basically, the jammer for each team(they have the star on their helmets) starts behind the pack, and tries to push past the blockers to get to the front. Once there, they can skate clear and try to lap the players on the other team - for each player they lap, they get a point. If they get a good run, or are skilled, they can lap multiple times to really stack up the points.
During each play/round (or whatever you call it), the jammer that gets to the front first has the power to call off the current play whenever they like, otherwise the maximum 'jam time' is 2 mins. So if they are doing well and lapping a lot, they'll go for the max time... but if they are getting blocked and can't get past the opposition blockers, and the opposition jammer is getting points, they can stop. Then everyone goes back to the start positions and does it again.
The blockers are basically there to get in the opposition jammer's way. Sometimes they can wall-up and block, or push the jammer (and other blockers) out of the ring, while other times they'll try to bash a hole in the opposition blocking formation to let their jammer through (sometimes they will even sling the jammer through to give speed). They do hit hard too, with some particularly scary (and large) people doing well on the track. There are contact rules, but basically it's elbows in, and only use your body.
The total game is 2 x 30 mins halves, but with frequent stoppages when a jammer ends a play, or for a major foul or incident, so it goes for quite a while. The blockers and jammers all have subs, so they can keep up a good pace - but it is pretty brutal and they really do hammer each other. Some of the jammer skaters were unbelievable though, they were skating backwards, forwards, jumping other players legs, getting knocked off balance and turning etc - really amazing to watch.
We saw two matches, and while London got smashed in the first, the second was between two international teams and was a lot higher intensity and pace. We didn't stay for the third match because there was a major break, but apparently in that match one girl got taken away in an ambulance with a broken collarbone...... (she got it hitting the floor though, not from contact with a person).
Oh, one of the cool things about Rollerderby are the people there - think 50's kind of style, red hair, and tattoos ;) (and let's say as a man I wasn't getting a lot of attention there!). They have a lot of fun with it, and a lot of the names of the girls are crazy - they are totally rude (see pics).
Ok, so that was Saturday, on Sunday we got up early and headed across town for a coffee festival. Upon entering we were given like 2 free coffees, and about six little cake things.... and it didn't stop there. I think I had about six free espressos while there and we walked out with like 10 take-away desert things... It was awesome
.
After speding time in the Brick Lane area, we headed up to Camden for a farewell drink with a friend of ours who is leaving London to live in Italy. Good luck Sam!
On the way home we walked through Regent's Park because the weather was great and the flowers have really sprung out in the last week or so. Spring is really pretty in London, but it's over quickly with the flowers/trees literally springing up from nowhere, but then disappearing just as quickly. The white and pink blossoming trees are really amazing.
So yeah, busy but fun weekend!
Anka
Just adding to the post: This video shows the yellow jammer going through the pack, then doing a lap of everyone to go through the pack again, scoring four points, then doing the 'flappy bird' type action (touching their hips then raising the hands) to call off the play. The pack girls are smacking each other around a little, and a few go over, but the yellow pack does a good job of blocking the black jammer for quite a while before she breaks free (by which time the yellow jammer is coming around the lap the pack). Those who leave the outer ring and skate around have been bad and fouled, so they go off for 30 secs (or something like that), giving the other team a temporary advantage. As plays go, this one is medium pace, some were slower but many were a lot faster in bursts.
posted by Anthony Hawke at 8:44 pm
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