The last home game this season for The Cincinnati Roller Girls at the Cincinnati Gardens. And we're all hoping its not the last ever. I haven't heard anything lately except the building and property is still for sale. Everyone is hoping the Roller Girls can stay in the gardens for many more years.
The last home game of the season and, while no one is admitting this out loud, it could be the last Rollergirl game ever at Cincinnati Gardens. The Rollergirls have played at the Gardens since 2007 but the building and property have been for sale a while now. There has been wild speculation in the media over what could happen after a sale.
The building could remain.
It could be razed for new development.
The later would be a shame for the 65 year old building, you can feel history as you walk up to and enter the place.
The Rollergirls graciously allowed me to attend a practice to get some pictures and I got to chat with Bombtrack who is an assistant coach with the team. While hoping the Rollergirls remain right where they are, there are preparations going for worst case scenarios. They have options so the girls won't be stuck without a track next year one way or the other.
One of the features that make the Gardens special Bombtrack told me is the concrete floor. The concrete is smooth but clean which allows the girls to use harder wheels to skate fast. The concrete provides good traction without being grippy. Being a motorsports geek I instantly understood what she was talking about, running harder rubber has less friction, hence more speed.
But for the fans, I always felt the Gardens complimented the blue collar sport of roller derby.
This Saturday at 7pm is the Rollergirl's last home game of the season, the Crosstown Knockdown vs Black-n-Bluegrass Rollergirls.
click HERE for more info on tickets.
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1 hip check
Rollerderby: a contact sport played by two teams skating in the same direction around a track.
Sounds so simple. Like anything else though, the simplest sounding concepts can be the most complex. You can have the best coaches, the best plays and best equipment but it all falls apart if you don't have conditioning.
"I got pushed out off the line, and was REALLY close to cutting the track by accident, so I deliberately did a four-point fall so that I didn't cut the opposing jammer. By the time I got up, she'd reversed halfway around the track- really smart thinking!
The only part NEO had trouble on with that play (and the part that made me gesticulate so animatedly) was the final execution. Ideally, the jammer would have stopped about halfway around the track, because it would have forced me to go the furthest distance to re-enter the pack. But what she did instead was drag me so far back that we came around to the pack itself. So I was able to simply go to the back, pass all of their blockers, and still get lead! As I was rolling through untouched, I couldn't help but turn to the last blocker, look her dead in the eye, and ask, "I'm sorry, were y'all planning on blocking me?"
I shrugged at the bench because I couldn't believe they'd gone to all that trouble, only to miss out on the most important part- the blocking!"
The Cincy Rollergirls vs AARG and anyone still doubting whether rollergirls is a real sport should have seen this physical game. It seems like each game last year took the next step in hits, and this year looks to be the same. At any rate the Mississippi River must have loads more HGH than the Ohio River because those St Louis girls were huge. Hot Slice didn't have an answer.
Half time lightened up with a intra squad scrimmage featuring the Cincinnati Junior Rollergirls.
Seeing some new tatics this season also. Remember the broken starts last year were they would kneel on the line to start? This year they've back it up to the jammer line in an attempt to bust the jammers out faster. It appeared to actually work a couple times but started drawing boos near the end of the match.
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comments?
You knew the home opener is only a week and a half away right? March 10th vs Arch Rival Roller Girls?
You didn't? And they were voted the best amateur sports team in Cincinnati too.
Get your tickets online or at the door and show up early for tailgating, swing by and say hi, there will be a bunch of us grilling and swilling.
At any rate I've been a huge fan and have my opinions like any other fan. And the game is evolving, some changes I like, some I don't.
One change I like, the costumes over the years have given way to uniforms giving them a very professional look. A change I don't like, one of my favorite aspects is the individualized helmets giving way to a standard look this season.
Oh well, its not about me and as The Librarian explained it hampers opponents ability to single out girls by their helmets like "I'm gonna smash the girl with the red helmet!!"
UPDATE: I should add that this was a team decision and not any kind of league rule, the rollergirls I talked to were either behind the change or didn't seem to care one way or another. They're not to caught up in specific rules, they just want to skate!
Now I've had this idea for some time to photograph their helmets and when I heard of the upcoming changes it gave a sense of urgency to capture them.
I dropped in on a practice one night and shot a mixture of old and practice helmets before they disappeared forever.
A very close and emotional game last Saturday night. It was a nail biter but definitely more interesting than the blows outs we seen go both ways this season. Hop Devil and Miss Print skated like it was their last derby for the Silent Lambs, which it was.
