Brooklyn and the Bronx Meet at the GGRD Crossroads this Saturday

With each team having one game in the books, the Brooklyn Bombshells and Bronx Gridlock come to that familiar crossroads this Saturday at John Jay College in Manhattan. It’s an odd thing to say after just a single bout, but with each squad in the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league only getting three home games per season, this second matchup has the potential to determine an ultimate outcome for 2015.

For the Bombshells, who broke a losing streak that lasted over a season when they won a nailbiter over Manhattan back in March, a victory this weekend could conceivably secure a spot in the 2015 championship game. For the Gridlock, who dropped an April bout to the Queens of Pain, a win gives their season new life, while a loss will likely eliminate them from a title run.

In Las Vegas, they call that high stakes. In New York, it’s just another week for the Gotham Girls, and despite opposite outcomes in their initial 2015 bouts, this is as evenly matched showdown as you will find—though one Brooklyn believes they will emerge victorious from.

Photo by Manish Gosalia

“We’ve had a longer period of time to go back and watch our own footage, so we can really deconstruct the areas of strength and weakness that we had during the Manhattan game,” said the Bombshells’ ShadowboxHer. “We’ve had a lot of time to focus on things like being able to defend against a power jam and how we can be more effective offensively. Secondly, we’ve had the advantage of watching Bronx play very recently and because of that, I think it’s going to be more indicative to how they’re going to be playing on Saturday, as opposed to us, who have been able to really grow and develop since our first game.”

An interesting point: one might think that the team who played more recently would have the edge, simply because they’ve had less time to get back into game shape and more consistent time staying sharp. About the only negative of making a quick turnaround is that any injuries have not had time to heal, but Shadow believes whether you’ve had six weeks or six months, some things stick with a team.

“As far as healing the aches and pains, I’m gonna put it out there that I don’t think a derby girl ever heals her aches and pains,” she laughs. “I think you would have to go on a yearlong sabbatical to even start to heal. So as far as physically, I think we’re coming at it from an equal standpoint.”

Maybe overall, but Bronx did suffer a key loss when the MVP from the Queens game, Massacre Marie, broke her leg the week after the bout. The good news is that she expects to be back by the end of the summer. The bad is that she won’t be on the track this weekend. That doesn’t mean she’s not helping her squad though, as she’s been at practice becoming another set of eyes for her teammates.

“It’s a lot easier to get a read on some of the smaller aspects of what could be going better and there’s definitely an advantage to sitting and taking time to see what’s going on from the outside,” Marie said. “We take notes, and aside from the videos that are taken at scrimmages and practices, we’re able to give real-time feedback. It’s a lot easier to see something, tell your teammates and have them fix it as quickly as possible.”

And with the largest contingent of All-Stars in the league on the Gridlock, that feedback is taken in and digested quickly, with the results showing up on the track almost immediately. So while penalties and communication issues hampered the Bronx attack against Queens, that’s not the case leading up to the Brooklyn bout.

“We have a worked on communication a lot; our move to offense has become much sharper; and our teamwork as a whole in terms of coming together and knowing each other and how we play,” Marie said. “That’s what has increased in terms of getting much better and stronger. So the more we play together, the better we become overall, and it’s just a matter of specifically focusing on some of the strategies that we needed to tweak a little bit more, and we’ve definitely been working on that. It’s something that we have been putting into practice and that has gotten better each week.”

You might have assumed that having seven GGRD All-Stars would guarantee a spot in the title game, but in derby, teamwork is always the key, and that often takes a while to come together, especially with a bunch of new skaters playing together for the first time. That’s not the case with Brooklyn, which only has two new skaters, and also brought two veteran Bombshells back into the fold in the form of Hela Skelter and B.Zerk.

“I think it’s the team mentality that the stars are completely aligned right now,” said Shadow. “We fought really hard last year and worked really hard, but it doesn’t even compare to what we felt going into this season. Just having the two of them back on the team in full capacity has just been a physical and mental motivator for us. They’re two incredibly strong, positive women and big driving forces on the track.

Photo by Sean Hale

“As far as Bronx having a ton of All-Stars and the Amazons of the league, I think Brooklyn has the secret talent,” she continues. “We may not have as many skaters who wear All-Star jerseys, but we have so many women on this team that have skills that meet the elite level of roller derby.”

And for those like Shadow, who went through an entire season winless with the Bombshells in 2014, getting that taste of victory in March was something she enjoyed so much that she’d like to make it a habit.

“It was the first win I’ve been able to celebrate with my team and it was honestly the best feeling in the entire world,” she said. “I have never felt that sense of joy. The game [against Manhattan] was such a nailbiter and it could have gone either way. We had to pull out everything we could and band together as a team, so we fought as a team and won as a team and it was an amazing feeling. To this day, I’ll think about it and just smile to myself. I hope that we’re able to continue this streak because this is the Year of the Bombshell. The Manhattan game was a start and we’ll do it again on Saturday, and again against Queens [on July 18th]. We’re a tough team this year. We’re no joke.”

The Gridlock aren’t laughing because they know they’re in for a fight. But they’re also aware that all it takes is one win and they’re back to where they want to be.

“It [the loss to Queens] was something we weren’t expecting, but we didn’t take it as an absolute downfall. We knew we had a lot of room to grow.”

On Saturday, the true test arrives.

Written by: Thomas Gerbasi

Queens and the Bronx Seek to Make New History, not Revisit Past Glories

In the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league, the history between the Queens of Pain and the Bronx Gridlock is well documented, and one evident with just a glance at the banners that will be hanging at John Jay College in Manhattan this coming Saturday:

   10 years of Gotham;
   Four championship titles for Queens;
   Three titles for the Bronx.

In fact, for the first six years of the league’s existence, the only champions wore yellow or black, as the Gridlock and Queens traded the Golden Skate trophy back and forth.

The Bronx and Queens teams have a long history of rivalry in Gotham. Photo by Asa Frye.

Everything changes in sports though, and no dynasties last forever. In more recent years, Manhattan and Brooklyn got into the championship sweepstakes themselves; with title wins in two of the last three seasons, the Mayhem might be starting to build a dynasty of their own.

Yet the old guard has not faded away, content to live on past glories. Queens won the league title in 2013, the only team between the Mayhem and a three-peat. And against all odds, the Gridlock has battled back from retirements, skater turnover and injuries to become a thrill-a-second contender, a team that’s never out of any game.

So as the season opener for both approaches this weekend, it’s not a meeting where the two teams are focusing on the history of this rivalry, but on creating a new standard to build on and take to a championship game, no matter who else is on the track when the whistle blows.

“We look at all of our opponents the same way,” said one of Queens’ newly drafted skaters, Kitty Roadkill. “So it’s not really us against the Bronx, it’s really us playing like it’s for the championship. For us, it’s very important to be a good team, a very clean team and play against the other teams in a way that we can succeed this season. But I am aware of the Bronx and Queens’ rivalry, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring it for Queens.”

One of the Bronx’ newest members, GGRD All-Star and former Mayhem skater Swede Hurt, is also no stranger to the rivalry, having seen it from afar when she was on Manhattan. While she respects Queens and the legacy it has carved out for itself, she’s only looking at the skaters who will be trying to hit her on Saturday.

“I remember when I was still with Rat City, I came out and played Queens with one of my home teams from Seattle, and it was a big thing to play against Suzy Hotrod,” Swede said. “After that, I wound up playing with her on the All-Stars. I think Queens has a lot of legends who have been there for a while, though they had a lot of retirements and had to bring new skaters in. But their team is really solid. They have ShortStop, a fantastic transfer from Australia who played in two World Cups. She’s super strong, super athletic. Their new skaters are really good and they already had a solid team, so it’s going to be exciting to play them.”

That may be the key to the lack of nostalgia around this matchup – that only a select few remain from those early days of the Queens–Bronx rivalry. For Queens, it’s the venerable Suzy Hotrod, Hyper Lynx, Puss ‘n Glutes, and Pippi Strongsocking, while Speed McQueen is the only Bronx skater who helped raise those championship banners. In other words, it’s a new era, but no less intense.

That aforementioned Queens core is as fearsome as it has ever been, and there are more than a few veterans like Babe Brawlins, Allifornication, Celtic Thunder and ChopStick Murphy to help acclimate the team’s newcomers to the order of the black.

“It helps very, very much that we’re not new skaters per se, so we know strategies and Gotham strategies, and now we’re just building the team,” Kitty said. “We’re building Queens and not individual skills at this moment. We’re working on Queens strategies, which are very, very particular, and on team building and working together as skaters.”

And Suzy hasn’t stopped pushing her team in practices that have taken on a mythical air over the years for their intensity.

“For me personally, this is a great, great fit,” Kitty said. “I’m also one of those people that push themselves to the limit, so it’s great for me to be skating with people the caliber of Suzy, Lynx and Puss, and seeing them on the track and pushing it every time.”

The conditioning and cohesiveness of Queens may be their biggest asset come Saturday night, and they’ll need to be firing on all cylinders against a Bronx team that bears a distinctly different look from the one it sported last year. In fact, while last year saw a group of underdogs pull together to battle the juggernauts of the league, this year the Gridlock may very well be that GGRD juggernaut, with a lineup that employs seven All-Stars (the most of any home team in the league), returning jamming phenom Slambda Phage (who is now skating as Fisher Twice), and an imposing front line that includes Swede, returning All-Star Cherry Napalm, and noted knockout artist Davey Blockit.

That’s a lot of star power on one team, but talent alone doesn’t produce winners; teamwork does, and as Swede points out, Bronx is coming along in that area just fine.

“A lot of us are new to the team, so there are many things we have to learn together,” she said. “It’s a lot of communication, a lot of talking, and I’ve become to feel more and more secure in the team. I feel like I can make a difference and be an asset, and we’re helping each other. It’s a team sport, so we all have to work together and that’s fun. I’m finding where I can fit in and where I can be helpful to girls who might not have skated as long as me, or are new to Gotham strategies. It’s always an adjustment time for everyone, but I feel like we’re doing really, really well.

“I think we are building something really strong,” Swede continues. “We’re kind of a nerdy, quiet team. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like we’re starting to get together as a group, and being able to feel like the team trusts me and I trust the team is super important to me.”

So how do you beat a cohesive squad packed with skill and size? Queens has some ideas about that.

“We’re trying to make strategies that will work against that specific team, and when I look at them, they are very big,” Kitty laughs. “You can see that, so we are adjusting our strategies accordingly, and it will definitely be a challenge. But we’re getting ready psychologically and physically – we’re not allowed to eat chocolate before the bout, so we’re taking it very seriously.”

Never discount the chocolate factor.

Written by Michael Gerbasi

Gotham’s Greatest Rivals Meet in Home Opener on Saturday

With the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league kicking off its second decade this Saturday at John Jay College in Manhattan, you would assume that it’s imperative to get things off to a memorable start.

Well, the Manhattan Mayhem and Brooklyn Bombshells have a history of doing just that.

“These are the two perfect teams to be playing against each other in the season opener,” Brooklyn veteran Raggedy Animal said. “It could not have been better picked.”

“Both teams have this very strong bond, very strong identities and a commitment to each other that shows on the track,” Manhattan’s Roxy Dallas adds. “Brooklyn is happy to be around each other; Manhattan, we’re happy to be around each other. And when you’re feeling that support and are thrilled to be doing this thing together, it elevates everybody. On top of that, there’s so much talent on these two squads. It’s always such a physical game and the intensity is so high.”

Physical. Intense. Evenly matched. Sounds like a recipe for an epic opener, but that’s no surprise when these two squads get together. The last two bouts between the Mayhem and the Bombshells have been decided by a combined eight points, and with rare exception, the result of each bout hasn’t been determined until deep into the game. So what’s the secret?

“We bring out the best in each other, but why us?” Animal asks. “I don’t have an answer. (laughs) But I know that they’re brutal, hard, down-to-the-wire games.”

It may just be that given the close bonds among the two veteran squads, the idea of letting down your teammates is unfathomable. That kind of closeness doesn’t come overnight, but as far as the Mayhem is concerned, it goes back to a conscious decision to not necessarily draft strictly for talent, but for something more important.

“I talked to some of the people that have been with the team for years and they said that when they [Manhattan] were in the perpetual rebuilding years, where Manhattan was taking on five, six, seven new skaters in every season and finding it hard to get any continuity going, that they stopped picking just for skill and they started picking for personality and for character, and building the team as a culture,” Roxy said. “Obviously that’s not going to win you games immediately, but it really paid dividends for us in the long run.”

That “long run” has produced league titles in 2012 and 2014, and talk that Manhattan may just be the next great GGRD dynasty, following the Bronx Gridlock and Queens of Pain teams that dominated the early years of the league.

“We are very interested in dynasties in Gotham,” Roxy laughs. “Our All-Stars set the tone, and when you look back at those championship banners, there’s a lot of yellow and a lot of black and there’s a very little bit of blue and orange, and we would love to see more orange up on those banners.”

Mayhem orange tore through the league in 2014, but en route to an unbeaten season and another title, they were pushed to the limit by Brooklyn, who lost to Manhattan 170–169 in a July classic. So while some skaters don’t prefer to get the first bout of the season, the Bombshells are just fine with it.

“We want it,” Animal said. “We want the first game. I love that our last game was against them and our first game is against them. It doesn’t feel like we’re at a disadvantage. It’s the right thing for us.”

That confidence is well-placed, considering that Brooklyn returns to the track with a seasoned roster bolstered by the return of former skaters Hela Skelter (also back on this year’s All-Stars) and B-Zerk.

“Even though Hela and B-Zerk weren’t technically on the track last year, they were a huge presence for the team,” Animal said. “B-Zerk was at Sunday practice on her due date. She was with us and just checked out to have a baby real quick. (laughs) So she never really left and she contributed a lot during her pregnancy. Hela was managing us, so even though they weren’t on the track, they were a huge presence on the team and contributed a lot.”

Owners of a 0–3 slate in 2014, Brooklyn’s record was deceiving and they know it. More importantly, the Mayhem know it as well, and they’re not taking anything for granted, especially since they went life-and-death with the Bombshells last year. But Mayhem are skating with a trio of All-Stars (Roxy, Bonita Apple Bomb and Violet Knockout) as well as a philosophy that any skater can fill any role.

“We put a huge emphasis on training and a huge emphasis on what we call ‘Everybody Jams,’” says Roxy. “Nobody on our team is not a jammer. We have our starting jammers, our core jammers whom we truly rely upon to score points, but everybody is working to be a triple threat. Everybody is working to fill in whatever role they need to. We don’t have a really high high-end and a very low low-end. Everybody really pulls their weight.”

Animal agrees in reference to her Bombshells.

“When I sit down in a lineup, it doesn’t matter who is in my lineup with me. I feel completely confident with anyone I’m in with. I also know their strengths and they know my strengths and my weaknesses and we implicitly trust each other. There’s not a weak link there.”

You could call Manhattan and Brooklyn mirror images of each other, making it clear why their rivalry is one for the GGRD history books. But at the moment, it isn’t about history; it’s about getting the win. On Saturday, nothing else matters.

Written by: Thomas Gerbasi

Gotham Girls at the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup

Starting today and running through Sunday, Dallas, Texas hosts the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup. With 30 nations represented, this second such tournament proves that derby has indeed become an international phenomenon. And the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league is well represented this week, with Arson Tina (Argentina), Pippi Strongsocking and Cork Rebel (Ireland), Swede Hurt (Sweden), and OMG WTF, Donna Matrix, Fisti Cuffs, Bonnie Thunders, Suzy Hotrod, Mick Swagger and Sexy Slaydie (USA) all taking to the track for their respective nations. Read on for the thoughts of Team USA’s Suzy Hotrod on this historic event.

★★★

In 2011, the first Roller Derby World Cup could best be described as a step in the right direction in terms of globalizing the sport, but as far as the action on the track, it was Team USA’s show from start to finish. This week, the second World Cup takes place in Dallas, Texas, and while the gals in the stars and stripes will be heavily favored to repeat as world champions, one of the team’s veteran standouts, Gotham’s own Suzy Hotrod, believes that the tournament won’t necessarily be as one-sided as it was the first time.

“Now that it (the World Cup) is more established, there’s definitely more of a competitive nature to it, whereas I feel like the first one had a really landmark warmth to it and more of a celebration of togetherness,” she said. “It still does, but there’s so many more people competing in it, and there’s been a really present amount of information telling us that the other teams are working really hard. I think in the first World Cup I think they kind of threw together whoever could get on a plane, and this time, I think all the other countries had tryouts and had multiple occasions throughout the year where they’ve practiced together, and it may be at the point where the other teams are more cohesive, and that’s kind of cool. It’s game on.”

Growing from 13 to 30 countries, this year’s edition of the World Cup promises to show how far the sport has grown, not just from the flat track revival in the early part of the millennium, but from 2011 to 2014. Three years can be a lifetime in derby years, and as skaters like those on Team USA and from Gotham and other leagues have gone abroad to spread the derby gospel, other countries have not just embraced the sport, but they’re getting pretty damn good at it. Competing in this year’s WFTDA playoffs were teams from England, Canada, Australia and Germany, and with several America-based players joining their native countries on the track, the national teams competing in the World Cup starting Thursday will likely perform on a higher level than three years ago.

“I’m pretty excited to watch the other countries play each other, because there are a lot of teams I’m really unfamiliar with, and there’s always up and coming stars on each of those teams, and it’s really cool,” Suzy said.

And experience isn’t just the key for these teams’ improvement, though that certainly helps. What has been an important element of these squads getting better is that they’ve had more track time together, and not just over the last three years, but in the lead-up to the tournament. It’s a luxury Team USA hasn’t necessarily had.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but I do think the chemistry on this team is pretty good,” Suzy said. “It feels more comfortable and familiar. A lot of us did play on the first team, and with Team USA, we actually know each other pretty well, either from going around and coaching or playing in the WFTDA tournaments. So there’s a good chemistry. We might not have track time under our belts together, but we do know each other pretty well, and there is a bit of auto-pilot and instinct that does definitely help. So the answer is, track time is what’s going to make a team really great, but I think that the experience of the individual players lends itself to making it work when we get together.”

In a pool with newcomers Puerto Rico and The Netherlands, Team USA (which sports Gotham skaters Suzy, Bonnie Thunders, Mick Swagger, Fisti Cuffs, Sexy Slaydie, OMG WTF, and Donna Matrix) is expected to make it unscathed into the elimination round, where the real fun begins on Saturday, and Suzy and company are keeping their eye on several hungry contenders for the crown.

“We always keep our eye on Canada and England, Sweden’s no slouch either, and it’s really tough to say (who the top threats are) because I haven’t seen a lot of the European teams and I think we’re going to get a lot of good play out of Europe,” she said. “I’m excited to see some of the up and coming nations as well. Everybody’s been working hard, and I keep half an eye open on social media and there have been a few teams that have been really, really active in promoting and talking about it, so I think there will be people that are going to surprise us. There are people that are excited that this is their first time there, and the competitive aspect is much higher than the first event. Everything’s going to be bigger.”

Who would have thought that would have been the case back when Suzy first laced up her skates for the Gotham Girls in 2004? Not her.

“Even at the first World Cup I was amazed,” she said. “Everything has changed. The sport has changed and luckily I changed with it and that’s why I’m still here, but when I started, I matched it tit for tat. It was like scrappy drinkers club and it was kind of cool. (Laughs) I liked it like that and I’m still really good friends with the people who started it, but at the same time it’s totally insane what it turned into. I remember going to practices that were out on concrete in Chinatown with Modell’s skates that were 30 bucks, and I was like ‘oh, this is nothing, I’m just doing it because it’s a good way to exercise.’ I really didn’t ever think it was going to be anything big, but I’m glad I stuck around for it. It’s unbelievable how big it is.”

No Shortage of Motivation for GGRD in the Drive for Five

Jaded. Complacent. Bored. Three tags that could be placed on any team that has been dominant as the Gotham Girls Roller Derby All Stars have been over the years, as the New Yorkers have won three consecutive WFTDA world titles (four overall), 53 straight games, most by triple digits, and even one by 502 points last month.

In short, if winning is a habit, the ladies of GGRD are full-blown addicts. But when the spectacular becomes routine, a team could be ripe for a fall if they don't have the same desire to go through three-hour practices and give up personal lives in search of another Hydra trophy.

So is 2014 the year of the fall? Not if you're judging by the recent reaction of All Star Violet Knockout to the reality that this weekend is tourney time in Nashville.

"I was on the phone with my mom and I was getting things from a hardware store to hang up pictures in my apartment," she recalls. "I was running around, I had just got off work, and my mom said something about Champs this weekend and I just stopped because I got butterflies in my stomach. I was so excited and it just hit me. We've been working for this all year and I'm so excited to be able to do this again."

VKO is not alone in her excitement, and what folks on the outside of the team's CrashPad practice facility in Brooklyn don't realize, is that all the drudgery of the regular season is for this. It's to get another Hydra, cement the team as the best in the world for another year, and continue what can only be described as a derby dynasty. And though it may be a loaded question to ask, the no nonsense Violet is the perfect one to ask: Is the best version of Gotham yet?

"Absolutely, of course," she said. "Gotham continues to build and grow every year. We shake ourselves down after every championship and then we build ourselves back up. I feel like every year we've been a better version of ourselves."

It would be hard to argue with her. 9-0 in sanctioned WFTDA bouts this year, the team has continued to dominate, and it's been against top-level competition each step of the way. If the team was going to get caught napping, this would have been the year, and while Violet admits that there have been some rough patches, winning was still the end result.

"Going up against really tough competitors and stacking your season really high is a big deal for us and I think that we've done that this year," she said. "Even though we've beat people by a hundred points, they still say 'oh, Gotham got rattled,' and it's because teams and spectators can see that we make mistakes... We got into some pretty severe penalty trouble this season in the playoffs, and sure, we get rattled for a second just like any other team gets rattled for a second. We're all human beings. It's the ability to shake it off and come back and continue to execute a consistently smooth game while everyone is staying calm – that's what Gotham is very, very good at."

Gotham All Stars after winning 2013 WFTDA Championship. Photo by Tyler Shaw

Last month in Sacramento, GGRD stamped their ticket to this weekend's WFTDA Championship tournament with three wins over Kansas City (519-17), Rat City (297-92), and Denver (193-89) to take the Division I playoffs, and they will open their quest for another world title on Saturday at 2pm Eastern against the winner of Friday's Angel City vs. Texas game. Either team will be a tough challenge for GGRD, a team that has to learn from the small adversities over the course of a season because the big ones – losses – just haven't been part of the deal.

"You definitely benefit from losses and that's a thing that we don't get, and I think that's a detriment to us," Violet admits. "We operate on an excellent and strong slow burn, but when it comes down to coming back from a loss, we don't get to rally and come back from that. But people like my manager Buster [Cheatin'] and my captain Bonnie [Thunders] are so incredible because they keep us maintained at that level. They don't allow us to think anything less of ourselves. They always make sure that we know that what we have can go away very, very quickly. And you get lost in that as a team if you win too much."

It's almost like what future boxing hall of famer Bernard Hopkins told me before his 2004 fight with Oscar De La Hoya: "Motivation can come in all shapes and forms with me. If I go outside and all my tires are slashed, that's motivation. When things run smoothly, somebody has to break a glass; somebody has to do something. Some people need bumps in the road to make things happen. It don't always have to be downright dirty, ignorant stuff; it just has to be some type of motivation."

So what gets Gotham up every morning?

"We know how much we have stacked against us," Violet said. "We believe that because we know every year that we win puts so much more pressure on us to continue to win. And every year we win, it makes everybody want to see us not win. And I completely understand that. I root for underdogs; I would probably not root for us if I was not on Gotham. (Laughs) But that's our job. Our job is to stay humble and maintain the mindset that this is not our trophy. Yes, this is our championship to win, but it's going to be a battle every single game, just like this entire season has been a battle."

Now it's time to win the war.

Written by: Thomas Gerbasi