See that fancy new calendar you’ve got on your wall? See all those empty dates? Yeah, get ready to fill them all up. The 2014 Roller Derby season is just getting ready to start, and it kicks off with an amazing opportunity for non-skaters tonight.
Flat Track
Texas Rollergirls
Think you’ve got the energy to jump from superfan to crowd wrangler? The league is looking for new blood to get the crowd hoopin’ and hollerin’. Auditions are tonight, Jan. 22, 8-9:30pm at the Blood Shed (6110 Trade Center Drive, Ste. 101B) All ages, sizes and genders welcome. Miniskirts and chainsaws not provided.
The league wil also be holding a bootcamp Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at the Blood Shed, with coaches including Polly Gone, Olivia Shootin’ John, Barbara Ambush, and Fifi Nomenon running the practices. Registration is $150 per skater, $59 per spectator, and you can sigh up online now.
And, of course, the 2014 season is just around the corner. Here’s the full schedule:
Feb. 22: season opener
March 22
April 19
May 10
June 14: Texecutioners travel team home bout
July 13: Playoffs
August 16: Championship bout
All bouts are double headers and are held on Saturdays (except the July bout, which is a Sunday) at the Austin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez. Tickets and season passes available now.
Texas Rollergirls Rec League
The league’s entry level training and scrimmage division will be running its first practice session of the year, running Feb. 4 to May 5, at the Blood Shed. The sessions will be run for four levels of experience:
Primer, the intro even if you’ve never skated before: Sundays 9-11am, Tuesdays 6:30pm-8pm.
Group C, introducing skaters to pack skating, safe contact and scrimmaging: Sundays 9-11am, Tuesdays 8-9:30pm.
Group B, for skaters wishing to improve their basic skills and learn strategy: Sundays 11am–1pm, Thursdays 6:30-8pm.
Group A, the highest skill set: Sundays 11am–1pm, Thursdays 8-9:30pm.
Registration covers the whole session: For primer, B and C is $175 for two practices a week or $87.50 for one a week, while group A is $200 for two a week.
Austin Anarchy Men’s Roller Derby
Austin’s first men’s league enters its second calendar year by looking for coaches and trainers. After a surprisingly narrow 228-192 loss to the Houston Roller Derby Coed team last December, they are hoping to become more competitive in the growing men’s side of the sport. More details at www.facebook.com/ATXDerby, and you can pick up merch at their Squareup store.
Rockin’ City Rollergirls
The Round Rock league, founded in 2012, has already set its travel schedule for the year:
March 29: versus Yellow Rose Derby Girls, Southwest Indoor Soccer, Stafford, TX
April 13: at home versus Cen-Tex Sirens, Austin Sports Arena, Round Rock
May 15: versus Missfits Roller Derby, Humble Family Skate, Humble, TX
June 1: at home versus TBD
August 9: versus Cowboy Capital Rollergirls, location TBD
August 17: at home versus Bexar County
October 26: at home Versus Cowboy Capital Rollergirls
The league is also recruiting new skaters. More info at www.rockincityrollergirls.com.
Banked Track
TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls
Austin’s original banked track league has announced their 2014 dates.
Feb. 16: All Scar Army versus 2013 champs Cherry Bombs
March 22: Hellcats versus Putas Del Fuego
April 12: Holy Rollers versus Rhinestone Cowgirls
May 10: Cherry Bombs versus Hellcats
May 31: Putas Del Fuego versus Rhinestone Cowgirls
June 14: Holy Rollers vs Cherry Bombs
June 28: Hellcats versus Rhinestone Cowgirls
July 19: Holy Rollers versus Putas Del Fuego
August 9: Rhinestone Cowgirls versus Cherry Bombs
August 23: Holy Rollers vs Hellcats
September 13: Cherry Bombs versus Putas Del Fuego
September 27: Playoffs
October 18: Calvello Cup
All bouts are the the Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road. Season passes and tickets for all bouts available now
Beyond Austin
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association
More dates for your calendar, with the announcement of the 2014 tournament season schedule and locations. For those of you thinking about a trip to the great white north, this year sees the first every WFTDA tournament outside of the US, with a division 2 event in Canada.
Division 2 Playoffs
August 15-17: Duluth, Minnesota, hosted by Harbor City Roller Dames.
Aug. 22-24: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, hosted by Tri-City Roller Girls
Division 1 Playoffs
September 5-7: Sacramento, California, hosted by Sacred City Derby Girls
September 12-14: Lincoln, Nebraska, hosted by No Coast Derby Girls
September 19-21: Evansville, Indiana, hosted by Demolition City Roller Derby
Oct. 3-5: Charleston, West Virginia, hosted by Chemical Valley Rollergirls
Championships:
October 31 – November 2: Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by Nashville Rollergirls
Blood and Thunder World Cup
Roller derby’s leading print publication, Blood and Thunder, has selected Dallas as the location of the second ever world cup, running December 4-7 at Fair Park in the Dallas Fairground. The road to the cup starts Feb. 21-23 with the Cen-Tex Stars & Stripes Invitational, featuring Assassination City, the Cen-Tex Sirens out of Temple, Dallas Derby Devils, and Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Duke City Derby, at the Coliseum, on the State Fairground of Texas, in Dallas. More details at www.rollerderbyworldcup.com, and tickets for the invitational and the tournament are available now. There’ll also be a coed boot camp the weekend of the invitational, Feb. 21-22: Registration is open now.
If you need even more incentive to head North for the tournament weekend, how’s this: Three Texas Rollergirls – Fifi Nomenon, Polly Gone and Smarty Pants – have all made the Team USA roster.
This article appears in January 17 • 2014.
