Royal Windsor Rollergirls vs South East England Mixed Team

What a fantastic afternoon at the Windsor Leisure Centre watching the Royal Windsor Rollergirls in a charity game with the South East England Mixed Team which comprised Kent Rollergirls, Wolverhampton Honour Rollers, Surrey Rollergirls, Southampton City Rollers, The London Rockin' Rollers and the Basingstoke Bullets.

The Royal Windsor Rollergirls won but a fabulous fight was put up by the other teams.

The Videos

The teams in action

http://youtu.be/LgV47kHVjUY

Windsor Rollergirls High Five

http://youtu.be/NGHbhn1jwgI

South East England Team High Five

http://youtu.be/Bs8gdtQytW0

Roller Derby - what's it all about?

I had the rules explained to me before the game, and really I had no idea how much skill and fitness was involved. The girls practice and train 4 times a week and you can see why.

• Two teams play a bout which is 2 x 30 minute sessions.
• The sessions are then split into 2 minutes 'jams'
• For each jam a team picks four 'blockers' and one jammer (the jammer has a star on their helmet)
• The aim of the game is for the jammers in each team to get past the blockers and race round the track as many times as they can. They get points for every blocker they pass from the opposing team.
• The first jammer to leave the pack of blockers is the lead jammer and they have the advantage that they can stop the 'jam' once they have amassed points to prevent the other jammer from getting points

The game is therefore very strategic as you have the blockers trying to help their jammer get past the opposing blockers; the blockers also need to block the opposing jammer; the jammer has to get as many points as they can but be very mindful of where the other jammer is to prevent THEM from getting points too.

It's all very exhausting to watch as it's highly energetic, there's lots going on and it's very exciting.

Naughty naughty - the penalty box

Any skater can be sent to 'The Box' for 30 seconds if they misbehave, for example if they:

• Use elbows as a weapon
• Grab, push or pull the opposing team members
• Trip other skaters up
• Cut in front of an opposing skater by skating off the track to get past
• Blocking 20 feet ahead or behind the pack

Some stars

As a newbie to the game, I had difficulty identifying all the girls and watching all the fast-paced action. Clearly all the girls are brilliant at what they do but some for me stood out.

Vix seemed to just get past the blockers so easily and found hidden gaps and skated through with such speed that half the time the opposing blockers I don't think even noticed! Other notable jammers for me were sKatie, Muscle Crowe, Tash of the Titans, Yorkshire Tripper and Boden.

Trashbag was an awesome blocker but to be honest the whole Windsor team worked so well together which showed in the results. The opposing team just could not get any traction at all.

The refs were entertaining too - Scrappy Doooom your dancing was great!

Bout Calendar

Royal Windsor Rollergirls home games are on 24 August, 27 September and 1 November. To find out more or to enquire about joining the team follow them on Twitter @WindsorRG or friend them on Facebook.

Matts Fund

All profits from the event went to raise much needed money to save Freddie's dad Matt who has a brain tumour. You can donate by going to www.justgiving.com/mattsfunding and www.mattsfund.co.uk.