 |
| Shipyard Sirens with Calamity Janes |
 |
| Tacky getting lined up for a hit from a Janes Blocker |
While preparing for the first bout of the season, and the
Sirens third bout as a team, it was difficult to know what to expect from the Maine Roller Derby
Calamity Janes. We knew that we’d been borrowing content from the online copy
of the MRD training manual since we started as a league; we knew that their
skaters should have relatively comparable experience/time/bouts under their belts
and the mentorship of some extremely experienced skaters but we didn’t know
much else. I personally assumed that we’d be bedazzled by a bunch of new, top
notch American derby strategy (cause you know we get things here late), and be
beaten smoothly and precisely (there is no lack of loyalty in realism). But
that’s not how it went down at all. I choose to view it as a microcosm of the US vs Canada bout. Sirens were out-skilled by a team of
fearless, relentless warriors! They used very basic, logical derby strategies
we recognized, but countering them was virtually impossible! Their jammer
footwork and psych outs were explosive. To a skater there were none that could
be identified as a ‘weak link’ or an easy goating opportunity. Their hits were
frequent and hard as hell. This is worthy of note because as a league, FCR has
often prided itself in its contact skills, both in giving and taking. However,
instead of having just four or five big hitters, Janes seemed to have all big
hitters, without sacrificing speed. Masquerage literally limped away from that bout, and if you know Masq, you know she's one tough cookie!
The two broad skills I believe that set Janes ahead were
their excellent timing and use of hits. It served to set the tone of
fear it took the Sirens a long time to shake (and some I suspect never did). When
a Sirens blocker would line up the Janes jammer or blocker for a hit, there
were immediate preventative or retribution hits, usually streaming in unnoticed from left field.
In boxing, there is a thing called the “counterpunch” that is similarly
effective. When a boxer receives an immediate pop in the nose for every hit he
doles out, he starts to be less willing to throw punches. The same holds true
in derby in my experience. If you are getting knocked on the floor from any
direction any time you try to do something (jammer or blocker) you become more
hesitant to take risks. Despite the constant flurry of abuse, little of it was
wasted, as it was applied at opportune times, swarming forward to help jammers through as well as
fuelled the exhaustion of the opposing team. This is what set the Sirens back
in general in the first period I think, the effective crushing of souls.
Most of the Janes lineups looked to be using a pretty
standard 3 defense 1 offense blocker and dominating the front of the pack. By
the second period, Sirens started getting pretty good at fighting for the
front and building two or three-walls there, while cycling their most effective
jammers in more often. They were even lucky enough to get several power jams,
but the points they could pick up were limited because the Janes have excellent
defense and pack control. Their walls are tight and they proved effective at controlling
pack speed with goating or staying just out of reach at the front to keep it
sped up.
 |
| Fancy Nancy |
 |
| Tacky Tammy |
Scrum starts on the jammer line seem to have contributed
effectively to Sirens improving their performance in the second period, and bought them a majority
of their lead jammer statuses if I remember correctly. The point difference was
about 200 to 18 in the first period and the leak was cut in half and points earned
about tripled in the second period ending with 308 to 54. Sirens actually got
lead jammer many times in the second period but the Janes ability to switch
immediately from defense to a frenzied offense, and the excellent footwork of
their jammers assured their jammer was never far behind, limiting sirens to
tiny bites of 2 to 4 points before being forced to call it off.
 |
| Lil Chop happy in da box |
Another worry we had going in to a bout with a WFTDA league
was the possible disconnect between the officiating we’re used to and the WFTDA
type. Though our rules training and testing is pretty regular, we didn’t know
if we had been missing a bunch of subtle rules that we’d get called on. We just
weren’t sure. The bout officiating was excellent, and very reassuring! Head referee
was 3 Day Bender (WFTDA) from Boston and there
was a mix of MRD, Boston,
and FCR (Brad Pittiful) refs there. The pre-bout meeting was very efficient,
lining up the NSO’s and Refs who would work most closely together to discuss
any signals they may use and so on. I was doing outside whiteboard, and it
seemed to run like clockwork. The teams ended up with what appeared to me from
the center board as about equal penalties. There were no expulsions, and as far
as I remember no more than 3 or 4 majors per skaters. Our Allie B Bashin only
got 1 minor! At the half time 3 Day Bender emphasized a warning about being careful of impact and not accidentally calling majors when they should be minors. They were very
careful and fair on their calls and I did not hear a word of complaint from our
skaters afterwards. All in all the officials were very officious, as they
should be!
The Calamity Janes proved that the team with the better
physical ability in implementing a strategy, even if both teams know it, will
come out on top. Sirens pulled a few moves that appeared to confuse the Janes and work a bit but it didn't make much of a dent in the face of superior ability. Sirens walls were tight (for FCR) but Janes walls were
tighter. Sirens jammers had good footwork (For FCR) but Janes footwork was
better. Sirens hits are pretty strong in general, but Janes were harder and
they stood up better to Sirens hits as well. Sirens now have some experience and
feedback to further work on their training program and set higher standards
of performance to continue pushing to be competitive locally and
internationally! Thank you Calamity Janes for the schoolin and the pizza! We and our fans had a great time!
