00:00:14.319 --> 00:00:16.739
Balder Dobby certainly attracts a certain type
of woman.

00:00:16.819 --> 00:00:19.899
Like a strong, feisty woman, but not everybody's
like that.

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.889
You get loads of, you know, wallflowers and
quiet people and everything in between again.

00:00:25.790 --> 00:00:31.319
We're all strong, independent, female, pushier
types, confident types,

00:00:31.389 --> 00:00:34.860
you know.
A strong woman is very feminine, you know,

00:00:35.029 --> 00:00:39.220
who can hold their own and not be shy and
feel that they can conquer the world.

00:00:39.229 --> 00:00:40.990
I mean, that's badass.

00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:49.029
There's something very empowering about hitting
someone and they fall to the ground or they

00:00:49.029 --> 00:00:53.900
move in the direction you chose for them to
go and they didn't wanna go there.

00:00:55.290 --> 00:00:57.759
You're on roller skates and you're hitting
people.

00:00:58.259 --> 00:01:02.889
You definitely have to be a little crazy to
play this sport.

00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:16.019
Who will it be?
Will it be Jackie Burdette leaving or will it

00:01:16.019 --> 00:01:19.879
be?
I'm gonna miss it.

00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:29.000
Raquel Welch is the hottest thing on wheels.
In the violent world of roller games.

00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:33.360
There's room at the top for only one, and
there's only one Kansas City Bomber.

00:01:43.059 --> 00:01:47.540
The fact that, like, you're combining roller
skating, which is like let's hold hands and go

00:01:47.540 --> 00:01:53.089
to the roller rink, with chicks beating on
each other physically is like

00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:59.879
fireworks.
I'm gonna hit first and I'm gonna choose where

00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:01.589
I'm gonna go and you're gonna deal with it.

00:02:01.800 --> 00:02:05.160
It's really like an animal instinct, you know,
like a survivor,

00:02:05.169 --> 00:02:07.029
a fighter, a predator almost.

00:02:10.399 --> 00:02:13.020
I like to have my adrenaline pumping before I
step out on that track,

00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:15.860
so I'll ask my teammates to punch me in the
arms as hard as they can,

00:02:16.110 --> 00:02:19.470
and I'll drink kind of caffeinated drinks and
make sure that I'm really hyped and

00:02:19.470 --> 00:02:20.539
psyched and ready to go.

00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:27.869
When I first started playing Derby, my grandpa
was like,

00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:31.699
so do you still wear wooden wheels?
Do they play the organ at the roller rink?

00:02:32.429 --> 00:02:34.070
I was like, Grandpa, lots changed.

00:02:42.270 --> 00:02:48.660
This is the most exciting new sport of the
century, watching sexy women play a tough

00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:52.550
contact sport, all in a sort of punk rock
environment.

00:02:53.410 --> 00:02:56.759
Kind of anything goes, and the weirder the
better.

00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:12.389
Madam is here, let me introduce my favorite
team in the.

00:03:20.839 --> 00:03:25.289
The new kids on the block are one of the top 12
teams in the world and definitely the best team.

00:03:25.289 --> 00:03:30.210
In Canada.
They formed this fantastic team around

00:03:30.210 --> 00:03:34.869
2010, and
no one's been able to touch them in the last three

00:03:34.869 --> 00:03:41.500
years.
The stereotype of a derby girl

00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:45.029
is tattoos, fishnets, and kind of rockabilly.

00:03:46.350 --> 00:03:50.630
I definitely don't fit the derby girl
stereotype, but I definitely consider myself a

00:03:50.630 --> 00:03:55.360
derby girl.
Iron Wench is one of the best jammers in the

00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.759
world, definitely the best jammer in Canada,
and, you know,

00:03:58.839 --> 00:04:01.869
as far as Montreal goes, she's, uh, she's
Sidney Crosby.

00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:14.679
The first jam that I ever played, the captain
of the other team noticed that I was some fresh

00:04:14.679 --> 00:04:19.630
meat and new on the team, and she spotted me,
and as soon as the whistle blew she just came

00:04:19.630 --> 00:04:25.470
at me for no reason, just popped me in
the sternum and I just fell backwards.

00:04:25.679 --> 00:04:27.630
I was like, okay, I've arrived.

00:04:29.859 --> 00:04:33.049
Smack Daddy was the most valuable player at the
World Cup.

00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:38.220
She was on Team Canada,
she was definitely one of the pillars of that

00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.459
team.
It was really her sort of shining moment.

00:04:43.260 --> 00:04:48.049
In terms of the people in the league,
I'm definitely the example of the person

00:04:48.049 --> 00:04:52.200
whose world has become Derby, so it's a big, big
part of my life.

00:04:59.109 --> 00:05:03.220
The World Cup in Toronto was the real first
tangible proof that

00:05:03.470 --> 00:05:05.899
you know, the planet's going derby.

00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:18.549
There were 13 countries represented, which
means 13 national teams.

00:05:22.489 --> 00:05:27.399
I was on Team Canada, but the most exciting
part was seeing beginner teams that were

00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:32.760
starting up in countries in South America and
also some teams from Europe that were newer and

00:05:32.760 --> 00:05:36.309
that were, you know, they were just so excited to
come to the World Cup and say

00:05:36.359 --> 00:05:40.429
hey, we're here, and we want to learn and we're
really excited to be a part of this culture.

00:05:49.510 --> 00:05:55.369
In the world, there's over 1,400 leagues, and we
haven't really seen a plateau yet in the growth;

00:05:55.369 --> 00:05:58.309
it's always growing and growing and growing.

00:06:02.549 --> 00:06:06.089
The New Kids are in a really interesting
position right now.

00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:10.690
They've sort of skyrocketed to obviously the
best team in Canada,

00:06:11.140 --> 00:06:17.619
and they are kind of on the verge of being in
that elite group of derby teams.

00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:22.510
They're sort of just a step below for now.

00:06:24.859 --> 00:06:29.329
We're going into the Eastern Regional playoffs,
seeded third,

00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:31.739
which is amazing.
This is the best we've ever done.

00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:36.880
So if we're in the top three when we leave by the
end of playing our games,

00:06:36.970 --> 00:06:39.809
then we're going to championships for the first
time ever.

00:06:40.649 --> 00:06:44.679
Our first game is against London, UK, so we
need to beat them.

00:06:46.929 --> 00:06:52.320
In 2011, the London Roller Girls decided to
host a tournament that they called Anarchy in

00:06:52.320 --> 00:06:57.109
the UK.
And it was the first time that there was WFTDA

00:06:57.109 --> 00:06:59.380
sanctioned play in Europe.

00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.190
So it was like being at Woodstock.

00:07:07.769 --> 00:07:10.890
That was our first game against Montreal, er,
and they beat us,

00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:12.040
they pounded us, really.

00:07:18.059 --> 00:07:24.500
We played again at East Region playoffs last
year and it was a streaker and London takes the

00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:29.070
lead 36 to 35, but Kamikaze Kitten doesn't want
to give up yet.

00:07:29.739 --> 00:07:31.500
That shot by Smack Daddy.

00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:38.260
I remember last year when we came to regionals,
I felt hit harder by Montreal than I had by any

00:07:38.260 --> 00:07:40.130
other team I've ever played in my life.

00:07:40.470 --> 00:07:44.119
Cammie getting knocked left, right, and center,
definitely getting a little,

00:07:44.140 --> 00:07:47.250
uh, a little manhandling from the Montreal
blockers.

00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:53.899
And I think they beat us by maybe 2 points and
it was actually voted the most exciting game um

00:07:53.899 --> 00:07:58.179
on Derby News Network last year and that's
gonna do it.

00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:02.250
Unbelievable historic international bout.

00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:10.850
It does not get more exciting than this so it's
kind of like a kiff k we won the first game

00:08:10.850 --> 00:08:12.769
against them, then they won against us and.

00:08:13.739 --> 00:08:15.309
It's now it's our turn again.

00:08:18.880 --> 00:08:22.720
If it's fair to say that we have a rival, then
our biggest rival,

00:08:22.829 --> 00:08:24.760
our nemesis is Montreal roller derby.

00:08:25.540 --> 00:08:30.640
Essentially it's a grudge match in many ways.
Uh, both of us are definitely out for a win.

00:08:55.460 --> 00:08:58.070
I haven't played a game in four and a half months now.

00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:01.570
I broke my leg in a spiral fracture.

00:09:03.770 --> 00:09:08.489
It couldn't have been worse in terms of timing
it was like I felt like I was at the peak of my

00:09:08.489 --> 00:09:14.710
training.
I got surgery and they put 13 screws,

00:09:14.919 --> 00:09:16.200
um, the length of my leg.

00:09:18.739 --> 00:09:24.159
I'm trying to just imagine the ideal situation
of potential comeback,

00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:28.049
but does that look like, you know, three months?
Does it look like six?

00:09:32.429 --> 00:09:36.219
I've been on this team for four years.
This is our first chance at going to

00:09:36.219 --> 00:09:43.020
championships, so I need to fight to try to
find a spot on that roster because there's 20

00:09:43.020 --> 00:09:44.770
girls and 14 can play.

00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:48.070
I wanna be a part of that.
I wanna be on the track.

00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:02.140
The top of the weed.
You know, uh, people here want to know,

00:10:02.510 --> 00:10:04.460
Are you a man or a woman?

00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:08.750
What?
A boy or a girl?

00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:12.880
I'm a man, and I love to wear lipstick,
and the girls love it.

00:10:18.900 --> 00:10:21.929
I've been with the league since the beginning
in 2006.

00:10:22.219 --> 00:10:27.659
I'm the announcer for Montreal Roller Derby,
and I've been performing for quite some time.

00:10:28.390 --> 00:10:30.659
The performance involves the drag.

00:10:31.070 --> 00:10:37.479
This is the look.
At the bout, I'm the

00:10:37.479 --> 00:10:42.429
glamorous host, but behind the scenes, I'm sort
of called mom.

00:10:44.030 --> 00:10:49.950
You know, the all-caring, all-loving mommy-type
character that travels with the team.

00:10:51.280 --> 00:10:57.130
So, you know, I feel that roller derby was just
meant for me, or I was meant for roller derby.

00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:12.890
Well, I discovered Derby by just being part of
this kind of queer nightlife community.

00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:15.679
I was DJing.
I was also hosting events.

00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:19.799
There's a range of artists exploring that are
either, you know,

00:11:19.880 --> 00:11:24.429
really exploring different kinds of music or
also different kinds of performance,

00:11:24.669 --> 00:11:27.969
um, linked to music like Plastic Patrick, um,
for example,

00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:29.679
or the Lesbians on Ecstasy.

00:11:31.260 --> 00:11:36.650
It's part of this broader community that is
around Montreal creative people that are

00:11:36.650 --> 00:11:41.390
involved in different projects. At Derby games,
you'll see people from Arcade Fire.

00:11:41.409 --> 00:11:47.289
You'll see musicians even here at the bar.
You'll hear the rehearsal spaces upstairs stars

00:11:47.289 --> 00:11:51.369
will be playing, or if the windows are open in
the summer, we can hear it on the terrazas.

00:11:54.450 --> 00:11:58.770
Someone might know Plastic Patrick from being
on stage, and then they'll come to a derby game

00:11:58.770 --> 00:12:03.570
and they'll be like, he's hosting, and he's
talking about this game, and he knows every

00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:06.409
single rule. That's intense. Ninja.

00:12:16.099 --> 00:12:18.020
Roller derby is a very easy game to learn.

00:12:18.469 --> 00:12:21.460
You have two teams playing on an oval track.

00:12:22.070 --> 00:12:27.179
On the track, there are eight blockers, four per team,
and two jammers,

00:12:27.260 --> 00:12:32.030
and the jammers, obviously each to a team, they
wear stars on their helmets.

00:12:33.130 --> 00:12:40.049
Now, the jammer's role is to pass the pack and
score one point per opponent that they lap.

00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:46.940
So, they have to go through the pack once, and
then after that skate around and lap the pack.

00:12:47.510 --> 00:12:50.349
And for each opponent that they lap, they get a
point.

00:13:04.260 --> 00:13:08.619
At hockey, you're going for the puck, and you're
moving someone over, whereas in Derby there

00:13:08.619 --> 00:13:11.489
isn't a ball, an instrument, uh, a net.

00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:14.409
The body is the point, the body is the target.

00:13:14.859 --> 00:13:18.130
It's the kind of sport that if you, you look
the wrong way,

00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:19.690
someone's gonna come smoke you.

00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:28.059
At the bottom of it, it's still a jammer trying
to get through the pack, and people trying to

00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:29.059
stop her.

00:13:38.390 --> 00:13:43.030
There's a month before regionals, so I have tons
of confidence in us that within that month

00:13:43.030 --> 00:13:45.020
we're going to improve on every little thing.

00:13:45.750 --> 00:13:50.840
Um, a couple of things: we just got to watch
out when our jammer is out of the pack.

00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:52.820
We got to slow it down.

00:13:53.190 --> 00:13:59.270
If it's a slow, tight, controlled pack, their
jammers are gonna get super tired if we keep

00:13:59.270 --> 00:14:01.669
hitting them out, resetting, keep hitting them
out and resetting.

00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:08.289
I need to scrimmage.

00:14:08.969 --> 00:14:13.750
I haven't been playing for four months, so that's
hundreds of hours where I wasn't on wheels.

00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:18.280
So now that we have a chance to go to
championships, I need to spend as much time as

00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:19.719
possible on skates.

00:14:25.140 --> 00:14:28.929
We're twenty people fighting for those fourteen spots.

00:14:30.229 --> 00:14:35.690
Smack wants it so bad, and I can see it, but
we're not gonna choose our roster until like a

00:14:35.690 --> 00:14:40.239
week before, um, just to give everyone that shot.

00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:53.570
That carnival of freewheeling speed and free
falling mayhem.

00:14:53.650 --> 00:14:58.400
The roller derby is back in the big town, and
the fans of all ages get a bang out of it.

00:14:58.890 --> 00:15:03.679
When it comes to rough stuff, just ask the fair
sex who's in there pitching every time.

00:15:04.210 --> 00:15:06.190
Why, the ladies, bless them.

00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:08.890
They sure take their roller derby seriously.

00:15:09.169 --> 00:15:11.369
Oh well, girls will be girls.

00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:20.380
My first memory of roller derby was on
Charlie's Angels when Farrah Fawcett

00:15:20.380 --> 00:15:24.859
went undercover as a roller derby player to
trap a killer.

00:15:30.780 --> 00:15:31.900
I thought that it was sexy.

00:15:33.219 --> 00:15:36.830
There was a real, um, flamboyant aspect to it.

00:15:40.030 --> 00:15:46.080
It peaked in the late '70s, you know, when the quad
roller skates were very popular with the

00:15:46.150 --> 00:15:47.359
disco culture.

00:15:55.479 --> 00:15:58.460
A lot of people don't really know how the game
is played,

00:15:58.599 --> 00:16:02.989
so everyone has a weird or different idea of
what it is.

00:16:07.419 --> 00:16:11.570
The one name that comes up every single time is
Skinny Minnie Miller.

00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.729
Skinny Minnie Miller runs backwards.

00:16:15.260 --> 00:16:18.909
Her name stuck in people's heads for thirty years
after she played.

00:16:19.719 --> 00:16:22.969
So come on, Skinny Minnie, and they're gonna
try it again and they're gonna do it.

00:16:26.479 --> 00:16:28.479
I tell you what, here, that's going to hurt.

00:16:31.950 --> 00:16:37.940
It was more staged, more like a wrestling
competition, all in the name of

00:16:38.489 --> 00:16:39.859
you know, good entertainment.

00:16:42.710 --> 00:16:46.239
And then, like any sort of fad, it kind of died.

00:16:56.260 --> 00:17:00.729
In the early 2000s, I would say 2000 is the
official date.

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:07.369
A group of cool punk chicks in Austin,
Texas decided that they wanted to play roller

00:17:07.369 --> 00:17:11.050
derby, and they started the revolution that
we're experiencing now.

00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:17.310
There was a strong tie with the punk rock scene,
kind of rock and roll,

00:17:17.430 --> 00:17:20.380
kind of sexy for tough, sexy chicks.

00:17:22.229 --> 00:17:28.359
What these women did was they started it
kind of at a grassroots level, so the idea is

00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.599
that the skaters were building the league
themselves.

00:17:46.560 --> 00:17:51.670
It's exciting that we're training for a sport
that, you know, doesn't really have this long

00:17:51.670 --> 00:17:57.140
history. We're all kind of building it as we go.
We're the ones, you know, writing the script.

00:18:00.270 --> 00:18:04.599
We do everything.
This is our baby, this league. We

00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:07.119
run it. We all make decisions together.

00:18:07.780 --> 00:18:09.609
And we really started from nothing.

00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:18.410
We obviously do make money selling out arenas
or selling beer,

00:18:18.489 --> 00:18:22.800
but we put it back in our league. None of
us is making money out of this.

00:18:24.719 --> 00:18:30.040
We've been approached by someone who wanted to
market us and take over, and, you know, said

00:18:30.040 --> 00:18:33.750
that he could do this and that to us, but
nothing like that interests us.

00:18:34.040 --> 00:18:38.430
We're gonna keep doing it our way, and even with
the sponsorships that come in,

00:18:38.439 --> 00:18:40.030
the league will run itself.

00:18:58.260 --> 00:19:02.030
The Gotham Girls from New York right now are
our top team in the world.

00:19:02.949 --> 00:19:06.589
They're the reigning champions.
They're the team that everyone wants to be.

00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:09.270
We try to imitate them.
They have zip-up hoodies.

00:19:09.280 --> 00:19:14.280
We got some to try to look more like a
team, so they're definitely the people to look

00:19:14.280 --> 00:19:18.880
up to.
They're kind of, how do I say, when you

00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:22.219
watch a Disney movie and they're sort of the
mean team,

00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:27.079
that's them.
They wear black, and they always outnumber the

00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:29.390
other teams on the track during warmup.

00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.910
The first time you see Gotham, you remember.

00:19:34.150 --> 00:19:36.140
Suzie Harrod is one of the big players.

00:19:36.790 --> 00:19:39.660
She's one of the superstars of roller derby in
the world.

00:19:41.849 --> 00:19:48.099
My whole team has given everything up to be a
team together, and it might be because we're

00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:54.290
like New York City types. In order to live in
New York, you have to fight to get a job, and if

00:19:54.290 --> 00:19:58.849
you move to New York and you don't hit the
ground running and fight, you just fail, and you

00:19:58.849 --> 00:20:03.530
go home. Then you decide to join roller derby,
and it's the same work ethic.

00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:07.430
Gotham is a machine.

00:20:08.760 --> 00:20:12.400
Um, it would be nice to be like, yeah,
let's be like Gotham.

00:20:12.439 --> 00:20:17.229
But I feel like they're on their own level, you
know, at this point in time.

00:20:17.239 --> 00:20:20.160
I feel like we're getting up there, but we're
not at that phase yet.

00:20:22.069 --> 00:20:24.099
We get asked all the time what our secret is.

00:20:24.310 --> 00:20:30.150
I'm not sure that there is a secret, but at the
same time I'm absolutely super competitive and

00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:34.469
really go out there with like sort of I want to
kill my opponents type of attitude.

00:20:36.630 --> 00:20:40.479
Mm, I played sports when I was younger and then
I quit them.

00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:42.829
I didn't like them.
I didn't like the girls that played them.

00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.630
It didn't interest me, and then when I was in
college I played in a band and I liked to feel

00:20:48.630 --> 00:20:52.910
the way the audience would get excited and
scream and cheer and sing along, and roller

00:20:52.910 --> 00:20:55.229
derby kind of tied those two together.

00:21:07.219 --> 00:21:08.219
No.

00:21:14.170 --> 00:21:17.099
It's a counterculture, kind of a world.

00:21:17.510 --> 00:21:22.459
Nobody cares, or in fact it's celebrated if
you've got tattoos or you've got pink hair or

00:21:22.459 --> 00:21:26.380
you know, you have a kind of devil-may-care
attitude about things.

00:21:28.969 --> 00:21:33.520
When we started, we just didn't know, so we
would wear fishnet stockings and little skirts.

00:21:33.810 --> 00:21:36.719
Then you figure out that when you fall down
and you rip your skin off,

00:21:36.770 --> 00:21:42.489
that's stupid, so now we wear like spandex
and lycra, and if you want to express

00:21:42.489 --> 00:21:46.810
yourself stylistically with clothing, you can
wear shiny high knee shorts on top of your

00:21:46.810 --> 00:21:48.489
athletic stretchy pants.

00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:55.280
When it started, you were a roller girl, and
then you build that persona and kind of bring

00:21:55.280 --> 00:22:00.270
out our characters that are maybe at that
point more related to our names and our outfits.

00:22:00.560 --> 00:22:05.420
Whereas now it's more individual, as athletes it
has to be matched with

00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.630
you know, proving yourself on the track.

00:22:12.250 --> 00:22:13.489
Mom's my kids.

00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:17.849
My mom really hates my name.

00:22:18.239 --> 00:22:22.689
She would never say it. She thought it was the
worst thing ever when I chose my name.

00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:26.209
I made her a shirt that says my mama's.

00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:31.189
Got my first tattoo when I was 16.

00:22:32.969 --> 00:22:37.479
My dad always told me to never get a tattoo
where a judge can see it.

00:22:39.420 --> 00:22:40.520
Smart man.

00:22:56.609 --> 00:23:01.349
The spirit of Montreal roller derby, I find, is
definitely in the Myland neighborhood in

00:23:01.349 --> 00:23:05.060
Montreal.
That's where we started playing our games.

00:23:05.150 --> 00:23:07.300
Smack Daddy's bar is down the street.

00:23:07.670 --> 00:23:11.750
My skate shop is almost across from Smack
Daddy's Bar.

00:23:11.790 --> 00:23:14.479
Which is 2 minutes away from the Arena.

00:23:18.020 --> 00:23:22.229
I opened the Royal Phoenix bar with someone
that I met through the Derby League.

00:23:22.959 --> 00:23:27.689
We wanted a spot like a hangout, kind of
clubhouse for the Derby community.

00:23:29.530 --> 00:23:33.050
You know, I have derby girls that work on my
staff, and we have all the after parties for the

00:23:33.050 --> 00:23:40.010
Derby games.
When we started in 2006, there were about three other

00:23:40.010 --> 00:23:46.969
leagues in Canada, and now there's a league in
at least every major city, and a lot of

00:23:46.969 --> 00:23:49.400
small communities are starting to have them as
well.

00:23:51.479 --> 00:23:55.229
Georgia Tush was the Montreal Roller Derby
founder.

00:23:55.969 --> 00:24:02.469
She is now and will always be sort of a, a
queen amongst the Canadian Derby players.

00:24:03.670 --> 00:24:10.540
This whole idea of Montreal Roller Derby kept
coming up at parties where everybody was

00:24:10.540 --> 00:24:14.349
drinking, and when it happened, we had our first
meeting at a bar,

00:24:14.699 --> 00:24:17.619
uh, we didn't really know what we were, we were
getting into.

00:24:20.239 --> 00:24:25.219
The sport was growing as we were building it,
so a lot of it we just kind of made it up

00:24:25.219 --> 00:24:29.079
ourselves.
We had to like find a place to practice.

00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:30.439
We had zero money.

00:24:31.250 --> 00:24:34.359
We didn't know how to skate or how to play.

00:24:34.810 --> 00:24:38.209
We were watching videos on YouTube and being
like, oh,

00:24:38.250 --> 00:24:42.199
I think that's like this.
Oh, let's try it and maybe it'll work.

00:24:43.739 --> 00:24:47.449
If I personally were trying out right now,
I don't think I'd make it.

00:24:47.819 --> 00:24:50.890
I was the slowest to learn how to skate.

00:24:51.300 --> 00:24:55.660
There's actually footage of it somewhere, and I,
I don't even want to see it — like me holding on a

00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:58.260
wall, crying because I can't skate.

00:25:04.719 --> 00:25:08.310
Many of us who play Derby in Montreal live in
this neighborhood.

00:25:09.339 --> 00:25:13.369
It's like this bizarre kind of a
sisterhood; we all sense that we have this

00:25:13.369 --> 00:25:15.290
similar value system.

00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:21.300
We don't have a secret language, but we do have
this huge thing in common, which is Derby.

00:25:33.790 --> 00:25:35.550
My background is figure skating.

00:25:40.020 --> 00:25:44.329
I was a pair skater for a long time.
I was part of the national team for five years,

00:25:44.380 --> 00:25:50.130
and I also went to Worlds in 1995, so I skated
with a boy who threw me around everywhere,

00:25:50.140 --> 00:25:53.849
and the falls are quite heavy and quite hard,
and you're,

00:25:53.859 --> 00:25:56.939
you're much higher than you would be if you
were jumping on your own.

00:25:56.979 --> 00:26:00.250
So I think the physical aspect wasn't scaring
me so much.

00:26:00.300 --> 00:26:03.979
I was already used to being beaten and battered.

00:26:06.130 --> 00:26:10.680
It was a fun transition because it was like, OK,
finally I can let my hair down.

00:26:21.569 --> 00:26:27.599
I met Apocalyptic when she came to the boot
camp; um, I was coaching the boot camp at that

00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:33.770
time, but I had noticed her skating skills.
I swear, just her skating skills, my group of

00:26:33.770 --> 00:26:38.569
best friends have referred to me as the mac
daddy in my younger days of being out at the

00:26:38.569 --> 00:26:40.209
bars and liking the ladies.

00:26:41.189 --> 00:26:45.609
She just really intrigued me, you know, I
wondered, like, someone with such a big

00:26:45.609 --> 00:26:48.810
personality like that, like who is she?
I was just so curious.

00:26:49.729 --> 00:26:54.380
So we've pretty much been inseparable since
then, and we live together, we play Derby

00:26:54.380 --> 00:26:56.689
together and we work out together.

00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:04.729
I was living with my parents right before I
started Derby,

00:27:05.150 --> 00:27:11.410
so I would tell my mom that I was going to do
um, dance classes.

00:27:12.180 --> 00:27:14.630
So I actually hid for a while.

00:27:15.430 --> 00:27:20.180
And then this year I told her, you know, I said
you might actually really enjoy,

00:27:20.270 --> 00:27:25.910
you know, watching me play and, uh, she actually
said that she does not want to come watch me,

00:27:26.310 --> 00:27:28.430
uh, do something that might be dangerous.

00:27:32.729 --> 00:27:37.849
Tonight we're gonna be scrimmaging our B team
just to make sure that, you know, we actually

00:27:37.849 --> 00:27:40.760
learned something in the last few weeks and we
didn't forget it all.

00:27:43.010 --> 00:27:44.010
No backpacks here.

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:53.660
Black 86, not get a bounce.

00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:00.400
I can leave.
You

00:28:09.670 --> 00:28:16.300
So we went through a lot

00:28:16.300 --> 00:28:18.540
of crap this year.

00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:20.979
The first injury that we had was Tus.

00:28:21.829 --> 00:28:24.709
She got hurt at the World Cup with a broken
collarbone.

00:28:25.790 --> 00:28:28.359
And then Bone Machine had a concussion.

00:28:29.199 --> 00:28:30.939
Tu had a concussion.

00:28:32.260 --> 00:28:35.449
Greta Bobo hurt her shoulder, so she was out
for a month.

00:28:36.780 --> 00:28:40.650
Then Smack Daddy broke her tibia and fibula out
of practice.

00:28:41.969 --> 00:28:48.599
The fateful night of the leg injury, uh, I
remember like it was yesterday.

00:28:48.989 --> 00:28:53.280
The drill was ending.
I was alone skating and I really just pivoted

00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:54.349
on my skates.

00:28:54.599 --> 00:29:01.489
She just fell on her stomach, landed on her
hands, and basically, as soon as that happened,

00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.479
she pretty much said, "My leg's broken."

00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:08.020
Um, Jen was with me, my girlfriend
Apocalypseick, and.

00:29:09.130 --> 00:29:12.199
She went out to call my mom like I finally had
a moment alone.

00:29:17.099 --> 00:29:19.819
20. No one's asked me this yet, um.

00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:38.109
I guess this is where you see the obsessive
type with roller derby is that the moment I

00:29:38.109 --> 00:29:43.069
actually took a second to think that I couldn't
play this season is when I lost it.

00:29:44.020 --> 00:29:49.410
Um, so that's when I, like, at the hospital I
started really, like, Jen came back and I was

00:29:49.410 --> 00:29:55.209
like, I don't think I'm gonna play, like, I don't
like, we're kind of like laughing, and as I was

00:29:55.209 --> 00:29:58.869
crying, I was like, I can't believe I'm
crying because the derby, like, my leg's broken

00:29:58.869 --> 00:30:02.290
that's what I should be crying about, you know,
like, it's just this, like,

00:30:02.780 --> 00:30:07.599
really intense moment of like accepting the
fact that, because derby is such a part of

00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:12.400
my life, and like, I love it so much, and I love
training for it, and I know how important my

00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:14.079
body is, that I was like.

00:30:14.910 --> 00:30:17.520
you're so angry that it would happen to me, you
know.

00:30:19.060 --> 00:30:20.689
It just all kind of crashed.

00:30:48.979 --> 00:30:54.050
It's become a bit of a tradition in derby to
make a fun video and post it online before big

00:30:54.050 --> 00:31:00.339
games or tournaments, so we take like popular
music and mash it up,

00:31:00.530 --> 00:31:03.900
you know, mocking the stereotypes that you
would normally see, for example,

00:31:04.010 --> 00:31:08.079
girls and music videos, but now it's derby
girls that are fully in charge.

00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:11.250
1212.

00:31:11.500 --> 00:31:16.050
I asked a local choreographer to come and show
us a few moves.

00:31:16.380 --> 00:31:21.739
We'll put it out as a teaser for the regional
playoffs as like, uh, a statement that we're

00:31:21.739 --> 00:31:23.040
ready to kick ass.

00:31:23.890 --> 00:31:28.290
Bonner and Badger in here. Bonner and Badger,
yeah, awesome.

00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:34.030
It definitely fuels the community and it's a
good way for us to reach out to each other.

00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:38.969
Girls be looking like, damn, she's like, uh,
snap hair.

00:31:50.040 --> 00:31:55.829
We're putting this out on Facebook for, uh, for
everyone to see that we're showing up prepared

00:31:56.199 --> 00:32:00.469
so it's for everyone to see, but in particular
for the London girls.

00:32:04.020 --> 00:32:05.739
I'm sexy and I know it.

00:32:11.410 --> 00:32:12.770
I'm sexy and I know it.

00:32:13.609 --> 00:32:16.439
We communicate with one another and we
communicate with our fans like that because

00:32:16.439 --> 00:32:18.640
roller derby is a really special sport.
It's not,

00:32:18.729 --> 00:32:20.920
it doesn't take itself so seriously.

00:32:25.109 --> 00:32:28.619
There's also a real sense of, of fun and
mischievousness, I think,

00:32:28.739 --> 00:32:33.420
and that comes across in people's, you know,
videos and their fan pages and their,

00:32:33.550 --> 00:32:35.199
you know, their names and all that sort of
stuff.

00:32:35.270 --> 00:32:37.859
It's important that we're considered as
athletes, you know.

00:32:40.650 --> 00:32:44.640
It's a serious business. Lesbians.

00:32:46.130 --> 00:32:49.579
I mean, most of us are lesbians, but not all
of us,

00:32:49.660 --> 00:32:52.369
so she's a lesbian.
She's not a lesbian.

00:32:52.579 --> 00:32:55.969
I don't think that can ever get lost, and
there's definitely a real sense of fun between

00:32:55.969 --> 00:33:01.969
Montreal and London.
Finally, we have something that belongs to us,

00:33:02.560 --> 00:33:08.079
one of the only sports that's so dominated by
women, which makes it even more amazing.

00:33:15.449 --> 00:33:20.689
It's not coming out of a male-dominated sport
like hockey or these other sports.

00:33:21.770 --> 00:33:26.170
Even now guys are trying to play, and it's the
first time we're at a game you can hear that

00:33:26.170 --> 00:33:28.290
it's just not the same as the girls.

00:33:30.939 --> 00:33:34.250
We have men working for us; half of our refs
are men.

00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:39.280
We have coaches that are men, but we as women,
we make our own decision,

00:33:39.500 --> 00:33:42.540
and it's mainly the same thing everywhere
in the sport.

00:33:46.209 --> 00:33:47.459
It really is their sport.

00:33:47.750 --> 00:33:49.890
Uh, we're just guys that love the sport.

00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:55.719
I mean, most of us are husbands, friends, uh,
partners, roommates,

00:33:56.069 --> 00:33:58.060
and we love to support the women that do it.

00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:04.780
For me, it's a feminist sport.

00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:09.149
Feminism doesn't just operate with people with
vaginas.

00:34:09.260 --> 00:34:15.620
For me, you know, I know loads of guys, trans,
queer, across the board people who identify

00:34:15.620 --> 00:34:16.969
as feminists as well.

00:34:17.620 --> 00:34:22.770
But I think that having a very, very female
influence is a really positive thing.

00:34:27.938 --> 00:34:34.079
I think there's definitely this culture around
the fembot Amazon warrior.

00:34:35.829 --> 00:34:38.549
All the top players in the world are now
getting, you know,

00:34:38.668 --> 00:34:40.549
turned into comic strips.

00:34:44.100 --> 00:34:47.189
Really strong hardcore players like Suzie Hot
Rod.

00:34:52.929 --> 00:34:58.649
There's a lot of poster or flyer work too
of like these girls with flames, and there's

00:34:58.649 --> 00:35:01.969
something about the female body getting tested.

00:35:02.870 --> 00:35:04.540
The strong female warrior.

00:35:10.270 --> 00:35:14.270
When I was chosen to be in the ESPN magazine in
the body issue,

00:35:14.310 --> 00:35:16.949
which is the issue where nobody wears clothes.

00:35:17.739 --> 00:35:21.570
I made sure I brought my teammates there
because I'm not a professional athlete in the

00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:24.459
sense that I don't have a publicist, I don't
have a manager,

00:35:24.550 --> 00:35:27.040
uh, you know, people that are making sure that
I get taken care of,

00:35:27.050 --> 00:35:30.689
you know, it's just me and my teammates. You
know, I had to do a lot of poses at first that

00:35:30.689 --> 00:35:33.689
were really uncomfortable, you know, and
then they're like,

00:35:33.850 --> 00:35:37.489
you know, don't you know who Suzy is? You know
she, she wears her roller skates and she's,

00:35:37.530 --> 00:35:39.879
she jumps a lot and stuff.
Why don't you look at her pictures on,

00:35:39.889 --> 00:35:42.679
on Facebook, you know, why don't, why don't you
guys have her jumping.

00:35:48.620 --> 00:35:54.689
Traditionally, anything that involves the female body and nudity
is associated with sex

00:35:54.689 --> 00:35:56.419
and sexual objects and stuff.

00:35:57.560 --> 00:36:03.520
But it's not a hot thing, like being in Maxim or FHM where you're kind of greasy and
a little bit sexualized; it's just a total honor.

00:36:03.770 --> 00:36:07.929
It's just a total honor.

00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:17.030
A lot of people thought roller derby
was from the disco era on TV.

00:36:17.439 --> 00:36:20.040
Then here was this woman who looks

00:36:20.909 --> 00:36:25.780
incredibly modern and contemporary and
urban.

00:36:26.669 --> 00:36:31.159
Suddenly she was the roller derby
star, and I think that's one thing that roller

00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:34.649
derby is going to have going into the future,
which is superstars.

00:36:50.679 --> 00:36:53.159
Part of my daily routine is checking online.

00:36:54.120 --> 00:36:57.110
Before tournaments or games, we kind of egg each
other on.

00:36:57.560 --> 00:37:02.840
We're playing London in our first game. We have
a pretty good rivalry we've established, so I'm

00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:04.560
just looking on Facebook to see

00:37:05.320 --> 00:37:10.360
what they've actually written about the
regional tournament and if they're provoking

00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:15.750
us at all. But now I'm seeing that they actually
wrote, you know, they've started the

00:37:15.750 --> 00:37:21.770
provocation here with the most exciting
thing being meeting our old mates Montreal roller

00:37:21.770 --> 00:37:25.570
derby in the first round. They're saying they
beat us once, we beat them once,

00:37:25.750 --> 00:37:29.500
best of three, ladies, see you there, which is
like, all right,

00:37:29.629 --> 00:37:31.989
bring it on because the rivalry has been
established.

00:37:32.669 --> 00:37:37.149
Just answering, saying, like, I'm looking at your
page; like, I'm on to you.

00:37:39.100 --> 00:37:43.510
Can't wait.
With love,

00:37:46.459 --> 00:37:51.310
Smack Daddy.
Alright, send.

00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:53.610
Let's see what happens.

00:38:07.409 --> 00:38:14.409
When I came into the derby community, I was very active
as

00:38:14.409 --> 00:38:16.360
an artist doing performance work.

00:38:17.120 --> 00:38:24.070
I grew up not having images or examples of
confident women that I wanted to be like, so

00:38:24.070 --> 00:38:29.889
for me, it's very important to create that
general, gender-fuck kind of idea,

00:38:29.889 --> 00:38:35.469
somewhere between the feminine and the masculine, and the masculine woman being
confident in that skin and that body. I might

00:38:35.469 --> 00:38:41.389
want to put on heels and a wig, which also feels
like drag to me.

00:38:41.389 --> 00:38:42.510
It feels like drag to me.

00:38:44.229 --> 00:38:45.229
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

00:38:53.229 --> 00:38:57.719
I took it on as a lot of anger,
and before the derby community I hadn't

00:38:57.719 --> 00:38:59.469
really found that space.

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:05.719
My derby character came from that. Smack Daddy is, you know,

00:39:05.810 --> 00:39:11.600
there's a masculine connotation; for me, it's
still exploring that territory of being super.

00:39:11.600 --> 00:39:14.120
Badass, and you know, tough and edgy.

00:39:15.149 --> 00:39:19.479
But it's not because you're hardcore and
you're edgy and badass that you have to

00:39:19.479 --> 00:39:20.590
be a douchebag.

00:39:28.479 --> 00:39:32.649
For me, I've always been a physical person
because I have a mean older brother,

00:39:33.439 --> 00:39:37.600
so I'm really used to reactionary, like partial
blood boiling,

00:39:37.620 --> 00:39:41.790
you know, like if something hits me, I hit it
back and I think that's a side that

00:39:41.790 --> 00:39:46.560
roller derby players just have instead of
asking, 'Oh, why did you hit me?'

00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:47.719
Let's talk about it.

00:39:49.629 --> 00:39:54.439
What was hard for me at first is, let's say if
somebody fell and didn't get up right away, like

00:39:54.439 --> 00:39:59.399
I would apologize all the time, and that was
hard for me to let go because I didn't want to

00:39:59.399 --> 00:40:00.399
injure someone.

00:40:05.810 --> 00:40:09.000
Aggression is part of most sports.

00:40:10.030 --> 00:40:12.500
See the difference between, let's say, violence
and aggression.

00:40:12.790 --> 00:40:16.459
Aggression is different, and when you're playing
a sport you need to be aggressive and you need

00:40:16.459 --> 00:40:20.179
to be, you need to have your heart and soul and
your body into it.

00:40:20.830 --> 00:40:25.030
If you play a sport and you're just going
halfway, I don't think you're getting

00:40:25.030 --> 00:40:26.500
the full athletic experience.

00:40:33.300 --> 00:40:38.899
We nurture male aggression, whereas we suppress
female aggression from like early on; we

00:40:38.899 --> 00:40:42.860
encourage guys or little boys to be aggressive.
Oh, he's a fighter,

00:40:42.939 --> 00:40:47.179
he's all these words; it's just the way that
socially we bring them up.

00:40:50.379 --> 00:40:51.879
Most women are underconfident.

00:40:52.340 --> 00:40:54.500
They really are.
I don't want it to be the case.

00:40:54.620 --> 00:40:56.399
I think it's crazy.

00:40:56.780 --> 00:41:00.000
All the women that I know, I think are just
unbelievably strong and fascinating and

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:03.719
brilliant and inspirational, but I don't think
they feel that about themselves.

00:41:04.219 --> 00:41:06.830
And actually, roller derby makes them feel that
about themselves.

00:41:11.560 --> 00:41:18.050
I used to be a bit depressive, so for me, when I
started hitting and needed to be a bit

00:41:18.050 --> 00:41:21.409
more aggressive on the track, it just came and
I think it

00:41:22.100 --> 00:41:27.330
I just had it in me and needed to get it out,
and now I'm just doing it in a very

00:41:27.330 --> 00:41:29.409
healthy and positive way while playing.

00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:32.280
It really transformed me for the best.

00:41:36.679 --> 00:41:40.229
Feeling like being powerful is something to
aspire to,

00:41:40.439 --> 00:41:42.040
rather than being thin.

00:41:42.439 --> 00:41:44.080
That really boosts your confidence.

00:41:45.030 --> 00:41:48.659
If you're not naturally tall and skinny, in
real life,

00:41:48.790 --> 00:41:53.820
you kind of feel like you're missing something,
whereas in roller derby, you can be any shape.

00:41:54.070 --> 00:41:59.510
And make yourself a powerful version of that shape
and be good at something and be

00:41:59.510 --> 00:42:00.669
celebrated for that.

00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:18.649
So I.

00:42:19.449 --> 00:42:22.340
Kids on 31237.

00:42:26.600 --> 00:42:29.110
Right now, regionals are really close.

00:42:30.010 --> 00:42:35.479
We're playing Ottawa Rito Valley because we
kind of want to test a few people out,

00:42:35.770 --> 00:42:42.290
see how our bench is doing, and me, Mama, and
Rev are going to sit down and figure out who our

00:42:42.290 --> 00:42:43.290
best 14.

00:42:57.909 --> 00:43:02.750
For the Ottawa game, I was told that they
wanted to see stuff with other people, and that

00:43:02.750 --> 00:43:04.909
they didn't necessarily need to see it with me.

00:43:06.370 --> 00:43:11.199
I'm obviously a bit disappointed, but we've all
been working hard, and I'm sure if they could

00:43:11.199 --> 00:43:13.429
they'd all play us, but that's not the reality.

00:43:15.090 --> 00:43:19.290
It's hard this year because everybody is so
good and has trained really hard.

00:43:20.100 --> 00:43:25.050
I'm glad that I'm not making that choice because
we're not voting anymore, so it's really just up

00:43:25.050 --> 00:43:27.449
to the captains who's going to play or not.

00:43:29.330 --> 00:43:31.770
You stick on her like fucking white on rice,
right?

00:43:31.850 --> 00:43:35.050
You are with her the whole time.
I don't care what any other blocker does

00:43:35.050 --> 00:43:37.840
on our team, you are with her and you make
fools for her.

00:43:47.139 --> 00:43:54.020
This is my first game back since my injury, and
I'm definitely nervous because

00:43:54.020 --> 00:43:59.129
it's been a while. It's hard to go into a game
knowing that you're not at 100%.

00:44:08.409 --> 00:44:12.800
We did well.
We're going to let them go as soon as we can.

00:44:13.030 --> 00:44:15.449
All right, listen, we've got to have an O.

00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:16.760
I know, I know.

00:44:17.770 --> 00:44:19.669
at the right moment.
We're not like this idea,

00:44:19.750 --> 00:44:25.010
OK.
You guys know what's best.

00:44:27.010 --> 00:44:31.360
Well, one thing is for sure, we're not playing
smack in regionals.

00:44:32.199 --> 00:44:38.909
She's not ready.
For a smack

00:44:38.909 --> 00:44:43.899
daddy, I know she's been really working on it,
but at regionals, she's going to be a target.

00:44:45.020 --> 00:44:51.179
She was MVP of the World Cup, and now she's back,
so I feel like a lot of people are going to go

00:44:51.179 --> 00:44:56.689
right after her because they know she came back from
an injury. Right now, it's like 50/50 between her

00:44:56.689 --> 00:44:57.689
and another player.

00:45:09.870 --> 00:45:10.949
Roll every Herssel race straight through the
yellow gate,

00:45:11.020 --> 00:45:12.020
please.
Thank you.

00:45:13.949 --> 00:45:15.239
Roller derby or her show?

00:45:39.429 --> 00:45:46.020
Five months ago, my dream was to actually put on my
skates for the first time at regionals. Sunday

00:45:46.020 --> 00:45:50.080
night, we got an email that listed the roster
for the London game.

00:45:50.370 --> 00:45:54.729
I was actually looking on my phone and
scrolling down, my name being Smack Daddy

00:45:54.729 --> 00:46:00.330
was really at the end of the list, so I was
scrolling for a while and then finally saw my

00:46:00.330 --> 00:46:03.929
name.
So the fact that I'm actually playing feels

00:46:03.929 --> 00:46:06.290
like I just I'm loving life.

00:46:08.610 --> 00:46:13.870
I'm pretty confident there's no reason why we
can't shake things up and be like the team that

00:46:13.870 --> 00:46:15.120
really kicks ass.

00:46:15.790 --> 00:46:22.709
Coming to you live on WFTDA.tv, it is Pelvis
Costello and Double H bringing you once

00:46:22.709 --> 00:46:29.300
again the Eastern Beast, the Sugar Boy Showdown,
and we are now very proud to key up

00:46:29.300 --> 00:46:31.590
the Montreal versus London bout.

00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:39.580
Whoever wins the game has a shot to go to the
championships, and whoever loses the game can

00:46:39.580 --> 00:46:42.729
only take 5th.
This is the game that we have to win.

00:46:43.260 --> 00:46:45.060
There isn't a second chance on this one.

00:46:51.600 --> 00:46:54.070
And here we go, Derby World, let's roll.

00:46:55.520 --> 00:46:59.800
And Iron Wench gets through the pack first to
lead jammer for the new skids on the block.

00:47:02.590 --> 00:47:07.479
Jumps the apex and scores a 10-point jam for
Montreal.

00:47:11.909 --> 00:47:14.989
Apocalyptic, 5 points for Montreal.

00:47:19.139 --> 00:47:21.770
Whoa, Smack Daddy, nice hits on Raw Heidi.

00:47:23.239 --> 00:47:25.830
Unfortunately, it's been a while since London
has scored.

00:47:26.439 --> 00:47:29.479
Montreal now 4.
I have to be somewhat impartial,

00:47:29.520 --> 00:47:33.310
which is very hard to do, you know, I have to
announce for the opposing team.

00:47:34.310 --> 00:47:39.060
And so I'll be announcing saying, you know,
Iron Wench is going up against Vagabond from

00:47:39.060 --> 00:47:44.129
London, and then I just feel like putting away
the mic and going, go, we go.

00:47:45.899 --> 00:47:52.310
But I can't. Looks like a quick official timeout
gonna happen there.

00:47:54.489 --> 00:48:00.290
Montreal is definitely in control right now,
but here's a scenario which has happened many

00:48:00.290 --> 00:48:07.159
times: London gets in trouble early on in the game,
they regroup

00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:10.080
and they come back and knock everyone's socks
off.

00:48:10.850 --> 00:48:12.760
Let's not count London out just yet.

00:48:15.810 --> 00:48:18.979
And that is Kamikaze Kitten, who is your lead
jammer?

00:48:21.719 --> 00:48:24.540
Oh, a Kamikaze Kitten's on 1 foot.

00:48:26.820 --> 00:48:29.129
That was amazing.
Gets spun up, gets 1 foot,

00:48:29.260 --> 00:48:31.370
moves through backwards, stays on her skates.

00:48:31.699 --> 00:48:35.330
London waking up in a bad way.

00:48:36.459 --> 00:48:38.050
If you're a Montreal fan, certainly.

00:48:42.229 --> 00:48:45.290
Nice pass for London, 5 point grand slam.

00:48:46.459 --> 00:48:49.100
Exactly what they need and the time in which
they need it.

00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:55.879
So we have London going into the halftime at 68
points, 64 for Montreal.

00:49:01.939 --> 00:49:04.850
We have on the line Apocalyptic for Montreal in
the green.

00:49:05.020 --> 00:49:08.139
And that is Kamikaze Kitten, who is your lead
jammer?

00:49:13.310 --> 00:49:17.469
What we saw happen earlier with London, I think
is what is happening right now with Montreal.

00:49:18.449 --> 00:49:21.610
Unfortunately, lots of penalties for the
Montreal pack at this point.

00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:30.620
Of course, you're fighting, you're on the playing
field, so you're like,

00:49:30.719 --> 00:49:35.479
hey, let's do our best, we got this, no problem
but we ended up starting to get a lot of

00:49:35.479 --> 00:49:40.149
penalties, and they accumulated so we ended up
really short on the track.

00:49:42.129 --> 00:49:45.159
The tipping point was really when we didn't
field the jammer.

00:49:47.830 --> 00:49:50.790
And Montreal, Montreal, no jammer.

00:49:51.479 --> 00:49:54.000
Remember, they've got just a couple of seconds
to get them out there, 30 exactly,

00:49:54.080 --> 00:49:58.070
but sometimes it's just people aren't on the
track, and they have to go.

00:49:58.500 --> 00:50:00.439
So this is definitely going to benefit London.

00:50:02.159 --> 00:50:06.879
There was a lot of confusion on the bench, but
not fielding a jammer is like not sending out

00:50:06.879 --> 00:50:10.280
your quarterback, so we couldn't score any
points.

00:50:12.340 --> 00:50:16.899
That's when they accumulated the gap which we
weren't able to recover from.

00:50:17.929 --> 00:50:20.110
It just hit as a storm, and we fell apart.

00:50:21.500 --> 00:50:25.909
You feel the team crumbling, yet everyone on
the bench is sitting there,

00:50:26.060 --> 00:50:28.060
you know, chewing off their fingernails.

00:50:29.639 --> 00:50:33.540
We were already falling apart as a team, and
then that happened.

00:50:34.530 --> 00:50:40.780
And what a Christmas gift that was from
Montreal with simply not fielding a jammer.

00:50:45.949 --> 00:50:50.590
London is sitting at 167, and Montreal still 89.

00:50:55.659 --> 00:50:59.500
When I saw the score, I had a really hard time
carrying on because I,

00:50:59.580 --> 00:51:02.810
I, I knew that the game was lost.

00:51:05.750 --> 00:51:11.000
It became out of our reach at that point,
letting go of the,

00:51:11.010 --> 00:51:15.199
the chance, letting go of our hopes.
It, it all just happened within those few

00:51:15.199 --> 00:51:21.879
minutes.
And it looks like

00:51:23.540 --> 00:51:26.350
history has repeated itself.
Patrick, once again,

00:51:27.300 --> 00:51:28.770
London is victorious.

00:51:40.770 --> 00:51:46.250
What happened is there was some
miscommunications and we made a mistake, and it

00:51:46.250 --> 00:51:50.370
happens, but as a team, we really played our
hearts out.

00:51:57.340 --> 00:52:00.560
And that was a real sorry blow for them, and we
felt really bad for them as well.

00:52:00.909 --> 00:52:03.520
You know, we don't want to skate unopposed, we
want to skate,

00:52:03.709 --> 00:52:09.699
we want to skate derby, but I think that we
simply outplayed them on the day.

00:52:15.699 --> 00:52:19.560
I don't feel like London necessarily beat us.

00:52:19.929 --> 00:52:22.199
I really feel like we beat ourselves.

00:52:38.479 --> 00:52:44.469
I would love to know what they're doing that
we don't do if we're actually going to ever come

00:52:44.469 --> 00:52:45.909
close to a team like Gotham.

00:52:47.169 --> 00:52:52.250
There's something obviously that's
making this difference between these top teams

00:52:52.250 --> 00:52:54.679
and us, and that's what we need to find out.

00:53:04.770 --> 00:53:06.070
Real push-ups.

00:53:06.729 --> 00:53:09.129
No, in for.
That's a real push-up.

00:53:09.959 --> 00:53:13.860
Yeah, we do too.
A lot of us don't do real push-ups.

00:53:13.949 --> 00:53:14.979
No, that's true.

00:53:15.909 --> 00:53:21.080
At this point, we're just fighting to
at least get out of the tournament in 5th place.

00:53:26.969 --> 00:53:29.520
It's a very disappointing feeling.
It's very

00:53:29.689 --> 00:53:30.689
heartbreaking.

00:53:32.090 --> 00:53:35.610
We're done and that's it.
There goes the season because, you know, starting

00:53:35.610 --> 00:53:36.760
Monday, it's over.

00:54:17.000 --> 00:54:22.000
Since regionals, a few changes have occurred in
terms of the team. We ended up having some

00:54:22.000 --> 00:54:27.840
meetings after we came back from the
tournament and really assessed together what

00:54:27.840 --> 00:54:31.320
we needed, what we needed to do differently, what
went wrong.

00:54:32.439 --> 00:54:38.580
We have a new coaching staff, you and what Army
who actually I started playing with 5 years ago,

00:54:38.629 --> 00:54:43.320
is going to come in as a head coach, taking over
the position that Rev had.

00:54:44.689 --> 00:54:49.489
We're really working on the mental game this
year, to be a little bit more calm and put

00:54:49.489 --> 00:54:53.929
together on the bench so when a game changes
not in our favor,

00:54:53.969 --> 00:54:57.560
so it's not going the way we want, we can adapt
to the situation and make it work.

00:55:00.439 --> 00:55:05.129
Also Apocalyptick, my girlfriend, who will be
assistant coach this season.

00:55:05.939 --> 00:55:10.939
We plan on getting pregnant this winter and
she'll be carrying the baby so I get to keep

00:55:10.939 --> 00:55:13.810
playing, and she, unfortunately, has to retire.

00:55:15.050 --> 00:55:17.479
Pushing back, stepping out.

00:55:17.689 --> 00:55:21.040
We're pretty much through all the tests, so
hopefully in April,

00:55:21.209 --> 00:55:23.800
I'll be able to say that I'm almost pregnant.

00:55:24.669 --> 00:55:25.840
You're always kind of.

00:55:26.149 --> 00:55:31.310
We basically plan things out for this season
where, when we have a few weeks off, if she

00:55:31.310 --> 00:55:36.899
gets pregnant even that first time, that it
doesn't collide with regionals or championships.

00:55:37.350 --> 00:55:42.659
So it's a baby born, from a Derby
schedule.

00:55:43.959 --> 00:55:44.719
They.

00:55:51.209 --> 00:55:54.590
You.
The goal is to make it to championships.

00:56:03.330 --> 00:56:05.719
At some point, it's not cute anymore.

00:56:05.959 --> 00:56:08.870
It's not like, oh, exciting, we made it to
regionals.

00:56:09.790 --> 00:56:13.750
We need to go to the next level, so that's our
goal as a team.

00:56:33.360 --> 00:56:39.239
I wanna go really bad and watch them and announce for them at the championship because
in

00:56:39.239 --> 00:56:41.870
the spectrum of things, that's the big show.

00:56:42.739 --> 00:56:47.570
You know, you get the top teams in the world, and
I think they belong there.

00:56:48.729 --> 00:56:51.840
I kinda wanna show everybody why you guys are
the best team in Canada.

00:56:51.879 --> 00:56:56.070
I want you guys to work as a team, so
I want you guys, I wanna hear you talking.

00:56:57.120 --> 00:57:01.540
I think the Montreal News kids are at an
interesting juncture of trying to take

00:57:01.540 --> 00:57:07.550
this sort of fun, neon, happy group and turn
it into no, we are serious, we're here to

00:57:07.550 --> 00:57:12.899
win. It's really neat to see the transition
from one attitude to the next.

00:57:14.949 --> 00:57:19.000
I think this is the most exciting time for
roller derby because we're in roller derby

00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:24.919
history now.
Will it always be DIY, run by the players for

00:57:24.919 --> 00:57:25.879
the players?
I don't know.

00:57:25.959 --> 00:57:29.719
I know that they want it to grow, and
obviously you have to,

00:57:29.760 --> 00:57:34.870
you know, bring in partners and turn it
into somewhat of a business.

00:57:40.290 --> 00:57:42.850
People want to get paid to play this sport.
I don't blame them.

00:57:42.909 --> 00:57:48.439
People spend their entire lives doing this, but
I think we can find a way that doesn't kind of

00:57:48.439 --> 00:57:53.959
hark back to the promoter-operated kind of
trash that ended up dying out,

00:57:54.080 --> 00:57:56.760
you know, back in the 70s or 80s or whenever it
was.

00:57:59.850 --> 00:58:02.439
There have been a couple of things that were
thrown on the table,

00:58:02.689 --> 00:58:07.199
you know, will we keep this if we decide to say
go to the Olympics,

00:58:07.330 --> 00:58:10.649
for instance, the names, you know, do we want
to keep the names?

00:58:13.760 --> 00:58:18.760
What bothers me is just that it's like Adidas
that decides what's okay and what's not, because

00:58:18.760 --> 00:58:24.639
they wrote me an email like, we let some
name go but yours, we're not gonna let it go, so

00:58:24.639 --> 00:58:28.800
if you can change your name, I'm like, I've
been playing with that name for four years, so I'm

00:58:28.800 --> 00:58:32.199
not gonna change it. So it's just rhythm on it.

00:58:33.419 --> 00:58:35.669
So that's, I guess, that's what's gonna be.

00:58:37.479 --> 00:58:41.070
Who decides what it means to be a serious sport?

00:58:41.479 --> 00:58:44.270
We're deciding. It's roller derby. We're creating
this.

00:58:45.560 --> 00:58:51.979
I hope that as a community we keep that kind of
performance element. I think it's part of what

00:58:51.979 --> 00:58:57.580
makes it special.
Even now that it's become way more serious and

00:58:57.580 --> 00:59:03.219
way more athletic, I still feel that sort of
counterculture in my heart a little bit, even

00:59:03.219 --> 00:59:05.699
though I want the sport to be as mainstream as
possible, you know,

00:59:05.780 --> 00:59:10.070
I mean, BMX and skateboarding are now
really considered pretty mainstream and very

00:59:10.070 --> 00:59:12.620
serious, and they're still kind of a little bit,
you know,

00:59:12.659 --> 00:59:18.449
I love that edgier X Games style, and I love that
roller derby fits right in there.

00:59:21.879 --> 00:59:24.350
The heart of this sport is the women.

00:59:26.169 --> 00:59:29.800
They're athletic, they're agile, they're tough.

00:59:31.139 --> 00:59:36.800
You know, that makes them, it makes them
beautiful, so on the track they are, you know,

00:59:36.800 --> 00:59:39.860
they're majestic.
They are Amazons.

01:00:17.370 --> 01:00:23.959
You, yeah.

01:00:28.199 --> 01:00:29.199
Yeah.

01:00:45.219 --> 01:00:50.419
All points go tonight.

01:00:56.110 --> 01:01:00.209
Leave a cruise in a place where I'll go out
tonight.

01:01:14.909 --> 01:01:15.419
Go.