Rolling Thunder Boot Camp 15th June 2013

Devon Clotted Screamers present the Epic Rolling Thunder Bootcamp.

 

 

Devon Clotted Screamers present the Epic Rolling Thunder Bootcamp.

 

Saturday 15^th June 2013

What a day!! This was one of those learning curves we will never forget, it was our first event open to other skaters and we were all nervous as to whether it would be a success or not.  We really needn’t have worried because my word, apart from the obvious leg incident and a near miss with a helmet; it was a brilliant day, with skills and fun being had all round.

Sadly as with any bootcamp a few skaters had to drop out but we were still sell out with extra skaters appearing to get in on the action, waivers were being signed all over as the hall buzzed with adrenaline.  Then the first part of the day kicked off, skating skills and tactics.  In my opinion the sitting down and talking tactics was great, it helped me to see when some plays would be an advantage and when some should be avoided like the plague.  It also helped me realise that slowing someone down and getting in their way was an effective way of blocking, so all those big hits that I kept trying to get and landing on my own rear end, were now safely changed to sticking my bum out and just wiggling it with purpose.  It was during one of these drills when one Screamer had a bit of an incident, which required morphine and a stretcher, as well as cast and a few pins later on. You’ll all be glad to know that Sarah is now back on skates and getting back into the swing of things.

After that we decided to be more cautious and started running on our top stops until we felt like we were going to fall over, or in my case did!  All was going well until we started racing and Cherry Blitz fell, hit her head and as she did her helmet rolled away……..Scary! I forgot all about the race aspect and stopped asking if she was ok, fortunately she was, but oh my word, phew.   At this point we had a few pointers about helmet sizing which was great advice. Basically if you can tip your head upside down with the helmet on and it stays on it is the right size for you. That was advice we all certainly took on board. As if top stop running wasn’t scary enough, we then started to jump the apex. Not being a natural jumper and having just had a cast off my wrist I sat out of this, but it looked great fun and it was brilliant to see everyone gaining confidence the more they did it.

Lunch came and went rather swiftly, just giving us time to fuel up for the scrim. Armed with our black or white tops, we were divided up and got straight into it. It was awesome. The points were racking up for both teams with some great  play from everyone, even Rolling Thunder himself sneaked a couple of jams in, much to Danny’s delight as he got to jam against his Merby crush, there was much love of the track at that point. Whippety Split gave Mr Thunder a run for his money, blocking him when she could, determined not to let him pass, was great to see.   Unfortunately I can’t remember the score as it was over so quickly, all I know is it was a great day and not only was there huge amounts of derby love pouring into the room but also a huge amount of information spilling out of our full heads

Kernow Roller Girls - Mixed Scrim 12th May 2013

Not ones to shy away from a challenge 4 screamers went on a road trip to Truro. Even though only 3 of us were skating all four of us were nervous, chatting on the way there saying things like, “why are we doing this again?” “We could turn round and have lunch somewhere”. Despite the nerves we carried on driving arriving at the venue with time for a nervous wee and chocolate bar. McSu reported for scoring duties and secretly cheered us on from the side. Vicious Smit was on the black team, but Beta Max and I were on the white, oh no the Screamers were split up, what would happen?

What happened was an amazing scrim. Max was awesome as a jammer and there was loads of fancy footwork. Vicious was a brilliant blocker and her pivot skills shone through. I, on the other hand got hit in the nose and had to sit out of a few jams but still had a go at the end.

It may have been the beginners scrim but it was so much fun and everyone there was welcoming and great to play with. I’m sure we’ve seen a few of the ladies since then but it would be awesome to have another one of these in the near future.

Words Cathrine Clawley

 

Bath Roller Girls Training Session and Informal Scrim 11th May 2013

Another 3 hour Saturday training session but at least we didn’t have to get up at dawn, unlike the Bath Roller Derby girls who were paying us a visit today for a Mumbles training session and an informal scrim.


Even though informal it was actually a bit daunting to see all the Bath ladies appear in their brand new yellow tops and blue shorts, their kit looks awesome, and compliments ours well too!


It was great to see we Screamers had almost a full team of able skaters today, always takes a bit of pressure off everyone, even though it was just a friendly.


So for two hours we were put through our paces by Mumbles, working us hard on agility, drills, stamina and a little bit of fun thrown in here and there. Paceline work was brilliant with so many skaters as well as being an ideal time to get to know everyone and every skater worked and sweated hard.


The third hour was scrim time, a basic scrim as we were short of refs, but everybody mucked in and skated hard and played really well. Both teams were just as determined to play to their best and it was a hard-fought game. We really love those Bath girls, another new team like us, so we have a lot in common and always enjoy getting together with them.


After the scrim it was of course cake time, with some gorgeous Devon Clotted Screamers cupcakes, complete with our logo and glitter. We certainly all love cake on this team and it’s amazing what we’ll put ourselves through for a nice piece of cake and a cup of tea. And then a sambucca or two………..

The tough two hour training session didn’t put the Bath girls off us as the Screamers were invited to pay a return visit to Bath for a closed scrim on 14th July 2013.

Words: Coxy & I know it 000h.

NPT Closed Scrim 4th May 2013

NPT Closed Scrim 4th May 2013

Or as I like to call it “The bout that wasn’t a bout but actually was a bout”.

It began as the usual  invitation to go off on a weekend jolly to Newport for a nice little skate with some welsh ladies…well, that’s what we were all led to believe when the date was first put into our diaries.

On the day, the usual malarkey ensued: getting up ridiculously early for a Saturday; sandwiches to make; flask of tea to brew; emergency tin of pop; plenty of water; sweeties and making sure we had the not-so-trusted sat-nav which always seemed to get us there, but has a habit of re-directing us to Aberdeen for the journey home.

We’d already had a training session at home run by Hazel from NPT so everyone was fairly calm as we would recognize a few faces and were expecting it would be a similar day again, only on their home turf. How wrong we were.

As we turned up in Newport and entered the smart sports hall, it became immediately obvious things were a bit more serious. NPT were already in their team kit, warming up on track and looking a bit, well, dangerous. Referees and official-looking people with clipboards were milling around and there were even people there to watch the game. Mild panic set in, legs turned to jelly, and waivers were signed, illegibly in my case as the shakes meant I couldn’t hold a pen. We didn’t have a full team of Screamers so a couple of the lovely NPT skaters were in blue and ready to skate with us. Before I knew it and before I even had one skate on I was in the middle of the track for the pre-game Captain chat, now it was getting really serious. Then it began……..

From the first whistle the pace was really fast and as ever, the game was a bit of a blur. As soon as you are on track you have no time for fear, adrenalin kicks in. Still being very new to this derby game at this point we did amazingly well, our walls were getting stronger and we were even hitting some players off track. Slowly and surely we were working together as a team and points were being scored by the Screamers too! As we were short of skaters it was pretty much a constant game of being on track as long as you could still breath. Three jams in a row for our skaters was normal in this game, all that stamina training had definitely paid off and everyone did superbly.

The relief at the final whistle to be alive was overwhelming, sweaty hugs all round and then off to the pub in welsh convoy for celebratory/obligatory booze and more chat about everything derby.

Everyone that day was amazing, we are so thankful to NPT for welcoming us, we learnt loads and are eternally grateful for all the support and encouragement shown to us by their skaters and refs too.……..and for giving us a proper battering! We love it!

Words: Coxy & I know it 000h.

Portsmouth Training Session & Mixed Scrim 21st April 2013

Portsmouth Training Session & Mixed Scrim 21st April 2013

Another early start on another Sunday morning when all participating Screamers converged at the Leisure centre for the convoy to Portsmouth for a bit of training and a mixed scrim. As ever nerves were present but were partially allayed by the few who had previously been to Portsmouth skating in a mixed scrim and could relay a few details about the super-organised and rather hardcore Portsmouth ladies.

Of course, a few of us managed to get lost and on seeing a massive cruise liner in the harbour, we were seriously considering how we could sneak on board. We could always blame the sat-nav. But the one-way system swept us away from France and back to Portsmouth and reality. Thank goodness for texting…..”we’re lost” being a common text for a Screamers Road Trip usually followed by  lengthy directions consisting of passing landmarks such as pubs, parks and generally dodgy places. And today, we even got there early enough to have pre-training snacks, obligatory cups of tea and a brief relax in the sunshine. Is it me, or have we spent some of the hottest, sunniest days sweating in various Leisure Centres this year? Apparently it’s been a beautiful summer!

The Portsmouth venue was eerily quiet. The hall where we were skating was bright, shiny and packed with skaters and refs, eagerly getting kit on. Quite a few of them were changing wheels, the floor in here was renowned for being quite slippy and fast.

We had a three hour session to look forward to and were immediately called to get on track and the warm up began. We were worked super hard by Tilly of the Wenches, putting us through our paces, and the Screamers all got right in there and gave their best and sweated pints. The super slick floor was a bit of a problem to start with, although if you did go down, it was satisfying to be able to finish with a superb bit of sliding!

When it came to the mixed scrim, the nerves that had passed earlier were straight back, the Screamers now had a few Wenches in their ranks and the pressure was on. Our bench was run like clockwork by Portsmouth and it was a super fast game, incredibly hard hits and even some apex-jumping by the Wenches. The scrim seemed to be endless, it actually went on for way over an hour and everyone was skating incredibly fast. It was to date, the hardest session of my life and by the end I was hurting literally from head to foot.

One of the most important things I learned that day was how the Wenches ran their line up and bench to perfection. An organised, quiet bench with the next line-ups ready to spring to the jam line. Knowing what you were going to do before you  actually get on track helps so much, a bit of calm before the storm of the next jam but knowing what your team mates are going to do too.

We were all made incredibly welcome by the lovely Wenches and really appreciate the knowledge they shared with us. After the customary super quick wet-wipe-wash we all hobbled off to a local pub for a celebratory drink before the long drive back, shattered, exhausted, a little bit stinky and just plain grateful to still be alive and in one piece.

Words: Coxy & I know it 000h.

Portsmouth Mixed Scrim 31st March 2013

Portsmouth Mixed Scrim 31st March 2013

4 Screamers and their adoring coach hit the road for a mixed scrim in Portsmouth. The nerves were obvious with all the chit chat on the way talking about what was going to happen, or what we thought was going to happen. We thought we would be way out of our league and wondering round like headless chickens, that was not the case. The wheel in a sock warm up was great for building confidence and getting us to communicate with people we didn’t know. It also made us focus on something other tha skating so we could get used to the floor, which was brilliant. Coxy and McSu had a wine gum incident and have since learnt that wine gums and gumshields are not a good mix, especially before a kit check. All of the ladies were great at calming our nervous and as we waited to get on the track they chatted with us about smelly kit and fun names and we started to feel more at ease.

We were all on the Sacrificial Blams team, wearing our black tops and ready to go and sacrifice all that stopped us from scoring points. After a sticky kit check we were on. Line up, after line up we were giving our all. Only a few penalties and a great amount of tactics learnt it was a great day, we even got to play with Toxic Shock Syndrome and Gay Lord Blocker. Was great to know these ladies and other awesome players had our backs on the track. We had a wonderful day and again made some great friends who’ve been a part of our skating family ever since. Anyone fancy a rematch……?

Portsmouth mixed scrim by so solid sue 


For some odd reason early into my derby life and not long enough after passing min skills, myself , Catherine and Charlie signed up to play a mixed scrim in Portsmouth. Just before going Charlie couldn't go but after a bit of ear bending we managers to talk coxy and smit to join us. After a lovely night at mama smits house myself, smit and little smit headed off to Portsmouth. Arriving early we got a little play in the kids area. Finally the others arrived bringing tony, jerry and Danny with them. So the screamers join team blambs and nervously watch all the others testing which wheels to use.... We didn't have a choice lol. Everyone got on the track to take part in the warm up which involved throwing socks with wheels in at each other and trying to remember our numbers. There were three teams so we got to play two games. Personally I completely forgot how to hit and block a few times but my highlight was being on the track with gay lord and being part of a move where she knocked the other pack off the track from the side. My job was to keep an eye out for the other jammer, by that time it was all I could manage. There main goal seemed to be for the pack to skate fast away from the pack so the jammer couldn't catch them let alone get through. 

Our team came 2nd and after our usual flask of tea and  motivational talk from tony we headed off, I was lucky enough to get another night in the care off mama smitt which was needed.