Preamble: It has been a little more than a year since we had first made contact with the constantly travelling Queen City Rollergirls. Whether it be witnessing the Lake Effect Furies up in Tri-City
or seeing the freshies of the league at Fresh & Furious or its sequel, the league of extraordinary QCRG has always been the friendliest of ambassadors.
A certain lot of the Queen City Rollergirls made their presence known in the Toronto area at the very first Fresh and Furious tournament hosted by GTA Rollergirls at Ted Reeve Arena. Back then it was a doubleheader with a combination of fresh meat talent from leagues such as WEWRA Rollergettes, Ottawa ORD, Sault, Queen City, Auld Reekie mixed together, wearing either the black or pink in each game. Ostensibly, the second game was the debut of the Chrome Mollys.
The aim of 2 Fresh 2 Furious was to condense the Montreal Beast of the East doubleknockout style tournament into one day and night. It was indeed a long day for the players, driving overnights and reaching the parking lot by 9 or 10 in the morning to be ready for a day that where first whistle was at 11 in the morning and 28 games held in two rinks through a 12 hour day that was finished just before 11 p.m. that night. Queen City was back again, not just with a four player representation, but fielding a full team of fresh talent along with their supporters and merchandising. And chicken wings.
2 Fresh 2 Furious was an amazing day and an incredible experience being a player for the Queen City Roller Girls’ Baby Brawlers! Our team only had 3 weeks of practice time together to formulate our strategy and work with our coaching team. Our coach, 90 Johnson, is the Head NSO and ref for our league. And our bench manager, Ace Bandage, is a member of the 2011 Champions the Devil Dollies, as well as a former head ref for the league. This was 90’s first time as a coach and learning from him and Ace was a great experience – their combined knowledge of the WFTDA rules moved our level of play a long way in a very short period of time.
Our first game was a disappointment – we were nervous, a bit on edge and getting used to a very different surface (we play on hardwoods) – and all of that showed in our play. We took some time to get warmed up and it resulted in a disappointing loss to the DVAS (59-32). We took the time we had before our next bout to refocus, relax and reconnect as a team – and it worked.
We next met the Damaged Dollz and came away victors (85-4). Our reward for winning? A doubleheader! Before the sweat was whipped away, we immediately stepped back onto the track to play South Simcoe and won again (39-19).
Next we played the Chrome Mollys – a game whose score was tight the entire game – but we again came out on top (43-37).
With that win, we moved to the final 4 – the goal we had set for ourselves the night before at our team dinner.
We got a short break and then we took the track to again go up against the DVAS and lost (28-23). But this time we played our game and held our heads high since we worked so hard to be where we were and were so excited to make it to the final 4.
As we prepared for our last game, we realized we had accomplished our goal and quickly decided, win or lose, we were proud with how far we had come – especially since we had taken the long road to end up in the final four. With the next bout, we would be playing our sixth bout of the day!
As we stepped on the track to play the Queens of Pain [the second team from from Royal City], we were already proud and happy! We ended up losing our final match (38-14) but chanted loud and proud “We’re #4!” because we knew what we had done.
After 3 weeks we had come together to form a team – a team made up of coaches that had never coached before, 2 players that had only scrimmaged and the majority of players that had only been in 1 bout before. So how could we possibly be upset with 4th place? We got to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat … but most of all, we got to become better players and we got to play derby!! And for all of us, any day playing derby is a great day!!!
Thanks to Boo D. Bloxx and there is more to come from Queen City!
Midnight Matinee 