Oh!Henry started playing roller derby at 18 years old. In her first season with HCRG she joined the WFTDA chartered team, and won MVP in a bout against the Queen City Lake Effect Furies. At the next bout Oh!Henry skates in – keep your eyes open for the 5150 Peanut Gallery.

1.) Falling for in derby

There isn’t something that I can think of that actually compares to how driven you become to attend practice because it’s not like a job or school where you have to go “or else.” However, you end up in a sweaty state of worry if you even think you might miss practice. Or at least I do. About two practices in, I found myself turning down family taco night to ensure I was at practice and anyone who knows me knows how much I love a good family taco night. Roller derby is a siren sitting on a rock in the sea of…. life, making you fall in love with it.

Ok, that was cheesy.

2. Roller derby isn’t just about smashing each other up

When people hear about modern roller derby, they instantly think two things, violence and fishnets. The most common responses are,
“Oh like the elbows and punching, right?!”
OR
“Like that one movie with Ellen page?”

Fortunately for me, I had an awesome neighbor who played with HCRG and told me what to watch and look up as soon as she found out I was interested in roller derby.
For people who aren’t aware of the resurrection of roller derby, it is forever immortalized in their heads as either a sport where ladies manage to wrestle in a WWE-esque style while on skates or a movie that doesn’t accurately depict roller derby. I like to respond to comments like that by letting them know that roller derby isn’t fake or always about the big hits, it’s mainly about strategy and knowing when to do things. It’s good to remember that the hardest hitting player on a team is not necessarily the best player.

3. Falling for in derby

It goes without saying that a lot of falling takes place in roller derby. There are the falls you know are coming, the falls where you don’t even see the person winding up to hit you and the accidentals. It’s because of the last two in that list that you have to remember to stretch your upper body as well. Luckily in Derby 101 and Smash Squad you learn how to fall properly without injuring yourself. It is imperative that you stretch your upper body as well because there’s always that one fall that catches you off guard and your primal instincts are to put your arms out and catch yourself.

4. Teammates become friends, friends become teammates

You know when you yawn and then everyone around you yawns, even if they didn’t want to, and then everyone gets mad because they didn’t want to yawn? The exact same thing happens with roller derby except it’s a million times more awesome and nobody gets mad. Derby’s gravitational pull sucks all of your friends, coworkers, girlfriends and neighbors in. Unfortunately, guys can’t be on our team but husbands, boyfriends and brothers, fear not, HCRG is always looking for more Rowdy Rowdy Refs!

5. Don’t give up

This one sounds like it could potentially be filled with clichés and a heartwarming tale about perseverance. I will try to keep it as low as I can on the sappy scale. Luckily, not giving up is easy in a sport like roller derby because its so much fun. Just because Cindy Whatsherface can do slow motion backflips over the pack while reciting the alphabet backwards doesn’t mean that you should be able to, even if you both started at the same time. Maybe Cindy practiced the alphabet backwards and doesn’t know how to do it the proper way or perhaps she was raised by the cast of Cirque de Soleil and learned how to backflip before she could run. We’ll never really know but it doesn’t matter anyways because I promise you that if you show up to practice, pay attention and skate your heart out, you will improve. No matter what you’re doing, as long as you practice, you will get better. I know I had said that I wasn’t going to fill this with clichés but (I’m not even sure if this is one so it doesn’t count) learning doesn’t plateau so nobody really knows everything about anything, ya’ know? Great.

Henry accepting her MVP award against Queen City’s chartered team. Photo by Joe Mac.

Up for grabs:

• Two 2012 season tickets
• T-shirt featuring your design
• Swag prize pack

Submission Guidelines:

• This contest is open to everyone, including fans, skaters, officials, volunteers, and the derby community. Hate roller derby? You can enter too, but note you will still receive the same prizes. So you may want to re-think the whole hating thing. Or contest entering thing.
• Please include no more than three colors on your design.
• Make sure your design will be visible on grey shirts.
• The design must be family-friendly. Some sass is acceptable. Safe enough to wear at school, yet cool enough to rock at an after-party.
• Feel free to include our Hammer City Roller Girls logo, although it’s not required.
• Create your design in vector format using Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or similar. Be sure to keep this high resolution version in case your design is the winner – we’ll need it to make your t-shirt dreams come true.
• Save a copy of your design as a gif, jpg or png in addition to the vectored format. Please e-mail your submission to contest@hammercityrollergirls.ca by 11:59 PM EST on February 29, 2012. Include your name, phone number, and city.
• Please only submit your 2 best designs. Or just your very best (or only) one.
• By submitting your design, you agree that the Hammer City Roller Girls reserve all rights to modify the design, and the rights to publish and distribute the design through any means of communication.

How We’ll Pick the Winner:

1. During March, fans will have the chance to vote online through the Hammer City Roller Girls Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hammercityrollergirls.
2. The Hammer City Roller Girls will select the winner after online fan voting is complete.
3. The winner will be notified by e-mail or phone, and announced on our website and Facebook page. And Twitter. And our e-mail newsletter. (We’ll just be so excited to brag about this.)

Good luck! Hammer City loves you!

Are you a skater, fan, or league partner? Please participate in the WFTDA’s third annual demographic survey! We want to know more about you, and what your roller derby experience is like.

The WFTDA is offering randomly drawn prizes. In addition, HCRG will also be raffling off a pair of season opener tickets to our fans that take the time to answer the survey.

The survey is open from Februuary 1st – February 15th, 2012. The Hammer City Roller Girls (and the WFTDA) thank you for your time.

I’m a girl who loves to wear t-shirts. Since starting roller derby I have amassed a small mountain of derby T-s and I’m happy to say that I have an HCRG shirt for every day of the week. Of course all of my Hammer City shirts are super, but I would have to say that by far my favourite is my FreshMeat T.

FreshMeat. That is what we call new recruits. They are girls who are typically very excited about playing derby, and also very nervous. And very, very worried about falling down.

These new recruits may have been attracted to roller derby for any number of reasons: they might like that it is a full contact sport; or they may have been attracted to the tough-rebel-badass rollergirl stereotype; perhaps they just want to wear fishnets and booty shorts; or be a part of a community of strong women; or maybe they can just sense that roller derby is the awesomest thing ever and they need to be a part of it.

That’s how I got drawn in to derby. It was the awesome.

But I soon learned that being awesome does not come without a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication. It requires personal strength, tenacity and the drive to keep getting back up, no matter how many times you fall. It means believing in yourself, even when the people closest to you laugh and tell you that you aren’t tough enough to play roller derby.

Awesome means being able to ask for help, and being able to accept it. It means learning how to give of your self in support of your league mates, and working with others toward a common goal. It means being a part of a collective of strong, wonderful women with whom you will both laugh and cry. FreshMeat is the first step toward becoming a rollergirl and being a part of something amazing.

My FreshMeat T-shirt was the first tangible thing that connected me to the league that I love. It was the first thing that proved to me that I belong here. It is my favourite t-shirt because it joins me with a group of women and a sport that I care so much about that just thinking about it will bring tears to my eyes.

If you ever asked me to borrow this t-shirt I would, without hesitation, tell you absolutely NO! I earned this shirt through blood, sweat and tears. It belongs to me. Instead, I would encourage you to come out to Derby 101 and skate with us. If you stick with it I promise that you will earn so much more than a t-shirt.

Continue reading to learn more about Hammer City Roller Girls’ upcoming Derby 101

For more information about preparing for Derby 101, download our Fresh Sheet, check out this FreshMeat File from Rollergirl.ca or email freshmeat@hammercityrollergirls.ca

Gifts have been opened. The turkey has been digested. New Year’s Resolutions have been made (and some already broken). The hustle of the holidays are over… Now what?

HCRG was on a 4 week winter break, and as a “newer” skater I couldn’t wait to get back on the track! I think… I hope?

2011 was an exceptional year, and one that introduced me to roller derby. I couldn’t wait for the winter break to be over. As I made my faithful drive to practice (Which is 45 minutes – a small sacrifice I make for a sport I love so much) all the anxiety came crashing down like a gigantic wave of self-doubt about to carry me out to a sea of uneasiness. In short, I wanted to cry. But I couldn’t – my daughter was with me. So I held back the tears. My personal New Year’s Resolution is not to cry on game day – yes, derby girls get nervous.  I continued our 45 minute drive, with my daughter listening to music and me, trying very hard to think of a reason to turn around and to go home. But alas nothing came to me, and we drove on.

As I entered our unheated arena in Caledonia, I could hear cheery voices filling the air. As I began to skate around the track to warm up, I could feel freedom and liberation start to take over some of the anxious feelings I had during the drive. And so – Practice begins. I am the kind of person who is never quite sure of themselves, or where they fit in a group. Is it here, is it there, or anywhere? The answer came rushing at me – about five foot five with short blonde hair (JJ Bladez) and as she knocked me flat on my ass, I knew, “Yes, this is where I belong.” It felt great! Right then and there I knew that 2012 is going to be a great year!! 

See ya all on the track! Hooray 2012! – Love, Lucky

Whether you’ve been a roller derby fan for a decade, or are someone who is just hearing about it now, there is one thing that you need to know about this community… Roller derby parties are crazy!

Ninja Miss Carriage gives Staplehead (League President 2006 - 2011) a hug.

Announcer Tedstosterone with Jewsy Flawless and Bean Stalker

The HCRG Rowdy Rowdy Refs

If you’re going to take anything away from this story, let it be your new found love and admiration of derby parties, and make it your new mission to come out to an after-party soon!

2011 WHEELIE AWARD WINNERS:

Queen Of Jam-A-Lot
Bitchslap Barbie

Pack Leader
Eduskating Rita

Getting A Leg Up
Jewsy Flawless & Bean Stalker

Hammer City Spirit
Scooby Doom

Rookie of the Year
Naughty Bee

Purple Heart
Miss Carriage

Best Foot Forward
Miss Carriage

Crash Test Dummy
Lucky Lady Pearl

Stickin Around‘
Judge Jodie

Practice Pusher
Bam Bam Bigelow

Rules the Ruleset
Eduskating Rita

Hardest Hitter
Mean Little Mama

Miss Jeckyl/Hyde
Peppermental (Formerly Hammerhead)

Strategic Whiz
Whacks Poetic

Training Maven
Bitchslap Barbie

Merch Mover
Dark Passion Play

Game Day Mainstay
Peppermental

Gives Till It Hurts
Little Red Rollerhood

Working It
Wild Rice (Formerly Tempura Tantrum)

Funds Raised
Scooby Doom

Paperwork Pusher
Judge Jodie

Attendance
Bam Bam Bigelow

Participator
3 way tie! Dark Passion Play, Peppermental, Scooby Doom

REF AWARDS

Friendly Face
Deuce Willis

Ref For Hire
D-Minus

Certifiable Effort
Deuce Willis

Tightest Caller
D-Minus

NEWSLETTER

Hammer City is launching an email newsletter. Sign up below to be automatically entered to win a pair of season’s tickets!

Resolve the PvN debate — HCRG-style!

Join HCRG skaters, refs, NSOs, volunteers, visiting refs, and supporters as we look back at 2011 and celebrate another amazing season of derby in Hammer City.

Arrr you full of pirattitude? Or have a yen for ninjas? Whatever side you support, come on out in costume if you can. Our Rowdy Rowdy Ref Hot Carl has set up feats of pirate vs. ninja strength and skill to determine, once and for all, who is the ultimate warrior.

Oh and did we mention explosives? And fire? And lots of dancing, thanks to DJ LP? Cover charge is only $5.

This Ain’t Hollywood, 345 James St N, Hamilton
$5 Cover, 9:00PM

(PS – Was your resolution to join roller derby in 2012? If so, this is a great chance to come out and meet league members and get your questions answered before our next Derby 101 class!)

R.S.V.P. on Facebook!

For the 5th year in a row, we adopted a family for the St. Matthew’s House Adopt-a-Family program. We would like to thank all of those who supported our Craft and Bake Sale at the December 9th Artcrawl on James St N. We were able to give our family the greatest holiday gift of all… Love! (and lots of it!)

Some of our skaters helped spread holiday cheer at the Kitestring Christmas Spectacular on December 16th. The very successful charitable event raised money for the Hamilton not-for-profit Culture for Kids in the Arts. Were you lucky enough to see your favourite skaters sing their smash hit “Derby Girls are Comming to Town?”

We bake and we skate. We whip and we stitch. We give hits and we give back. And we thank you for all your generousity in helping us spread derby love this season.

Have a safe and happy holiday! See you on the track in the new year!

The Hammer City Roller Girls will be rolling into Kitestring’s 3rd Annual Christmas Spectacular on December 16, 2011. The proceeds from the evening will be given to the Hamilton not-for-profit called Culture for Kids in the Arts. An organization that is dedicated to making arts programming available to all local children.

Your Hammer City Roller Girls will take centre stage at the *SOLD OUT pageant! Our skaters have multiple talents – watch us sing, dance, and skate at the Spectacular. We’ll be there for Hamilton’s biggest candy buffet ever at the 7:00pm kickoff, at the Hamilton Consvatory for the Arts (126 James St S). Our friends at Gorrilla Cheese will be serving up snacks and prizes at 9:00pm.

The after-party starts at 9:30pm. Tickets are $5 at the door, featuring Sweet Ice Snow Cones and $5 drink specials all night. Live rockabilly music by The Greasemarks. Bring your dancing shoes!