DON'T MIX UP: Quedalles Vs. HDG | France Vs. Nederland

Team France 439 - 22 Team Nederland
Quedalles 231 - 100 HDG
  PARIS, 22 JUNE 2014

 The scores are eloquent enough... Team France dominated the whole game, leaving only 6 lead situations to the Nederland, and managing 4 jams of 2' containing the Dutch jammer on their initial pass (random facts).

However, to both teams' credit, despite the score gap separating them, they remained fair-play in the purest derby tradition, in a game that remained pleasant to cheer for, despite the lack of suspense!

Le Patin Français Triple Header

On December 14-15 took place the official public kick off of the 2014 Team France of Roller Derby. The team was announced in late August and the 40 of us had met once at the occasion of our first training a few weeks ago.

PRG Quedalles (121-177) Rollergirls of the Apocalypse

Team France Blue (301-122) Les Restes de la France I

Team France Red (213-67) Les Restes de la France II

The presentation of the French Team was organized as a Double header with an introduction game. That is to say THREE BOUTS in-a-row for the lucky spectators who managed to get one of the 700 tickets that were sold out in hardly 30 minutes on the Internet... The venue was the same as for the Paris RollerGirls All-Stars' last home game of the 2013 season against Team Unicorn which had encountered the same sold out problem last June.

The P Word - The Complete Season 3

Season 3 has already come to an end. This is when you want to relive the whole season at a stretch...

• S03E11 07/06 PRG A (163-158) Dublin Roller Derby "No Merci"
• S03E10 06/22 PRG A (149-150) London Rockin' Rollers "Moulin Bruise"
• S03E09 06/08 PRG B (173-155) Hérault Derby Girls
• S03E08 06/01 PRG A (170-163) Team Unicorn "Unicorn"
• S03E07 05/18 PRG A (182-243) Kallio Rollin' Rainbow "Au Revoir: AY879"
• S03E06 05/11 PRG B (131-193) Petites Morts Bordeaux
• S03E05 05/04 PRG A (266-085) Ruhrpott
• S03E04 04/20 PRG A (197-139) Inglorious Bombshells
• S03E03 04/06 PRG A (193-205) Leeds Hot Wheel
• S03E02 03/02 PRG A (153-117) Nothing Toulouse
• S03E01 02/16 PRG A (152-170) Royal Windsor Rollergirls "DerbyversaIIIre"
• S03E00 10/27 PRG A (132-182) Gent's Cuberdonnas "Hell on Wheels" (PILOT)

No Merci! Paris PRG Vs. Dublin DRD (A&B)

PRG All-Stars (163-158) Dublin A

PRG Quedalles (207-135) Dublin B

July 6th, 2013 / Dublin (IRE)

The write-up is less factual than the previous ones because:
1) I have less material to rely on and
2) although the two games were of pretty good quality and although the All-Star bout was thrilling with suspense, it is not what prevailed for me in the weekend. Still, they were the most delighting cherry-on-top. On top of what? On top of a marvellous ultimate experience, of which I wanted to make the most in enjoying each and every second. Sports yeah, but people most of all.

NO MERCY. Our last game(s) of the season. MY LAST GAME AS A PARIS ROLLERGIRL. My ultimate experience fully and officially belonging to that group of girls with whom I developed bonds so strong that it still surprizes me.

A perfect trip from A to Z. From the two Parisian teams travelling together, being hosted together by the most wonderful people, double winning together against such lovely opponents in an amazing atmosphere, having some quality time together, at night and in the sun, partying, dancing, laughing, chatting -- crying too, a bit -- a cluster of overwhelming emotions. Together.

Paris All-Stars Vs. Team Unicorn

Paris All-Stars 170 - 163 Team Unicorn

June 1st, 2013 - Paris, Gymnase des Fillettes

It was such a huge thing that I needed time to digest and get more objective about it. The UNICORN Double Header was the last home event of the season and we made justice to that long-awaited ultimate game, to our greatest surprise!

A non-exhaustive presentation of the teams is essential:

• The PARIS ROLLERGIRLS ALL-STARS are currently the best ranked French team, and we did our first bout in 2010. Classy, yeah... but CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING: 
• The UNICORN TEAM is a non-charted and inter-league travel team, affiliated with the Mad Rollin' Dolls in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, a league that started its first full season BACK IN 2005 (!)

Moulin Bruise: Paris PRG Vs. London LRR

Paris RollerGirls 149 – 150 London Rockin' Rollers
Allstars Bout, June 22nd 2013

Warning and Preface.

I am writing this report based on my feelings and immediate memories ONLY, with a little refreshing thanks to the twitter feed. Some details may not be objectively accurate: subjective durations and frequencies, highlight on some particular points and abstraction of some other facts... I am aware that it is a distorted image of reality, but it's all the more lively in the end. Then why not?

Quedalles Vs. HDG Allstar

Paris RollerGirls Quedalles (173-155) Hérault Derby Girls All-Stars

June 9th, 2013 / Le Crès 

IT'S A WIN! We FOUGHT for it, didn't give up despite the lead of our opponents, NARROWED the score gap little by little and REVERSED the advantage at the second period.

Everything could happen until the VERY LAST jam, which was full of twists and changes, at the image of the whole game.

HOW DID WE COME TO THAT ?

4th jam. Kill Belle scores the first 4 points, with already a loose gap of 23 points! An unfortunate powerjam in favor of HDG...

As soon as the first minutes, elbows and high blocks are flying. Of course the first blow goes to team mate Billie Frechette who has been collecting bad hits to the nose throughout the season. Bad luck!

5th jam. My turn to have a try at jamming. I take the lead, the other jammer is hot on my heels, I make her skate around a bit, for fun and for the show, trying to neutralize the tension I was sensing in the atmosphere. I must say that I spent the whole game trying to adapt to the mood of the game without success.

17th jam. We finally challenge the lead, being only 1 point behind thanks to Thelma Track. We are neck and neck for three jams after which the HDG distance us again, and the first period finishes with a score of 55 to 72.

A pink patch for big girls

That's it. We passed.

The Paris RollerGirls successfully completed the WFTDA Apprenticeship program.

They are the first French league to become a Full Member of the WFTDA (after having been the first Apprentice league back in 2010).

Let's also note in that new batch: Out of 22 new leagues, only 7 are not from the USA. Paris of course, Sheffield Steel Rollergirls and Cardiff's Tiger Bay Brawlers for Europe, Brown Plains for Australia... But ABOVE ALL, more exotic and revolutionary: Columbia and Japan open the doors of Full Membership to South America and Asia, thanks to the Rock n Roller Queens of Bogota, to the Tokyo Roller Girls and to the Kokeshi Roller Doll of Okinawa!

Au Revoir AY879: Paris A Vs. Kallio R. Rainbow

Paris All Stars (182-243) Kallio Rolling Rainbow A-Team

May 18th, 2013 / Helsinki (FIN)

A responsive gameplay despite an outnumbered Parisian team (10 players only). We held on, trying to manage both the benching and the strategy by ourselves, hopefully --and at the same time unfortunately-- helped by our injured jammer Joan Get27 at the coach benching.

OUTNUMBERED

Due to the number of players, the auto-lineup was messier than for our previous experience against Leeds Hot Wheels: doing rotations with 10 players was more complex and a bit more tiring (though surprisingly not that much) than with 12.

It led to a couple of mistakes that could have been avoided... Which did not help us catch up the scores...

We had 8 blockers rotating in two packs and 2 jammers alternating at each jam, helped from time to time by Hooligan (mainly) who had to combine blocking and jamming!

Our teamwork was not as good as our last game against Ruhrpott -- less easy to take a global view when you lack players and benches. That's one of the reasons, anyway.

Paris All Stars Vs. Ruhrpott | Quedalles Vs. Gent

Paris All-Stars (266-85) Ruhrpott A
Paris Quedalles (217-157) Gent Cuberdonnas
May 4th, 2013 / Paris

That was one hell of a double header!

I have not had much time to write lately as I have been VERY busy in the real life, so that my report is coming a bit late and will not be as thorough as usual. But I still wanted to write a few lines about that reboosting event.

It was a sold-out double header taking place in Paris, with both our teams playing --and WINNING-- in front of the craziest and most supportive public ever. The venue was on fire as never before! MOREMOREMORE!

In addition to all the buzzing and excitment, it was our first game with our BRAND-NEW JERSEYS which we were given on D-Day! The whole league has now BLUE uniforms, the red'n blue days are over!

Paris All Stars Vs. Inglorious Bombshells

Paris RollerGirls All-Stars (197-139) Berlin Inglorious Bombshells

April 20th, 2013 / Wohnzimmer Bout II, Berlin (GER)

The scores do not reflect the game. It was harder than expected from a B-team (especially with lots of their players having their first go at bouting) and we had to fight against a strategic and organized opponent.

The game took place in the Bombshells' training venue and was private: only the people on the guestlist could come and watch. We had 200 pairs of eyes observing us, cheering Berlin. All but three little Parisian girls, supporting us with pom-poms and songs!

Kozmic Adventures in Wonder(eng)land

A 15-day trip around England. It all started with that game the Paris RollerGirls All-Stars had to play against Leeds Hot Wheels in Halifax on April, 6th. Then, I was just a poor victim of circumstances (pity me, please) and I got stuck in a storm of adventures which led me to travel England from South to North. 

OXFORD: 100 JAMS WAR, THE REVENGE OF THE FRENCH

Fate had it that there was the "100 Jams War" event in Oxford the previous weekend.

The second edition was entitled the 'Revenge of the French' over the English who had won all the games of the same event last year.

It gathered players from all around France and from the South of England, dispatched in 6 teams and playing 3 games of different levels.

West Track Story 2013

One year after "4 Matchs et 1 Entraînement", the tournament concept of the Nantes Derby Girls evolves into "West Track Story". Bigger, better, harder, stronger.

The Parisian Quedalles (our B-Team) and the Duchesses of Nantes have reenlisted this year too. The players of the capital are ready to fight for the title they won last year.

Two European teams have made the trip to complete the casting: The Belgian Brussels Derby Pixies and the English Birmingham Blitz Dames.

Key-words: show and performance!

The event took place on Saturday March, 9th from 12AM to 10PM, an afternoon during which four bouts were going to follow one another.

BIRMINGHAM BLITZ DAMES : 181 // 97 : DUCHESSES OF NANTES

• The Parisians were not playing the first game so that they could have a look at their potential future opponents, Nantes and Birmingham. The latters, whose captain Violet Attack was in Team England 2011, imposed their style -- and their strong built -- right away, leaving no chance to the Duchesses despite their determination.

In the meantime, the Quedalles were busy fixing unfortunate mishaps: a lost mouthguard replaced by a team-mate's spare one, molded at the last minute thanks to the kettle of the food stand, or a broken plate and a desperate seach for substitute skates in size 36, amongst other stressing surprises. Routine, right?

Paris Vs. Toulouse: You say Revenge, we say Die!

Paris RollerGirls All-Stars (153-117) Nothing Toulouse
March 2nd, 2013 / Paris.

Paris, Bercy was the place to be on that Saturday, March 2nd. It held the long-awaited and not-to-be-missed French derby event of the 2013 season: The rematch of the Paris RollerGirls All Star and the Nothing Toulouse!

The first meeting dated from July 2011 and had witnessed a crushing double victory of the Parisians during the French Connection I tournament, gathering the three pioneer-leagues of Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

But the French landscape has evolved a lot since then and, earlier this season, Paris was challenged by Toulouse to organize the meeting that would put back the French crown in play.

There is no official French cup (yet) and the so-called title comes from a general assessment only. Yet, it was a matter of honor and Paris took up the challenge to prove who the bosses are!

Our All Star game against Windsor two weeks before had been very welcome for us to experience a first bout under the new rules set and adapt to it. In between, we had the time to analyse and correct our main mistakes -- especially slow reformings of the pack, which irremediably led to out of plays or failures to reform... and to decimated packs and players waiting in line to serve their box sentences...

Derbyversaiiire: Paris Vs. Windsor

by CélEye KOPP

Paris RollerGirls All-Stars (152-170) Royal Windsor Rollergirls

Panam Squad (193-167) Kamiquadz

February 16th, 2013 / Paris.

Our DERBYVERSAIIIRE was celebrated this weekend with a big double-header as the new season kickoff, featuring the Paris RollerGirls All Star Vs. The Who Dares Windsor (the Royal Windsor A Team), preceded by a men's derby game opposing the Panam Squad to the Kamiquadz.

Happy Derbyversaire III

The PARIS ROLLERGIRLS are celebrating their THIRD Derbyversary. Today. Still and always on Valentine's day because we bring the passion (or should we rather say: because passion brought us?) Time flies.

Let's make the proverb lie!

On the first year, we had organized that bootcamp which makes me very nostalgic. On the second year, there was a private home team bout. The overall situation back then does not bring very good memories -- diminished after injury, it was my first plunge into derby for a couple of months and I felt very lost and frustrated in the public.

This year, we are going to mark the occasion with our first A-Team bout of the season this weekend against the Royal Windsor RollerGirls, preceeded by the very first bout of our men's twin league, the Panam Squad who will meet the Kamiquadz of Montpellier.

And we will of course finish with a flourish with an afterbout party at the Bootlager's!

I hand over to Sailor Blood for the conclusion:

"3 ans d'amour farouche, de partage et d'amitié!
Apres quelques 1000 heures de practices, 26 bouts, 47000 kilometres de scotch (le tour du monde), 17940 coups de sifflet, 80 cris de guerre, 15 litres de make up, 120 000 d'embrassades, 700 claques au cul...
Je crois pouvoir affirmer que l'excuse "Désolée j'ai derby" a encore de longues années devant elle!!
Bon anniversaire ma ligue, Bon anniversaire aux Paris RollerGirls!!"

 

 RELATED POSTS:

• Derbyversaire 2 "Freaky Derby Day"
• Derbyversaire

Who's Next: Snow (Hey Ho!)

The winter 2013 Who's Next fashion and ready-to-wear show was held on the occasion of the Parisian Fashion Week, at Porte de Versailles, just like this summer.
For a thorougher description...

The Winter version of Who's Next was indoors only, contrary to the Summer version where we were treated with bales of straw... which was +1 for the summer atmosphere but -10 for the slipperiness!
This time, snow was covering the whole city outside, while a strong tropical climat hung heavy inside thanks to the heating and the spotlights. Those same carpeted grounds with conceiled sewer drains underneath would make us trip at random, but hey ho! We knew what to expect!

Paris RollerGirls 2012-13 Season. Booked.

All of you who keep on asking me for bout dates... 

Here is the full calendar of the Paris RollerGirls' season, both for the All-Star (A) and the Quedalles (B) Teams!

Ready to book?

Paris RollerGirls 2012 Compilation

"New Year" often rhymes with "Previous year" flashbacks and anthologies.

Here is one that comes just at the right moment featuring the Paris RollerGirls, with shots from bouts and demos, public footage on the track, private footage in the changing rooms, a good series of hits and falls, stolen moments... all compiled by Marie Coquand.

Will you find who is where?

Enjoy the show!

Paris Roller Girls_Compil 2012 from Marie Coquand on Vimeo.

RELATED POSTS:

• Derby Presentation for Gumbies
• Roller Derby explained by PRG
• 2012 Visual Identity for the Paris RollerGirls

BOOTCRAMP Berry

This weekend, I was coaching in a BootcRamp in Bourges (fra) together with Wheely Wonka and Cherry LieLie, while Maëlstrom and Watzé were running a ref clinic in parallel.

The Paris RollerGirls were in da place, baby!

The event was extremely well organized and ran smoothly from A to Z. Seven out of the nine of us who were staying at Mojo Mama's place were sleeping in Oto's room (her two-year old son). Three words: Pa-ra-dise. It is only one word indeed, but it is worth three at least. Tons and tons of toys. A room carpeted with mattresses. A childhood dream!

Thank god the bootcramp participants did not see us like that, we would have lost all credibility. Forever. Ever.

Saturday. Cracking start.

Most of us arrived on Friday evening, but the event started on Saturday at 1PM. Yet, we were in the gym at 9AM to help setting up the track and everything, and we all had lunch together after a brief but efficient general presentation: organizers, coaches, refs and participants.