Roller Derby is Coming

It's finally that time again. That's right, bout season approaches. The time of year when my life is more than just mostly dominated by roller derby, it's entirely subsumed by eat, sleep, work, practice, cross-train, promote, blog, Twitter, press release, invite, plan, flier, design…and on, not necessarily in that order. We're bringing people more derby than ever before this year, with five, yes five home games this spring, and we hope at least three more home games in the fall as well. The series at the Portland Expo kicks off on Sunday, March 22nd with the Port Authorities facing off against the Charm City All-Stars, who are currently ranked 4th in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association's (WFTDA) Eastern Region. After that you get two bouts with those renegade sweethearts the Calamity Janes, who will be taking on teams from Ohio and New Jersey and showing them how we roll up here in northern New England. Then the season rounds out with two more Port Authorities match-ups against un-ranked and new WFTDA members the Dutchland Derby Rollers, and 2nd-in-the-East (3rd nationally - yowza!) Philly Liberty Belles. Stay tuned here for more details on all the teams we're bringing to the Expo this year, and as always go to mainerollerderby.com for tickets.

The season has actually arrived for the Port Authorities, because we're taking on the Boston Massacre this Saturday, February 28th. It's an away bout, so we'll be skating at Boston's fantastic venue in Wilmington, MA - the Shriner's Auditorium. It's a stellar place to both watch and play derby, and the on-site afterparty in the Fez Room beats any afterparty we've attended yet. The digital photobooth there can attest to that!

The Boston league is kind of like our big sisters. They've fostered the growth of our league since day one with advice, support, scrimmages, an exhibition bout last year, and now by inviting us to play them in their season opener and our first ever WFTDA-sanctioned all-star game against the Massacre. Did I mention the Massacre are currently third in the Eastern Region? Yeeeaaa, they are. The Port Authorities are 5th in the East right now, but keep in mind we are 27th nationally - nothing to sneeze at by any means, but the Massacre, a much more experienced team who missed making it to the WFTDA National tournament by a mere two points, is ranked 10th nationally. Suffice it to say this game is going to be tough, and we're ready for it. We have trained and focused on teamwork and smart play on the track. We know we have a hard game ahead of us, and we know we will skate our hardest for every second, have a blast doing it, and come out stronger than we went in. If there's one thing Maine is known for, it's that we take both our losses and our successes in stride and turn them quickly into a better game on the track. Whatever happens this Saturday, we will be grinning at the afterparty and all the way home.

Poke this for Boston's preview of the big game, and this for tickets (it's only 75 minutes from Portland, and well worth the trip).