LET’S MIX IT UP THE WORLD OF DERBY CHALLENGE TEAMS
You might notice a few regular items missing from today’s magazine. What, no predictions from Flattrackstats? No unhilarious made-up facts about the opposition’s home town? Nope, for the simple reason that today’s A and B-team opponents Team Unicorn are a challenge team. That is to say, a group of skaters from various different leagues with no official Flattrackstats ranking and no geographic base. Challenge teams are a rarity in most sports, but roller derby is rife with them (albeit not as rife as during their peak a few years ago). A lot of challenge sides are one-offs put together for a single game. This is particularly common with rookie debut games (‘cherry poppers’) as small to medium sized derby leagues might only have four or five players ready to make their debuts. Linking up with a couple of other leagues in the same situation to create a mixed rookie team is the perfect solution for everyone. In other cases one-off teams might be created for special events. Elves vs Reindeers vs Snowpeople at a Christmas scrim say, or any of the inordinate Harry Potter or Game Of Thrones ‘play for your house’ tournaments. We’re not here to talk about one-off challenge sides though, but those that exist long term. Usually these have a pool of skaters to choose from (depending on availability and level of opposition), a kit, a social media presence and the stability of someone – often the bench coach – running things day to day. These teams are often for a particular social group or community, such as Team Crazy Legs (mental health and chronic illness) or Vagine Regime (LGBTQ), both of which developed into networks of national teams spanning the globe. Often the theme is super vague (eg Team No Fuss – they’re simply not fussed) or nothing more than a name to hang things on. Portsmouth Roller Wenches’ Dropkick Molly is no stranger to challenge teams. She took on the Rockers A-team here at the Dolphin as part of No Fuss towards the end of 2016. Today she’s back for more with Team Unicorn...
THIS TEAM IS MYTHING
Team Unicorn and (past opponents) Team Dragon aren’t the only challenge teams named after mythical creatures. There are also these ones – although we may have slightly made some or all of them up... • TEAM LOCH NESS MONSTER who are hated by derby photographers. For some reason any photos taken of their games come out as blurry indistinct shapes. • TEAM WEREWOLF whose game days are marked with a white circle in most diaries. • TEAM FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER who won a recent legal victory over governing body WFTDA. Colanders can now be worn instead of helmets by pastafarians. • TEAM YETI who have yet to play whilst awaiting an order of custom sized skates. • TEAM TROLL who are too busy on social media to actually arrange any games.
“I love challenge team games and love that TURD [Team Unicorn Roller Derby] are still going,” says Molly. “I had an injury and kiddo break a couple of years ago and challenge teams seemed to have died out a bit by time I got back. They are fun, less pressure and you get to skate with friends who would otherwise be your opponents. This also means gameplay can be trickier since things don’t happen as naturally as with your regular teammates.” Mama, who founded challenge side Team Dragon which faced the Rockers twice at the Dolphin (A-team in 2015, B-team in 2016), believes the rise of UK challenge teams was in part due to the annual Eastbourne Extreme tournament. This gathers skaters from across the UK and Europe into various mixed teams. “Myself and Niks, who founded Team No Fuss, benched mixed teams against each other at Eastbourne,” says Mama. “We decided it was so much fun that we set up Dragon and No Fuss so we could do it again. Challenge teams are a great way for skaters to experience, and perhaps learn from, playing alongside people who have been coached differently to themselves.” Dropkick Molly is looking forward to facing the Rockers with Unicorn today for a number of reasons: “Psyclone recently transferred to London Roller Derby from Portsmouth, so I’m super excited to be back on track alongside her. I haven’t played against Brighton for a long time due to rubbish knees and babies but have always enjoyed our games. The Rockers are tough but there’s always time for some laughs on track. I know they are going to make us work. Hopefully I won’t have to pretend I am a jammer.” Their changing rosters and lack of a geographic home means challenge teams generally don’t have an established supporter base the way traditional derby leagues do. Molly is hoping that some of the crowd will get behind Unicorn today though. “Unfortunately we don’t have the actual magical power of unicorns, but we do have a very strong roster so please cheer loudly for us all.” TL