Rollergirls vs Rollergirls
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On January 13th 2013 the UKRDA will be holding UKRDA Sur5al 2013 at our show! This exciting and fast paced five-a-side roller derby tournament, developed and launched by the Royal Windsor Rollergirls (RWRG) UK, replaces the full team UKRDA tournament held last year.
With skaters, refs and NSO's from London Roller Girls, London Rockin' Rollers, Haunted City Rollergirls, Kent Roller Girls, Hulls Angel Roller Dames, Birmingham Blitz Dames, Lincolnshire Bomber Roller Girls, Glasgow Roller Girls, Leeds Roller Dolls, Royal Windsor Roller Girls, Tiger Bay Brawlers, Romsey Town Roller Billies, Big Bucks High Rollers, Dolly Rockit Rollers, Hellfire Harlots, Crash Test Brummies, Rainy City Roller Girls, Rebellion Rollergirls and Central City Rollergirls, it promises to be a fantastic spectacle showcasing roller derby skill, endurance and speed from our oldest to our newest leagues.
The tournament consists of 15 teams of 5 skaters, who play each other once in a full 2 minute jam, there’s no calling off the jam. 5 points are awarded for a win, 2 points for a draw and zero points for a loss, additionally each lead jammer is awarded 1 point. The Ultimate Sur5ors are the team with the highest number of Sur5al points. Major penalties are awarded as normal and points can be deducted from a jammer delaying entry to the penalty box to release the opposition jammer. Every Sur5al jam sees a new opposition and a new challenge. Jammer points and JTO’s (Jammer take outs) are also tracked and Sur5al tournaments have produced many high-scoring jams, the current record being 48 points.
President Sallyann Wright (Nancy Spinatra) added "It's been an incredibly busy year for UKRDA with our number of member leagues doubling! UKRDA Sur5al Tattoo Freeze 2013 will be a great event to bring together lots of our member leagues skaters, Refs and NSO's in a full on 3 heat, non-stop test of roller derby skill and endurance !"
For more info on Roller Derby go to www.ukrda.org.uk
What is a roller derby?
Roller derby is a full-contact women's sport played on quad roller skates, by players skating around an elliptical track. The game consists of a series of two-minute countdown 'jams'.
At the start of each jam, each team sends five players onto the track: one 'jammer' (point scorer), three 'blockers' (defensive/offensive players) and one 'pivot' (last line of defence and lead blocker). The players are identified by their helmet covers - a stripe for the pivots and two stars for the jammers.
The pivots and blockers form a pack at the start line and the two jammers line up 20 feet behind the pack. The pack starts rolling on the referee's first whistle, and the jammers sprint on the second whistle. The jammers' aim is to make it through the pack of skaters and skate a full lap to enter the pack again. Once they re-enter the pack, they score a point for each opposing skater they pass legally.
Now for the fun bit - the skaters in the pack are doing their utmost to stop the opposing jammer passing them and scoring points, while at the same time trying to help their own jammer to pass opposing players. They do this by landing heavy shoulder or hip checks on opposing players, shoving them out of the way or knocking them to the ground. Any part of the front of a skater's body between shoulder and mid-thigh is a target zone, and any part of the body between shoulder and mid-thigh (excluding hands, elbows, and forearms) is legal to hit with. Illegal hits result in time served in the penalty box, legal hits often result in skaters flying off the track and landing in the crowd!
The game is fast and furious and full of adrenaline - once you see it you'll be hooked.
