Home Sweet Home Teams

Whether Carolina Rollergirls were sportin’ spots as a Tai Chi-tah, going Code Blue for the Trauma Queens, or pretty in pink for the Debutante Brawlers one thing was always for sure: home team bouts featured some fierce competition on the track.

Since the inception of the league, home teams have been a big part of the CRG culture and fueled friendly competition for the coveted golden skate trophy.

This Saturday, September 7th will be one for the history books as our home teams square off one last time before retirement. Can the TQs hang on to the golden skate all the way to retirement or will the Debs skate off with the final win?

To get you in the mood for Saturday’s bout, I caught up with a couple of skaters you might remember from the very beginnings of home team competition:

Skater: Eris Discordia

Home Team: Tai Chi-tah’s, 2006

Favorite home team memory: “We had a bout-watching party/sleepover kind of thing at my house one night.  We were ambushed by the Trauma Queens who rolled my entire back yard in toilet paper.  Someone had tipped us off that they were coming, and we watched for them out the front for part of the night, but they sneaked around and did the back yard. It was hysterical.”

What she’s up to now: “When Lynda Carver came into the league, I did her rookie orientation (I was retiring).  As we talked about hobbies during orientation, I found out she was a swing dancer.  I had wanted to try swing dancing for as long as I can remember and had no idea Raleigh had a swing studio.

She put me in touch with her folks at The Lindy lab, and I have been taking lessons and dancing ever since.  I am getting ready to bring some competitive derby spirit to the Lindy world.  It’s too bad you can’t hip check people out of your way on the dance floor.  It takes a lot of will power to resist. ”

Skater: Shirley Temper

Home Team: Debutante Brawler, 2005

Favorite home team memory: “My team was FUN. We always seemed to have an amazing time together, on and off the track. We changed our main color to pink – I had never owned anything pink before this – now my closet is full of it. Our theme song became “Get Ur Pink On.” We established traditions (parties) like Pink Xmas and Cinco de Pinko and Day of the Deb. We won a lot the first year, then came the Chi-tahs. They started winning instead and it pissed me off. In 2008 we had just lost some key athletes, and gained a ton of newbies. Roxy Rockett and I were pretty much the only veterans and captained our rookie team to win the championship that year … and it was SWEET. It was also my 50th straight bout and my team gave me all kinds of handmade trinkets that I still have. We partied in my pool right after the bout (cuz it was about 100 degrees in Dorton that day, no joke).  Amazing memories of that night, and the Debs in general. DB for life! ”

What’s she up to now: “Then I had babies … three of them … in two years … all boys. The twins are now 4 and the little one is two. I tried playing after the twins, but injuries made motherhood difficult, and after some thought I just couldn’t risk injury anymore. And now it would be terribly difficult to make the time. I miss derby – mostly the old school, fast paced, craziness of derby. I was pretty much the smallest chick out there, but I was actually pretty effective. It made me feel awesome. It showed me how strong I was, and what I could do if I just tried. It fell into my lap right when I needed it, and I’m thankful every day that it did.”

Still need tickets? Purchase them from your favorite roller girl or online in advance or get ’em at the ticket booth Saturday.  Click here for more bout day information

Contributed by your friendly blog editor, Lillian Axe