What's the word from Rollercon?

[Shortbus00]

The mens bout was AWESOME, as well as the scrimmages. It was nice finally to meet all the guys that hit up this forum. The mens bout was rough and a lot of hard hits. It will be nice when the men can get another national tournament together and we can all play against each other.

Shortbus

[MotorPsycho]

It was rough, and the skating surface didn't help things. I swear that fucking manhole on turn 3 gave me more trouble than any of the Black Team skaters

And thanks again to Hunter S. Toss'em for risking a major to catch me when I got knocked backwards. I still owe you a beer for saving my neck, literally

[sonofapreacherman]

The mens bout was AWESOME, as well as the scrimmages. It was nice finally to meet all the guys that hit up this forum. The mens bout was rough and a lot of hard hits. It will be nice when the men can get another national tournament together and we can all play against each other.

Shortbus

No matter what ruleset is used, that was excellent news.

Hmm perhaps WFTDA for 2D OSDA for 3D.

Excellent work guys. I hope there was plenty of video, because nothing will help recruitment and marketing like more people seeing the action.

[slim]

Sadly, we weren't allowed to film at Fremont Street this year. We were told last minute that we didn't have the proper press passes to do so (despite the fact that we've filmed there every year up to this one!).

I know some folks were periodically filming at the Flamingo Banks, where a lot of mixed stuff was happening. Hopefully we can get some footage from that. And I know there are a million pictures from Fremont Street...

[sonofapreacherman]

Sadly, we weren't allowed to film at Fremont Street this year. We were told last minute that we didn't have the proper press passes to do so (despite the fact that we've filmed there every year up to this one!).

I know some folks were periodically filming at the Flamingo Banks, where a lot of mixed stuff was happening. Hopefully we can get some footage from that. And I know there are a million pictures from Fremont Street...

Now that is a shame. Part of the problem with Men's Derby is that it is seen as just a women's thing, which is not helped by some women who when interviewed say exactly that. The more footage of men doing this, especially in front of screaming crowds, the easier it is to erase that perception.

Sadly, it is also a loss for fans everywhere who would have loved to see as much coverage for Rollercon as possible.

Though that makes me wonder..will this new wave of roller derby become more accepted and mainstream as it is, or will it have to "clean up its act a" little to do so? By clean up the act, I am strictly speaking of the sexual overtones in certain names of players, events and teams. Though the image of wild partiers may turn some off, I doubt that is going to be as detrimental in gaining mainstream support.

[Rev]

It was fun. I think I turned a lot of people onto Mens Derby or at least showed them that we dont want to take over the ladies side of the sport. Saturday is a few days away. August is a busy month for Derby.

Word

[Shortbus00]

One of the girls on our local league got A LOT of footage at the mens bout. She said he will get it to me ASAP.

[G. No-Evil]

It was a ton of fun. I am thankful for having the opportunity to rumble. Maybe Puget Sound Outcast was watching. It was my first time. Or as it was said to me, my cherry was popped but at least I have the box. lol

[dr.spankenstein]

I had a freakin blast. Met lots of great people. Like Shourtbus said - it was great to put some faces to names. Saw a ton of excellent skating. The workshops and roundtables were fantastic. It was nice to have my opinions heard as a captain of a men's team in a traditionally ladies forum.

I think there was a bit of ambivalence at the beginning of Rollercon about men skating, But having the public challenge bout and showing that ladies that alot of us can skate by the rules very well opened their eyes to this whole new world of men's roller derby. Also giving the ladies an opportunity to skate with us at the open co-ed scrimmages enabled them to see that we weren't a bunch of meat-headed brutes.. and that we just want to play the game, have fun, and help cultivate the derby community.

Thanks to all the organizers of RollerCon for giving us the opportunity to be as involved in this event as we were. I'd also like to thank Rocky Whorer for organizing the men's challenge bout and pulling it all together. Reverend Al Mighty and Dirty Marty for announcing for us, giving men's derby a voice, and keeping the crowd excited through the challenge bout. And also a big thanks to Rev for all the time he put into not only his on-skate workshop, but also for representing PVRD and Men's Derby and helping to reverse some of the negative stereotypes about men playing derby during the other workshops. Bazooka Joe - thanks for the keynote presentation about men's derby. I know it didn't go exactly as planned (so much for planning!) - but it was a milestone that you were up there at all, got to speak and had the backing of all the other keynote speakers.

Of course - thanks also to all the guys who participated in any event or workshop and represented men's derby in a positive light. It may seem like you just went out and had fun - but you participation in RollerCon was monumental.

RollerCon '08 was truly a huge success and another victory for men's derby!

[MotorPsycho]

I gotta share something...when we lined up for the first jam, Rev and I were both playing inside blocker for our respective teams. Right before the first whitsle, he turned to me and said "Ready to make history again?" I think that about sums it up. RollerCon was an amazing experience, and I'm so proud to have been a part of it