Charm City Roller Girls

I’ve seen the CCRG twice now. The company you keep can alter your experience. My first experience rated two and ½ stars while my last rated three and a ½ stars.
The initial experience didn’t last long. I was there maybe all of twenty-​five minutes. The person I was there with wasn’t very flexible or open to this kind of environment. I told her we were going to the roller derby and she replies «do i have to skate». I should have known from that that it was going to go downhill from there.
My second encounter went much better. I took a friend of mine and although we were both a little tired from a late night party the day before we enjoyed ourselves. We sampled some of the food and my friend was reacquainted with a friend from high school that he hadn’t seen for some time. Learning the rules requires some thought but after you get the basics down you can watch the hard-​hitting action on the flat track.
Know the company you keep before you enter the world of roller derby.

The Charm City Roller Girls (CCRG) is a member of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association WFTDA roller derby league based in Baltimore, Maryland. The league was established in 2005. It is composed of four local teams, one all-​star travel team and a B travel team, Female Trouble. The local teams each have distinctive uniforms: the Junkyard Dolls wear pink, the Mobtown Mods sport red 60’s mini-​dresses, the Night Terrors dress in blue and black and the Speed Régime wear green, orange, and maroon. Yes I Wikipedia that just to give you all a bit of content on what we have when it comes to Roller Derby Women’s League. Anyway Saturday night we watch a fierce match between the CCRG All Star Team VS The Jets City Girls. Let’s just say I was sitting at the edge of my seat extremely engrossed with the match for it was fast speed and full of action all the way. These ladies cute as a button, sporting some sexy fish net stockings, black tight outfits and shinny glitter makeup are a force to be reckon with. As I watch them spin in high speed, knocking each other out of the way and strategically battling out to keep their record, I realize right there and then that I wanted to be a Roller Girl. How, not sure yet, I guess taking skates lessons will help. OK so much for my short term ambition of being a Roller Girl, but man oh man you all got to see this competitive match its better then two women doing the mud wrestling.
The Mobtown Mods and Night Terrors battle it out in the Duburns Arena that evening and need I say that there was more tenacity then a wrestling match, perhaps bruises on each player, hunger to win in the eyes of these pretty, but not so petite ladies to fill up my excitement meter that night. So, if you are looking for something different to fill up your Saturday night venue check the Charm City Roller Derby Match. Grab your tickets soon for they do sell out pretty quickly. Lots of booze and pizza you can purchase during the game thanks to CCRG sponsors and «Bad Decisions Bar, of Fells Point». Need I say more why you should check out Charm City Roller Girls? Besides we all need to help keep this amazing tradition going for Charm City. Go out there support our teams. Loyalty to local establishments and our sporting teams, professional or amateur they are all part of the charm that makes our city The Sporting Capital hot spot of Maryland.

My first event today@Du Burns Arena& I actually like it!

Went to our first game last night. Had a great time. Very fan friendly environment. Prices were definitely reasonable, and the action was great. My kids are already asking to go again.

I went to my first event this summer and had a fantastic time. Baltimore is always offering really unique/​fun things to do, and this is definitely one of them. You can just tell they all work really hard to put the derby together, and it shows when they are speeding around that track, knocking opponents out of their way, and suffering through the sprains and bruises!
When I went they had flying dog beer (yum) and these awesome chocolate covered cake ball things. The roller derby teams raise money by selling the food/​drinks, so the roller girls not playing are the ones selling the food/​drinks.
Overall, it’s an impressive event they put together.

Would you rather stay at home on your couch or get out and see some of the best rollerderby on the east coast? Baltimore has it and you are doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t seen it.
In the games that I have been to, the pace has been fast, the hitting harsh, and people great. I have attended multiple national championships, so it’s not like I’m coming at this from a newbie perspective either.
If you’re new to rollerderby, ask questions! Other fans are usually more than happy to explain the rules of the game and the subtleties that a beginner might not pick up on. It took me about 4 games to really start to see the strategy that the players were using and what the various calls were back when I first started attending bouts. If I had asked questions, I could probably have cut this time in half.
What other sports allow you to get so close to the action and actually meet the players right after the game? Not many, but luckily, rollerderby is one!

Baltimore is lucky enough to have one of the nation’s top derby teams right here! Go to a bout — seriously. If you’re worried about not knowing the rules, there is a demo and the crowd is super friendly – make a buddy and ask them if you get confused.
To me the coolest thing is that the entire thing is skater owned and operated. I like to know where my money is going, and supporting women’s sports directly sounds good to me.
OK, I have other favorites too:
cheap entertainment!
derby names!
beer!
uniforms! (glitter)
roller skates!
refs!
mascots!

The Charm City Roller Girls and volunteers do the best they can with DuBurns arena. The space is not ideal for roller derby bouts, but they make it work. This all volunteer organization does it all– from laying down the skate court floor the night before the games, to shuttling in kegs of beer, to staffing the bouts the day of, to cleaning up long after the fans have left the building. Anyone who thinks these women just show up and skate has no idea what a commitment it is to belong to this organization.
The CCRG All-​Star team is ranked #3 in the EAST region of the WFTDA, they are ranked Nationally, and the skaters are some of the best derby skaters in the world. Anyone that commented that it was like watching a bunch of kids was clearly not watching CCRG.

This was the worst $ 15 I’ve spent in a long time. All but a few seats in the DuBurns Arena have a terrible view — but it doesn’t matter because there isn’t anything worth watching.
I promise that I went in with an open mind. However, the rules of the game are completely asinine which is compounded by the fact that it takes place on a track that is far too small for the number of skaters. Also, the relative skill of the players was pretty low– I’ve seen better skating by 8 year olds at a park. Also, what was with all of the referees and other people milling around in the center? Total stupidity that I’ll gladly leave to the legions of fixed bike riding, indie-​rock listening, Jack Kerouac reading, and «ironic» t-​shirt wearing hipsters.

If you haven’t been exposed to «modern-​day» roller derby, stop reading now and go Google the Charm City Roller Girls. These are fast women, furious women, forward women, fluid women, friggin’ awesome women who have elevated what was once kitschy, 1970’s brawl and sprawl entertainment into a legitimate athletic extravaganza. I attended their 2011 season opener which was an expo-​style event featuring each of CCRG’s home teams — Junkyard Dolls, Night Terrors, Mobtown Mods, and Speed Régime — in 30-​minute matches against regional adversaries like the D.C. Roller Girls and the Mason-​Dixon Roller Vixens from Hagerstown, Maryland.
In all seriousness, don’t worry about being new to the game. There were a plethora of derby girls wandering around eager to extol the virtues of the sport. It was in this way that I learned that roller derby matches are actually called «bouts» because they are a fight to the finish. Each bout is broken into thirty-​minute halves. Those halves consist of an undetermined number of two-​minute jams. Consider the jams like a round in boxing. Each jam is a race between the two teams to score points. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Simple… yet, electrifying. Trying to describe everything we saw that night without using visual aids is almost pointless. But, believe me when I tell you that watching the ladies whiz around the track, while backed by the powerful funk of an unseen DJ and two quick-​witted announcers, is an activity that is fun for all ages.
This was our first CCRG bout, so we couldn’t leave the venue without hitting the souvenir table. Their merchandise is extensive, including buttons, lighters, bumper stickers, jewelry, posters, et cetera. I bought a fitted zippered hoodie for $ 35. My boyfriend bought a T-​shirt, but balked a bit at the $ 20 price tag. So, I will tell you what the gal at the table told us: CCRG runs entirely on the work of its skaters. Everything from the scheduled season to the laying down of the skater’s track is handled by the team and nobody gets paid. Therefore, every purchase is essentially a donation that affords these ladies an opportunity to play the sport they love.
Hooked yet? Well, the Charm City Roller Girls bout once a month at the Du Burns Arena in Canton. You can visit their Website or their Facebook page to obtain tickets and more information. Admission can also be purchased at the door, but I wouldn’t risk it. The joint was packed 30 minutes before the first bout even started. Tickets range from $ 10 general admission to $ 25 VIP. MissionTix is their online vendor and charges an additional one to two dollars as a processing fee. Either way, tickets are a bargain considering you get two full hours of roller derby with every purchase.
On a final note, be prepared to park on the street. The Du Burns Arena does have off-​street parking, but you may have trouble finding a space. Do not let this deter you. The arena is located in a safe neighborhood with plenty of unrestricted street parking.
Du Burns Arena in Canton
1301 South Ellwood Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21 224

The worst roller derby games I’ve seen. I have attended several matches across the country in 4 different regional leagues. Charm City is by far the most unathletic, slowest and disorganized Roller Derby I have ever been to.
It’s not enough to just have roller derby matches, you need to offer real entertainment.
Sub-​par for sure.

I’m going to say it. I’m pretty miffed.
From an early age, I realized that I just didn’t fit in anywhere. When my 4^th grade classmates were reading «Little House of the Prairie», I was doing battle with the X-​men and soaring the skies with Voltron. While my 7^th grade girlfriends were wearing lace leggings and tragically teasing their hair like Madonna, I sported a peek-​a-​boo hairdo, a la Veronica Lake and was mad at my parents because they wouldn’t let me legally change my name to «Fenny Rita Hayworth». In college, I learned to do body shots at frat parties, all the while longing to return to my room to finish the H.G. Wells inspired dress that I wanted to wear for my oral presentation on Edwardian mores. Yes, I was an odd duck.
Then, my best friend entered into my life. A little punk, a little rock and roll but 100% amazing, she loved all of the fringe and crazy things that I loved. Comics, burlesque, pin-up…and roller derby.
So why am I miffed?
Because, although I have always been infatuated with all of these things, *she* was the one that ALWAYS discovers the underground (although now, less underground) outlets for these hobbies.
Take for instance roller derby. I’ve been a huge fan of roller derbies since I stumbled upon an old bootleg VHS tape of an old 1948 roller derby match when I was 13. It captured my imagination and made me even more despondent that the all the «cool» eras were eras that have long since passed me by. In the intervening years, I had since learned to reconcile this disappointment and found other outlets for my frustration…
…that is, until my BFF called me up one day and was all «OMG OMG OMG! There is a Baltimore ALL GIRLS ROLLER DERBY TEAM!!!»
WHAT!!! HOW??? WHEN??? And most importantly… WHY NOW that I’m too out of shape, decrepit and slow to join the team!!! Regardless, at the very next match, I booked it up there with the drama-​llama (less said about her the better), and sat on the dirty and dusty floor of the roller rink, held spell-​bound by the awesome ferociousness (and adorably cute — yet functional) outfits that the Charm City Roller Girls wore.
These girls were fierce — and not Tyra Banks’ «smile-​with-​your-​cheeckbones-​fierce» — this was *real* fierceness. Grunting and screaming, they would push, elbow, shove, their opponents out of the way, whipping their teammates to the forefront and boldly throwing themselves in harms way for the advantage. In a bar fight, these are the girls I want to get my back. Trust. They threw each other into brick walls (one girl broke her collarbone right there) and got in the ref’s faces when they dared to call a foul on that (heh). In short, it was fast, it was brutal, and it was GLORIOUS.
Shortly after this bout, the ladies of CCRGs became friends with my BFF and invited her to parties (in which I happily tagged along). There, I found that these ladies were sweet, charming and hardly in a million years would one ever suspect any of them to have the moxie to brazenly send an opponent to the hospital then become angry at the referee for sending them to the time-​out box. In a nutshell, these girls lived up to — and yes, exceeded — my expectations of what a roller derby bout should be. Just because they are chicks doesn’t mean that they are girlie.
A hearty and unabashed 5 star standing ovation to the awesomeness that are the CCRG and a boo and a hiss to my BFF for being the first to discover yet another awesome thing that I have come to love and adore. I kid, I kid. No boos or hisses to her. She’s seriously perfection and it’s not her fault for being infinitely cooler then me. Plus I owe her big time for making my burlesque and pin-​up dreams come true… but that’s another review for another day… :)