Our August 29 bout will be an exciting one! In addition to our fearsome WCR All-Stars' bout against the Charm City All-Stars, our league's junior travel team, the Second Wind, will be making its Chicago debut with an early-bird bout (whistle time 5:40pm!) against Cleveland's Burning River All-Stars. I talked with Red Zeppelin & Norma Lee Wright, captains of the Second Wind to get their thoughts about this big game. Get your tickets at http://windycityrollers.com/tickets/default.aspx and make sure to come early!

Loco Chanel: The Second Wind is the junior travel team of the Windy City Rollers. How has the experience of captaining the Second Wind been thus far?

Red Zeppelin: So far, it's been a great challenge. There is so much talent in this league and these girls have so much heart which makes it incredibly easy to harness their energy and put it towards goals like pack awareness, team communication, and overall giving our opponents a hard fight.

Norma Lee Wright: It's an honor to be a part of the Second Wind and I’m even more blown away to have been voted captain. The girls are so eager and excited to be a part of this team, which makes for a very positive and productive group. Practices have been fantastic and it’s so fulfilling to watch the growth that the girls have had already in the weeks we've been together.

What are your goals for the Second Wind this season and beyond?

We’re pioneering more than just the junior travel team, but rather a new era for WCR with skaters who are willing to go above and beyond for the league. I hope that the helpful attitude, optimistic outlook, confidence, and pure derby joy will be carried back to the home teams. Don't get me wrong - winning is always fun - but more important is the growth of the overall skill and experience of the league.

Right, our main goal is to continue to develop WCR's skill level. If you function with the mission of developing your weakest link in any sport, when your weakest link gets to an advanced level, then you have raised the bar across the board and opened doors to always being great and staying on top!

The bout on the 29th will be the home debut of the Second Wind, but not their first bout-- as the team had a full regulation scrimmage against Naptown (Indianapolis) on August 16th. What were your main takeaways from that game?

We got some great feedback from Naptown's Allstar team: "Every girl on Second Wind hit well and hit hard!" was the jist of what their heavy, hard hitters had to say. We were complimented on our speed, which is allowing me to make a new goal for our team: to improve overall pack and speed control to help our jammers.

WCR had unofficial “B-Team” bouts previously (vs. the Carolina Bootleggers at ECE and the Cincinnati Silent Lambs in April), but our first official Second Wind bout – that was really emotional. There are a few areas we want to improve, but overall I could not be prouder of the team’s performance.

Also, the Naptown girls were amazing hosts! They were sweethearts AND great skaters – it doesn’t get any better than that.

On the 29th, the Second Wind plays the Burning River (Cleveland) All-Stars. Do you have any thoughts about them as a team, or just thoughts about making your debut against a tournament-level team?

After seeing Burning River at ECE, they are definitely a solid, unrelenting team. I’m thrilled that they agreed to come play us - we’re so lucky to be able to get the experience skating against such a talented team. We’re going to have to play an extremely smart, tight game to compete, but I think we have it in us to make this a very good bout. You’ll have to be there to see it!

We have a lot of hunger in our eyes right now. We are working hard and will play hard. If we go out there and continue to give a good fight, Second Wind will win no matter the outcome.