In anticipation of the WCR All-Stars' home opener on July 25 (vs Philly Rollergirls' Liberty Belles), I talked to some of the skaters on both teams about their thoughts on the big game. Get your tickets at http://windycityrollers.com/tickets/default.aspx -- You won't want to miss this one!

xo,
Loco

Violet Temper of the Philly Roller Girls' Liberty Belles

Loco Chanel: How did you get involved in derby? How long have you been a member of the Liberty Belles?

Violet Temper: When the league formed in March 2005, Philly's free-alt weekly did a cover story profiling the new league in town and I happened to be working at the paper. I knew immediately that I had to get involved.

I've been with the Liberty Belles since the team was formed in 2006. Mo Pain and I were the original captains - at this point, I think only 3 skaters have skated in every Belles bout, and I'm proud to be one of them.

How would you describe the Liberty Belles' playing style?

For the most part, we play a very heavily defensive game. It's been said that the Belles focus more on points denial than running up a differential - the bout is definitely won in the pack. We're also fortunate to have about 10 skaters who are also jammers - it helps us really develop our defensive strategies since our offense is already so developed. Since all our jammers also block, our offense has a very keen defensive mindset.

Windy City and Philly both had our tournament hopes put to an end by Gotham (and twice, to boot!) in 2008. What were your biggest lessons from those games?

I would say the biggest lesson we've learned from Gotham is how to be more versatile and adaptable - they've really taught us to push the envelope on our strategy and communication. Since our last (admittedly disappointing) meeting at Nationals, our adaptability and mental endurance has grown tremendously as a result from that loss.

What Philly has that NY doesn't, though, is the scrappy underdog spirit and a lot of heart. When we played at regionals (and scared the crap out of them, I might add), we were having SO much fun - on our bench, on the track. Our biggest lesson from that game was gaining confidence and finally believing that we're an amazing team - until then, our underdog spirit had gotten in our heads a bit. I feel like we really broke through that at Regionals.

Any additional thoughts on next Saturday’s game that you want to share?

We're so excited to finally play WCR because we both play very clean, fast, smart derby. It's all business on the track. There's nothing better than playing a team you really respect. Also, I think both leagues have such incredible teamwork - to the degree that, yes, you have the big name talent, but on the whole, no one skater really stands out from the other. That's the biggest compliment given to a team, in my opinion.

Talk Derby with your Friends!

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