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! -Loco Chanel

Loco Chanel: The July 25 bout is the WCR All-Stars home opener at the UIC Pavilion, but it's not the All-Stars' first bout this year. The team has a 4-0 record in 2009, with wins over Detroit (119-59), St. Louis (186-45), Cincinnnati (127-54), and Boston (117-81). What have you, both as captain and an All-Star skater, learned from these games?

Varla Vendetta: Something that I want to make note of is that in May, a new WFTDA rule set was released, so half of these games were played under WFTDA 3.1 and half under a newly adopted 4.0. [The 2009 Windy City Rollers home season was played entirely under 3.1] Each time the ruleset changes, we find that our strategy shifts a bit. Sometimes new plays come out of the new rules and sometimes old gameplans are scrapped because of the rule changes. So, I think that we've learned some new ways to play the game itself, both because of the experiences with the teams we've played and with the updates on officiating. Rule changes can take time to adapt to, but ultimately add an element of creativity to the games that I really enjoy.

Y'all are facing your biggest test so far this year against Philly's Liberty Belles, who finished #3 at last fall's WFTDA National Championship (vs WCR's #2 spot). How have the All-Stars been preparing for this big game?

Crap! Malice revealed our top secret donut and beer plan! Every game is a step in prepping for tourneys, so we look at all four of our 2009 games as a preparation for Philly. Similarly, Philly will be prep for Charm and Rat and Rose and so on. We've played some great teams, all with different strengths. We evaluated how we've dealt with what those teams brought to the track, and what needs to be improved in practices. We've added some more off-skates work in both strength-training and agility to assist in injury prevention. When we started interleague bouting, a lot of our focus was how to become a team with one mindset and one ethic. That continues to develop, too, but now we also are finding that maintaining a healthy team, physically and mentally, is just as important.

From my viewpoint, the WCR All-Stars and Philly's Liberty Belles are two well-matched teams and this bout will fiercely competitive. WCR has a loss to avenge last spring at ECE, and well, WCR is kind of untouchable at home. Any additional thoughts about the game and the upcoming season?

It's also going to be an incredible night for Windy City fans as this is really our first home game for the All-Stars in 2009. All of our games were road games, even ARRG, which was played at a hockey rink outside the city. WCR fans are intensely devoted, inspiring and supportive. The WCR just finished a successfully riveting intraleague season at UIC Pavilion, and I think fans will be intrigued by seeing how we tackle other cities' styles of play on our new home turf, too. I think it's going to be an awesome experience for us as players, too, to share this night with our leaguemates and fans.