CNYRD is proud to announce our 2011 Non-Profit Partner!!!

Central New York Roller Derby is proud to announce that we have selected The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter as our 2011 Non-Profit Partner.
Each year, CNYRD selects a local non-profit whose goals are closely aligned with our own to work with throughout the season. As our 2011 Non-Profit Partner, The Arc will receive a portion of the gate revenue from each of CNYRD's seven home bouts. Staff of The Arc will also join us as our guests at special 2011 bouts.
CNYRD and The Arc share a spirit of community inclusion and a mission to provide athletic and recreational opportunities to people of all abilities.

As we did last year, $1 of each ticket sold at the door at our 7 public home bouts will be set aside for The Arc, and after the season ends in September we will present them a check with the total. We will also have donation cans available for fans that would like to give more.

Last year, CNYRD raised $1230.00 for YWCA of the Mohawk Valley's domestic violence prevention programs and presented them a check at their 'Take Back The Night' event last October. Our goal is to beat this amount each subsequent year.

Saturday 4/9/2011: Rome Wreckers vs Utica Clubbers

On Saturday April 9th, 2011, CNYRD will host the first in a series of intraleague bouts leading up to our season championship on July 30th. This bout will be a 'Friends and Family' event. What this means is that we invite you, our friends and family, to come watch with a suggested donation at the door of $3.

There are no programs, no food and drink for sale, no video screens, no vendors, no halftime show, no fancy introductions etc......this is bare bones roller derby. We run it as a regulation bout in every way, and we take it very seriously, but it is not a full production event. We *might* have league merchandise available for sale.

This is a great chance for you to see how the home teams stack up against each other for future games, and also a nice way to get to know your favorite players when there's not the craziness of a full bout to distract us. We will all get together after the bout at the Nail Creek Pub in Utica for an informal afterparty.



There will be 6 intraleague games total, a full double round robin, and the championship game. The dates and matchups of these games are:

4/9 7pm - Rome Wreckers vs Utica Clubbers - friends and family
4/30 7pm - Utica Clubbers vs Blue Collar Betties
5/29 12pm- Utica Clubbers vs Blue Collar Betties - friends and family
6/4 6pm - Blue Collar Betties vs Rome Wreckers
6/26 12pm - Blue Collar Betties vs Rome Wreckers - friends and family
7/2 6pm - Rome Wreckers vs Utica Clubbers 7/30 8:30pm - Intraleague Championship!

THIS Saturday!! Albany!! Double Header!!!!!

This Saturday is going to get WILD! The CNY All-Stars are hitting the road with our friends The Quadfathers to the Washington Ave Armory in Albany for a big event. The doors open at 5pm, and the first bout of the evening will be at 6pm as the Captal District Trauma Authority, Albany's first men's roller derby team, plays The Quadfathers. This bout will mark the debut of men's derby in the captial area, and the first public bout for CDTA. Come out and cheer for our boys in Orange as they square off against the new kids on the block. If you've never seen men's derby, this is THE bout to start your love affair with the sport off right!

Following the men's bout, CNYRD's CNY All-Stars will take the track vs the Albany All-Stars in a much anticipated re-match of the semi-final game of last year's Empire Skate Showdown in which CNY lost 57-59 in a nailbiting last jam. CNYRD and AASRD have competed very closely over the past 2 years, and we hope to walk away from this bout showing what kind of chemistry the new and improved CNYRD travel team has, featuring lots of new talent and transfers from multiple other leagues (plus fancy new uniforms courtesy of the support of the Nail Creek Pub in Utica!!!)

As the poster shows, tickets are $10 in advance HERE, or $12 at the door. It would be FOOLISH of you to show up and expect to get tickets at the door for this event. Dont say we didnt warn you. Buy 'em in advance and let's pack those stands with Utica! If you think UC hockey games get rowdy, you 'aint seen nothin' yet!

Bout Recap 3/19/2011: CNY All-Stars @ Lehigh Valley Hissyfits

All photos by Pete Rodriguez

We bring you good news: specifically, a 177-142 victory over the Hissyfits in the CNY All-Stars first game of the season.

This bout was a lively one! With a sellout crowd of the building's capacity of 600, by 5 minutes before the scheduled whistle time there were lines out the door, around the building, and through the parking lot for both the will call and ticket purchase lines. With bout staff doing everything in their power to get people in quickly, on top of dealing with all of our needs to get folks who made the drive from Utica in OK (thank you LVRG for helping us out!), we were able to get going 15 minutes late with no complaints from anyone involved....from what we could tell this crowd was INTO their derby! It was so loud from the fans that both teams were having trouble hearing whistles, and we all know a Fox 40 gets LOUD! It was a great time.

This bout was decided on power jams- but Gutshot, the All-Stars MVP, is the first to admit that it's the blockers who matter most during a power play. Gutshot scored 26 points in a power jam in the first half which contributed greatly to the All-Stars breaking ahead and gaining momentum.

“I didn't expect (to be MVP) because I thought that my blockers deserved it,” said Gutshot. “I would have been nothing without my blockers; almost all of my points were in power jams.”

The All-Stars were up by twenty at the half, and V-Diva put on a fireworks show in the final jam, scoring 30 points in a Lehigh Valley powerjam. It wasn't enough to close the gap, and the bout ended 177-142, but 30 points? We tip our helmets.

Parker Paxa Punch took home the MVP trophy for the Hissyfits. Parker has been a staple on the Hissyfits since 2009.

Didn't make the trip to Pennsylvania? Hoping we'll show up closer to home? On April 2, the All-Stars storm the Washington Ave Armory, where they'll take on the ladies of the Albany All-Stars. The two teams will meet for the first time since last year's nail-biting 59-57 semi-final game at the Empire Skate Showdown. We know a few fierce CNY skaters who are looking to avenge that loss, and you know our skates are actually powered by crowd noise (hint hint!)

Individual photos by Pete Rodriguez

Album 1 Album 2

Check out this AMAZING stop-motion animation Pete made from his pics of the bout!!

Photos by Walter Romero

More pics to come! If you have any, please leave a comment with a link to the album for us!

Want to Join? 2011 Recruitment starts April 6th!!!!

We are sorry to have been so vague on our plans for the next recruitment class over the past months. We have finalized our summer schedule and now we can get you all on skates! We've already had an amazing outpouring of interest for potential new skaters, and we hope to see another super-sized recruitment class graduate in August.

[Drumroll] and here's the details:
On Wednesday April 6th from 7-10pm and on Saturday April 9th from 10a-12p, we will host a series of Meet & Greet / Open House / Open Skates at JFK Arena in Rome NY (map below)
This is a chance to come meet the girls and guys, talk about the program, see some examples of drills, and even lace up some skates and strap on some pads (we provide!) and try out some skating. These two dates have NO COSTS....they are 100% free.


View Larger Map


Starting Wed April 13th, we will have Basic Skating classes every Wed 7-10pm and Saturdays 10a-12p for 4 weeks, ending on Saturday May 7th. These classes will concentrate solely on the basics...strides, crossovers, stops, stance, balance, etc. At the end of the 4 weeks those that are ready may move into our 12 week newbie training program. For those who may need more time with the basics, we will make floor time available during newbie classes at one end of the arena to continue skating and practicing for the next newbie class.

Newbie training will keep the same schedule, and will start Wed May 11th and run through Sat July 30th. In this 12 week training period, you will learn everything you need to be a beginner derby player. Our goal is to have you pass the WFTDA's minimum skating skills test and be a scrimmage ready skater by August.

Now, for costs:

• as we said, the meet and greets are free.
• the beginner classes will be either $30 for the month, or $5 for each class you attend.
  
• Once newbie class starts, the fee is $30 per month. This is the same as our regular league members pay for dues, so there will be no jump in prices after newbie class is over.
• At any point during new skater training (Basic Skating, Newbie Class) if anyone needs to use our rental skates or pads, its $5 per use (skates&pads, just skates, just pads, whatever, its $5)
• You will be expected by the end of Basic Skating to also pay for a skating insurance policy through WFTDA. The exact fee will be no more than $55 and will cover you for the rest of 2011.
• You will be expected by the end of Newbie Class (end of July) to own all of your own gear. The recruitment staff will go over all of this for you and we will organize times with some of our sponsors to be fitted and check out different products we recommend. Ask us before you buy anything!
  

We cant wait to see a new group of bright shining faces this summer, and by next fall we hope to see a lot of new bout ready skaters and maybe even a 4th home team (!)

Any questions please contact Bitter Swede, our recruitment committee chair, at recruitment@cnyrollerderby.com

3/18/2011: CNYRD and The Peacemaker Program at 'Come to the Table' 2011

CNY Roller Derby recently participated in "Come to the Table" and event put on by The Peacemaker Program to raise funds for their programs involving mediation, facilitation, conflict management, and conflict resolution. "Come to the Table" is an event that many local community members and groups get involved in by creating a table that will later be auctioned off. A handful of members of CNYRD got together and created a table themed "Let Them Eat Skate" which included a real pair of roller skates and a cake post card slice on each plate. The event started on Friday March 18th with a Red Carpet Evening at Harts Hill Inn, where initial bidding began, followed by the main event Saturday March 19th. After two days of bidding and many people checking out the tables, bidding was finished and our table raised $210 for The Peacemaker Program.

Thank you to all of the local businesses who helped make our table great by sponsoring us:
The New Uptown Theatre, Clinton Florist, CNY Roller Derby, TangBaby, Broadway Theatre League, The Tramontane Cafe, The Dessert Booth, Effleurage Spa, Karmie Klotz- hair stylist at Angela and Co., and The Icing on the Cake.

Follow Our Rankings in 2011 (unofficial)

You can see and follow the CNY All-Stars' rankings throughout 2011 and beyond courtesy of Flat Track Stats here:

http://www.flattrackstats.com/teams/3642

These stats are not official WFTDA rankings, but they do a pretty good job.

Come See Us This Weekend

You can find your favorite rollergirls in two places this weekend (How do we do that? Magic. Roller magic.).

Here in Utica, look for our table at The Peacemaker Program's Come To The Table event at Hart's Hill Inn on Friday and Saturday. You can join us at the very swanky Premier Party starting at 6 pm tonight, check out our table from 10 am until 6 pm tomorrow at the Main Event, and, if you are feeling flush, bid on our table, which includes some very excellent CNYRD swag.

Main Event tickets are available for $5 at the door, but you have to get on the list in advance for the Premier Party, so follow those links and come see us.

Feeling like a road trip? With weather like this, who isn't? Head on down to Pennsylvania to see our road opener. The CNYRD All-Stars take on Lehigh Valley at 7 pm at the Independence Family Fun Center in Schnecksville, Pa, looking to pick up their first victory of the season against V-Diva and the Hissyfits. Your favorite CNYRD skaters, like Moody Obsession, Pied Viper and Slay West are back, while you can see transfer skaters Spin Spin Sugar, Sinful Pleasures and Cereal Suicide settle in for their first full season with CNYRD.

In last season's meeting at CNYRD's home track, the JFK Civic Center in Rome, CNYRD's travel team, skating as the Utica Clubbers, came away with a 119-96 victory. CNYRD utilized strong pack control and deployed quick-footed blocker Moody Obsession to shut down Lehigh Valley's leading scorer, jammer V-Diva. Moody Obsession held V-Diva to just 58 points and sent her back to the locker room with a second-period expulsion, paving the way for CNYRD's victory.

In this season's rematch, the Hissyfits will turn to V-Diva to avoid a loss on their home track. CNYRD returns veteran skaters including blocker/jammer Moody Obsession, blockers Lady Die Mentia and Slay West, and jammers Mean Squeak and Farmer's Slaughter. Several former Utica Rollergirls will start their first full season with CNYRD, including jammers Spin Spin Sugar and Sinful Pleasures and blocker Cereal Suicide.

Recap: If you are staying in Utica this weekend, find us at Come to the Table on Friday and Saturday. If you're headed out of town, we're at the Independence Family Fun Center taking on Lehigh Valley on Saturday. See you there!

Look for CNYRD this Saturday in the Utica St Patrick's Day Parade!

Our longest running yearly tradition, the Utica St Patrick's Day Parade, is something we look forward to every year. Last year the travel team headed off early to a bout in Burlington VT while our newbies, refs, NSO's, family, and friends took to the streets to represent us by handing out season schedules and free bout tickets for our season opener.

This year we planned better! The league will be out in full force this Saturday to show you how much we love Utica and Central New York. We've even got some parade suprises that may or may not include a float with a derby prom queen in a duck tape dress (shhhh!).

Our girls will have a limited amount of free bout tickets which will be good for our season opener on Sat 4/30 at JFK Arena in Rome when the Utica Clubbers take on the Blue Collar Betties.

If you want to grab our attention and get YOUR free ticket, we encourage rowdy support of roller derby. Make signs, wave your arms, make a bunch of noise when you see us. Help us show the parade that CNY Roller Derby is your favorite group out there!!!!!! We LOVE to get pictures with our fans, so have your cameras ready!!

Please join us in crossing your fingers that its dry enough on the street for our girls to skate the parade!!!!!

Tough Cookie Bake Sale, April 23rd at the Tramontane Cafe

On April 23rd 2011, CNY Roller Derby will host our 3rd Tough Cookie Bake Sale at the Tramontane Cafe, 1105 Lincoln Ave, Utica NY.

There will be baked goods of all kinds, including vegan and raw options. Expect games (who doesnt want to challenge a rollergirl to games?!), and also live music by Phylactic!

Funds from the bake sale will go to offset costs of our 2011 home season, such as ASCAP, insurance, printed materials, etc.

This event is exactly 1 week from our 2011 home opener at JFK Arena in Rome. Come out and show your support! (and buy your presale tickets for the bout for only $8! hint, hint!)

RSVP to the Facebook Event Page, and we hope to see you on 4/23. Tell your friends!