WRDN Gamecast: 2013 USARS Region #2 Championship

It’s a WRDN Gamecast double-feature! From the Stockton Indoor Sports Complex in Stockton, Calif., it’s the placement games of the 2013 USA Roller Sports Region #2 roller derby championship.

Four teams competed for the three spots available into the 2013 USARS Roller Derby National Championship, to be held in Tulsa, Okla. this October. After three games each of pool play, the teams contested the third-place and championship games to determine qualification and seeding into the national tournament.

USARS roller derby rules feature faster gameplay, a larger emphasis on team play and pack work, and allow the pivot to become a jammer to score as it was originally designed to do. As many teams are still new to the USARS ruleset, the level of play here is somewhat low; however, there were some pretty close games and exciting moments throughout the weekend despite that.

Both games can be viewed below. Each game is compressed to eliminate jam resets and timeouts, so it’s all wall-to-wall derby. And even better: The video is in high-definition, baby!

You can view the games below. For past Gamecast videos, check out the Gamecast archive page.

Enjoy!

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Third-Place Game

High Country Mountain DG vs. Suburban Legends RD

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Championship Game

Temporarily Unavailable

 

WRDN Gamecast: San Diego DD vs Sugartown RG

Oh yeah! It’s time for another WRDN Gamecast!

It’s a look into last weekend’s RDCL banked track game between the San Diego Derby Dolls and the Sugartown Rollergirls, straight from the beaches of Ventura, Calif.  It’s also a great look at the 2013 RDCL roller derby rules, which promote faster, more open play and (mostly) prevents blockers from becoming tackling dummies in a split pack. This was fun game to watch (especially compared to last year’s Gamecast under the old rules) with a fair amount of action.

The team San Diego fielded was a mixer team of league players and rookies, some of which played in their very first game. Sugartown’s roster is also a mix featuring some of their all-star players and guest players from the L.A. Derby Dolls, necessary fill-ins as quite a few of STRG’s rostered skaters were out with injury.

This game might provide an insight as to the kind of gameplay we might expect on the undercard at next month’s Battle on the Bank VI in Los Angeles, as both San Diego and Sugartown will be in attendance.

To view the game, head on over to the WRDN Gamecast page, or just press play below.

WRDN Gamecast: L.A. Derby Dolls vs. Sugartown Rollergirls

Last weekend, the Sugartown Rollergirls hosted the L.A Derby Dolls in their second-ever interleague banked track roller derby game. Lucky you, it’s now available to view in a very special WRDN Gamecast!

Sugartown, a banked track league based in Oxnard, Calif., has been in existence since about 2010. Their first game was a few months ago against the Reno Rollergirls, whom they defeated 186-97. For their second game, L.A. Derby Dolls came rolling into town. L.A. didn’t send in their big guns, opting to sick a team of subpool players (those not yet drafted onto an LADD home team) on STRG.

The game was well-attended, and the crowd showed their support for the home team. There was even a guy with a vuvuzela, which sadly, could not be edited out of the broadcast. But there was roller derby, and it was a rough-and-tumble(-and-slow) game to see.

Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

WRDN Gamecast: Men’s Derby from Battle for the Coast

This past weekend, 10 women’s roller derby teams hit the beach to play at Battle for the Coast, a two-day flat track tournament in Ventura, Calif. The winners were–get this–the L.A. Derby Dolls, defeating a surprising Ventura County Derby Darlins host team by a score of 134-83. San Diego Derby Dolls were 3rd, over the Sac City Rollers.

Day two of the event featured a full-length men’s exhibition game between a pair of mash-up all-star teams from the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. The Northwest won in a thriller, 150-148.

There was no live streaming of this event, so no one outside of the tournament got to see these great games live. Happily, I brought my camera and decided to at least get something on film. The plan was to film both the men’s game and the ladies’ final so everyone could see the great action.

Well, one out of two ain’t bad.

Unfortunately, my camera’s single battery only got through the men’s game, leaving me unable to record the thrilling L.A.-Ventura final. (Bummer.) But if I had to pick one to get, it’d be the men’s all-star mash-up. There isn’t enough men’s derby out there to see, so I’m glad I was able to at least grab it for everyone.

The game featured men’s players such as Speed Dealer, Ryrod, Radillac, Adam Collider, Billy Motion, Collin Ambulance, Rave N’ BustHer, and Pitchit. It was fast (except for That One Jam), hard-hitting, and the crowd seemed to like it quite a bit.

You’re probably going to want to watch it. You can see the game at the new WRDN Gamecast page there at the top, or you can just click here to go to the Gamecast page.

I’d love to bring everyone more derby video, so consider this first game a test run. I hope to improve upon things in the future, but for now we’ll start things off with a good, fast (except for That One Jam) game of men’s derby and take it from there.

Thanks, and enjoy!