At the beginning of March, the San Diego Derby Dolls hosted Spring Fling, a one-day round-robin for four teams. Host San Diego fielded their B-team, the Sparks, while fellow RDCL member Penn-Jersey Roller Derby brought their A-team.

Penn-Jersey also brought their A-game, going a perfect 3-0. One of those wins was against the South Side Derby Girls of Houston. South Side upset them last year at Battle on the Bank VIII in Seattle, winning 84-56 to send Penn-Jersey back to Philadelphia a lot earlier than most expected. The tables were turned in San Diego, where PJRD took a 83-37 win after a very tight-scoring first half.

The fourth participant at Spring Fling was Deadly Rival Roller Derby of Florida, one of the newest members of the banked track family. They haven’t even had their track up for a year, and they’re already jumping into interleague play. To the surprise of absolutely no one, they went 0-3, the yin to Penn-Jersey’s yang.

However, they had a ton of love and support from the banked track community. Deadly Rival’s performance reminded a lot of veterans about the maiden performances of teams new to the banked track, and how far they’ve come since those awkward first strides.

Six years ago, Tilted Thunder of Seattle didn’t even have their track built, but that didn’t stop them from participating at Battle on the Bank III, also in San Diego. They too lost all of their games—badly. But just some years later, they’re an annual threat to podium.

Penn-Jersey themselves can relate to Deadly Rival’s plight. Their first Battle on the Bank game three years ago during Edition VI in Los Angeles was, by our tally, the absolute worst blowout (in a 30 min. half-game) in the modern history of interleague banked track roller derby.

From those very humble beginnings, Penn-Jersey is now starting to flirt with becoming a regular winner in the RDCL. A winning start to their season is great, but to really cement their place, they ultimately need to get that first Battle on the Bank win.

Reposted from contributing writer Steven ‘Windy Man’ Rodriguez.  View original article here.
Photo: MannyMan Photography