Due to the team change, there is an additional time change for the bouts. The Charlotte Roller Girls All-Stars bout will begin at 6:00pm, playing first on the day, and the B Dazzlers will start their bout at 7:30pm to finish off the double header.

Charlotte will play all three opposing teams throughout the day. They have faced off against each of these teams before (actually playing all three within a couple of months of each other last year!). Charlotte has traded wins with Cape Fear since the inception of both leagues and has played Blue Ridge twice with Blue Ridge walking away with wins both times – although Charlotte certainly didn’t make it easy for them. The Charlotte All-Stars have played Carolina’s Bootleggers and their All-Stars, winning against the Bootleggers and losing to the All-Stars.

The first game starts at 10am, and the final one begins at 8pm. For anyone wishing to see the finest roller derby in North Carolina, tickets are only $10 for all 6 games. The event will take place at Dorton Arena on the NC State fairgrounds.

But we can think of one job in particular that’s particularly tough to do on top of being a roller girl: mother!

And we’ve got quite a few of them participating in our league! We spent some time talking to some of these mothers, to figure out how they balance family and derby.

MzBehavin' Mama

Mugger Teresa

Ms Guided Angel

Nita Beer

Mugger’s daughter, although still a toddler, is able to find the fun in roller derby as well. “Abbey has asked for her fourth birthday for a pair of pink roller skates. I often find her going through my derby bag looking for wheels, pads and of course my helmet. She will put on my elbow pads over her knees and while wearing my helmet pretend to be playing derby.” She adds, “The latest thing is her setting up a skate shop with items from in my derby bag up for sale. I have played along a couple of times and she drives a hard bargain. $1000 for wheels! Yikes!” she exclaims.

Devlin Syder

Conine the Barbarian, a teacher and mother to Sarah, 9, and Carl, 5, says “sometime my son tell me he wishes I could stay home on practice nights. I do question if I’m doing the right thing every now and then”.

Conine the Barbarian

When asking Mama this question, she laughs, and says, “I wish I knew! It’s so easy to get completely engulfed with derby that you forget your entire other life before. I finally realized I had to set some limits on what I could and could not do.”

Despite the multiple challenges facing these women and mothers on a daily basis, they all find the inspiration to keep going from their teammates and the knowledge that they are a part of something unique.

Angel tells us that she is inspired by “the people on my team who work hard and my love of the sport”. “My teammates inspire me, the league inspired me. My kids motivate me,” says Conine, simply. Mugger also points out that “the amount of time and resources to run a derby league is immense. The fact that we all do this on a volunteer level is inspiring. They motivate me to work harder.” Devlin Syder explains, “Everyone in the league has made sacrifices and put forth a lot of hard work to get us to where we are today. We built this league from a few girls at a skating rink who could barely skate into a group of strong, devoted, competitive women of all skill levels who are competing with other teams around the country. I am proud to be a part of it. I get excited about skating for Charlotte Roller Girls every day.”

The Charlotte Roller Girls are very proud of each and every one of these women as well and want to wish them, and all the mothers, a very happy Mother’s Day.

If you are looking for ways to spoil your mom, consider treating her to a yoga class at Be Yoga! Help her relieve her tension and stretch those sore muscles. Turn it into an opportunity for quality bonding time by signing yourself up, too. You may even see a few Charlotte Roller Girls at the Sunday deep stretch class.

Looking for something a little more adventurous to do instead? Consider signing up for PaddleFIT with Dr. Tony Peters. This is a great way to get active, have fun, and spend some time with your mom outdoors.

Whatever you decide to do on Mother’s day, we want to wish all our fans who are moms a very happy day on Sunday. We hope you are pampered by your family.

Do U Juana #S0ME started first on the jammer line. The blockers waited for the first whistle. When no pack was called the jammers were off and blockers Katch Her in the Rye, Hellin Felon, and Amy Fister immediately went after Rocktown’s jammer. Within seconds Do U Juana was out of the pack meanwhile the blockers slowed down the opposing jammer with recycling. With the help of her team Do U Juana was able to make one scoring pass before calling it off, but it wouldn’t compare to the multiple grand slams (five points passes) she would make later on in that game.

It’s no question the Charlotte Roller Girls did a lot of good things during the Rocktown Rollers game. Five minutes before half time CLTRG broke 101 points while the Rocktown Rollers had 28 respectively. Many times the CLTRG jammer found a quick way to escape the pack while the blockers put into play positional, recycling, and even backwards blocking.

“It was just nice to see things we’d worked on in practice come into play on the track,” blocker and recent jammer in the Rocktown Rollers game Ms Guided Angel #416 quoted after the bout. It was very apparent this was the case. Ms Guided Angel and Rosie Cheeks #6 were able to successfully “pass the star” during one of the jams. Ms Guided Angel lined up on the track as the jammer, but within seconds of the second whistle she quickly passed the jammer’s star to Rosie Cheeks the pivot at the time. The result? The Rocktown Rollers fought to keep Ms Guided Angel in the pack as Rosie Cheeks slipped out unnoticed. Within seconds Rosie Cheeks caught up with the opposing jammer causing her to do a double take and then laugh before calling off the jam.

The end result of the game was Rocktown Rollers with 68 points and the Charlotte Roller Girls with 193 points. Both teams played hard and the Rocktown Rollers provided a great and welcoming atmosphere. The Charlotte Roller Girls All Stars returned home breaking the losing streak and with a boosted moral.

The Charlotte Roller Girls chose Girls on the Run for their 2012 Community Partner. The two
organizations have similar goals of empowering women. Their likeminded positive attitudes toward
fitness make them a perfect pair. The Charlotte Roller Girls will continue to work with Girls of the Run
for the remainder of the year.

Congratulations to the following skaters for making the roster for this game:

The All-Stars Roster

The B Dazzler Roster

We believe Amendment 1 has no place in our state or our Constitution. As a sports league, we have relished being an open and inclusive organization. Our league welcomes people from all walks of life including single moms, teachers, bankers, punk rockers, straight, gay, transgendered, married, divorced, etc. Amendment 1 does not reflect our values of welcoming diversity and valuing inclusion. As human beings and citizens of North Carolina, we think it wrong, discriminatory, and mean-spirited to amend our Constitution to marginalize any group of individuals, creating a “sub-citizen” status, especially when that amendment demonstrates anti-gay hate.

Here are the facts:

• North Carolina already has a law outlawing same-sex marriage, passed in 1996.
• The Amendment will affect more than just same-sex couples. The amendment states that a marriage between one man and one woman will be the only domestic legal union recognized by the state. This means that domestic partnerships, gay or straight, would be invalidated, putting at risk: health benefits for partners, health benefits for children, custody rights, and even rights of visitation at hospitals. All of these revocations happened after a similar amendment passed in Ohio.
• The Amendment may limit the benefits and incentives that employers will be able to offer to attract employees to state.
• The last time our state’s Constitution was amended to define marriage it banned African-Americans and Caucasians from being able to marry.
• Lawmakers who wrote this bill have said it will be obsolete and overturned in 20 years. We think it is misguided and financially irresponsible to invalidate existing domestic partnerships and rewrite local codes and laws for an amendment that will be socially obsolete fairly soon.
• Because there is a law on the books banning gay marriage, we can only conclude that this Amendment is motivated by anti-gay bias and we believe that bias and exclusion have no place in our state.

As an organization, we don’t often become politically involved. We exist to play and promote the sport of women’s flat track roller derby. But this amendment is so damaging to our league-mates and our friends that we feel it is necessary to take a stand and add our voice to the conversation. This is a human rights issue above all else. We urge you to take a stand with us and vote AGAINST this flawed amendment on May 8.

FOR MORE INFO: http://www.protectncfamilies.org/

The Charlotte Roller Girls B-Dazzlers take the track first against the Star City Roller Girls of Roanoke, VA. The B-Dazzlers have faced off against Star City thrice before. Star City has won twice, but not without a fight. You can be sure the B-Dazzlers will be looking to even the score this time around. Charlotte’s All-Stars will take on the Little City Roller Girls of Johnson City, TN. These two teams have never met on the track, but the action is sure to be exciting as both teams are fighting for WFTDA rankings.

Halftime entertainment will include audience participation on the track side-by-side with the ladies in purple and black. And in the grand tradition of the Kentucky Derby, be sure to wear your most outlandish hat. Prizes will be awarded for the best. Need some inspiration? Check out this page.

Tickets can be purchased from the Common Market (either location), the Sleepy Poet Antiques Mall, or from your favorite Charlotte Roller Girl! Tickets are $10 adult/$5 child in advance and $14 adult/$7 child on the day of. Grady Cole is located 310 N. Kings Drive.

Included with the purchase of every adult ticket is admission to the official afterparty, held at the Philosopher’s Stone located at 1957 E. 7^th St.