So there you were chewing over the majesty of Verry Cherry’s account of the CCR summer when it abruptly ended. You sat there, stroking your chin contemplating…hang on, what about the rest of the story? Who are we at CCR towers to deny you…here is the rest of her summer diary!

“So we’d played two awesome sanctioned games but surely that wasn’t all we did this Summer? Well, we also had our second round of Brit Champs to get our paws into. After our home leg of “BC” got cancelled due to the insane snow, we had to play our 3 games in our 4 team structure within 2 months. This kicked off in May with London Rockin’ Rollers in Glasgow.

CCR all got on a train, sleepy eyed clutching massive cups of coffee, and headed up north (even more North than Newcastle!) to take on the awesome LRR. We arrived in Glasgow, headed to the venue, strapped on our kit and got on track. CCR and LRR have met on tracks many a time, and each time they give us a great game. We were able to play some newer skaters during this game, which was a great experience for all involved. CCR came home with a win. First ‘BC’ game done and dusted!

Our final ‘BC’ game was to be a double header up in Liverpool against the hosts and Glasgow (that’s a lot of black and gold in one place). I had the pleasure / daunting task of bench managing …annoucing, skating, bench, I’m determined to Roller Derby bingo all the roles!

Last min preparation for this game took a slightly different tact as England (the football team) had exceeded everyone’s expectation and got out of the group stages so while I’m not saying we watched the Columbia game huddled around a phone instead of skating… we sort of did, but this win also meant the Quarter Final would be on during our game (cue me preying for a bad phone signal in the sports hall!)

It was hotter than buttery toast in Liverpool but with a sack of Tip Tops (yeah, not ice poles) and a ton of water each, the team took on all that was thrown at them and grabbed not one but two wins, making CCR the gold medal recipients of Tier 1. Thanks goes to all the teams we played. We took something from each game. I’d love to mention everyone but think I’ve rambled on enough, but the whole 20 pulled together and last week we had our trophy in the post to cement our achievements and boost us into the next few months at CCR.

The next few months will of course be dominated by the WFTDA Continental Cup, but we’ll also by continually building our B team with a range of scrims and closed games. Plus continuing our commitment to training officials with our Ref bootcamps and supporting other roller derby events – I was in A-coruna on the mic and Rollin’ Rat was blowing them whistles. October’s MRDA championship in Salam USA will see IllBilly’s SDRD bid for a medal on their 4th appearance at champs.

Other highlights this summer included:

Eastbourne Extreme – 3 of CCR’s newer B team / rookie skaters took part in this annual outdoor scrim in the baking sun – nice one Power, Debbie & Darcy!

CCR hosted a Ref bootcamp and scrim – full on track fun was had with skaters from all over the land officiated by 15 new “zebras” including 3 juniors.

Plus loads of scrims for both the A and B team, recruitment days and our very own Dr. Knock got married to the wonderful Randy – AAAaaww.

Wowzar that’s a lot of stuff! Hold onto your mouth guards, this year is only going to get better!

With love VC x”

Photos courtesy of Floyd King Photography.