The Terminal City Rollergirls are about to make B.C. roller derby history once again.
This time, it's with their first ever Summer Slam Tournament on Saturday and Sunday at Minoru Arena. This year's theme will be The Lord of the Rinks, and teams from the mountains of Mordor to the realms of Rivendell will battle it out on the flat track in one action-packed weekend of derby awesomeness.
Why is this tournament different from other roller derby tournaments? Well, because it's a house team tournament. Along with all-star travel teams, most city roller derby leagues have house teams who all play each other for the local league championship every year. For instance, the Terminal City Rollergirls house teams are The Bad Reputations, the Faster Pussycats, Public Frenemy and the Riot Girls.
Fourteen house teams from the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Kelowna, Penticton, Bellingham, Wenatchee (WA), Portland, the Yukon and, of course, the four TCRG house teams will be competing on two tracks at Minoru Along with the scheduled bouts, there is a Vancouver Junior Roller Derby demo bout, a skating skills competition and a drop-in scrimmage for any experienced player who wants to join.
"Fans can look forward to more roller derby in one place than the Lower Mainland - or British Columbia for that matter - has ever seen," says tournament director and house team player Pam "Tiki Timebomb" Berg "It's the ideal event for both the casual derby fan, who wants to pay a standard admission and catch a couple of games at a time that works with their schedule, or for the derby nerd who wants to watch as much derby as humanly possible over the entire weekend."
The Terminal City Rollergirls is Vancouver's first female roller derby league. Created in 2006, TCRG is a member-owned and operated, non-profit organization consisting of close to 100 skaters, a team of sharp officials, incredible volunteers, generous sponsors, and an army of passionate fans. TCRG skaters are a group of strong, smart and diverse women who play hard and train even harder. Four house teams compete annually for the TCRG Mercury Shield. The Terminal City All-Stars charter team is made up of some of the best skaters in the league and represent Vancouver in the Women's Flat Track DerbyAssociation, the international organization that determines global rankings through sanctioned competitions leading up to yearly championships.
Doors open at 9 a.m. each day. Single-day passes for Saturday or Sunday are $15 and full weekend passes are $25.
