With the tournament and championship seasons finally behind us, and everyone already having their share of discussions on whether or not new WFTDA champions Oly Rollers are changing the face of roller derby, it’s time to get back to some old-school loosely-organized roller derby to close out 2009's action.

This Saturday night Team Awesome, a national all-female all-star roller derby team, will battle Team SeXY, an international all-male all-star roller derby team, on the banked track, bringing the roller derby community the first all-female vs. all-male banked track game ever. The game will be a highlight of Team Awesome’s three-day training camp, benefiting the San Diego Derby Dolls and held in SDDD’s practice space, the Dollhouse, in downtown San Diego.

The last time Team Awesome and Team SeXY played each other was in the heat of the streets of Las Vegas, on the flat track, during a Fremont Street challenge at RollerCon 2009. Team SeXY won the 20 minute exhibition 43-37. Justice Feelgood Marshall of Team SeXY recalls that it was Rinkworm and Quadzilla who scored most of Team SeXY’s points that day with 20 and 17 respectively.

Justice also recalls that going into the game Team SeXY “didn’t know whether it was going to be close, or whether they [Team Awesome] were going to destroy us.”

“The fact that it was close,” Justice continued, “doesn’t make us scared to play them again, but it’s a very different line up this time.”

In their usual fashion, Team Awesome played the RollerCon game with many substitute players. It was Wednesday, the opening day of RollerCon, and about half of Team Awesome’s usual players hadn’t arrived in Las Vegas yet, so subs from the Los Angeles Derby Dolls and San Diego Derby Dolls were given jerseys -- that roster included LADD's Krissy Krash and Iron Maiven, who had memorable cameos in Whip It as the Manson Sisters, among others.

Ivanna remembers, “We had a pretty good line up of subs for that Team Awesome vs. SeXY game…and that hurt losing to them, I have to admit.”

Team Awesome will be playing this Saturday with quite a different lineup than they played with at RollerCon. Ivanna S. Pankin, Trish the Dish and Dahmernatrix from San Diego, Medusa from North Star, and Annie Maul from Kansas City will be the only five holdovers. The rest will be experienced Team Awesome members, with only one debut for this game.

The Team Awesome roster for this Saturday also includes Demanda Riot and Velveteen Savage from Bay Area, Jackie Daniels from Windy City, Goodie Two Skates from Rose City, She Who Cannot Be Named from Rocky Mountain, and Muffin from Duke City. Kiki DiAzz of the San Diego Derby Dolls is the sole first-timer.

Team SeXY hasn't changed their lineup too much from their Rollercon debut, although the timing of the bout means they'll be missing some of their original players; they're suiting up 9 against Awesome's 12.

Returning from the Vegas meeting are Justice Feelgood Marshall of Harm City Homicide, Mancakes of Southern Scallywags and Quadzilla, who aside from his many derby accomplishments, also played on the notorious American TV series Rollerjam, which may finally actually pay off for Team SeXY as they battle with the dimensions of the banked track Saturday night. Quadzilla plays for the Puget Sound Derby Outcasts and is also the current bench coach of the Rat City Roller Girls.

There also are three duos coming from men's teams: Shortbus and Rinkworm from the Dallas Deception, Pitchit and Johnny Smokescreen from Tucson's Dry Heat Militia, and debuting players Dirty Larry and Whiplash from Minneapolis-St. Paul's Twin City Terrors.

When asked how Team SeXY will handle the switch of surface, Justice commented “I expect we’ll learn how to play banked track roller derby.”

Team Awesome does have considerably more experience on the banked track. Ivanna S. Pankin, Trish the Dish and Dahmernatrix play for the Swarm, San Diego’s banked track team, and Team Awesome themselves competed in the Battle on the Bank 2008.

“I would expect the fact that some of us have banked track experience to make a difference, just because it seems to have made a difference with other teams we have played that are flat track,” Ivanna explains, “but the dudes are pretty versatile and I’m not too worried about them.”

Both Team Awesome and Team SeXY would deny being called “all-star” teams. While both teams have ended up with the cream of the crop, neither team was created with the intentions of being an all-star team.

Team Awesome was thrown together at an East Coast Extravaganza by Lexie Deluxe, looking for a team to fulfill a last minute challenge against New England Roller Derby. That very first game’s attendance was dramatically affected by an ice storm and the Team Awesome roster ended up being whoever showed up and put on a jersey. That relatively loose approach to rosters has become fairly typical for this “phantom” team.

Ivanna illustrates that part of Team Awesome’s awesomeness is that they “do not close the gate and not let other people in. Team Awesome is made up from just as many subs most of the time as the core roster and to me that says everyone is awesome.

“We don’t always win, but we always, always have a good time. We’ve never had a bad game, we’ve never not had fun, and to me, that is totally awesome!” Ivanna concludes.

Team SeXY was put together by Justice Feelgood Marshall as a men’s RollerCon challenge team. This is the second game for the team that turned into a national all-star men’s team overnight, the day they beat the esteemed Team Awesome.

When Justice was asked what makes Team SeXY sexy, he responded, very matter of factly, “the X and the Y.”

Article by Kali Katt