Wow, that was quite a bout on Saturday night! It was great to see so many Louisville faces out at Skatetown USA in West Chester, Ohio - we nearly outnumbered Riverside's fans  - and so much fun to cheer our DCRG Allstars on to such a smashing victory!

For those who weren't there, the final score was: DCRG Allstars 108, Riverside Jailhouse Rock-Its 17. Our girls skated amazingly, dominating from the first jam to the last. There was  a little bit of drama at the beginning of the night - a rather long delay while awaiting an EMT and an ambulance to be on standby (standard procedure for any roller derby bout) - but the bout finally got rolling around 9:15pm or so. It was worth waiting for.

Riverside should be commended, however, for hanging tough in their first inter-league bout, especially since they were skating so short, with only 9 players. But DCRG's experience, speed and power was simply no match for the young league. It was so satisfying to see how far both our offense and defense have come since that first bout last May against Naptown, when we were the ones on the losing end of a 100+ point spread.

Sadly, however, we did have a serious injury - and we sure were glad that we waited for that EMT and ambulance. Raquel Squelch, DCRG Allstar skater and 2006-07 Captain of the Red Menace, broke one bone in her left calf and cracked another one. She'll be in a cast for the next six weeks. Health insurance will cover most of the costs of the actual injury, but Squelchy makes her living as a server at Ramsi's - thus, she'll be without income during her healing period. (She'll be able to keep doing her tattoo internship, but she doesn't get paid at that job.)

So, we've set up a Fundable account for our new Injured Skater Fund. As a member of the DCRG family, please help us with a donation, to help cover basic living expenses for incidents like these. We love roller derby, but there's no question it's a full-contact sport; broken bones and other serious injuries come our way pretty regularly, and we believe roller derby shouldn't put anyone (deeply) into debt.

Your donation will help pay Squelchy's rent and utilities until she's able to be back up on her feet again, working. Any additional cash she doesn't use will be banked for the next person that needs it.

Pledgers will receive our grateful thanks and a warm fuzzy feeling. Oh, and the fundraiser only runs for 20 days... so pledge early and often. And please post this link on your MySpace, Livejournal, blog or anywhere else that will help publicize it:

https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2007-10-30.9989250161

OK, that's it for now. There won't be any more post-season bouts - you'll have to wait until the 2008 season begins in February to get your roller derby fix. But you'll be hearing from us again soon, as we've got lots of parties, fundraisers, and other events planned between now and February.

Thanks for all your support this past season. If you've enjoyed yourself so far, stick around... next season is gonna blow your mind!

GO DCRG!