Battle of the Beasts II,The Revenge.

We caught up with our Sponsored Skaters, Reaper and Stone R to hear all about their latest antics at the Battle of the Beasts II,The Revenge.

"We arrived one fair morning in Valkenswaard, Holland for the Battle of the Beasts II. I joined my fellow SkateStation teammate for Team England’s first ever outing as a squad. The aim of the weekend...win as many games as possible.

Day one. We arrived fresh and ready to represent, in what I can only describe as a tin warehouse. Once in we saw our battle ground. A perfect size hall with a track to match. It was a dedicated roller rink that had seating along one side for the crowds to go wild and cheer on their nations teams. First game unfortunately didn’t kick off to the start we had hoped for. Condensation delayed the opening game for 4 hours due to a cold venue and a packed venue with a red-hot raucous crowd. They had to get everyone out & bring in 4 industrial de-humidifiers! Anyway, once that had been sorted we hit the track. Our first opponent was Team Irish Free-Skate(IFS). England took control of the game from the first whistle, getting lead after lead jam as our jammers racked up the points, out-manoeuvring the opposition with ease and our blockers consistently holding the IFS jammers to zero scores. They fought to the end but the damage was done - we annihilated them and closed out nearly all of their scoring opportunities. With the end of the bout almost upon us, the condensation returned which was making for a slippery end to the game with players sliding sideways and not stopping, holding onto each other for support. No more games happened that day ☹.

Day 2. We arrived to the roars of the crowd as host nation Netherlands were flying round the track and battling for ranking. It had turned into a knock-out tournament due to the floor issue and our next game was Team France - the game that everyone wanted to see! The hall had become so loud we could hardly hear the refs during the game. Jam after jam of brilliant team work on both teams. Jammers juking, apex jumping, hitting blockers and blockers doing as much as the jammers. Both nations showing all the skills which were expected of these two mighty teams but with England’s walls solid throughout, France’s scoring opportunities were limited. There was an air of national pride on both and many players of both teams had faced off in the European championships only a couple of months before. It was a fast game from beginning to end. Both teams were missing a few key players but came out and performed, giving the crowd what they wanted to see- high-octane, top level Roller Derby. Team England skated away with victory at the last whistle, Score 355 – 84. We were presented with the golden skate. Our weekend had ended with a 100% win. It was a great start for Team England and we really gelled as a squad.

Stay tuned for further adventures of the skaters of team SkateStation.

Reaper #666 Team Skate Station Southern Discomfort Roller Derby & Team England

Stone R #33r Team Skate Station Southern Discomfort Roller Derby & Team England"

Team Skate Station