An underdog team of Arkansas all-stars lost to some of the nation's best players at the first State Wars Roller Derby tournament.
Team Arkansas finished with a 2-3 record in the national tournament held Nov. 20 to 22 in Daytona Beach, Fla. State Wars is the first tournament of its kind for roller derby -- a World Cup-style competition pitting all-star teams against each other in the name of state pride.
In a sport where mismatched opponents often see a 300-point difference in the final score, Arkansas never lost by more than 60 points.
"I feel as a team, we did Arkansas really proud," said skater Ally Macom. "We were underdogs coming in because we're not a place where anything big in roller derby happens. It seemed like any time another team said our name there was a question mark behind it, as in, 'Arkansas? Huh. Who knew?'"
However, Team Arkansas was one of the few states to bring a full roster of 20 skaters. The typical number was 14 to 16, but fewer than five teams brought 20 skaters, Macom said. The Team Arkansas roster was composed of skaters from Northwest Arkansas Roller Derby of Fayetteville; River Valley Roller Girls of Fort Smith; and Girls Rollin' in the South aka GRITS Roller Derby and Central Arkansas Roller Derby, both of Little Rock.
The full roster worked to the team's advantage, with more players to cycle through the grueling tournament schedule.
The first day, Arkansas made quick work of Alabama (327-41), lost to California (155-130) and then lost to North Carolina by a 5-point margin. They saw some surprises along the way.
"You had no idea how good any team was in the
tournament," Macom said. "That was kind of the fun. Of course, towards the end you could size up the teams, because you knew who beat who."
But at first it was anybody's guess.
"Iowa did great. I know nothing about Iowa, but it was like ... 'Iowa beat New York!' Where does that happen except for at State Wars?" she said. "Every team was a contender because you had no idea about their background."
The second day, Team Arkansas returned to the track for an early morning game against Maine and won 185-175, advancing to play Wisconsin. The subsequent loss, 184-127, knocked the Natural State skaters out of the tournament.
Their spirits were not dampened.
"When we lost our first game, we were all smiles," Macom said. "We were sad it was over. We knew we did good, and we had fun. 'They got us on this one,' we said. But the camaraderie around the whole tournament was great."
The chance to play against elite-level players from across the nation was mind-blowing, she said.
"You can only be as good as your team, so even if you came up against a player like [Team USA's] Hockey Honey, you still were a contender," she said, referring to California star player Christina Fritz. "Where else would I get the opportunity to skate against girls from Team USA without moving there or being at that level myself?"
A few members of the team stuck around to watch the women's finals: Team Colorado against Team Texas. Colorado took home the trophy. (The men's finals saw Missouri vs. Texas, with the latter winning first place.)
"Six players from Colorado are on Team USA," Macom said. "They had the best uniforms and they were there to win it. They weren't messing around."
She thinks next year's tournament will be even beefier, with more elite-level players eager to sign up.
"Next year it's going to be huge," she said. "If the teams weren't stacked this year, they certainly will be next year."
ActiveStyle on 12/08/2014