York Minxters vs Wakey Wheeled Cats - our last game of our 2019 British Roller Derby Championships, Review by EmRAH

Well, where to begin?   We've trained so hard during this British Championship season and it felt like this game brought together the effort, commitment and team spirit from everybody involved York Minxters Roller Derby.
 
We all put 110% into every training session in the build up to the game; we pooled together our collective knowledge, experience and skills that we have all gained from watching footage, going to external scrims, bootcamps and our own training sessions.
 
Game day came and we were all nervous, excited, terrified and confident!  Not only was it our last game of the season but it was also our turn to host, which we did so at the brilliant York College.  As anyone involved in roller derby knows, hosting an event takes time and effort from everyone.   We are really proud of the way we came together to make it work - it was all hands on deck, right from from the marketing of the event through to the set up on the day itself.   Huge shout out to skaters, officials, NSOs, the bakers, the raffle prize contributors, and of course those people that came along to support all the teams who played on the day!

First, we did our usual pre-game warm up and team talk. Then the first whistle blew.  This was it!
 
The first half was a very close game with multiple lead changes. But one of our team strengths is being keeping our cool and focusing on the job at hand, ensuring we use the skills and tactics we have been training. Our blockers created strong and effective walls that Wakey Wheeled Cats jammers struggled to break through. Our jammers gave it everything - all using their amazing footwork skills to challenge the edges and get around the Wakey's walls. Every single point mattered and hard earned - for both teams. At the end of the first half, the score was York Minxters 61 Wakey Wheeled Cats 53. Half time was a debrief of the game so far and an acknowledgement that everything we were doing was working.  All we had to do was just carry on playing in the same way.
 
The second half was so exciting for the Minxters. Wakey were getting tired, which saw them being assessed more penalties. This meant that we were able to put our power jam tactics into play on a few occasions and our we were able to create a bigger points difference. We even had a staggering 20 point jam from one of our jammers, Hencherson. Our blockers were playing stronger than ever and Wakey's jammers were really struggling at this stage to gain the critical points that they needed to close the points gap.  Every Minxter fought until the very last second, every skater was pushing themselves and working to their strengths. We were all determined that we could do this, we have worked so hard for this. It paid off! The final score of the game York Minxters 157 Wakey Wheeled Cats 124.
 
We have won 4 out of 5 games this British Championship season. This has resulted in us coming 2nd overall in Tier 3WE, and we will receive a shiny silver medal to prove it! Our 2nd place ranking also means that we move up to Tier 2 in 2020 which will be amazing for us as this was one of our team goals. Thank you to every single Minxter and to all of our supporters for believing in us.

Stay tuned - there are some very exciting times ahead for York Minxters Roller Derby!

EmRAH x