| WFTDA Championships 2006–present |
|
|---|---|
| Tournament information | |
| Location | Various |
| Established | 2006 |
| Format | Knockout |
| Month Played | November |
| Current champion | |
| Gotham Girls Roller Derby | |
The WFTDA Championships are the leading competition for roller derby leagues.
The Championships are organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). They originated in 2006 as the National WFTDA Championship. The "Dust Devil" tournament was contested in front of several thousand fans in Tucson, Arizona.[1]
In 2007, Western and Eastern Region Tournaments were held in order to determine qualifiers for the "Texas Shootout" National Championship, held in Austin, Texas.[2][3] By 2010, with leagues in Canada and the United Kingdom also enjoying membership of the WFTDA, "National" was dropped from the title of the contest.
Full WFTDA members are eligible for ranking in one of the association's four regions. Each region holds a tournament contested by its top ten leagues: the Eastern, North Central, South Central and Western Regional Tournaments. The top three leagues from each of these four tournaments qualify for the Championships. Together, the qualifying tournaments and Championships are termed the "Big 5".[4]
Since 2008, the winner of the Championships has been awarded the Hydra Trophy.[5]
Contents |
| Year | Date | Name | Venue | Champion | Second | Third | MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24-26 February | Dust Devil | Tucson, Arizona | Texas Rollergirls | Tucson Roller Derby | Arizona Roller Derby | Eight Track (Texas)[6] |
| 2007 | 28-30 September | Texas Shootout | Austin, Texas | Kansas City Roller Warriors | Rat City Rollergirls | Texas Rollergirls | Xcelerator (Kansas) Miss Fortune (Rat City)[7] |
| 2008 | 14-16 November | Northwest Knockdown | Portland, Oregon | Gotham Girls Roller Derby | Windy City Rollers | Philly Rollergirls | Bonnie Thunders (Gotham)[8] |
| 2009 | 13-15 November | Declaration of Derby | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Oly Rollers | Texas Rollergirls | Denver Roller Dolls | Heffer (Oly) Rice Rocket (Texas) Fonda Payne (Denver) Whipity Pow (Rocky Mountain)[9] |
| 2010 | 5-7 November | Uproar on the Lakeshore | Chicago, Illinois | Rocky Mountain Rollergirls | Oly Rollers | Gotham Girls Roller Derby | Sassy (Oly)[10] |
| 2011 | 11-13 November | Continental Divide and Conquer | Broomfield, Colorado | Gotham Girls Roller Derby | Oly Rollers | Texas Rollergirls | Kelley Young (Kansas)[11] |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gotham Girls Roller Derby | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Oly Rollers | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Texas Rollergirls | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Kansas City Roller Warriors | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Rocky Mountain Rollergirls | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Tucson Roller Derby | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rat City Rollergirls | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Windy City Rollers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | Arizona Roller Derby | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Philly Rollergirls | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Denver Roller Dolls | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
In Tucson, Arizona, over the weekend of February 24–26, 2006, Tucson Roller Derby hosted 20 WFTDA leagues from around the United States in a tournament to determine the nation's first-ever WFTDA national champion team.[12]
Round-robin bouts were instituted to determine seeding for a single-elimination tournament. Four pools were created (Scorpion, Tarantula, Black Widow and Rattlesnake), with each pool consisting of 5 teams. On Friday, February 24, 2006, each team played four ten-minute bouts in each pool. Point differential was used to determine the ranking and placement of each team within its pool. With this information in hand, tournament officials selected the top three teams of each pool and seeded them according to the point differential of each team for the single-elimination tournament.
The single-elimination tournament started on Saturday, February 25, 2006 with 12 of the previous day's 20 teams. Scheduling of the bouts allowed for the top four seeded teams to receive a bye in the first round of play. Teams seeded 5 through 12 played in the first round. The winners of the first round of the single elimination tournament played the top four seeds in the second round. Bout winners advanced to the semi-finals and bout losers were eliminated.
On Sunday February 26, 2006, four teams (TXRG Texecutioners, Tucson Saddletramps, Minnesota Rollergirls and AZRD Tent City Terrors) played in the semi-final bouts. In the first bout, the Texecutioners defeated the Tent City Terrors in a full three-period bout, 114 to 81, sending the TXRG to the championship bout and AZRD to the 3rd-place bout. A second full three-period semi-final bout was played between the Tucson Saddletramps and the Minnesota Rollergirls. Tucson defeated Minnesota 136–75. This pitted the Tent City Terrors against the Minnesota Rollergirls for the 3rd-place bout, and set the WFTDA National Championship Bout to be between Texas and Tucson. The 3rd-place bout was played out with the Tent City Terrors upsetting 3rd-seeded Minnesota 115–88. The Championship bout was finalized later in the evening, with the Texecutioners defeating the Saddletramps 129–96.
On September 30, 2007, the Kansas City Roller Warriors beat[13] the Rat City Rollergirls[14] 89–85 in the final match of the Texas Shootout to become the 2007 national champion. The Texas Rollergirls placed third.[15] Eight teams competed in the tournament, four from the eastern regional division and four from the western regional division. These teams included the Carolina Rollergirls (fourth place), the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, the Tucson Roller Derby, the Detroit Derby Girls, and the Windy City Rollers.[16]
On November 16, 2008, the Gotham Girls Roller Derby (GGRD All-Stars) beat the Windy City Rollers 134-66 in the championship bout. The Philly Rollergirls (Liberty Belles) beat the Texas Rollergirls (Texecutioners) 114-95 in the consolation bout to take third place.[17]
The Denver Roller Dolls pioneered the "slow derby" style of play, utilizing slow and stopped packs and backwards skating, which proved effective against most opposition, but unpopular with crowds. They were finally defeated 178-91 in the semi-finals by the Oly Rollers were regarded as a largely unknown force, although they had gone undefeated through the whole season. Rocky Mountain Rollergirls had unexpectedly sailed through their qualifying tournament, and beat Philly Rollergirls in an overtime jam in their quarter final, but they lost to defending champions Texas Rollergirls 139-82 in the semi-final, in a bout which saw Rocky skater DeRanged ejected from the tournament after apparently punching Angie-Christ from Texas.[18]
Denver defeated Rocky 151-103 in the third place bout, greatly aided by forty-four points to nil scored in the later section of the first half. Oly dominated Texas in the championship bout, taking the title 178-100.[18]