Online? You search, we benefit: Support SVRG through GoodSearch

The Silicon Valley Roller Girls have now found a supereasy way for you to help out our team–and it doesn’t cost you anything!

GoodSearch is an application that allows nonprofit organizations like SVRG to benefit from your everyday online searching and shopping. Your regular hits and clicks translate into micro-donations of a couple of pennies–but with many users, these accumulate into a solid financial contribution. And, as mentioned before, there is no cost to you.

Just download the GoodSearch – Silicon Valley Roller Girls – SVRG toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/silicon-valley-roller-girls-svrg . Then, frolic online as usual. Each time you search the web with GoodSearch’s Yahoo-powered search engine, about a penny will go to SVRG. Also, every time you shop online at Amazon, eBay, Target, Apple, Staples, Expedia, and other online businesses, a percentage of your purchase will be donated for free!
GoodSearch has been featured in The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Oprah Magazine, and on CNN, Good Morning America, and more. They respect privacy and do not collect information–you don’t even have to register. You can read more about their privacy policy here.

So, if you spend time searching or shopping online, use GoodSearch and help keep us rollin’!

IMHO: Confessions of a Derby Wannabe

This post comes from SVRG’s Absolutely Scabulous, who passed bootcamp at the end of last season and has become a full time derby girl. Currently she is serving as Head of Bout Production and doing a fabulous job…come see the product of all her hard work (on skates and off) at our first home bout on March 6!

by Absolutely Scabulous

It’s been 8 months, folks. 8 months, 3 two-hour practices a week, and all the additional heart and soul I have been putting into the sport of roller derby. If you would have asked me last April where I would have seen myself in 8 months, I think my arrogance would have gotten the best of me. I was convinced that I could possibly be the missing link in roller derby, the undiscovered gem, that finally, I may have found a sport that I could be the front runner! But here I sit post-practice, a deflated medium. I am an average roller derby skater.

There were a lot of surprises I could have never predicted when entering the derby culture. I never expected the costs associated with it and how much it would really factor into my budget. Skates, pads, helmet, workout clothes, even how the hell am I going to carry my skates since they don’t fit in my cheap-ass bag I got from Ross? That extra top from Forever Hoochie and those new black flat boots from DSW were bumped down on the priority list–I wanted a set of G-Rod wheels so could actually grip the track; I want a better fitting skate with higher quality hardware so I can count on it when I’m out playing (rather than worrying about losing a toe stop around turn 1). The financial commitment associated with derby wasn’t necessarily a burden, but simply a new way of prioritizing my expenditures, and in turn, my lifestyle. I’m learning that my purchases are a lot more meaningful than what they used to be.

I don’t think I understood the human element of it all, the personalities and interactions between skaters. I don’t know who I thought this group of women were (no really, I didn’t have any clue who would be passionate and involved in this insane sport). In most life situations, I find myself the loudest/funniest/popular-est of the bunch and I usually can charm the pants off whoever is around. But this group was different. I feel myself being shy and awkward in situations where I would normally be extremely confident–it’s truly an ass-slap to my ego, making sure I don’t get too comfortable and really pushes me to stay focused. And since I’m not the top dog skater, I’m literally forced to listen to the more experienced girls and attempt to absorb as much strategy at all times. THEN I can allow myself to socialize. Playing derby has challenged me to stretch my own comfort level, be a teammate rather than an individual and begin to learn a new side of my own personality. It’s been a humbling experience for me as I’ve had to let younger girls teach me and learn to take huge amounts of both positive and negative feedback. For me, that’s actually a huge growing area–I’m not one to run out and ask for feedback (c’mon, who really is?).

And then, the derby learning curve. Oh you mean, long and slow learning curve. So you wanted to run a marathon? Sweet! Just follow this training plan. Oh you wanted to swim for varsity? No problem, you’ll be captain after a year! And then there’s roller derby: quite possibly the only sport I’ve ever attempted to play where I truly am starting from zero knowledge. Besides knowing how to do basic skating, I am learning this sport utterly and completely from the ground up. This isn’t an innate skill, you aren’t born with skates on your feet (even though I think some of the A-team girls were, along with mouth guards and came out of the womb screaming “JAMMER! JAMMER! JAMMER!”). And what I’m learning the most, besides not to let the opposing blockers distract me, is to be patient with myself and this process. There are rules, positions, strategy, and intuition that all must be practiced, and practiced and practiced some more, then finally learned.

So here I sit, post-Wednesday practice, our scrimmaging practice. The entire drive home I attempted to process the wave of information, advice, and feedback given to me. And I couldn’t really digest it all until I started writing. It’s okay if at this practice I only did one single thing better than I did yesterday. It’s completely okay that I might have sucked at something tonight (or many things!). Even if I tried my best and did one good block, or avoided a hit, that’s one skill I wasn’t able to do at the last practice. Be a little squirrelly, be a lot nervous and for the love of god, forgive yourself for all these things. Most importantly, never forget that you’re playing on roller skates–how the hell can you not have fun on a pair of skates?

Support SVRG: Join us at Aqui in Willow Glen, Monday Feb. 15

Photo credit: Aqui website

What easier way to support your local roller derby team than eating a delicious burrito or sipping on a tasty margarita? Come celebrate Presidents’ Day with us!

If you’re free on Monday, February 15th, the Silicon Valley Roller Girls are hosting a fundraiser at Aqui Cal-Mex Restaurant in Willow Glen. You don’t have to do anything special but come have a margarita and/or eat dinner, tell them when you order that it’s for SVRG, and they will generously donate 20% of their proceeds between 4 and 9 pm. Aqui is located at 1145 Lincoln Ave., San Jose, 95125. There is parking on the street or behind the restaurant.

You can bet I’ll be there. Foodwise, I love the Angus beef burrito and the Cuban pork enchiladas, both with plenty of pico de gallo. (You can peek at the menu here.) I also endorse their Industrial Strength Margaritas. I confess, when I first saw margaritas in a machine, having moved from Tucson I was very NUH-UH at first. Let me tell you–those frozen margaritas are some tasty treats! I am a big fan of the strawberry swirl…yum. They do have some kick to them, though, so carpool with a designated driver if necessary. See you there!

Come say F*U Valentine’s Day with SVRG at Jack’s

It’s that time of year–yes, the time when you’re sooo glad you don’t have to put up with the nonsense of some  manufactured Hallmark holiday. We got your love right here–derby love! Come hang out with the Silicon Valley Roller Girls at Jack’s Bar and Lounge, 167 E. Taylor (@ 4th) on Saturday the 13th starting at 8 pm. We’ll have drink specials, photo opportunities, and prize drawings (including some special treats from Good Vibrations). If you want to know what you’re getting into, check out pics from our F-U VD party last year.

Also, GIVE BLOOD and GET BEER!

SVRG is partnering up with Jack’s Bar & Lounge to help save lives.  Support life, support derby, get beer!
Here’s how: Donate blood at any local Bay Area blood bank and give your receipt or sticker to your bartender at the F*U VD party with the Silicon Valley Roller Girls, Saturday, February 13th, at Jack’s and get $1 off your drink! It’s that easy!

Here are some links to local blood centers:
San Jose Blood Center
Stanford Blood Center

**Please note: Giving blood within 24 hours of drinking alcoholic beverages is not advised. Please be smart and donate in advance.

See you at Jack’s on Saturday, Feb. 13!

SVRG Does Part to Roller Over Injustice

Smash, Dollface, and Kimfectious get dirty

Writeup by Death by Dollface

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Conquering injustice was the prescribed theme of the La Mesa Verde service project at Sacred Heart Community Service Center (SHCS) project that ten Silicon Valley Roller Girls affiliates, including skaters Death by Dollface, Kimfectious, Smash ‘n’ Burn, Smack Dahlia, MaulyAnna, and Lucia  took on this 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Sacred Heart’s representative, Todd Madigan, used the above qutoe as his opening words. The center has been given many accolades in the local community for their newest venture to provide for the many families of the San Jose community including articles in the San Jose Mercury News and even the New York Times.

We began the day bright and early arriving at the SHCS downtown home base at 9 a.m. There was a line of volunteers waiting to check in wrapped around the outside of the building despite the torrential downpour that didn’t show any signs of letting up. We were divided into over 25 groups mixed with other groups more prepared with garden tools to prepare for digging planter boxes into local community homes.

Our task was simple. We were given two homes where we would be preparing planter boxes that teams would later return to install drip systems and plant vegetable gardens in hopes of sustaining a local community with food. Sounds simple? This was hard work! Our first site was a beautiful grass lawn that we had to dig up which the rain made it very difficult to penetrate. The rain subsided for us at the second house which helped and the family already had a skeleton of a garden with rich soil that just needed to be trenched to lay the planter boxes. It’s a good thing we have lots of mud experience from our annual mud wrestling!

American Goth: Kimfectious and Smack Dahlia

Since SHCS encourages reflection with their work, I thought I would leave you with some thoughts. As Todd described the impact of what the La Mesa Verde project had on the local community he explained how much these seemingly small boxes (6′ x 3′ planters) produce for the families that are not able to purchase adequate nutrients for the their families. The families that are being given the tools and taught to produce their own gardens will be able to grow enough produce to not only feed themselves but extend to their neighbors and friends. SHCS’s number of families served has grown in masses over the past years where a standard soup kitchen setup is not adequate to serve the growing need. If five hours of our time can help sustain a small community, that is well worth my time.

SVRG sorts with RAFT

From left: Death by Dollface, Absolutely Scabulous, Belle Wringer, Retox Fox, Satan's Kitten, Knuckles DeVille, Beth Sentence, and Bozo Disposo at RAFT.

The ladies of SVRG kicked off the new year with a service opportunity sorting school supplies at the Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT). RAFT is an amazing organization that collects donations and used supplies from businesses and then recycles or repurposes them to benefit teachers. We spent most of the day going through bins full of donated binders, organizing them by size and color, which can then be reused or, if damaged, are cut apart for use in other projects. Many binders have a clear plastic sheet on the front so that you can slide in a descriptive front page–but because of their stiff backs and the clear material, they can operate as sort of mini-whiteboards with dry erase markers. (It also got me to thinking that that would be a great thing for when I use recipes torn out of magazines–you can protect it from moisture and other splatters, but still use a dry erase marker to make notes as needed.)

We had a good time and, especially because SVRG has many mothers and teachers, were happy to know that Bay Area educators would benefit from our labor. We look forward to revisiting RAFT soon! See more pics of our visit here.

Kitten in a box (full of binders, not litter).

Haiti needs your help: Donate to the Red Cross now!

The Silicon Valley Roller Girls are coming together to offer financial donations to the Red Cross to aid victims of the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti this week.

Helping is so easy, you can do it in 60 seconds or less. Simply text the word ‘Haiti’ to 90999 from your phone, and $10 will be donated to the Red Cross. (They will text you back to confirm, and once you text ‘Yes” the donation will go through.) 100% of the funds go to help relief efforts in Haiti. The $10 charge will just appear on your phone bill.

We just launched this effort today, and already our skaters are jumping at the opportunity to help. Retox Fox, Death by Dollface, MaulyAnna, Kimfectious, Absolutely Scabulous, and Zootown Throwdown have already made donations, and our numbers keep growing. Please consider joining us and supporting the Red Cross.

If you want more information about the damage in Haiti and the relief efforts of the Red Cross, you can visit their website.

Thank you!

A Message from our President: 2009 season report

Dear SVRG Supporters:

The Silicon Valley Roller Girls would like to extend a virtual hug and hip check to all our friends, families, fans, and sponsors for making our second full season absolutely amazing. We have not only met but in fact exceeded many of the goals we established for our 2009 season thanks to your continued support.

With the strengthening of our league this past season, we saw a great improvement on the rink. The Dot.Kamikazes claimed some great victories this year with wins over the Bay Area Derby Girls’ ShEvil Dead, whom we lost to last year. Both the Dot.Kamikazes and the KillaBytes took home wins against rival teams from the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. The Dot.Kamikazes secured a winning record of 7-2, with a perfect record at our home rink, and the Killabytes boasted a 4-1 record in their inaugural season.

Despite the economic downturn, we were able to donate more woman-hours and dollars to our community nonprofits this year than originally hoped. We donated over 400 hours to our friends at Habitat for Humanity, Achieve Kids San Jose, YWCA, Walk Now for Autism, American Cancer Society Relay for Life, Resource Area for Teachers, Sacred Heart Community Center, Humane Society Silicon Valley, San Jose Animal Care Center, and many more. In addition to volunteer hours, SVRG proudly donated $5,872 to the Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity, Autism Speaks, YWCA, Fremont American Cancer Society, John Muir Breast Cancer Center, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and Sacred Heart Community Center.

In August of this year, SVRG was accepted as the first ever West Coast league to be accepted into the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) apprenticeship program. This honor will place us in the position to apply for full status by August 2010 and become a nationally ranked league, which would make SVRG eligible for officially sanctioned regional and national tournaments. Thus, we have scheduled our upcoming 2010 season to be challenging and are prepared to play some of the toughest competitors on the West Coast, including some of WFTDA’s top-ranked teams. Our season will feature West Coast competition such as Tuscon (ranked 9^th) and Arizona (12^th) and Rose City (5^th), plus two highly competitive tournaments.

I’d like to conclude by reiterating how grateful we are for the support of our sponsors, friends, and community. On behalf of myself and all of the 2009 Silicon Valley Roller Girls, I want to thank you again for being part of our success.  I invite you to enjoy the start of our third season by attending the first game of our season March 6, 2010, at San Jose Skate.

Much Derby Love,

Erin Gay aka Death by DollFace

President, Silicon Valley Roller Girls

Cleaning out your closet? Sacred Heart needs your help!

Here is a message from our new Head of Community Service, Satan’s Kitten. Sacred Heart Community Service is one of the Silicon Valley Roller Girls’ community partners. We donated the proceeds from our last bout to them, and recently several of our girls worked as helpers and elves during their holiday toy drive and distribution. From Kitten:

I visited with Sacred Heart on Friday and they could really use some donations. Although there is a flood of giving around the holidays, things tend to slow down at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, need knows no season, and assistance is of particular importance during the winter months.  The center is in particular need of clothing and toiletries. C’mon, you know you resolved to clean out your closets and cabinets this year, and this is the perfect opportunity to see those items go to those who need them. Here is what they need. Every item helps!

- New and used clothing/shoes of all kinds
- New and gently used blankets, sleeping bags, and warm coats and jackets
- Socks and underwear of all sizes
- Baby diapers, body soap, toilet paper
- Travel toiletries for our hygiene kits (e.g., the ones you collect at hotels but never remember to use)
- Baby formula (pref. Enfamil with Iron)
- Pens

Donations need to be be dropped off Monday through Friday, 8:00AM to 4:30PM, and Saturdays, 9AM to 12PM, at 1381 South First Street in downtown San Jose. There are two sets of large double doors at the back of the building marked “Donations.”

However, if you have goods to donate but can’t make it to those hours, we can arrange for you to drop off items at San Jose Skate during our practice the night of Sunday, January 17. If you would like to make arrangements to drop items off at this time, please contact Kitten at community@svrollergirls.com .

On a related note, if you’ve got a green thumb (or just elbow grease to spare), Sacred Heart is also looking for community volunteers to help build raised-bed gardens on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 18. The shift is from 9 to 2. Some of SVRG will be out there helping–if you would like to join us, email volunteers@sacredheartcs.org .

On behalf of Sacred Heart and the people they serve, thank you!

Silicon Valley Roller Girls’ 2010 Season Announced

The Silicon Valley Roller Girls would like to announce our 2010 season! We have more games this season for both the Dot.Kamikazes, including our first tournaments, and the KillaBytes. We will also be logging the frequent flyer miles next season, as we will be traveling from Arizona to Washington to Colorado for various bouts. But, three of our four home bouts this year are doubleheaders, so that’s almost twice the derby! We also promise some outdoor bouts at Roosevelt Rink (TBA). Below, our home bouts are in boldface:

March 6: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Dockyard Derby Dames (Tacoma, WA) AND

KillaBytes vs. San Diego Hard Corps (doubleheader @ San Jose Skate)

March 27-28: Dot.Kamikazes compete in The Dustbowl Tournament @ Bakersfield, CA

April 17-19: Dot.Kamikazes compete in The Dust Devil Tournament @ Tucson, AZ

May 1: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Central Coast Roller Derby (Paso Robles, CA) AND

KillaBytes vs. Central Coast Roller Derby (doubleheader @ San Jose Skate)

June 5-6: Dot.Kamikazes at The Big One Tournament @ Paso Robles, CA

June 12: KillaBytes vs. Denver Roller Dolls’ Bruising Altitude @ Denver, CO

June 26: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Bellingham Roller Betties @ Everett, WA

July 10: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Treasure Valley (ID) Rollergirls @ San Jose Skate

July 24: KillaBytes vs. Lake Tahoe Derby Dames @ Tahoe, CA

August 21: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Humboldt County Redwood Rollers AND

KillaBytes vs. Humboldt (doubleheader @ Eureka, CA)

September 11: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Rose City Axles of Annihilation (Portland, OR) AND

KillaBytes vs. Sac City Rollers’ Folsom Prison Bruisers (doubleheader @ San Jose Skate)

October 23: Dot.Kamikazes vs. Santa Cruz Derby Girls’ Boardwalk Bombshells AND

KillaBytes vs. Santa Cruz Derby Girls’ Harbor Hellcats (doubleheader @ Santa Cruz, CA)

November 20: KillaBytes vs. Derby Revolution of Bakersfield @ Bakersfield, CA

We had some sellouts last season, so check back here when season tickets for our home bouts will be available through Brown Paper Tickets.