10/06/2026
So my plan to write updates to the page over the weekend was a flop so now its one giant update haha! (Backstory: TGSS or The Great Southern Slam is a giant roller derby tournament running every two years at the Adelaide showgrounds. Big kudos to Adelaide Roller Derby's epic event running skills. This year there were three track, three divisions for three days with 41 teams from across Australia and New Zealand). In my usual fashion, I took on all the things but whilst exhausted and sore today, this was the most fulfilling TGSS for me to date (and I've done a few!).
I was bench manager for the Sirens, our A team in div 1. We came in as last seed, lost a game, won a game and then played for third and won! Massive show of skill, spirit and spongebob! The kiddo stepped up big time and took stats for these games on the sidelines so I could check my phone in real time and see how the team was performing and make changes if required. She even jumped to pen and paper when the network stopped working. TGSS provides these little snapshots of her every two years that highlight just how fast she is growing and its scary fast.
The husband usually behind the camera decided to be a non skating official this time and was elated when his application was accepted. He was jam timing every second game and selected to work the div 2 grand final - amazing achievement on its own, but made more spectacular for someone with admittedly a heap of experience at training but not so much actual game experience. He also utilised the flash tattoo opportunities available and now has my derby number permanently!
I played for the Banshees, our B team in div 3. Div 3 consisted of 7 pools of 3 teams. You play both teams in your pool and the winner of the pool goes through to the quarter finals (with seed 1 skipping to semis). I love that this team has a show choir element to our warmups and that the kiddo's artwork featured on a bandana. We had both of our games on day one and won them both, goal one achieved. We then had to wait and do the math to determine who we'd be playing in the next round. We missed the bye by 24 points but thankfully won our semi final on Sunday night against Central United. Second goal achieved, we'd be playing on Monday. First game Monday morning was against local mates Geelong. A win would see us through to the grand final against Tweed Valley whilst a loss would have us playing for third against our neighbours the Comets from Victorian Roller Derby League. We'd moved from goal territory into hopes and dreams.... We secured the win in a very close game and headed into the grand final...
The grand finals are quite different to the games prior: there are no other games going on at the same time, there are in house commentators, music in the breaks and a much larger audience... Plus you're tired - you've already played 4 games... been in the venue from 8am to 9pm-ish the two days prior... its quite the experience. I'm delighted to say after a hard fought game, we came away with the win and are TGSS div 3 winners! And as I drove over, I had the honour of showing the trophy the local tourist attractions on its way home to the rink.
And because playing and benching and creating spreadsheets late at night is not enough, I was also on the commentary team. Thankfully in my EOI I said one game a day and that is what I was rostered. Was the first one the last game on day one after playing, benching and playing? sure was. Did I love it and get most of my words out? sure did. I do love live stream commentary where we can converse about the strategy and the plays and loved working with new to me commentators. I was then super privileged to be rostered as an in house commentator for the div 2 grand final with a commentator who came all the way over from Denver!
I am still in awe of the awesome roller derby community, the sheer amount of roller derby TGSS packs into three days and proud to be part of it. And I am ever so grateful to everyone that allows me to have amazing, epic weekends like this: my travel derby family, support at home, from petsitting to purchasing powerade and everything in between...
Am gunna sit with the warm fuzzy feelings a little longer though... we can start working on defending the title (or moving up a division!) later... like in a couple of weeks when we return to training haha!
