Capital City have been busy since the announcement of their first home bout/Edinburgh's first ever Men's derby headline bout and launch their crowd funder campaign to help raise funds to put on the event. I caught up with team Captain Tequila Jammer to find out about their crowd funder and how things are going, on the run up to the bout.

Since you announced your first home and mens game, everyone must be pretty excited, it has been a long time coming.

Pretty excited?! We're positively fizzing with excitement! Seriously, it's been a long hard road to build the league, recruit members and train hard to a standard that we can play but we're finally there and ready to show everyone what we got.

Organising your first bout is time consuming and takes a lot of effort from everyone, how long have you all been planning this?

We've got some of the most dedicated skaters, organisers and just generally awesome people you could possibly meet so organising hasn’t been too much of a stress with everyone chipping in but this has been in the works for a long time - it was one of our main goals this year from our AGM.

Picture by Dave McAleavy

It’s great to see you working with ARRG to make your bout a double header with their Cannon Belle’s taking on Malmö's Crime City Rollers B in the opening game. Had you always planned to make the game a double header?

Not initially but we’re always happy to work with other leagues to put on the best possible show. Having, ARRG, Bristol and an international element will be sure to do that.

In a novel approach and a first for Scottish Roller Derby, you have decide to crowdfund to help raise money for the bout. What was the catalyst for you to try this way to raise funds?

Funding your first game is ridiculously expensive… well in Edinburgh anyway. With hall costs being close to £1000 as well as added extras, we needed a cool way to generate cash to put on a great show. Crowdfunding has worked well in the past for some of our members so we thought why not try it.

On your crowdfund page you have a lot of options for people to purchase and in a bold move you even put up your skate out song as an option to purchase. Was it difficult to find a balance of the right amount of items and what items you have on offer?

Ahhhhh… the perks. Well, we tried to have something for everyone; for the person who couldn’t make it but wanted to support us to the fully fledged life long fan. We tried to make them fun or unique like a custom made uniform or blowing the first whistle… but, yeah you’re right the skate out was a gamble. It’s gone now too… hopefully it won’t be too embarrassing, whatever it is.

You detail how much you want to raise on your page and how that breaks down for the bout. Of that the vast majority (around three quarters) is attributed to hall cost. Has this been a barrier to you putting on a bout previously?

One word. Yes. Edinburgh is ridiculously expensive for hall costs. That’s if you can find a proper venue. Luckily ARRG have paved the way for us with their frequent use of Meadowbank Stadium (thank you ARRG), just without having that initial cash it’s hard to kick start home bouts.

If the crowdfunder is a success and you reach your total, will we see Capital City use this method again to help raise funds for your next bout?

Hopefully we’ll be able to use the proceeds from tickets and merch to put up the money for our next home game but never say never. We also have a number of other fundraising ideas… heard of a car wash? What about a skate wash?

Picture by Laura MacDonald

When Capital Chums took to the track to take on The Belter Skelpies it was the first bout for a few of the Capital City boys. On game day against the Vice Quads will we be meeting any new Unicorns for the first time?

A number of new and old faces will be making appearances. I am proud to say all of our skaters will be CCRD members (with the exception of one Bish Bash Josh who recently transferred back to his old hunting grounds of Manchester).  We can expect to see some of our Fresh Meat take to the track as well as some faces you might recognise minus the stripes. I’ll also be taking to the track for the first time with CCRD as I Benched our last Capital Chums game… EXCITING!

Its less than 2 months till the big day, what are all the Capital City boys doing to get ready to take on the Vice Quads?

It’s tough to fit in training with limited hall hours but we’ve developed a cohesive training programme that lets Fresh Meat integrate quickly into some more advanced drills. Also working together for just under 2 years has given us a bit of a pack mentality and we know what each other is capable of. Other than that it’s train, train, train: strong walls, agile jammers and kick ass endurance.

Can you tell everyone what to expect from Capital City at their first bout?

We are going to be lean, mean, bad assed, mighty Unicorns! Definitely vocal, strong defence with a few cheeky moves to mix things up. Hey, it’s pretty near Christmas so there might be an apex jump or two.

Capital City will be taking on Bristol's Vice Quads on the 29th of November, to find out more information about the event please visit the event page below: https://www.facebook.com/events/331510057008876/?fref=ts For more information or if you ant to pledge to their crowd funder campaign then please visit: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/capital-city-roller-derby-s-double-header-29-11-14

Over the last week, our Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup tour covered the South American nations taking part in the upcoming competition. If you missed any of them, here's a recap... Team Brasil. Team Colombia. Team Argentina. Team Chile

This week we jump back over the Atlantic to cover the UK nations taking part.

We bring our coverage of the South American nations taking part in the Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup to an end, with Team Chile. Like Colombia, Chile are entering the competition for the first time. We talked to team spokesperson Endorfina, Metropolitan Roller Derby and Team Chile skater.

Team Chile Logo design by Tali and Chela Navaja

How are the team preparing for the the World Cup?

We decided late to go to the World Cup, so the preparation started in May of this year after doing tryouts to select the skaters with the best level in our country. Just one skater, from Canada, lives abroad, the rest are skaters from leagues in Chile (Metropolitan Roller Derby, Complot Derby Club and Chillanrolleras).

Team Chile has been promoted mainly by the league Metropolitan Roller Derby and Team Chile is using their training facilities, hours and coaches to prepare the national selection.

Sadly, the lack of funds does not allow us to have warm up bouts with nearby countries (such as Argentina) and we are only scrimmaging with the rest of Chilean players twice a month. The rest is mainly theory and practice developed by the Team Chile coach, Nino Rodríguez.(Speed Knight)

Dallas is a long way away, how have the team been raising funds to get there?

To date, we do not have any sponsors. We are having meetings and contact with some derby brands and other brands in our country. Chile is young in roller derby, very few people know us or have seen us play, so we think that is one of the reasons why maybe we are no so attractive to brands. Derby is also little known in Chile beyond the usual “girls who hit each other in skates”, but we are working to change that vision to a sport way of seeing us.

So, participating in the world cup has been mainly a personal endeavor of the skaters. We are asking for credits in banks, and taking donations from friends or family. At this point, every skater and coach is paying for their own travel, accommodation, and all other expenses.

But we also are motivating people to collaborate. For example we started a gofundme project where people from abroad Chile can donate. http://www.gofundme.com/Chile-Roller-Derby.

This will be the first time Chile has taken part in the World Cup, What are the Teams aims going into the competition?

The main aim is to live the experience of playing at a high level. We believe that going to the World Cup is going give the skaters participating in it a lot of tools that we can share with our leagues here in Chile. We also wanna show that we have real derby here, that we are good skaters and that we can be an interesting county to visit and play with, we want to promote more visits of skaters from other countries, teams, referees, etc.

There is a roller derby scene in Chile and we want it to be known.

Can you give us an idea of how big that Roller Derby scene is?

The first league, Metropolitan Roller Derby, has been running a little over three years. It is a league resident in Santiago, the capitol of Chile, and is the first of many now growing all over the country. We know of about 16 leagues, but every month in a different city there is interest to form a team. Today we have a lot of inter-league collaboration, we do things together among the leagues, we share tips at training, gather to scrimmage, among other things.

What do think the team competing in Dallas will do for Roller Derby in Chile?

We totally think it will increase the competitiveness of roller derby in Chile. Today, leagues with A-level skaters, like Metropolitan and Complot have to get out of the country to play. We hope that living this experience in the World Cup will help increase the interest not only in people interested in skating, but also will help leagues and derby in Chile to get more sponsors.

We actually look at this participation with a lot of hope, we know there is not much expected from us, but we have something to show and we believe we are going to display good derby and good skating in Dallas. People are now starting to consider Chile in the derby scene and we are proud to be the reason why that is happening.

The Team Chile roster is.. Annimal -Chillanrolleras Derby Club Killer Cat -Chillanrolleras Derby Club Pink Cat -Complot Derby Club La Chilenita -Complot Derby Club Pequeña Maravilla -Complot Derby Club Chela Navaja -Metropolitan Roller Derby Endorfina -Metropolitan Roller Derby Teluri-K -Metropolitan Roller Derby Estigia -Metropolitan Roller Derby Rapaz -Metropolitan Roller Derby Chica Ye-yé -Metropolitan Roller Derby Verotika Fearless -Metropolitan Roller Derby Dulce BooP -Metropolitan Roller Derby Madame Peligro -Metropolitan Roller Derby Zatanna -Metropolitan Roller Derby Tali -Metropolitan Roller Derby Bunny Kill -Metropolitan Roller Derby Mamasita Muerte -Calgary Roller Derby

Coaches. Negro P-Metropolitan Roller Derby Speed Knight-Metropolitan Roller Derby

Next up from among the four South American teams taking part in the Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup is Team Argentina. Like Brasil, Argentina are returning to the competition, after placing 13th in Toronto in 2011. We talked to Head Coach of Team Argentina, Martin Blousson.

Team Argentina logo by Leonel Yamil Escobar

Can you tell us how your team selection process worked, for both skaters and coaching staff?

I was invited to be coach of the team last november. The team was facing a new try out to start a new period and then I worked along on the selection process with five other players from the most important teams/leagues in the country. The try out involved the participation of more than fifty players, some of them sent videos from outside Argentina, and some of them traveled to Buenos Aires from different cities of the country.

How are the team preparing for the the World Cup?

Nowadays we're training two days a week. From the roster selected to play in Dallas we only have Sargentina away from us, but she visited us two months ago and we had the time to share some derby time with her. If everything goes well we'll have a couple of bouts in the US on the previous days to the world cup.

Dallas is a long way away, how have the team been raising funds to get there?

We have been working all this year to collect enough money to cover all the hotel and food expenses during our days in Dallas. Each player has to pay for her own ticket, which is a huge cost for all of us, some of them are even taking two jobs to get enough money for that trip. We've done some bootcamps for local players, we have some merchandise on sale at almost every derby event; we also have been doing some crowdfunding. (We still have this one going: http://www.gofundme.com/cfuaqg We've received a lot of help of all the derby leagues and teams in Argentina, the people here have been most supportive with the team. We've also got the help of some sponsors. Atomatrix has helped us a lot through NistevoUSA.com, the local Traful On Ice, Traveling Skates, Magma Pro, and also Sisu and Derbyskinz from outside the country.

At the time of the last World Cup, Roller Derby was only just beginning to be established in Argentina. How does that compare with now?

The experience of the national team in that world cup was of a great importance for the whole local derby, for all that learning expanded to all the teams through time. Roller Derby is still working hard to build it's own place in the country. In most of the cities we're still dealing with the problems of finding where to train properly, for example. But the level has increase considerably, most of the teams have been growing a lot and trying to improve the organization of the sport.

Having entered the 2011 World Cup as an unknown, what are Team Argentina's aims going into this year's competition?

We will win bouts, we will fight for a place in the podium. :)

Working our way around the South American teams taking part in the Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup we come to Team Colombia. Along with Chile, Colombia are entering the competition as newcomers, the two new 'dark horses' of Roller Derby in South America. We talked to Team Colombia Head Coach, Cesar Cuervo.

Team Columbia logo by Yuya Mancilla and Maria Paola Hernandez

How are the team preparing for the the World Cup?

The team has been together since a few months ago, we have practices twice a month in Bogota the capital…The girls have practices 3 or 4 times per week with their own home teams. We have a few bouts planned but not enough, because there is not too many teams with the level that we are expecting to see in Dallas.

Dallas is a long way away, how have the team been raising funds to get there?

We are working very hard trying to raise funds for our team, we have designed and produced a few products like shirts, stickers, etc. Also organize events to raise some funds, and we have two sponsors : ATOM and MATCH RACE .

This will be the first time Colombia has taken part in the World Cup, What are the Teams aims going into the competition?

Like you said, this is our first World Cup and we are really excited to be part of such an event and meet the best teams around the world, we have a lot to learn and then share with all the roller derby people in Colombia.

Can you give us an idea of how big Roller Derby is in Colombia?

Roller derby started in Colombia in 2009 with Rock and Roller Queens in Bogota and has been growing since then, today we have 17 teams from all around the country. They are in different cities, just in Bogota we have 7 teams. So the Roller derby is getting more and more fans and this is because the tournaments and all the enthusiasm of our people involved in the sport. During the last years we organized the Roller Derby Nationals with the participation of teams from the main cities: Bogota, Medellin, Pereira, Bucaramanga, Manizales, Cali, Palmira, Armenia And Ibague.

What do think the team competing in Dallas will do for Roller Derby in Colombia?

The participation in World Cup is the chance to see the best teams in action and learn from them many things that we can share with all the roller derby people in Colombia and this will be great to get the level that we are looking for. Also this is the chance to see how we are doing and what we have to do to be a better Team.

The Team Colombia roster.. Rathalia-001 MoonSun-2 Lucky Ale-03 Jackota-06 Fer Mortishian-007 Karma-13 Peli-Grosa-16 Nuza-25 Maraña Pony-29 Yayita Plop-83 Lilith-90 Tsunami…-92 Guillotina Pagana-100% Minerva-296 Mapi-333 Kitsch Mutante-404 Gatho-666 Colors-828 Collete Funk-911 Splatter-986

Head Coach: Cesar Cuervo ( MATADOR)
Bench coach: Valentina Restrepo

Moving around the globe from Europe to South America, the next team taking part in the Blood And Thunder World Cup to be interviewed, is Team Brasil. The team are returnees to the competition, having placed 12th in Toronto back in 2011. We interviewed Lara Raineri on behalf of Team Brasil. Lara is a skater with the São Paulo league, Gray City Rebels, and handles PR and coaching duties for the national team.

Team Brasil logo art and design: Fernanda Correa

How are the team preparing for the World Cup?...have you played an warm up bouts?

We are training once a month. Players are traveling to the practice, most of the team is from São Paulo, so we get together there. Yes, we already did 6 games only this year.( Team Brasil have been playing mainly composite/exhibition teams every few weeks since January)

Dallas is a long way away, how have the team been raising funds to get there?

We receive donations from all over the world here: http://www.gofundme.com/6rmfco. We are making merchandise, raffles and these kinds of things to help, but each player will have to contribute to their costs. We have Atom Wheels(as a sponsor)and we are searching and trying others.

Unlike almost all other skaters in the world,the skaters from Brasil don't tend to use skater names when they represent their country,(although there is a growing trend towards legal names) Why does Brasil differ in this respect?

It´s a tradition that Brasilian players use the first name, or nickname in their career, especially in soccer, so we decided to maintain the tradition. It´s a truly Brasilian thing... it´s rare to call someone by their last name, but it´s really normal to give nicknames to someone. Also, when we are playing we call each other by the nicknames or first names, so it´s easier for us to communicate like that, they are short, strong and we are 100% sure that "OH! THAT´S ME!".

Back in 2011, Roller Derby already seemed fairly well established in Brasil, what effect did the Team competing in the first World Cup have?

Actually, it wasn´t. We picked only players that could stand in skates in Brasil and could pay for the ticket. Most of the team played for the first time at the world cup. After the first world cup the sport grew a lot here and more girls started doing it and devoting more time to derby.We gained a LOT of experience in the transition from what Derby in Brasil was like before the World Cup and after the World Cup, because we understand the sport and saw how beautiful it is all over the world, so they came back home with fresh energy to make it better here. In 2011 we had 5 leagues, and maybe 50 players in Brasil, now we have 25 all over the country and something like 600 players.

How has the experience of competing in the 2011 World Cup shaped the team this year?

When we came back from the world cup in 2011, we started to wait for the next one. All the experience and learning was shared with the others players in Brasil made us wait for this moment. At the first game in 2011 we had no idea what we were doing, where we were and the size of everything. By the last game in 2011, we made Scotland work hard, and we wanted to come back home, to start working here as soon as possible. We have waited for this for a long time, we want to show everybody how much we learned and that we are not the underdogs anymore. GET READY!

The Team Brasil roster..

107 Andrea Carlsson-Gray City Rebels

1972 Amira Dutra Mello- Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls

13 Bá Lisboa-Ladies of Hell Town

33 Camila Stocco-Maui Roller Girls

Is9 Chu – Chiara Abreu-Wheel of Fire Roller Derby

80 Fernanda Ezabella-Los Angeles Derby Dolls

16 Fernanda Correa-Philly Roller Girls

87 Gilda Guimarães-Gray City Rebels

55 Julia Magalhaes Beirao-Ladies of Hell Town

181 Lara Raineri (COACH)-Gray City Rebels

16t Manu Vasconcelos-Ladies of Hell Town

86 Mariana Leal-Gray City Rebels

1949 Mariana Teixeira-Gray City Rebels

72 Patricia Correia-Rio Riot Roller Derby

505 Paula Mitie-Ladies of Hell Town

20 Roxane Velozo-Boston Derby Dames

208 Shyrlei Braith-Ladies of Hell Town

23 Tati Goes-Gray City Rebels

07 Bianca

Last week our Blood & Thunder Derby World Cup tour covered Northern and Central Europe, including many of the competitors at the European Tournament last month.

If you missed any of the interviews, the links are below:

Team France

Team Belgium

Team Switzerland

Team Netherlands

Team Germany

This week we jump across the Atlantic to cover the teams of South America, where Derby has been taking off like wildfire since the first Cup in 2011!

Finally, to finish off the week and our tour of the European national teams heading to the Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup, we come to Team Switzerland.

Team Switzerland are new to the World Cup this year, and also did not attend the European Championship. Their indiegogo page is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/send-team-switzerland-to-the-world-cup

Manta Attack was good enough to answer our questions.

Team Switzerland Logo: Kitty LaBang (ComeauxDesign)

The idea came up, after a request for a game from Team Italy, but unfortunately in the end the location was a problem. So we decided to make up something else, and in short turns, a scrimmage came up. We are also doing some more training and also have a Bout in planning. [Team Switzerland v The World ended with a 267 to 79 win for the home team]

As a team coming into the World Cup for the first time, what are your aims to achieve there?

Our aims are to not lose: we very willing to attend and do our best, but we are sure we do not have same experience as other National teams. We love being part of that awesome event.

Does the dominance of English in roller derby (including the rules) make it harder to spread and develop derby in Switzerland?

My personal thought about that is 'yes'. Even the rules are not in easy English and Swiss people in general are slightly skeptical about new sports...

Some teams are adopting legal names for their skaters, while others are keeping their derby names or have a mix of the two. Does Team Switzerland have a policy on this, or thoughts about the pros either way? 

The skaters can take their names from the league or change it for the National team. There were no discussions concerning regarding family name as derby name.

The Team Switzerland Roster (to date) is:

Manta Attack #3 Cannibalia Dot Morgue Mario Block Sin Sister Swiss Spank Her Womanimal Kitty LaBang #23 T.N. Tina (Wreckabella von Rogue) # Russian Roulette Babette #69 Miss Behaving Mona Mortelle #21 Malice in Wonderland #206 Tomorrow #9 Bloody Cherry #44 Chainhell No5 #CH5

The Team France (2014) Roster is:

B.M.O Roller Derby Girls (Brest) Adelè Linquent

Roller Derby Bordeaux Club Aïe Catraz Bambi Kill'her Hell'alaniak Karla Karschër Nawak Tartagueule *?Wild

Roller Derby Toulouse Anxio Jen *Cash Pistache Ninà Backdraft Sweenie Odd Tuericultrice

Roller Derby Metz Club Blitz! Purplecat

Paris RollerGirls Bully Bunker Butch Shan Cherry Lielie Hooligan Joan Get Kozmic Bruise Meryl Strip Her Oli Barbak Rose Hyène Roxy Batgirl Sally Broyeur

Hérault Derby Girlz (Le Crès) Chuck Maurice Doggy Duchess Foïs Septik Martine Painkiller

DC Roller Girls (USA) Dual Hitizen

Nantes Derby Girls Dure As Hell Flash Black Lizzie Rider

Oxford Roller Derby (UK) * French Revolution

Rennes Roller Derby Gara La Garce Nasty Nurse

Montréal Roller Derby (CA) * No Pix Plz

Forest City Derby Girls (CA) * Pepe Le Punch

Crime City Rollers (SW) * Pooky Balboa

Central City Roller Girls (UK) * Viv La France

Working our way through Northern and Central Europe, we come to the next Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup team, and also the next ranking team on the European Championships table - Team Germany.

Team Germany is not new to the World Cup, having placed 9th on the table in 2011 after a close and tense game against New Zealand placed them in the consolation bracket, where they defeated Ireland and Scotland in succession.

In the European Championships this past month, they performed similarly to expectations, placing 2nd against the only other team returning from 2011...

Thanks to Daniel, Team Manager, for his intensive answers to our questions about the team!

The Team selection this time around features just 4 veterans from the 2011 roster, and the rest new members of the team. Does this reflect the growth of derby in Germany and is it useful to have the experience of the first world cup to hand?

It definitely does reflect the growth of roller derby in Germany. In 2011, a huge part of the roster consisted of players of the Berlin Bombshells and the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirls. We had wild cards which allowed one skater of every actively playing German team into the national team. Today it's all about performance - and still we widened our portfolio. In total we have welcomed skaters from nine different leagues to our team after their convincing performance at the Team Germany tryouts. Unfortunately we already lost some good players to longterm injuries. Still we can say that we have the best buildup of German skaters that can be provided.

Though it surely is useful to come to Dallas as a World Cup veteran many of our skaters were able to collect high level tournament experiences at other occasions. For example the skaters of the Berlin Bombshells who participated at the D2-Tournament in Kitchener-Waterloo as seed 9, finished 2nd and ar going to play at the championship tournament in Nashville for the 3rd place of Division 2.  Of course the experienced skaters have to be there for the relatively new ones to give mental strength to the whole team. We have really built up to that and shown that it can work at the European Tournament in Belgium.

Team Germany was one of the competitors at the original World Cup in 2011, where you placed 9th. With 30 teams this time around, including the 11 from the first time, what are your goals for World Cup 2014?

We're aiming to be better than 2011 - that means participation in the quarter finals where the best eight teams of the world compete. Of course it depends on how the matchups will be before that - and maybe there are some teams that we can't win against (and we HAVE played Team USA in Stuttgart, Germany in July!) but we will definitely give our best and put on the track whatever action is necessary to proceed in this tournament.

The majority of Team Germany are sourced from the many German leagues (predominantly Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart). However, you have a single US skater. How are you organising practices in general, and to include Lethal Lorelei in particular?

I agree, it can be difficult logistically to be able to have everyone at a game or practice - even with the skaters located in Germany. Fortunately with Lorelei we have a very committed Team Germany skater. Of course she can't participate in every practice but she has been over to germany to train and play with Team Germany multiple times and we're very thankful for that! She's integrated with the team very well and has already built up some friendships. Practices in general are very difficult because we have huge problems with finding timeslots in sport halls. We had some practice weekends throughout the year but we still would like to do it more often! We really feel how practice gets our mindsets together and makes us act as one single unit.

You are, of course, one of the teams attending the European Tournament in September. What are you hoping to gain from this (experience, awareness)? I think you've had other match-ups since your 2014 roster was announced, in your experience, how do these events help most?

We are on the road to Dallas. That is why our primal goal at all of these events is and will be to get more experienced together, get to know each other and grow as a team. Of course we had competitive ambitions at the European Tournament: We wanted to reach the final and we achieved that. But the much more enjoyable thing to see is how good we finally were able to combine our individual talents to a very well coordinated team gameplay. We had some difficulties with that when we played Belgium in January this year. There is still more potential and I'm gonna be very happy to see it unfold in Dallas.

How are you raising funds to get to Dallas?

That's the most difficult question! We are discussing this a lot. Nowadays the derby community gets flooded with donation requests. Refs, skaters and teams all over the world want their gear, junior leagues and travels to big events payed by others. We don't want to do that without giving something back. So we started trying to find sponsors on our own which was very difficult because big companies don't notice Roller Derby that much, yet. We're glad that we have won Atom with all its associated brands as our friend. But still what most of the skaters need to be able to pay their travel costs is pure cash. Our next step will be asking for official help from German authorities like the sports ministry or the roof organization for skating sports in Germany, which we are a part of. For a few months we have been selling merch now which is by far the biggest money income until now - but we are still forced to try other options. So we are currently working on setting up a paypal donation account. We are primarily aiming for the non derby community when asking for donations - but of course we are thankful for everyone who is gonna be able and willing to help us do this awesome thing. So everyone just check our facebook page (Team Germany (Roller Derby)) and homepage (www.rollerderbygermany.de) in the near future if you're willing to help. Our love will be guaranteed! Of course all of our members are allowed to raise funds for their trip as they wish - so some of our players started their own campaigns in order to minimize their costs.

The most important thing at the end: If you want to experience the World Cup at Dallas live at the venue - please buy the Team Germany supporter tickets. You'll only pay 25$ more than regular but you will give 75$ to Team Germany with every purchased ticket! You can get the supporter tickets at the official online purchase site. Thank you very much.

Some national teams have skaters adopting their legal names for their National appearance, instead of their derby names. Other national teams are uniformly retaining their skate names. Did Team Germany discuss this, and if so what was their position?

Our position is very clear. It's the skaters choice! Two of our players adopted their real names for Team Germany, others have changed their skate names. This is not a sport where a team management tells skaters how they have to be named. This sport is skater operated and as such it shall give total freedom to the skaters. We're very happy that with the german roof organization for skating sports (DRIV - Deutscher Rollsport und Inline Verband) we have found a comfortable home for organized Roller Derby in Germany which let's us decide how we want to run things.

At present, much of the rules and paraphernalia of Derby is conducted in English. How has this affected the growth of derby in Germany?

Not considering the fact that I had to look up paraphernalia I have to say that we're dealing really good with that. Fortunately we can say that we have very committed people who are translating the rules and keeping up with the updates every year. THOSE people definitely have affected the growth of Roller Derby in Germany. I'd like to use this opportunity to thank Riff Reff of the Stuttgart Valley Rollergirls for coordinating these translation efforts and doing most of the work! The upcoming version of his translation will even be officially featured as the german version of the rules of Roller Derby by the WFTDA.

The Team Germany (2014) Roster is:

Coaches: Bee Fattal, Jens Hötger, Hell G. Slider

Team Germany Roller Derby Squad 2014: Ellie Minate #8 Heavy Rotation #505 Master Blaster #2 Public Enemy #1 Sweet Gwenrolline #9 Teaze the Tiger #16 Titty-Twista #81 Anktion #19 Lethal Lorelei #29 Bash #31 Ostblocker #101 Jeanne Dark #001 Nitro Netty # 2X Donner Doro #22 Chibi Chibster #0 Lotta Loveless #22 Knock ‘n Rose #234 Lizzy Slaughter #742 Sugar Grrrl #27 Skullhead O'Hara #B4 So Phiarsome #393 Mary Toothfairy #-32 Paulina Pocket #12 Hanna Hellfire #75