Friday, January 30, 2015

The Hit List: Skater Spotlight for 1/30/2015: Heff Factor #89

Photo by Davie Darko
What is your derby name?
Heff Factor

What is the story behind your name?
It is a nickname that is pulled from my last name, everyone has always called me Heff. When I used to play hockey one of my teammates nicknamed me Heff Factor and it just stuck.

What number do you wear?
89

Why did you choose it?
My 2 numbers I used in Hockey were 12 and 89 and I picked 89 because 12 was close to another guy’s number on the team so I didn’t want it to be confusing to anyone on the team or the officials.

What is your role in the league?
Right now I am focusing on earning my spot on the track regardless if that is a blocker, pivot or jammer.

What is your preferred position on the track?
I love playing as the Pivot but I know I have a long way to go. I like playing as the Pivot because you are focused on blocking but if the jammer needs relief you can jump in and help out, kind of the best of both worlds in my opinion.

What’s your pre-derby athletic background?
I grew up as a competitive swimmer and swam in the USA swimming program in Connecticut with my best stroke being Butterfly. In college I picked up hockey and figure skating where I played on intramural teams and in adult leagues. After college I found roller derby and haven’t looked back.

What would you say are your greatest strengths as a skater?
My greatest strengths are using what I have learned from hockey and figure skating and applying it to roller derby where it has proven useful time and time again.

What is your proudest accomplishment in roller derby and why?
My first 2 practices with the Quadfathers, where I decided I want to try this even though I live 2 hours away from the closest MRDA team. The first practice the captain Brandon said, “yeah, he can skate” then at my second practice Grambo told me, “I would have never guessed you never played Men’s Derby before”. After hearing this from 2 very well accomplished skaters I knew I belong on the track.

Which one of your teammates do you look up to most, and why?
Being relatively new to the sport I look up to the entire team, and I can’t single anyone out. I learn something new from everyone every time we take the track together. I look up to Brandon a lot because he is a very well accomplished skater and I go to him all the time for advice.

What is your best memory of the 2014 MRDA season?
My favorite memory of the 2014 MRDA season was during the Mohawk Valley Cup when I was rostered for my first game which was the bronze medal game in the cup. I had several referee friends that pulled me aside during warm ups that wanted to take a photo with me. They were so happy for me becoming a skater, I will never forget the photo I got with Tripp Ur’Mamma[QCRG] and Davie Darko[RCRD] for taking the photo.

What is your motivational quote?
When I used to do competitive rowing my coach once told me when he was challenging me and another rower, “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” This quote has stuck with me for a long time. We were so scared we were going to flip the boat that day, and it motivates me every time I lace up.

How did you get involved with roller derby?
A friend of mine told me lets go to a Roller Derby game. I showed up and thought it was awesome, and said I wonder if they do men’s roller derby. The next year I started reffing for Roc City Roller Derby in Rochester, NY then after 1 year of reffing I tried Men’s derby and haven’t looked back.

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Hit List: Skater Spotlight for 1/23/2015: Oxenfree #48

Photo by John Bentham
What is your derby name? Oxenfree
What is the story behind your name? There are no ollies in roller derby.
What number do you wear? 48
Why did you choose it? no comment
What is your role in the league? Obstacle on wheels. Occasional NSO.
What is your preferred position on the track? upright and skating
What’s your pre-derby athletic background? Skateboarding. I think moshing counts too.
What would you say are your greatest strengths as a skater? I have OK balance.
What is your proudest accomplishment in roller derby and why? Any time I can explain something to someone and they get it, or it helps them in some way.
Which one of your teammates do you look up to most, and why? Probably Graham. He's one of those people who can do anything and everything and he seems to keep a cool head. Maybe it's all of the sweating he does. He's also a really good jammer and can step in when needed *winkwink*.
What is your best memory of the 2014 MRDA season? Probably playing against the Twin City Terrors. Their logo is awesome and it's really the only reason we lost. We played a great game, their logo was just way better. Any new team considering a skull logo should look at theirs first, then give up.
What is your motivational quote? I dunno. Any image macro that has a broad generalization about life and a cool picture is fine with me. Maybe a kitten, or a rowing team at sunset or something. As long as I don't have to do much interpretation or any thinking at all really. That gets me pretty motivated.
How did you get involved with roller derby? I went to a practice, then I kept going to more practices. So far nobody has said I can't practice with them so I try and keep my mouth shut and my fingers crossed.
Finally, is there anything I didn’t ask you about that you want to talk about? I want to apologize to Vermont Men's Roller Derby for scoring a bunch of points on them after not getting called on a track cut. I'm pretty sure Pope forced a cut on me in the first 15 seconds of a jam and nobody called it. I figure refs know more than I do so I went with it, but I still feel bad about it. I think I only jammed once or twice that game. Hispanic Attack took pictures so I look like a hero, but each shot of me jamming is a beautifully captured lie that I have to live with for the rest of my life. (Can you insert the TCT's logo in here somewhere? Seriously that thing is cool.)

Photo by Walter Romero / Hispanic Attack

Comments from teammates:

Fowler #28 - The first time Oxenfree had ever jammed in a bout for the Quadfathers was in Montreal against the Mont Royals. Oxen was not rostered to jam that day but due to an injury to a teammate he stepped up and jammed every other jam for the rest of that bout.. He never quit or gave up. He fought to the end and has been a great team player from that day on. He earn a great deal of respect from his teammates and anybody else who was paying attention that day....

Look out for weekly installments of the Hit List as you meet the 2015 Quadfathers roster!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Thursday, January 8, 2015

The teams for Mohawk Valley Cup IV!!

The Quadfathers would like to thank all the teams that applied for this years Cup. We had a record number of teams express their interest in attending. Pairing that list down was extremely difficult.

The New York Shock Exchange (New York, NY) received an automatic invite as the defending MVC Champions.

Returning to the Cup after a 6th place finish last year will be Jersey Boys Roller Derby (Springfield, NJ). The Jersey Boys made their MRDA debut last year at MVC.

The Race City Rebels (Indianapolis, IN) competed in the inaugural MVC. They placed 3rd and will be looking to improve on that this year.

You may have already seen in earlier announcements that MVC will be an international event this year with Tyne & Fear Roller Derby (Walker, Newcastle, England) and the Montreal Mont Royals (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) joining the tournament field.

The other first time participants are the Cincinnati Battering Rams (Cincinnati, OH) and the Philadelphia Hooligans (Philly, PA).

Rounding out the tournament field will be the host league The Quadfathers. The Quadfathers placed 4th last year and will be looking to move up.