Hogwarts Derby Cup 2016 hosted by Santa Cruz Derby Groms

This is a Hogwarts Derby Cup, a Hogwarts themed derby tournament.

This is a map of Hogwarts:



The tournament features four teams.

the Ravenclaws



the Glycerins



the Puffinstuffs



and the Gryffindoors



The game is played in the normal way, but every once in a while a wizard jam occurs, which is played by special wizard rules. The choice of which wizard rule to play by is determined by the sorting hat.



A list of the wizard rules.

1. clockwise jam.  A jam is played by the normal WFTDA rules, but clockwise instead of counter clockwise.
2. overtime jam.  A jam is played by using the overtime jam rules of the WFTDA.  The jam goes the full two minutes. There is no lead jammer. Both jammers score on the first pass instead of the second pass.
3. +2 super blockers.  The weekend prior to the Hogwarts Cup, I traveled to see the WFTDA championship tournament.  There were many instances during that tournament where all the blockers on both teams were playing defense and no offense. And I wished more than once that there were some blockers available that could play offense. This wizard rule partially addresses that wish.  Both teams field skaters as usual, plus two "super blockers" that wear sideways pivot helmet covers.  The super blockers obey the usual rules for derby except they are exempt from the WFTDA pack definition rules. They can play offense or defense or harass the opposing jammer without having to pay attention to where the pack is. And since I shoot with shorter focal length lenses than what is typical for roller derby, these jams tended to produce photos with more skaters filling the frame than most.
4. blockers freeze.  The refs yell "freeze" every thirty seconds and they have to freeze (and let the opposing jammers go by) for ten seconds.
5. broom flight class.  This is an old fashioned match race.  Jammer vs jammer (no blockers).  Whoever finished three laps before the other wins the jam and scores five points.  And they have to do it while carrying pool-noodle brooms between their legs.

 some photo highlights!

this is what wizards eat: levitating cupcakes that you have to snatch out of the air.



these are the broomsticks



some broomstick flight school!







Lord Moldemort



 some clockwise skating



also the jam timers and some of the refs used their "wizard sticks" for officiating.







more highlights!


















 








If your name is Evil Alice, the sorting hat will probably place you on the Slytherin team.




















all the photos can be found on flickr here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/collections/72157660805121068/

and on zenfolio (for prints) here: http://nocklebeast.zenfolio.com/f713076964