July 20, 2009
As a result of the organization’s continuing growth, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association is launching a new format for its annual tournament season. This fall, more teams than ever before have a chance to win the WFTDA national title.
In previous years, there was one regional tournament for each half of the country (East and West), and one national tournament for the eight teams who qualified from both regional tournaments. With the creation of four WFTDA regions in 2008 (East, North Central, South Central, West) there are now five tournaments, called the ‘Big Five.’
During September and October, forty teams will compete in four regional tournaments governed by WFTDA. Each regional tournament will include the top ten ranked teams from that region competing in a multilevel tournament. The top three teams from each regional tournament will advance to the third annual WFTDA National Tournament held in Philadelphia, PA from November 13 to 15. This year’s tournament structure increases the number of teams at the National tournament to twelve, from eight teams for the past two years.
The regional tournaments will use equitable seeding; seeds one through six have a bye in the first round, placing them in the quarterfinals, and seeds seven through ten compete for a place in the quarterfinals. In the first round, seeds seven and ten will play each other, and seeds eight and nine will play each other. During the quarterfinals, seed three will play the winner of the seed eight versus seed nine game; seed two will play the winner of the seed seven versus seed ten game; seed one will play seed six; and seed four will play seed five.Quarterfinal game winners will move on to semifinal play, and are the only teams that have a chance to advance to the National Tournament. Losing teams from the semifinal games will play each other in the third-place bout. The winner of this game advances to the National Tournament and the losing team does not. The final game will determine the Regional Champion, and both teams will advance to the National Tournament. In order to generate regional standings through tournament play, all losing teams will play consolation games. The 2009 ‘Big Five’ WFTDA regional tournaments kick off with the Eastern Regional Tournament September 11-13 in Raleigh, NC, hosted by the Carolina Rollergirls. Next, the North Central Regional Tournament September 18-20 in St. Paul, MN, hosted by the Minnesota RollerGirls, followed by the South Central Regional Tournament September 25-27 held in Atlanta, GA, hosted by the Atlanta Rollergirls. The final regional tournament in 2009 is the Western Regional Tournament October 2-4 in Denver, CO, co-hosted by the Denver Roller Dolls and Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. The top three teams from each regional tournament compete at the third annual WFTDA National Tournament November 13-15 in Philadelphia, hosted by the Philly Roller Girls.
Real. Strong. Athletic. Revolutionary.