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The Outfit Fri Sep 27 2013
Outfit Ready to Roll in Salem
When she joined the Chicago Outfit less than a year ago, Tammy Tsiones didn't think she'd be playing roller derby on an international stage so soon.
But Tsiones, who now skates for the Outfit's A-team, the Syndicate, as Pippi Long Smackings, is doing just that.
The Syndicate will face off against the Victorian Roller Derby League of Melbourne, Australia, at 2 p.m. today in the first round of the final Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division One playoff in Salem, Ore. The top three finishers in the playoff will go on to WFTDA championships in Milwaukee in November.
Tsiones, speaking by phone from a car full of Syndicate teammates about a half-hour outside Salem, said today's bout will be her first WFTDA-sanctioned bout as a member of the Syndicate. She never thought her first official bout would be on such a grand stage.
"I had no idea," she said.
Though the Syndicate has not faced the Victorian Roller Derby League before, Tsiones said Syndicate skaters were able to find video of a couple bouts of theirs on the internet and used that to figure out what kind of game they play.
"Staying low is going to come in handy," she said.
Tsiones said in addition to looking at the other teams in their playoff, the Syndicate has also been working to improve their own game.
"We have been training and training," she said. "We've been working on our lines like crazy. We've been working on our walls like crazy."
The winner of the bout will go on to face the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls in the second round of the playoff.
