July 19, 2012

Frequent Flyer Fun Trips to make before fall begins

the

Pages 4-5

Volume 68, No. 30

July 19, 2012

Fan Frenzy Last in Dark Knight trilogy draws midnight crowd

online

Finding Funds Making sense of salaries Reduced budget requested

Page 3

Online Videos

Warped Tour 2012 Coverage

Jazz Festival at Jardin del Arte

Fierce Femmes Two RGV women’s teams break ground in contact sports

panamericanonline.com

Pages 6-7

2

editorial

July 19, 2012

Authoritarianism returns to los Pinos

Notes from Abroad

By Karen Velasquez MEXICO CITY - And after all the bickering, the announced triumph finally became a reality on July 1. Enrique Peña Nieto was imposed as virtual winner, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for impeachment. The National Action Party (PAN) said goodbye to the executive branch with a resounding loss, showing that Josefina Vázquez Mota was not a relevant opponent in the last presidential election.

On July 6, the vote count was completed, and the candidate of the Coalition Commitment for Mexico, Peña Nieto, won 19,221,413 votes, or about 38 percent of the total. López Obrador obtained 15,892,225 votes, or about 32 percent. Vázquez Mota was left a little over a quarter of the votes with 12,782,816.

Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, candidate for the New Alliance Party, reached only 2 percent of the amount required for the party “of the youth” to remain in force.

When the victory was announced, and the return of the PRI to Los Pinos was confirmed, the protests were im-

mediate. LÓpez Obrador said that this victory was the result of a big fraud. One day after the election, young Mexicans marched against the victory of Enrique Peña Nieto. An estimated 20,000 young people held a march to the Monument of the Revolution, shouting slogans against Peña Nieto, Televisa and Instituto Federal Electoral. Hundreds of office workers and laborers, joined the march, supporting the revolutionary youth, shouting from windows, balconies, bridges, and sidewalks: “Mexico without PRI!” and “Here we see that Peña Nieto, President, is not going to be”.

When slogans were shouted in favor of López Obrador, drivers supported the protest by honking their horns while transiting through the great avenues of Mexico City.

Meanwhile, LÓpez Obrador asked the Federal Electoral Institute, to invalidate the election. According to him, the triumph of Peña Nieto is due to the 5 million votes the PRI bought before, and during election day. Soriana, a Mexican supermarket chain, allegedly offered 500 peso gift cards to whoever agreed to vote for

the PRI-EEV candidate.

The Progressive Movement of the Democratic Revolution party (PRD), Labor Party (PT), the Citizens Movementtogether and members of López Obrador’s campaign team, presented to the IFE. “I call to all Mexicans to prevent violations of the Constitution, not to cancel in facts, the democratic life. To do the opposite would be giving up our fundamental rights,” López Obrador said in a message Thursday afternoon.

Obviously Peña Nieto had the better campaign, because it focused on marginalized areas.

It is much easier to convince people in precarious situations, with a little pantry, makeup and perfumes. Of course the less educated people would give a vote to the candidate who gave them a few bucks for their dinner. It is known by the whole world that politics has always resorted to such strategies. However, the PRI in Mexico has exceeded the limits of shamelessness, spending 4.6 million pesos in their campaign, in addition to the fervent support of the media, and the commanding heights of power in the country.

“This violation is serious enough to invalidate the election process, this override means it violated the principle of equity and the principle of free and fair elections,” said Jaime Cardenas, a representative of the Progressive Movement to the IFE. The marketing was spectacular. “The president of the soap operas” was fully sold to the country of Mexico, which mostly consists of entities with large poverty rates.

Yes, Enrique Peña Nieto was elected by the majority of Mexicans, but under what circumstances? Is it fair that an electoral victory occurs under these terms? Of course not.

However, the problem is in our system, where impunity still reigning, and crimes committed by the most powerful, never come to be punished.

It would be a real miracle if the election of July 1 was overturned. Unfortunately, that’s just a dream. Even so, I consider of vital importance to

continue the manifestations.

We should not be dragged by conformity and sense of inferiority; and most important, we have to promote education.

We must ensure the plurality, and the manifestation of all kinds of ideas and positions.

And this is how we begin the fight against big monopolies of communication.

The Pan American

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Co-Editors-in-Chief:

Reynaldo Leal Nadia Tamez-Robledo

-@skinNbones_ Have LOVED not having homework since yesterday (last day of summer 1) REALLY not looking forward to tomorrow (first day of summer 2) #UTPA

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News Editor:

Karen Antonacci

Sports Editor:

Jonathan Salinas

Goodbye, and good luck

By Reynaldo Leal

Letters to the

Editor The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks.

Please send all letters to:

thepanamerican @gmail.com

Karen Velasquez is a graduate of UTPA who now lives and works in Mexico City. Look for her blog at panamericanonline.com

There are a few things I’ve learned while working at The Pan American. Nuggets of knowledge I could never have learned in the classroom. Wisdom that can only be imparted from tight deadlines and the pressure of putting out a product every week, no matter what happens.

Every week I wrote, took photos and edited paragraph after paragraph of copy. Every week I learned a little more about my school, and then tried to package it to our readers.

It is in this journalism boot camp that I learned the first lesson everyone should know.

Our job as news gatherers and

storytellers is not only to give you what you want to read.

That’s part of the business, but our real mission is to tell you what you need to know.

I’ve recently become a fan of the HBO show The Newsroom.

Not because I think it’s an accurate portrayal of cable news but because it’s what we should all hope cable news could be. If it weren’t a business and only the truth mattered.

And that’s it. What everyone here in the UTPA newsroom wants. We want to tell you the truth. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fall flat on our face, but we always try to give you all the information.

So, as we prepare my final

paper as Co-Editor-inChief I leave you with this.

Read the paper. If you get the chance, work at the paper.

Whatever you do, don’t let your years here at UTPA run out without being part of something that matters.

I’m off to work at 956Sports and freelance for other publications. Another perk of working for the school paper.

Carlos Ortiz/The Pan American

Arts & Life Editor: Norma Gonzalez

Photography Editor: Ruben Gutierrez

Design Editor:

Erick Gonzalez

Multimedia Editor:

Dimitra Hernandez

Adviser:

Dr. Greg Selber

Administrative Associate:

Anita Reyes

Advertising Manager:

Mariel Cantu

Webmasters:

Jose Villarreal Selvino Padilla

The Pan American is the official student newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the paper or university.

Delivery:

Thursday at noon

news

July 19, 2012

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Making sense of salaries

3

UTPA administration raises promotion pay, looks to adjust salaries in 2013

By Reynaldo Leal The Pan American As UTPA’s seven colleges look to keep their programs on the cutting edge of research and coursework by attracting talented lecturers, the starting salaries of new teaching staff have been creeping steadily closer to and sometimes surpass that of tenured faculty. While new professor salaries at UTPA are meeting current market and economic standards, the salaries of senior professors seem to be stagnant and don’t have much room for increases. This is salary inversion.

“We have an issue where our junior faculty are getting paid more than our senior faculty,” University Provost Havidán Rodriguez said about the current pay situation at UTPA. Avoiding salary inversion is difficult when the University must compete for new faculty while managing budget cuts.

Administrators hope that a combination of promotion pay increases and additional funding from the University budget will alleviate the narrowing gap between the pay grades.

According to Martin Baylor, vice president of Business Affairs, the University will double promotion pay in fiscal year 2013. Assistant professors being promoted to associate professors will receive a $6,000 annual raise and associate professors promoted to full professor positions will be given a $10,000 raise.

Rodriguez, who said salary

inversion is not just a UTPA problem, saw similar issues during his time at the University of Delaware in 2010. He is confident that an additional salary adjustment program would alleviate the problem of inversion.

The only obstacle is finding the funding to do it. Unlike the University of Delaware, which

view and said salary increases would have to be implemented over time.

“We actually set aside some funding, and it’s going to take us three to four years to actually correct those issues in the long term,” Baylor said.

A previous attempt to do this was stymied by budget cuts

adjust the pay of senior faculty members and compensate for potential inversion. This would have achieved what is called compression, an evening out of the discrepancy.

“They did an extensive survey,” Rodriguez said, “and the study showed that to prevent further inversion we would need

Rodriguez said had $1.4 billion at its disposal in funding, UTPA’s plan would require a more nuanced approach.

Baylor shares Rodriguez’s

in 2009. According to Rodriguez, a three-year adjustment plan had been put into place under former provost Paul Sale, who left the position in 2010, to

to adjust salaries every year for three years.”

Rodriguez has ordered a task force to examine the cost of restoring equilibrium to salaries,

and to discuss where the money will come from.

“This is a very big priority for me,” he said. “We know it can’t be addressed in one year, but it’s critical if we want to recognize our faculty for their contributions and maintain their morale.”

As associate dean for the College of Business Administration, Jerald Hughes sees the factors that cause salary inversion come into play firsthand.

He agrees that while money is a part of maintaining morale and a good faculty, he said that not all of the reasons people choose to be professors have do with pay.

“A tenured position is a prestigious thing, it’s a rare thing and a highly-sought thing,” the computer information system assistant professor said. “A tenured position means you develop a lot of relationships with the people you publish with, do researching with and develop curriculum with. There are a lot of things that eventually tie you to a university that don’t have to do with money.”

However, Hughes understands that his college must offer competitive salaries to professors in order to attract the right talent to the lecture halls of the College of Business.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, The University of Texas San Antonio pays its assistant professors an average of $71,000 a year while UTPA’s average rate is $62,100.

That means UTSA’s rate for an

entry-level faculty position is on average $3,000 more than $68,400 UTPA pays faculty promoted to associate professor positions.

“There is a going rate for what a Ph.D., from a good school with a completed dissertation, wants to make in order to be, say an accounting professor somewhere,” said Hughes, who has been at the University for seven years. “And so if that’s what other universities are offering and we offer something much less than that, then we just won’t get any hires.”

If the college does not keep up with market values and bring in the necessary new hires, Hughes said it runs the risk of damaging its Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation.

The highly valued business school accreditation doesn’t have salary requirements, but it does demand a commitment from the administration and faculty to maintain a high standard in the quality of professors and courses offered to students. For Hughes, who has attended several faculty recruitment seminars, this means making the right financial offers to the right potential faculty.

“Obviously there is a range in salaries, but that’s a range that is thrust upon us by the external market,” he said. “If we don’t bring in good people, we can be penalized for failing to have the necessary resources to keep our accreditation.”

More severe budget cuts may be in UTPA’s future Texas Lege requests drastically reduced plans for

By Karen Antonacci The Pan American While Texas lawmakers haven’t officially asked UTPA to slash more money from future budget plans, they have asked the University to come up with blueprints for operating on a tighter budget down the road.

Like all state institutions, UTPA must submit three budget proposals for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 to the Texas Legislature, with the most bare bones of those lopping off $14.8 million, or 10 percent of the 2013 budget.

The other two proposals requested from Universities across

the state are budgets with no increases to 2013’s, and another reduced by five percent.

The budget draft for 2013, which is still pending approval by the regents, currently stands at about $249 million, a reduction of $4,375,571 or about two percent from 2012.

University President Robert Nelsen said that the $4 million reduction was largely due to UTPA’s GEAR UP grant renewal being denied in January. The UTPA Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) has been aimed to increase college readiness for Valley students, starting in seventh grade, but

UTPA was not given renewal funds from the U.S. Department of Education after the program did not meet the measurement threshold by one point.

Although the 2013 budget is still pending a green light from the regents, it has already had consequences on the University, with a round of staff layoffs and two rounds of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program earlier this year. The program offered certain senior faculty an early retirement so the University could evaluate their positions and replace them more cheaply if need be.

As far as plans for the reduced budget plans the Legis-

lature is requesting, Nelsen said that the 2013 budget must be green-lighted before the administration can start on the proposals for 2014 and 2015.

“We are waiting to here from the Legislative Budget Board what our target reductions will be before we implement a plan of action,” he said.

The request is not completely out of the blue. In 2011, the Texas legislature cut $15.2 billion from the 2012-2013 budget, including $844 million from public and higher education. Speculation has already begun as to whether the next biennium budget will be as tight.

“We are aware that there is

upcoming biennium an $11 billion structural deficit in the state budget, in other words the structure of the revenue and expenses seem to be such that a deficit is likely,” Nelsen said.

During the 2013 budget presentations recently, each division head was asked to provide a slide detailing how their area would deal with a 10 percent cut, given to the President’s Cabinet, which includes the vice presidents for divisions as well as other positions. Nelsen said that the Cabinet decided to shift the priorities of the University from 2012’s instruction and safety to 2013’s personnel and morale.

“It was important to recog-

nize faculty and staff who have taken on additional duties with fewer resources in light of the recent budget cuts,” said Lisa Prieto, the president’s chief of staff.

“Instruction and safety will not be affected negatively with these priorities” Keeping with that, the President’s Cabinet this week approved funding a raise for select employees based on performance. The money would use 3 percent of UTPA’s reserve funds, which Nelsen said are in good shape with 4.8 months of expenditures put back. The reserve funds come are monies squirreled away from various accounts the University has.

Page 4

THE PAN AMERICAN

July 19, 2012

THE PAN AMERICAN

July 19, 2012

T r av e l i n g T e x a s

Page 5

Revolver Brewing Granbury

Named after the 1847 Walker Colt pistol for it’s self- sufficiency and strength, Revolver Brewery is expected to have its opening in the late summer. They’ll be offering tours and tastings of their freshly crafted beer, forged under the command of brewmaster Grant Wood, from Boston Beer Company. revolverbrewing.com

Sure, it’s more than halfway through summer and those back-to-school commercials are already being broadcasted, but there is still time for one last roadtrip. The Pan American has scoured the state for some top travel destinations, combining beer, the outdoors, and a few famous haunted sites for those in the mood for a little adventure.

Haunted Texas Ghost Tours Austin

Austin Ghost Tours takes patrons on guided walking tours of Austin’s historical sites known for paranormal activity.

People can also reserve spots to assist on ghost investigations, during which they accompany the AGT team while they analyze haunted locations. austinghosttours.com

Natural Bridge Caverns Bandera

Lona China Cemetery

The Natural Bridge Caverns offers a handful of different tours available to the public, along with activities like zip lining, climbing and panning for stones. Dress accordingly (i.e. shoes with good traction and light clothes) and be prepared to walk on steep, wet terrain. Check the website for prices and tour information. naturalbridgecaverns.com

San Antonio

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner

Also known as the Chinese Graveyard or Guzman Burial Ground, the cemetery is private property to a Guzman family. The story is that if you turn off the car, open the windows and flash the lights five times, white figures can be seen and whispers can be heard of an Asian woman who was once the forbidden lover of one of the deceased Guzman men. Located On Zarzamora St. Just south of I-410.

Home of the Shiner Beer, Spoetzl has been making beer history since 1909. Weekday tours of the factory and an inside look at the makings of the famous beer are offered, as well as Shiner memorabilia. shiner.com

.

Choke Canyon State Park

Quinta Mazatlan Padre Island Brewing Company South Padre Island

This two story venue is both a restaurant and a brewery. Padre Brewing Company has been serving up handcrafted ales and lagers since 1995, guaranteeing a fresh beer for every customer.

Their menu includes a breakdown of their on-site brewing technique. pibrewingcompany.com

McAllen

Quinta Mazatlan is a large adobe structure with Spanish architecture and lush gardens, serving as a nature and birding center.

The urban sanctuary is open to public Tuesday through Saturday and admission fee is $2. quintamazatlan.com

Three Rivers

La Lomita Mission

The chapel, located just north of the river, is said to be haunted. There are many different theories as to why the place is haunted, and the most common apparition people encounter is of a nun at the entrance in broad daylight. tshaonline.org/handbook/ online/articles/uql07

Choke Canyon State Park consists of two different units, each offering different activities (i.e. boating, camping and picnicking). The park is open every day year-round and charges a $5 daily fee for adults. Ranger programs and nearby area attractions are also available, check the calendar for upcoming events. tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/chokecanyon/

Page 4

THE PAN AMERICAN

July 19, 2012

THE PAN AMERICAN

July 19, 2012

T r av e l i n g T e x a s

Page 5

Revolver Brewing Granbury

Named after the 1847 Walker Colt pistol for it’s self- sufficiency and strength, Revolver Brewery is expected to have its opening in the late summer. They’ll be offering tours and tastings of their freshly crafted beer, forged under the command of brewmaster Grant Wood, from Boston Beer Company. revolverbrewing.com

Sure, it’s more than halfway through summer and those back-to-school commercials are already being broadcasted, but there is still time for one last roadtrip. The Pan American has scoured the state for some top travel destinations, combining beer, the outdoors, and a few famous haunted sites for those in the mood for a little adventure.

Haunted Texas Ghost Tours Austin

Austin Ghost Tours takes patrons on guided walking tours of Austin’s historical sites known for paranormal activity.

People can also reserve spots to assist on ghost investigations, during which they accompany the AGT team while they analyze haunted locations. austinghosttours.com

Natural Bridge Caverns Bandera

Lona China Cemetery

The Natural Bridge Caverns offers a handful of different tours available to the public, along with activities like zip lining, climbing and panning for stones. Dress accordingly (i.e. shoes with good traction and light clothes) and be prepared to walk on steep, wet terrain. Check the website for prices and tour information. naturalbridgecaverns.com

San Antonio

Spoetzl Brewery Shiner

Also known as the Chinese Graveyard or Guzman Burial Ground, the cemetery is private property to a Guzman family. The story is that if you turn off the car, open the windows and flash the lights five times, white figures can be seen and whispers can be heard of an Asian woman who was once the forbidden lover of one of the deceased Guzman men. Located On Zarzamora St. Just south of I-410.

Home of the Shiner Beer, Spoetzl has been making beer history since 1909. Weekday tours of the factory and an inside look at the makings of the famous beer are offered, as well as Shiner memorabilia. shiner.com

.

Choke Canyon State Park

Quinta Mazatlan Padre Island Brewing Company South Padre Island

This two story venue is both a restaurant and a brewery. Padre Brewing Company has been serving up handcrafted ales and lagers since 1995, guaranteeing a fresh beer for every customer.

Their menu includes a breakdown of their on-site brewing technique. pibrewingcompany.com

McAllen

Quinta Mazatlan is a large adobe structure with Spanish architecture and lush gardens, serving as a nature and birding center.

The urban sanctuary is open to public Tuesday through Saturday and admission fee is $2. quintamazatlan.com

Three Rivers

La Lomita Mission

The chapel, located just north of the river, is said to be haunted. There are many different theories as to why the place is haunted, and the most common apparition people encounter is of a nun at the entrance in broad daylight. tshaonline.org/handbook/ online/articles/uql07

Choke Canyon State Park consists of two different units, each offering different activities (i.e. boating, camping and picnicking). The park is open every day year-round and charges a $5 daily fee for adults. Ranger programs and nearby area attractions are also available, check the calendar for upcoming events. tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/chokecanyon/

6

July 19, 2012

UTPA alumna leads women’s football team to first victory

By Jonathan Salinas The Pan American With the third quarter winding down, UTPA graduate Yoli Peña and the McAllen Mystics were looking defeat straight in the eye as they trailed the Texas Cowgirls 6-0.

The women had made the 228 mile trip to San Antonio and were now in danger of losing their first game. Peña took

the snap well over her head and rolled out to her left as she felt the pocket collapsing. However, she never took her eyes away from her receivers. With two defenders bearing down on her, Peña cocked her arm back and the launched the pigskin downfield at receiver Nicole Stoffel. Stoffel caught the pass in perfect stride and slipped through a tackle to score the Mystics first touchdown ever.

“We went in with one thing in mind - play to win,” Peña said.

“We knew it was going to be different and we were all nervous but the adrenaline kicks in and you forget about everything else.

First two quarters we wanted to feel the hits and we wanted to work on staying calm. Our defense was stopping them, which really motivated our offense to score. Once we felt the first hits, the butterflies

Mystics captains, Gio Saenz (left), Yoli Peña, and Nicole Stoffel went away.”

Peña and her teammates took the field against a Sugar ‘N Spice Football League (SSFL) opponent for the first time on Saturday, July 14 and upset the

Nicole Stoffel, 28, is an Angelo State graduate and currently works as a personal trainer. Even though the Mystics emerged victorious in their first game, Stoffel feels the team needs to keep a level head.

“I think what we need to do now is keep everyone grounded...just because we won that game doesn’t mean we’re gonna win the rest,” Stoffel said.

“It’s definitely still a learning - Yoli Peña experience despite the win but Mystics quaterback i think the fact that we won is a good motivator to keep us all her life as she started taking going. We had very little time karate lessons at the age of to get everything together so it’s 7. She later turned to more a good reinforcer that our hard traditional sports like soccer, work is really paying off.”

Just two months ago, the basketball, softball, volleyball and track and field at Edinburg McAllen Mystics were merely an idea of Rebecca Garza, the North High School.

After graduating, Peña league commissioner. However, turned down a couple of offers with the help of social media to play Division II soccer outlets and flyers, General and moved onto professional Manager Alexia Chavez was boxing. She currently holds able to quickly field a team. A a professional boxing record total of 72 girls showed up at of 3-1 with two KOs and, the McAllen Mystics tryouts in after returning from two knee hopes of becoming pioneers in surgeries which repaired her women’s sports. Now, with the torn patellar tendon and lateral final roster trimmed down to meniscus, Peña temporarily 30 players, the Mystics are into hung up her gloves to try her their inaugural season.

“These girls are hand at football.

“I love this,” Peña said committed,” Cruz said. “From about football. “My brother what they know from day one played football [in high school] at tryouts to what they know so when he was practicing, I now, it’s a total different level. was there throwing him the We’re very proud of them. We ball. I liked it. That’s how I play in a league that has been established for two years now started throwing the ball.”

Giovanna Saenz, 21, is so...it’s a tough challenge but an Hidalgo graduate and is we’re very confident we’ve got a currently studying biology good squad here.”

Their next game is at South Texas College and plays strong safety for the scheduled for Saturday, July Mystics. Women’s football 28th against the Corpus Christi Mermaids in Robstown, was something that has been long awaited here in the Valley TX. The Mystics will be playing their first season on the road according to Saenz.

“I’ve been waiting my whole since they have yet to establish life for this,” Saenz said. “I’ve a local venue to call home. always wanted to play football and Since the SSFL operates with I’m glad I got this opportunity. It’s the same rules as the Arena an awesome experience. I couldn’t Football League, which utilizes a 50-yard field, the Mystics ask for more.”

Saenz put the game on are hopeful they can make the ice after intercepting Cowgirls State Farm Arena their home. quarterback Magan Martinez in However, a final decision has yet to be made. the final seconds of the game. undefeated seasons. Now, the 2010 graduate finds herself under center leading the first women’s full-contact football team of the RGV. Peña, 24, had a knack for contact sports

“We went in with one thing in mind - play to win.”

Texas Cowgirls 8-6 on their home field.

The new SSFL is home to some of the toughest women in Texas and the McAllen Mystics have just joined the party.

The league, which the McAllen Mystics joined two months ago, has grown rapidly over the last two years since it was first founded in San Antonio by the Cowgirls. The SSFL currently has five teams including the Corpus Christi Mermaids, Texas Cowgirls, Austin Angels and Laredo Roses. The Mystics are under the reign of head coach Santiago Cruz, who is no stranger to the sport. He currently plays semi-pro football for the RGV Gators. Though the odds may be against the newcomers due to the short amount of time they have been together, Coach Cruz is optimistic the Mystics will raise some eyebrows this upcoming season.

“I’m very surprised at their attitude towards the game,” Cruz said. “They’re not out here slacking. We push them to the limits. We know no boundaries and they’ve really embraced it. We’ve pushed them [so far] where we think ‘hey they’re not gonna come back tomorrow’ and here they show up with their bruises ready to go again.”

After playing co-ed football for the Victorious Secrets in the intramural leagues at UTPA, Peña thought her playing days were just a thing of the past.

She served as team captain and led her team to four

July 19, 2012

7

Rolleristas undefeated in Texas,

prepare for international bout

Ruth “Peace War” Williams (left), Mica “Metallica Breath” Tamez, and Cherry “Whippsy Daisy” Danache.

By Karen Antonacci The Pan American The South Texas Rolleristas are putting in extra hours to stiffen up their skate legs and practice team communication in preparation for their first bout from across the border - with the Mexican national champs, no less.

The roller derby league’s yearold travel team, composed of the best athletes from the Valley’s three teams, is undefeated after skating three bouts in Texas this season. It will compete in its first international match Saturday against the Monterrey Roller Derby team, winner of the

2012 Revolución Roller Derby Championships in April.

“This is a level we haven’t dealt with yet and we don’t know really what to expect,” said Cherry Danache, who skates for the travel team and Nerdcore Rising as Whippsy Daisy. “But on the other hand, we’re a strong, aggressive team and I’m confident that we’ll be able to leave our hearts out there.”

The Rolleristas› coach, Fidel «Hi-fi» Juarez, said he is working with the travel team to strengthen members› defensive skills, especially positional blocking.

Positional blocking refers to obstructing a jammer with the

entire body rather than hitting them.

The team stands a chance of emerging as the victor of the hour-long bout if they can gel before going up against Monterrey, according to Vanessa Mata, manager of the Rolleristas and a blocker.

«We are so skilled,” said Mata or La Tita Traviesa, as she is known on the track. “Right now we›re working on strategy to bring it together. A year ago we tried to do a bout against Corpus and we were individually good, but in order to beat these teams we have to work together as a team.»

The travel team has to deal

with a problem the other teams in the league rarely worry about: costs. For their first bout outside of the Valley, the team had to figure out how much a van rental and hotel rooms would cost.

The Rolleristas fund raise, but Danache said it’s not always easy.

“We beg for money,” she said, laughing. “We are so damn poor, it’s pathetic.”

They made it though, to their three bouts around the state so far - and won them all, although it wasn’t always easy.

For their bout in Amarillo, the opposing team was agressive with strong hits.

The Rolleristas prevailed then through speed and endurance.

“Our coach kills us in endurance. We train in conditioning a lot so we can be faster and last longer in the jams,” said Mica Tamez who skates as a blocker or pivot under the moniker Metallica Breath.

What to expect Invented in 1935, roller derby began as a race around a banked, oval track. It evolved over the years to include points, teams and its trademark violence. In the 70s and 80s, the sport became more scripted and staged, akin to some forms of wrestling. In the 2000s, modern flat-track derby emerged,

which is less violent, and depends on athleticism instead of acting.

In the ‹70s and ‹80s, roller derby became more scripted and staged, akin to some forms of wrestling. In the 2000s, modern flat-track derby emerged, which is less violent, and relies on athleticism instead of acting.

In modern flat-track derby, five skaters from each team are allowed in play and they must be skating at all times. The two opposing star-helmeted jammers start behind the pack of blockers.

After their first journey through the pack, the jammers must circle around, catch up to the pack and pass through again. Points are awarded for every opposing blocker the jammer passes.

Although clotheslining, tripping and throwing elbows aren›t allowed in modern derby, skaters can block the other team with hips and shoulders. Players often go sprawling across the track and illegal hits are awarded with a one-minute huff in the penalty box.

The skaters› uniforms are also different in modern derby. An image still lingers from the past era of scantily clad women in fishnets and hotpants, but Mata, the manager of the Rolleristas and a blocker, said they dress to skate.

«One thing in derby right now is the whole idea of being athletes,» she said. «We want people to know we›re busting our ass four or five times a week and we›re athletes. At our games we won›t be wearing fishnets, we›ll we wearing athletic tights. No booty showing. No cheeks.»

Mata, who broke three bones and dislocated her ankle skating in February, said derby is unique compared to other sports because all players are constantly moving and most of the game happens behind a skater. But perhaps more importantly, before a player is a blocker or a jammer, they are just somebody learning to skate.

«Putting these skates on completely takes away your balance and when you start roller derby you have to build up your sense of security on skates,» said Mata, who teaches in Brownsville when she isn›t La Tita Traviesa.

«We call it getting your skate legs and from there you get your speed and you become more aggressive.

You get more comfortable hitting and become more sturdy.»

Doors open at De Leon Sports Complex Saturday at 6 p.m. and the bout will begin at 7 p.m. Additional info can be found at facebook.com/ STRolleristas.

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the pan american

July 19, 2012