WFTDA Announces 2012 Tournament Seeding

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Fri Aug 3 2012 6:13pm

On Friday, August 2, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association released the results of its Q2 ranking votes - the key votes of the year, as they determine which teams qualify for the four regional tournaments through September and October that lead to November's WFTDA Championships in Atlanta, GA. As in the previous three years, ten ten teams from each region participate in their respective tournaments and the top three from each region advance.

According to WFTDA sources, no teams declined their invites this year, and there have been no changes to the structure of the tournament bracket since the 2010 / 2011 Big 5. With the seeding confirmed on the WFTDA site, it appears we now know what the 2012 Big 5 will look like.

All in all, it's mostly the same teams returning from 2011 -- of the 40 teams going to this year's Big 5, 35 of them appeared last year. But with the brackets working out slightly differently as each region sees a little movement up and down, there are already quite a few guaranteed or likely matchups that will lead to another collection of dramatic showdowns this year.

In the West, Rocky Mountain and Oly both fall from their long-held perches at the top of their region -- and one of them will eliminate the other from Championships in their very first game. The North Central finds Ohio and Arch Rival trying to claw their way past Naptown for their first top-three finish, while Detroit attempts to regain their 2011 form and Windy City and Minnesota are eager to finally finish what they started in June. The South Central's Nashville has their backs to the wall in an attempt to claim their third straight trip to Championships as Tampa, Atlanta and Houston are all gunning for the spot. Finally, in the East, the 2011 DNN Reader's Poll Game of the Year gets a rematch as Montreal and London go to war in a first-round game.

Jump to: North Central | West | East | South Central