The Rollout Edition 3

The Rollout Edition 3

Contents 4.

TG RetRollSpective This time, we’re going out of this world to take a look at Team Galactic, a team that originated in the inaugural season of the Marble League. Let’s blast off and discover what this team is made of!

7. TG Through the Years

Several amazing writers take you through the incredible journey the members and marbles of Team Galactic have taken over the last couple of years.

20. TG in Profile

Novawolf talks and writes to and about all the members of Team Galactic. Have you always been interested in the individual members of Team Galactic? Be sure to check out these amazing articles.

26. From the Stars to the Sand

With each new year of competition, we’ve watched the story of the Marble League continuously change; this change brings us fresh faces, bigger challenges and monumental achievements for the history books.

28. Andromed

Three months after acclaim song-marble Billie Marblish pe worldwide hits at the Androm dium in Polaria, the front office um received a welcome call fro Read all about it in this awes

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About The Rollout:

Welcome to the home of The Rollout. The Rollout is the world’s premiere magazine for the marble sports industry. This magazine will go in depth on the teams, athletes, and more in this first of it’s kind online magazine. More importantly, The Rollout is staffed by volunteers and fans of the Marble League and marble sports in general.

How to contact:

Email: infotherollout@gmail.com

@therolloutmag

/therollout

Team Galactic RetRollSpective Hello and welcome to another edition of RetRollSpective, where I reflect on the history of marble athletes that have been featured in the Marble League. This time, we’re going out of this world to take a look at Team Galactic, a team that originated in the inaugural season of the Marble League. Let’s blast off and discover what this team is made of!

The origins of the team lie in Galakonur, a city renowned for scientific advancement, particularly in the field of astronomy. Cosmo, Astron, Starry, and Pulsar (the four original team members) met while working together at the appropriately named Galactic National Space Center, located in the heart of the city. The four worked as co-workers for about a year and a half, and became great friends who bonded over their love for sports in their youth, and their successes competing in high school and college. In 2014, the city announced that it would be holding an athletics competition, in which teams of four marbles would compete against each other in various disciplines.

Cosmo and Astron immediately applied and would invite Starry and Pulsar to complete their quartet of athletes. The four were accepted into the competition, and on 04 October 2014, the four marbles dominated the fray to everyone’s surprise—and perhaps even their own—winning nearly half of all the events and performing well in almost all the others.

Word of their success quickly spread across the region, with the quartet receiving news coverage and praise beyond the city of Galakonur itself. The emergence of not one, but four marble athletes in a region that severely lacked athletic importance resembled the creation of the universe, in that it seemingly came out of nowhere, but was in fact always there, just waiting, patiently, to show itself. This excitement underscored the announcement of a worldwide marble sports tournament a few months later, none other than the 2016 Marble League. The success of the quartet drove the region to almost unanimously nominate Cosmo, Starry, Astron, and Pulsar to compete in the tournament. The team submitted to the ML under the name “Team Galaxy” and were accepted.

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However, for some unknown reason, the large, internationally known Galaxy™ corporation saw this name as a threat to their business and claimed that legal actions would be taken unless the team changed their name. A news article from a few years later explained, “…after gaining popularity it got almost sued by the brand “Galaxy™”. After intense negotiations the team ultimately changed its name to “Team Galactic”, as still known today….A fair amount of followers assumed, wrongly, that the team is being sponsored by the brand and has accepted a partnership. Because of that many supporters bought all kinds of products of the Galaxy™ brand but most of all the “Galaxy Toothpaste”™.”

The team ultimately complied to this demand and, just days before the opening ceremony, made a slight change to their name, adopting their new identity, “Team Galactic”. As it turns out, this name is also used by a villainous group in one of the Pokémon games; however, GAME FREAK has never expressed an issue with it. In fact, rumors about a promotional event between the two groups were spread through the marble world, but both parties have expressed that no such event is planned to take place.

As one of the original sixteen teams, Team Galactic competed in the first ever Marble League in 2016. The team showed some simulants of potential through the first few events, placing in the middle of the pack.

Team Galactic scored their first medal in the fourth event, with Starry getting bronze in the Sand Rally.

This put the team at a respectable seventh place overall. Team Galactic continued to place in the top ten throughout most of the following events, getting fourth in the High Jump, notably. However, due to the 2016 scoring system heavily favoring podium finishes, the team finished in eleventh place overall at the conclusion of the 2016 Marble League, tied with the Oceanics in points but behind the team in medal count. Team Galactic was disappointed, but ready to do better in the 2017 Marble League Qualifiers.

And better they did. Team Galactic truly blasted off in the Qualifiers, taking a bronze medal during the Funnel Spinning and placing high consistently to rank third for qualification overall. The sky no longer seemed to be the limit for what Team Galactic could achieve, and the team was ecstatic to participate in the 2017 Marble League. Astron noted: “We’re really happy with how things have gone, you know, with restructuring and training. We’re optimistic to step into this season and leap up to the top of the standings.”

You can imagine, then, that Team Galactic was shocked when they scored dead last in the first event and fifteenth in the second event, which, of course, landed them in last place overall. The team was quite discouraged, but they trusted that their season was far from out of their control. In the third event, Team Galactic finally put eight more points on the board, jumping up to eighth place, and in the fifth event, they got a much-desired gold medal with Starry’s performance in Hurdles, an event that Cosmo was originally scheduled to compete in.

Team Galactic was now in eleventh overall. When asked, Starry could barely speak, she was so excited: “Completely unexpected…my heart is full.”

Over the coming events, Team Galactic notably scored fourth in the seventh event, Block Pushing, fifth in the ninth event, Steeplechase, and earned their second gold medal with Starry’s incredible run in the last event, the Sand Race. Although the team sat in eleventh place heading into the final event, Starry’s gold medal raised the team to fifth place overall for the conclusion of the 2017 Marble League. In a show of love for her team, Starry invited her teammates onto the top step of the podium with her to celebrate the gold medal, and cemented her status as one of the most successful Marble athletes in history.

“LOOK AT TEAM GALACTIC!” Greg Woods exclaimed.

“Look at Team Galactic, they are going to win the race! O’rangers…lose the battle, but win the war. The O’rangers…lose out to Team Galactic right at the end…”

Team Galactic was flying high into the 2018 Marble League, as placing in the top five made many fans gravitate towards the team. After showing signs of promise in the previous year, Team Galactic rocketed through the 2018 Winter Marble League Qualifiers and qualified before the final event by medaling in the first three events: Curling, Snow Rally, and 5m Ice Dash. Many expected to see Galactic as a championship contender for the year.

However, things didn’t go as the team had hoped.

Instead of continuing off their success in the qualifiers

the team faltered badly and ended up spending most of the season in the bottom half of the standings. Their only medal would end up being a silver in the Bobsleigh, despite a penalty point. The team was showing decent performances, but certainly not of the caliber that many were expecting to see. In the penultimate event, Ice Hockey, Pulsar’s younger brother, Quasar, played goalie, making his Marble League debut as the team reserve. Upon reaching the semifinal, Galactic only needed to win one of their next two matches to secure a medal. Instead, the team dropped both the semifinal game and the third place game, leaving them with yet another near miss in fourth place.

Team Galactic entered the final event, once again, in eleventh place. Instead of once again getting a gold in the finale to salvage their season, Cosmo got caught up in the moguls and ended up going out in the first round, completing the disappointing season for the team. They would end up finishing in 11th overall, the same result from 2016. Needless to say, the team and fans alike were extremely disappointed in the outcome. As the captain of the team, Cosmo was hit especially hard, feeling that all of the team’s fans had probably lost most, if not all their faith in him. There were discussions of Team Galactic being dissolved over the offseason, but ultimately the team announced that they would return for the 2019 games.

The offseason demonstrated promise for Team Galactic with a fourth place finish in the 100 meter Water Marble Race and by making it to the semifinals in the A-maze-ing Marble Race before being eliminated. The 2019 Marble League Qualifiers brought Team Galactic a second place victory overall, helped by its gold medal in the Underwater Race when the team tied with Hazers. Galactic earned the distinction of “Preseason Champions” after this, referring to their unparalleled consistency in all three Qualifiers. Pulsar was flattered after hearing this, stating: “We really try to go beyond what we think is possible for us offseason training, because it sets a good precedent for the rest of the season. It proved successful for us in ML17, and maybe not so successful in ML18, but we’re convinced that this is the best way to run our team. And we’re grateful that you all agree. Hard work pays off.”

Nevertheless, fans of the team had learned not to become too optimistic about the team’s potential during the main tournament. Team Galactic’s fourth appearance in the Marble League began with finishes in middle of the pack in the first six events, missing many opportunities to break through for a medal. Redemption finally came for the team in the form of Block Pushing, where Galactic was finally able to medal in an event that they had

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reached the finals in during the 2017 Marble League.

Team Galactic now had their second silver medal.

Despite the water portion being cancelled in the Triathlon, Pulsar was able to make it to the final before being blocked out of a medal by two of the other three finalists. At the halfway point, Team Galactic stood in third place overall, by far their highest placement in Marble League history. However, things would take a turn for the worse. Starry suffered a minor internal injury from the collision in Block Pushing, which rendered her unable to compete in the Hurdles race, an event she won two years ago. Quasar instead competed in the event, beginning a slew of subpar results for Team Galactic in several of the last Marble League events, with the exception of Rafting.

For the third year in a row, the team entered the final event sitting in eleventh place. The final event was another event that Starry had previously won, the Sand Rally, but she wouldn’t compete in this one either, as her hard crash in the Dirt Race had exhausted her energy. Although Coach Black Hole had made admittedly questionable decisions about substituting marbles in events such as the Underwater Race and Hurdles, his decision to put Cosmo in the event turned out to be a great decision, for Cosmo had been running sand races with Starry for about a year. With a great burst of speed reminiscent of Starry’s gold medal burst two years prior, Cosmo, true to his status as the “jack of all trades” on the team, managed to pass several marbles in the final stretch and finish the race in second, only behind Tumult from the Balls of Chaos. This silver caused Galactic to jump three spots in the final standings, finishing the year in eighth place.

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After the closing ceremony concluded, the team celebrated Cosmo winning his first medal along with everything else they accomplished over the season.

As it turned out, Team Galactic would not need to defend its mantle as “Preseason Champions”.

Coach Black Hole submitted a hosting bid for the team shortly after the end of the 2019 Marble League, unbeknownst to the team’s members, and Team Galactic was announced as the hosts for the 2020 Marble League at the end of the Marble League Showdown on 13 September 2019.

The team at first thought it was a joke, but was ecstatic to hear confirmation from their coach that it was true. In fact, Astron did not even know of the teaser image that was posted months prior to the official announcement, as he was on a special mission commissioned by the Galactic National Space Center to visit the International Space Marble orbiting around Earth.

Astron returned to Earth just yesterday, celebrating his second space adventure along with the hosting announcement with his teammates. He, notably, is the only marble athlete that has ever been in space.

Best of luck to Team Galactic in ML2020!

Team Galactic Through The Years Team Galactic – a Marble League team that are loved by many and hated by few. They have been on the scene since the very beginning and every year, they have held one of the 16 spots in the highest echelon of marble sports. By winning the 2020 hosting bid, Team Galactic has become the first team who will compete in all five editions of the tournament. Since the announcement excitement has been flowing throughout not just the team’s fandom but all of the Marble League community with fans of all teams eager to see what Galactic will be able to offer as hosts.

Stadium renovations will soon be underway, and the city of Polaria is preparing itself for the onslaught of marbles who will arrive next year to attend the games. It is safe to say that next year’s Marble League will be out of this world.

At this point, Team Galactic are a well respected and relatively successful team on the world stage, but it has been nothing short of a journey for the team to get to where they are right now. This journey is filled with ups and downs, success and failure, and everything in-between, and it has taken four space-loving marbles on one of the wildest rides imaginable.

There have been many times where the future of the team seemed uncertain, yet they have always come back every year to continue writing their legacy. Today, we will explore this legacy, going year by year from the team’s origins to the present and beyond. Welcome to Team Galactic: Through The Years.

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COSMIC ORIGINS

The Story of Team Galactic

Team Galactic is undoubtedly one of the most beloved teams in the Marble League. Although they haven’t been extremely successful, they have always managed to come through with stellar performances from time to time that will keep their fandom faithful to the team. Now, as the hosts of next year, Team Galactic will prepare for what will be the most important year of their Marble League tenure. When Cosmo, Astron, Starry, and Pulsar formed their team several years ago, they could have never imagined the heights they would rise to as a team. Today, we will present to you how Team Galactic went from a bunch of workers in a space center to one of the greatest marble athletic teams on the planet.

The team’s origins could be traced back to early 2012 when Cosmo and Astron were both employed in the Galactic National Space Center, the world’s largest space center, located in the high-tech city of Galakonur. The two co-workers quickly bonded over their love for athletics and became close friends throughout the year. Later in the year, the sand race phenom Starry began working at the center as well, and the group would become friends after working there for just a few weeks. They would be acquainted with Pulsar the following year, which completed the original quartet of Team Galactic. On weekend, the quartet would spend lots of time together in various outdoor activities. Above all, the four of them loved two things most: space and racing.

Cosmo, Starry, Astron, and Pulsar would compete in local tournaments whenever they were able to, and over time, their athletic skills were made known to more and more marbles across the empire. Their jobs and personal lives kept them busy, but that didn’t stop them from finding time to train and compete. Their dedication paid off when, in early July of 2014, Cosmo received a letter from the Emperor informing his team that they were formally invited to compete in a nationwide athletics tournament taking place on October 4th. A day-long affair, the tournament would be used to determine who the best athletes in the nation were. Cosmo presented this invitation to the rest of the team, and they were all thrilled at the opportunity.

They entered the tournament under the name “Team Galaxy”. The news was eventually spread throughout the space center, and their co-workers and staff were excited for them. Void, the manager of the space center, helped sponsor the team’s trip to Polaria, where the tournament was held. Early on October 3rd, the team made their trip to the Andromedome, hoping to prove themselves as superior athletes.

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The day of the tournament came, and Team Galaxy were slightly nervous, but mostly excited about competing with such high stakes. The structure of the tournament was similar to that of the Marble League, except the marbles were competing for nothing more than national recognition. Everyone at this tournament was there to make a name for themselves, and the members of Team Galaxy were no exception. At noon, Astron made his way into the blocks for the first event of the day, the Sprint Race. As the gun fired and the competitors raced down the track, one marble was puling further and further ahead as the race went on. Astron didn’t just win, he dominated the race. This victory would end up setting the tone for the rest of the tournament. Galaxy dominated all day, winning nearly half of all the races and came away with high

finishes in most of the others. They were putting up results that were more comparable to world records than the results of their competition. At the end of the day, there no question about it; Team Galaxy were by far the greatest team in the empire.

The four athletes’ lives would never be the same after that day. They became overnight celebrities, Team Galactic’s First Appearance appearing on news shows and being offered sponin the Marble League sorships regularly. They were even welcomed to visit the Emperor, as well as the rest of the Galactic Royal Family.

Despite their rising fame, Team Galaxy didn’t let it interrupt their way of life before the tournament. They went back to working at the space center just as they had before, and they still kept training to hone their skills even further. In the summer of 2015, Jelle Bakker, along with several other prominent figures in the marble sports world, organized a new tournament that would take place the following year: The Marble League. This of course would become the highest level of marble competition in the world, with only the best teams on the planet being offered a chance to compete. The organizers of the Marble League invited to compete during the second half of 2015. Backed by overwhelming support from the Emperor and the citizens of the Galactic Empire, Team Galaxy were invited to represent their nation in the tournament on October 4, 2015, exactly one year after the performance that had enabled them to reach this point.

Cosmo, Starry, Astron, and Pulsar decided to stay branded as “Team Galaxy” and entered into the Marble League under that name. However, the large and international Galaxy corporation supposedly saw this as a threat to their business and demanded that the team remove the word “galaxy” from their name, or else they would seek legal action. Nowadays, it is believed that these claims were most likely bogus, but Team Galaxy did comply with them and, just days before the Marble League was set to begin, once again they changed their name, this time adopting the title of “Team Galactic. Rumors about a promotional event between the two groups were spread through the marble world, but both parties have expressed that no such event has been planned to take place.

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2016: LIFT OFF

As one of the original sixteen teams, Team Galactic competed in the first ever Marble League in 2016. The team showed simulants of potential in the first event, Balancing, when they placed tenth. Although their placement did not warrant points, Galactic earned two points in the next event, Relay Race. After moving on to the consolation round the team was placed on the top lane and subsequently got fourth in the round. Due to the defect in the top lane, which was realized after the conclusion of the event, Team Galactic received their second point.

In Collision the team finished in seventh and earned one point, thus averaging a point per event at the quarter mark of the 2016 Marble League.

“We’re grateful that we started our career off that well,” Astron reflected. “Three points may seem like nothing due to the revised scoring system in the 2017 Marble League but in 2016 having points at all mattered. That said, I am not grateful for the defect in the top lane for the Relay Race, even if we were compensated for it. I don’t understand how things like that get overlooked in event construction even in 2019. We can do better.”

Team Galactic scored their first major points haul in the fourth event when Starry earned a bronze medal in the Sand rally.

Starry not only became the first member of Team Galactic to earn a medal; she, along with Yelley from Mellow Yellow, became the first female marble athlete to earn an individual medal. This historic effort drew praise from the marble sports 9

and statistics-wise lifted Team Galactic into a respectable seventh place overall.

“I am honored to accept this medal on behalf of my team, the Marble League and for all female marble athletes,” Starry wrote in a press

statement, released shortly after the fourth event.

Team Galactic continued to place in the top ten throughout the following events. They placed sixth in both the Long Jump and the Water Race and fourth in the High Jump, which Starry also competed in. The team began to drift from orbit in the 10 Meter Sprint where Astron placed twelfth and earned no points towards Galactic’s total, which was then at sixteen points. The team placed seventh in Team Pursuit, earning another point, ninth in the Precision Slalom, and seventh in Quartet Diving, earning one more point. Unfortunately that would be Galactic’s final point of the season as Cosmo would earn zero points after finishing Hurdles in fourteenth place, their lowest placement of the season.

Due to the 2016 scoring system heavily favoring podium finishes, the team finished with eighteen points in eleventh place at the conclusion of the 2016 Marbel League. They tied with the Oceanics in points but they fell behind the team in medal count.

“Overall, it was a start,” Pulsar noted. “We did what we had to do. It wasn’t what we wanted to do but it was enough to at least make a mark,” Cosmo shrugged. “We were ready to do better in the 2017 Marble League. And better we did.”

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2017: WHAT WENT WRONG?

In 2017 Team Galactic arrived at the Marble League stadium in good form and with high hopes.

They had competed in the highest tier of marble sports for the first time only a year before, pulling off a mediocre finish at the bottom half of the standings. Yet despite ending their 2016 campaign in eleventh place they were proud of what they accomplished in their first year. All the local papers were full of quotes from the team members promising an even better sophomore outing.

Pulsar had the weight of a nation on their shoulders as they faced the first starting line in the quest for a Marble League championship. The event was Funnel Spinning with only nine funnels between them and qualifying for the final of the event. Unfortunately they failed to do enough to move on becoming the only competitor spending under a minute in the funnels and placed last overall in the event. This poor start, despite being dismissed as early jitters, ended up setting the tone for their next few performances. Galactic’s follow-up in the second event, Long Jump, was yet another knock to the team. Cosmo only managed to leap to a paltry 67.1cm for second to last place in the event.

Going into Collision Team Galactic was already losing ground fast and falling to the back of the pack. For the sake of their morale they couldn’t take another poor finish. Collision would need to be the event where they got the engines revving and turned things around. Unbeknownst to them the most infamous injury in Marble League history was about to happen before their eyes.

Team Galactic lined up against the Oceanics, Midnight Wisps, and Team Momo in qualification group B. Their first two matches against Team Momo and the Wisps were uneventful drawing each time at 0-0. Then they witnessed Momomomo sustain life threatening injuries in their match against the Wisps that forever changed the sport. Apprehension and probably a whole lot of fear must have had a strong hold on Team Galactic as they went back out on the court to face the Oceanics. Despite the accident they powered through and pulled off the victory with a score of 1-0 to finish in second place. Moving on to the quarter finals they went head to head with the undefeated Limers and were brushed aside 3-0 and settled 8th in the event; their best placement to that point in the competition.

The 5m Sprint saw yet another blow to the team. Cosmo was left in the blocks and Team Galactic finished last in a heat that included gold winners Mellow Yellow and bronze winners Oceanics. Now a third of the way through the games four events had passed and Team Galactic was sitting in the basement of the standings in fourteenth place. They lead only the Jungle Jumpers and the Quicksilvers. Moving into the thick of the competition if Team Galactic hoped to win the Marble League it was clear the team would have to turn up the dials on their competitiveness.

Having gained notoriety with their Sand Marble Rally performances where they won a bronze medal in 2016, Team Galactic redeemed their poor performance in the 5m Sprint. Team member Starry broke away from the starting gate like a rocket the moment they were off, hitting the hurdles first and taking victory in a season’s best time of 8.96 seconds. The event record at that point was 8.72 seconds. In the semi-finals Starry once again got the best start of the four 11

competitors. They built up a formidable gap tween them and the others racers, having all but won, before being run down and caught by the O’rangers at the final hurdle. Team Galactic then had to watch as the second semi-final sizzled all the way to the finish line.

The Savage Speeders came away with a new event record and the other qualified team, the Limers, dipped below Starrys’ season best time set in the heats. Starry went down in lane four of the final against Clementin of the O’rangers, who beat them in the semi-final, Swifty from the Savage Speeders had reset the record only moments before, and Sublime from the Limers who entered the final with a faster time. The marbles held their breath for what was sure to be a phenomenal race. The gun went off and 8.92 seconds later Team Galactic had won the first gold medal of their careers, becoming the only team in the final to break nine seconds and jump from fourteenth to eleventh place overall.

Unfortunately, most of the momentum from their win in the Hurdles was undone in the very next sprint event, the Relay, where the team got the slowest start in their heat and finished last. Even a fresh gold medal winning Starry on the second leg was unable to salvage the race. Their inconsistency carried over into Block Pushing where they made the final and finished in fourth place. In the High Jump event Cosmo failed thrice at the 3.75cm mark and took seventh in the event. It seemed at that point their form had finally settled as their run in the Steeplechase won them fifth place followed by another respectable eighth place finish in Archery. In the 2017 Marble League Team Galactic made it to the semi-final of the penultimate event, the Underwater Race, and finished a disappointing last place.

At this point Team Galactic was at their wit’s end. Despite their mostly improved and consistent performances they had been unable to break out of eleventh place for five events in a row which was the same position they had finished in the prior year.

By the final event of that year, the Sand Marble Rally, Team Galactic already knew their fate was not to be the champions. They hoped for a good finish to prove their bronze in the event the previous year was no fluke and to also mine some much-needed points in the overall standings. Starry was a marble with a mission as she took to the sand and streaked to gold medal number two with one of the best individual performances of the year. The win also pulled the team to the top of the pack to end their run in fifth place. Even after four years of competition this remains Galactic’s best ever finish in the Marble League and certainly one of the biggest comebacks of any team.

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2018: GALACTIC DISAPPOINTMENT

After the 2017 Marble League, Team Galactic spent the off-season improving their training regimen. Immediately after finding out that the 2018 tournament was to be held in the Arctic Circle they also began to train on different types of terrain.

“We knew we were in for a really tough challenge. I think a lot of the athletes that did very poorly that year didn’t have nearly enough experience on snow or ice, which can exacerbate things,” Cosmo said after competition in 2018. “It’s such an unpredictable element being in the Arctic Circle. It’s freezing cold and athletes must wear jackets to keep from cooling down in between heats. See, you don’t want to lose your sweat while waiting around to hop back in the game because then you’re cold and you can get exposed to injury.”

“And yeah, to be honest, though we were training in the off-season on ice and snow runs all the time, the Arctic Circle is a cruel mistress,” Cosmo said. “It wasn’t that we hadn’t done long ice runs through the off-season, it was that we didn’t expect Grand Admiral Mellacus to make walls on the side. Our ice runs didn’t have those walls so we weren’t adequately prepared.”

“I wasn’t happy about it. I wanted to have words with Mellacus but the rest of the team told me to relax. And it was the first event,” Pulsar said. But this was a trend of somewhat mediocre performances followed until Bobsled when the team went off.

“I guess we were just mad,” Astron said of the Bobsled silver. “We were getting hammered in the events that we expected to just do so much better in despite all the training and practice we did at home. We just failed to meet those expectations.”

As we all know now, 2018 was a tough year for Team Galactic.

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But the most heartbroken member was Quasar. In an earlier 2019 interview Quasar commented, “I came on as a reserve member so I didn’t have a ton to do but I trained with the team consistently throughout the year. There was talk of my coming on and running a race to just try it and see if we could get further in one of the solo events but it never came to fruition. I spoke to Cosmo after the Sand Rally and there was talk of dissolving the team as well and that was, well, just upsetting. Y’know, years of looking up to Cosmo led to this moment and to have it discussed that it would all be for naught was like the stadium crumbled around us.”

When we asked about this moment Coslmo sat and looked thoughtful for a moment, as if recollecting the entire time in the Sand Mogul Rally. “Yeah, that’s the truth.

We weren’t up to par that year and were trying to break our eleventh place but we couldn’t crack the top ten. You gotta know how frustrating that is. As someone who was reliable and gave their best while consistently trying hard in every other season, it felt like the fans lost hope in me and in us.”

“And then we looked out into the emptiness of the Arctic Circle and it almost reminded us of home. Unsurprisingly back home we stare out into the vastness of the galaxy and how on a long enough timeline we athletes have come around in the last few milliseconds on the clock of the universe,” Pulsar recalled. “Or at least that’s what Cosmo said later.”

“Then Cosmo stood up in the sand and said, “Let’s get to practice. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Quasar said. “I was relieved that I was still part of the team. But more than anything I was so happy that my siblings and their teammates were still friends and still competing to win.”

And so Team Galactic, with an eleventh place finish, were encouraged by several things in 2018 and set back to work on training for 2019 with sights set on opportunities to improve for 2019.

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2019: REDEMPTION

2019 was a monumental year for Team Galactic in both pre-season and the main league. Astron, for one, had run at some off-season glory in the 100-meter Water Race.

“I had the full support of the team behind me when I got out there to the Water Race,” Astron said. “It was just nice to compete and get the blood flowing again. A lot of teams like to sit in the off-season and nurse their injuries but we’re deeply competitive.” Astron was communicating with us from the International Space Marble after being selected for a special mission at the time of this interview.

Later on in the season the whole crew showed up for the Amazing Maze Marble Race and reached the semi-finals. Team Galactic was filmed all together again, embracing on the track and enthusiastically talking about their chances in the 2019 Marble League.

“We started talking amongst ourselves. We made our own saying, ‘only us’. It was really hard to push the expectations away from us in 2018 and our team definitely suffered for it. We got too caught up in the lights and the stage and the runs. So we started saying ‘only us’ as a method to separate us from the chatter. In the locker room, y’know, after Cosmo was named captain by Black Hole, he just kept repeating ‘only us’ when we were down. ‘Only us. No one else,” a teary Starry recalled. “Sorry I get emotional about it. You wouldn’t believe what it meant to us to hear him really focus on us like that and be one hundred percent committed to seeing us do well. We became a family in ‘19.”

And it showed in the qualifiers with a gold from Pulsar and a second place overall finish in the standing going into the main tournament. But it was not meant to be.

“It was like we couldn’t get going again after that magical time in the qualifiers. At least until Block Pushing,” Cosmo recalled. The team gave the blocks all they had in the event and came in second place followed by a fourth place finish in Summer Biathlon. They had reached third place and a bronze podium position. But in the locker room the team was concerned about Starry.

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“Yeah, I had a little minor injury on the course in Block Pushing. Just too much stress, too much hustle and bustle. I tried to come back after Quasar finished fourteenth in Hurdles and the Hubelino Maze,” Starry said. “Not that those performances were bad but I could tell they were all worried about me. So I came out for the Dirt Race and I thought we could come back but then I got a DNF. It was hard. Then we ended up back in the same spot, in eleventh place again. Cosmo came up to me in the locker room and said “It’s okay, I can handle it.”

“I was so proud of how well we were doing,” Cosmo said. “Everyone was so happy even with our bad performances. We were just happy to be there. ‘Only us’, right? So in the final event it was only me. I am the Captain of the team and I’m out there and all I can see is the bottom of the track. I put everything I had, all of the spirit of the team, the emotion and all of the eleventh place finishes into it and I just booked it down the run. And when I crossed the line, I looked up, not even realizing what place I was in, and I was in second. And I just broke down on the podium out of happiness and exhaustion.”

The team would finish in eighth place in 2019. Not their usual eleventh place.

Not first, either. But eighth felt like 2017 all over again. It might as well been a win for Team Galactic. Astron moved a camera over the window of the International Space Marble for The Rollout crew to see our giant blue and green marble in the vastness of space.

“Isn’t it beautiful guys?” Astron asked. “I can see my house from here,” he said with a chuckle. “In all seriousness,” he continued, “I’ve seen a lot of things up here, we fly at thousands of miles an hour around the planet and we do experiments and tests and we see what our planet is really made of.” Astron paused thoughtfully. “And in all my life and in my missions up here, I’ve never had as much fun nor seen anything more beautiful than our teammates on the track.

And I’m so excited to get back and see everyone and compete in 2020. It’s been a crazy, gorgeous, insane ride. And 2020 is gonna be even better.”

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MARBLE LEAGUE TAKES TO THE STARS FOR 2020 After a tiring debate between the great minds that put together the athletic marble-based event known as the Marble League, the next house for the 2020 season was finally put to a vote and with a lead of more than 60% of the votes the host team was chosen. We all want to congratulate Team Galactic on their victory in the hosting bid and wish them luck as they prepare Polaria to house the thousands of fans and hundreds of marble athletes who attend these historic events every year!

The decision has been met with a mixture of anticipation and curiosity. Only Team Galactic, the home base fans, and the coach have ever seen what the capital holds let alone the stadium. The wonderment of what lies within Polaria is something that likely swayed the vote for many. With a team themed after space most of us are ready to see the stadium shine as bright as our winning athletes.

Speculation and anticipation aside, it’s time to take a look into the team that will be hosting the 2020 Marble League. Where did they begin? What are their current standings? How does the team itself feel about being the host? These questions and many more are slated to get answers as we take a leap of faith into the homeland of those who keep their gaze to the stars.

Naturally the first marble to look to is the leader of Team Galactic, Captain Cosmo. Although he has proven to be a loyal leader one has to wonder if the team could have been better in the hands of another member? Cosmo started off with Team Galactic in 2016. This was the year they made themselves known and Cosmo found himself near the bottom of the scoreboard in almost every event. The entire Team Galactic pretty much flopped aside from Starry who claimed individual medals in both 2016 and 2017.

With this in mind wouldn’t Starry have been the better Captain in those days? Cosmo did manage to turn himself and the whole team around as of these last few years. After taking second place in the 2019 Qualifiers and ending up in a respectable eighth place in the 2019 Marbel League it was obvious something Cosmo was doing worked. So what was it that started this turn toward glory?

For the full explanation we let Cosmo explain his strategy. “Well you see if I were to give ya the whole pie then there would be nothing for me to bring to the big show. Although I do suppose that it would be okay to explain that we have built ourselves a fine training area within the stadium which our coach helped set up for us. We are out there every day to improve for the 2020 Marble League events. It’s like I tell my marbles: commitment drives the weak to become strong. Now that we are going to be hosting this whole event our determination has grown and we don’t plan to go down in our hometown.”

It is remarkable that they can keep their chins held high even with a negative track record. It seems these marbles are training harder than ever to ensure they claim a few medals in the upcoming 2020 Marble League.

Despite the strong words from Captain Cosmo the other members don’t seem to be as confident. Not long after Cosmo left I was approached by Pulsar and Astron who seem a bit worried.

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Naturally, I asked them what was going through their minds and Pulsar ended up speaking for both of them by stating, “We know that Cosmo has his head in the stars but we just aren’t sure we will go as far. After seeing what happened this year with the Oceanics we are just hoping we won’t be a repeat of that travesty.”

There was a need for some follow up to this statement so I took the blunt route and had to ask them if these thoughts had anything to do with the fact that all three of them have yet to earn a single medal or perhaps because

Team Galactic hasn’t stood on the championship podium yet.

Unfortunately this seemed to upset the athletes and I was left without an answer. But it is safe to say that they are likely being affected by the jitters as a monumental moment like this brings. How often does a team get to be the host of the annual Marble League after all?

Although some members have expressed their doubts the strength of Cosmos confidence plus the skill already displayed by Starry with the sheer attitude that this team has lends an air of perseverance at this stadium. It’s a shame I have been told not to remark on the look of the place but I assure you that we are in for an aesthetic treat this year.

Moving to the final marble that I just had to hear from, I found Starry running through the training grounds looking as impressive as she does in the official events. Her training was starting to be matched by none other than Quasar. Starry is working on getting the newest member of Team Galactic up to par with herself in order to ensure they claim a few medals as a team. If the dampened spirit shown by the nervous members has brought many questions to mind Quasar is ready to shut them down.

Basking in an air of sweat and triumph, Starry took a break from training to sit with me for a moment and express her thoughts on hosting the 2020 events. After a quick moment of cheering on Quasar who hadn’t stopped training for even a moment since I stepped out onto the track Starry gave me her full attention. I briefly relayed the question once more. What she had to say was not only uplifting but downright inspiring.

“It all comes down to confidence and practice. While some of us may let our nerves speak for us at times rest assured that we are not going to fail this round. We took fifth in 2017 and eighth in 2019. Anything less than the top ten in our own arena is something we just don’t see happening. Before the day comes that the events begin, all of us here at Team Galactic will be ready to fight for what’s ours. Cosmo may say confidence is key but perseverance is the lock that holds us in place.”

Absolutely amazing words from a strong athlete! There is no doubt that Team Galactic will be ready to show the world what it means to train among the stars!

We are looking at another great year with quite an interesting atmosphere. The 2020 Marble League events are sure to be a memorable experience. With so much heart and passion in this lovely team of athletic marbles, Team Galactic is sure to prove they were the perfect choice to host the upcoming Marble League.

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Cosmo

Since Team Galactic originated in 2012, Cosmo has been leading the team through their marble sports journey. He started working at the Galactic National Space Center in late 2011, and over time would meet the rest of the team members while working there. Cosmo had already established himself as a natural leader as he was the captain of his high school and college track and field teams.

When his team dominated the national tournament in 2014, he was usually regarded as the best performer of the day due to his versatility.

He has been referred to as a “jack of all trades, master of none” athlete since he doesn’t specialize in any specific sort of event but is capable of competing in almost all of them. He usually tends to the interests of his teammates before his own, ensuring that they get to compete in the events they love most. After his team was accepted into the inaugural season of the Marble League, Cosmo was looking forward to hopefully making a name for himself on the world’s biggest stage.

However, the first few years of the competition didn’t go too well for him. In 2016, Cosmo wasn’t featured in an individual event until the final event, the hurdles race. He finished last in his heat, failing to advance to the semifinals or earn any points for the team. This resulted in the team dropping to 11th place in the final results.

The next year, Cosmo took to the skies in both of the jump events. In the long jump, he went second and posted a result that would be topped by every single marble that went after him, giving him a 15th place finish. The high jump went better for him, moving them up to 7th place. In 2018, Cosmo won his first medal with the team in the bobsleigh event, and won the head to head matchup against Mimo in speed skating, although his time was only good enough for 9th place overall.

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Similarly to 2016, Cosmo was brought in for the final event, and after getting out to an early lead in the mogul race, he fell behind and, once again, finished last in the heat.

This early exit was crushing for Cosmo, who had failed to deliver in an event for the third year in a row. After this event, frustration emerged from the fanbase towards the Galactic leader, and many began to question whether or not he was capable of competing on the Marble League stage at all. Before the 2019 season began, Team Galactic announced that Cosmo had been nominated as the official team captain. This proved to be a very controversial decision amongst the team’s fans, as many argued that the extremely successful Starry should have been given this honor instead. However, some fans were still faithful in Cosmo, which was extremely meaningful to him. He was determined to prove that he deserved this title, and, in 2019, he would do just that.

In the funnel spin, he finished second in the heat to advance to his first final, where he got off to a strong start before quickly dropping through the final few funnels, placing sixth in the event. 13 events later, Galactic found themselves in desperate need of a strong finish in the final event to salvage their season, and for that, they once again turned to their leader. As fans saw Cosmo step up to the starting line, many began to panic, expecting an outcome similar to past years.

This time, however, Cosmo would not disappoint.

After fighting in the top half of the pack all race, he put together a great burst of speed in the final stretch and came away with the silver medal.

Cosmo’s teammates, along with all of the Galactic fans at the stadium, exploded in celebration. As the team captain rose to the second step of the podium, every marble wearing brown and silver was struck by the magnitude of the moment. After three years of letting down his fans, his team, and himself, Cosmo had finally proven himself as a worldclass marble athlete, and in the process, came through for his team when they needed it most.

Starry

There are many amazing athletes competing in the Marble League, but few have been as successful as the legendary Starry. She grew up in a small city just miles away from some of the largest sand dunes in the world, where sand races were popular. While growing up, she would race down the dunes several times a week, which turned her into an incredibly fast sand racer.

By the time Starry started working at the space center, many knew she was an elite competitor, and Cosmo and Astron were two of those marbles. It wasn’t long before the three marbles were racing together, and not even Cosmo and Astron could keep up with Starry on the sand. She carried this success into the national tournament, where she dominated both of the sand races and placed high in a few other events. The Galactic marble had already established herself, but, in the Marble League, a much greater legacy awaited her.

After three team events to start the 2016 Marble League, Starry represented the team in her premier event. She won the first race handily and looked to take the lead in the final before a good block from Rojo Uno sent her back to third place, a position she narrowly held onto at the end of the race, winning Team Galactic’s first medal.

She also participated in the high jump, where she once again recorded a good finish, coming in 4th. Starry’s points from individual events had proved to be vital to the team’s success, and next season would be a similar story but in a much grander way. Starry came into the hurdles event not knowing she would compete in it until one week prior. Despite this, she dominated the heat, finished in a close second in the semi-final, and then took the gold medal in the final.

This victory, however, would pale in comparison to the one that came in the final event.

Starry once again won the heat in the sand race, sending her to a final race where something magical would happen. Clementin of the O’rangers held an enormous lead for most of the race, while Starry was fighting with several other marbles for second place.

In the home stretch, she pulled away from the other marbles into a clear second place, leaving only one orange marble separating her from the gold medal, but Clementin had such a large lead with so little race to go, the odds of Starry overtaking them was slim.

But, as we all know, that’s exactly what happened. With a great burst of speed, Starry quickly closed the gap from her to first before overtaking and defeating Clementin just one second before the race finished, winning her second gold medal of the year. To this day, this victory is widely considered the greatest moment in Team Galactic’s history. At the end of the year, most considered Starry to be the greatest competitor in all of the Marble League.

Since this legendary year, Starry has been on a slow decline. In 2018, she only appeared in one event, the snow rally. Many expected her to perform well in this event due to it being similar to its sand counterpart, but she was only able to finish in 6th place. The following year, many were surprised to see Starry compete in the opening event, the water race, where she narrowly advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated there.

Due to a minor injury from block pushing, Coach Black Hole decided that Starry should not compete in the hurdles race as she had two years ago, a decision that infuriated her.

Instead, she entered into the dirt race, where she came out to an early lead before a bad crash caused her to record a DNF. Due to this crash, she ended up being sidelined for the sand race as well, but this time it worked out.

Cosmo had been training with her in sand racing over the past year which prepared him for this event, and the team captain was able to come away with the silver medal. Since performing so well during the Marble League’s first two years, Starry has recently been unable to continue her success, leaving everyone to wonder whether she will someday return to her former glory.

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Astron

All of the athletes on Team Galactic are very fast marbles, but when it comes to pure top speed, Astron is the quickest of the four. Similarly to Cosmo, he grew up in the area surrounding Polaria and had a successful tenure in high school and college track. There was no doubt that Astron was one fast marble; he was extremely prolific in sprint events, and most of his high school records still stand today.

When he started working in Galakonur, though, he didn’t have any plans to continue training or competing despite his blazing speed. This changed when he met Cosmo at the space center; the two bonded over their athletic experiences, and, slowly, Astron regained his love for racing. In the national tournament, he turned out to be the fastest sprinter in all of the Galactic Empire, and by a decent margin as well. As his name suggests, the speedy marble is also an astronaut.

Astron’s first event was the long jump in 2016, where he made good use of his high speed to get a good launch off the ramp and recorded a great jump. For a moment, it seemed that his result might be enough to medal in the event, but the few marbles that went after him all surpassed his mark, which ended up relegating him to 6th overall. He returned in the 10 meter sprint, where his speed was tested against other world-class athletes. Placing third in the heats, he failed to advance to the semi-finals or add any points to Team Galactic’s total. 2017 saw the implementation of a qualifying round, and Astron entered into a mini sand race, where he finished 5th in his heat and 13th overall, resulting in zero qualifying points.

This wouldn’t end up mattering, though, as Galactic still easily managed to qualify for the year. Astron would only represent the team in the sprint event, this time the more familiar 5 meter iteration.

A bad jump off the starting line ultimately cost him, as he was swallowed up by the other competitors and finished last in the heat.

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time wasn’t too bad overall, a 10th place result in the points he earned from it to the team’s high finish

as it gave event, and contributthat year.

Astron’s career highlight came in the 2018 qualifiers when he entered into the Snow Rally. He stayed close to the front of the pack for the entire race before charging out to the lead at the very end, winning the heat and earning 8 qualifying points, which ended up being crucial for Team Galactic’s qualification that year.His time for the race ended up being the fastest of all three qualifying groups. In the main tournament, he only competed in one event, the ski jump, where a mediocre jump resulted in him finishing 11th.

After the Marble League ended, Astron made history by becoming the first athlete in the competition to venture into outer space. He launched on May 5 and was originally planned to stay in the International Space Marble for two months, but he decided to cut his time in space short so he could compete in the 100 meter water race, an offseason race where each Marble League team sent once marble to race down a water channel. Astron performed well, finishing in 4th out of the 29 marbles in the race. In the 2019 qualifiers, he entered into the funnel spin and placed 4th in his heat and 7th overall. He would once again compete in the 5 meter sprint, and once the race started, he quickly fell behind as he had in past years.

This time, however, he managed to close what seemed like an insurmountable gap from him to 2nd place, and he beat out Hop by just one thousandth of a second, meaning Astron would finally advance past the heats. This victory was short-lived, as he was promptly eliminated in the semi-finals and recorded a 7th place result. He returned in the elimination race, where he survived the first couple races before being eliminated in the final race of the second group.

Astron recently embarked on his second space mission, where he will stay in the IMS until he returns back to Galakonur on October 21st.

Pulsar

Team Galactic have qualified for every Marble League to date, and every year, Pulsar has been the marble to secure the team a spot in the main tournament. Growing up, Pulsar lived on a lake and enjoyed water activities such as wakeboarding, water skiing, and, of course, swimming.

He has a younger brother, which meant there was always someone for him to compete with.

The two brothers pushed each other to work harder and improve their athletic abilities, and this is what molded Pulsar into a formidable athlete.

While underwater races were almost never seen outside of high-level competitions, his time spent on the lake certainly did pay off when he joined Team Galactic. His experience around water gave the team an advantage that few other teams in the national tournament shared. He was a skilled athlete in other areas too, as he ran in sand races on the lake’s beaches and dabbled in college track.

Pulsar came out strong in the 2016 water channel race, finishing second in his heat to advance to the final. As the marbles tumbled down the final waterfall, Pulsar jumped down at a crooked angle and took a hard hit on a rock, rendering him unable to finish the race and resulting in a 6th place finish.

This was disappointing for the Galactic marble, but it did show he had the potential to emerge victorious on the world stage. In the 2017 qualifiers, the team sat in a favorable position going into the final event, the funnel spin, but they wanted a good result to ensure they would advance to the main tournament. Pulsar came through, finishing 3rd in the funnel spin and nearly doubling the team’s point total.

So, when the funnels returned as the first event of the 2017 Marble League, he looked to repeat that success. However, this time things didn’t go quite as well, as he dropped through funnel after funnel and ended up finishing in last place in the Funnel, the only such performance in all of the team’s history. He looked to redeem himself in the water race and advanced past the heats with a solid time, but he fell short in the semi-final.

The next year, Team Galactic had given Pulsar a comfortable lead to work with when he entered into the ice dash qualifying event.

This didn’t stop him from winning his race and finishing second in the group, which resulted in the team guaranteeing a spot in the Marble League before the final event.

Similarly to the year prior, Pulsar returned to the event he had competed in during the qualifiers, and his result in the main tournament was once again much worse, as he only managed 12th in the ice dash. Starry was originally planned to compete in the snowboard cross, but Pulsar took her place and secured the final transfer position in the heat before falling far behind in the final and finishing in 8th place.

In curling, he took the hammer position in the preliminary round and made a play to turn what would have been a team loss into a win. After a disappointing 2018, the team returned strong in the 2019 qualifiers and set themselves up to qualify going into the final event, the water race.

Pulsar was unsurprisingly chosen to race, and he did not disappoint, tying for the top time of all the competitors and boosting Team Galactic into a 2nd place finish. Many were surprised, therefore, when he didn’t return to the water race in the Marble League, although it is possible that he was sidelined to halt the trend of him falling flat in the first event.

He instead entered into the triathlon since it was planned to contain a water section, but this part of the race ended up being canceled.

Even without the aid of his specialty, Pulsar won his heat and then blew away the competition in the semifinals. However, due to skillful blocking and a lack of energy, he finished last in the final and just missed out on winning a medal.

He made an appearance in surfing but botched both his runs and ended in 14th. In 2020, there will be no qualifier for Pulsar to shine in, so if he wants to keep making major contributions to the team, he will have to do so in the main event.

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Quasar As previously mentioned, Pulsar grew up competing alongside his younger brother. This brother is none other than Team Galactic’s reserve member, Quasar. Quasar, of course, had a similar upbringing to that of Pulsar, although he didn’t turn into a water specialist the same way that his older brother did. He did turn into a skilled athlete while growing up, but he was too young to be given the same opportunities that Pulsar was presented with when Team Galactic was formed.

the group stages as well as the quarterfinals. However, the team fell short in the semifinals and the bronze medal match, just midding out on a podium spot. This was extremely disappointing for a team who were trying to salvage their season, but Quasar stated that this was still the greatest day of his life. After watching his brother perform at the highest level for so long, he had finally been able to compete alongside him and three other world-class athletes. It was a dream come true.

By the time Pulsar joined Galactic, Quasar was still in college, and today, he does not work at the space center that the main four athletes of the team are employed at. Quasar could be seen supporting his brother and the rest of the team during the 2017 Marble League; he was one of the marbles holding the Team Galactic sign in the stands. After watching Galactic succeed that year, he dreamed of competing on the Marble League stage, and that opportunity would be presented to him just a few months later.

In 2019, Quasar once again watched the rest of the team roll through the start of the season. This year was going much better for Team Galactic, as they found themselves sitting in third place overall at the halfway point of the season, the best position they have ever held in the standings. The next event was the 5 meter hurdles, and this looked to be Galactic’s chance to chase the top spot, as Starry had won the event two years ago and was planned to compete in it again. However, she suffered a minor internal injury in block pushing, which resulted in coach Black Hole benching her for the race. As a result of this, Quasar was brought in to take her spot, so he would compete in his first individual event. Due to inadequate training and a lack of experience in the league, he failed to pass through the first round and placed 14th overall.

After the infamous Momomomo injury in fidget spinner collision, teams in the tournament slowly started seeking out their own marbles they would call on in case of a similar event happening to them. In Team Galactic’s case, there were a few options in mind, but Pulsar was advocating for the rest of the team to shift their focus to Quasar. Although he wasn’t a noteworthy athlete and hadn’t appeared much in organized competition, Quasar was still very athletic and had lots of potential. Before the 2018 Marble League began, it was announced that all the teams in the competition would add a reserve member onto their team. In the end, Team Galactic chose Quasar as this reserve, and he watched his new teammates compete in the 2018 season.

Galactic stayed clear of any health issues throughout the year, so Quasar didn’t appear in any events for most of the season. In event 11, he made his Marble League debut in ice hockey as a goalie, and Galactic did well, advancing past

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This result was hardly his fault as he only had a week to prepare for the event, but it did prove to be the turning point of the team’s season, and not in a good way. Quasar appeared in two more team events, Hubelino maze and collision, both event where the team placed second to last.

These were all parts of a streak of misery for Galactic, which saw the team earn the least amount of points over events 9-15 out of all the teams. In the future, Quasar hopes to get more chances to represent the team and come away with better results, but it is hard to tell what the future holds for the fifth marble on Team Galactic as his career has only begun.

Black Hole Over a dozen years ago, a high school in the Galactic Empire had a track and field coach by the name of Black Hole. Nowadays, this same marble has become the coach of one of a world-class marble sports team. While he has only been with Team Galactic for a handful of months, Black Hole’s relations with the team, particularly Astron, have been around for years. He participated in track and field during his high school years, similarly to some of the athletes, but Black Hole never refined himself into a better athlete after that.

After attending college, he returned to the town he was raised in, and he ended up becoming the coach of the high school track team he was once a part of. There he would lead the team to great success on the regional level, and, more importantly, this is when he would meet Astron. Black Hole helped mold the young marble into a star athlete at the school, and Astron grew to love his coach. He was intense and harsh at times, but he was also encouraging and supportive of his athletes. When Astron graduated, he kept in touch with his former coach, and this is why, when Team Galactic needed to find a coach, Black Hole was the marble they would hire.

As teams began to fill their coaching slots, Astron reached out to Black Hole and awaited a response. The team was concerned after having to wait for a few weeks, but the coach eventually did accept the job. He flew out to Galakonur to meet the team, and they started planning out their strategy for the 2019 Marble League.

The coach determined which athletes would compete in which events, and he also oversaw the teammates’ training and preparation for the events. His first decision was entering Starry into the underwater race instead of Pulsar.

He did this in hopes that the star marble could compete in three events, but this move would end up as a controversial choice among the team’s fanbase. This was the only hiccup throughout the first half of the year, and Team Galactic soared under Black Hole’s leadership, placing in the top half of seven events

and winning a silver medal in block pushing. It seemed that the coach’s plan was working well, and the event 1 decision was quickly long forgotten. However, after rising to third place at the halfway point of the year, one decision by Black Hole would reverse all the team’s momentum, sending them into a second-half swoon.

Event 9 was the 5 meter hurdles, and this should have been an easy decision for the coach. After all, they had Starry, the marble who had won the exact same event two years ago. However, things were complicated after she was diagnosed with a minor internal injury from block pushing. Starry still wanted to compete in the event, for she thought she could still handle the competition despite the injury. In the end, Black Hole did not allow her to participate in the event, and he instead brought in the team’s reserve member, Quasar, to take her place.

This didn’t work so well, as Quasar posted a dismal time in the heats and failed to keep Galactic’s hot streak going. Things got even worse after Starry lined up for the dirt race and crashed off course about 20 seconds into the race which resulted in an even worse injury for her. She would not compete in any more individual events for the rest of the year. Galactic fell flat again and again, finishing in the bottom four places in five of the next seven events.

After earning 88 points over the first eight events, they only managed to add a measly 26 points from that point until the final event.

Many started to wonder whether or not Black Hole was a viable coach for this team after all, and he would later admit that he wished he had focused more on endurance training to prevent a collapse like this from happening.

Cosmo did manage to stop the bleeding in the final event with a sand rally silver, but are still some issues that the coach needs to address in the offseason. As it stands, there are no plans to replace Black Hole, and he hopes to lead the team to new heights in the heart of the team’s home nation.

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From Stars to Sand: A Pattern of Dominance

By KingOfBots

With each new year of competition, we’ve watched the story of the Marble League continuously change; this change brings us fresh faces, bigger challenges and monumental achievements for the history books. After four full years of competition, we still haven’t seen it all. With many changes and new developments on and off the track, there’s one thing that has remained constant: Team Galactic always books their spot on the Sand Rally podium. Below is a breakdown of Galactic’s performances in the event throughout the years and a brief look into their future.

2016 Rally/Year 1 In event four of the 2016 Marble League, we saw the competition go back to its roots for the first time. Scores of marbles gathered in the stands along the sand rally track to watch their teams vie for points and glory.

Chances are, unless you were from the nation of Polaria, you wouldn’t have noticed a young Starry from Team Galactic – the tenth-place team at the time – lining up in heat one of the event. As it turns out, the Galactic fans who’d spent extra to be by the finish line were in for quite a treat. Starry blazed the track and set an impressive time to win the first heat.

Moving on to the final, the stakes were raised, and the teams were fired up. Everyone wanted points and an early advantage in the championship standings, which was echoed in the racing prowess down the track. The path was unpredictable, and the race grueling, but Starry managed to deliver on their round one promise – holding on just long enough to beat out the current Sand Rally champions, Jawbreakers, for the bronze medal. Beyond just winning a medal, Starry was able to catapult their team from tenth place up into seventh and begin a legacy of dominance out on the sand that no one could have predicted.

2017 Rally/Year 2 Just a year after their first medal in the rally, Team Galactic made their return to the sand with the atmosphere completely different. This time around, the Sand Rally had been scheduled as the final event of the competition and the marbles competing had an even higher goal to achieve. The two most magnetic teams on the track were easily the O’rangers and Savage Speeders, both in the title race for 2017. Eleventh-place Galactic sent out Starry once again to carry the banner.

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Starry raced in heat one, where again, they cruised to an unchallenged victory and moved on to the tension-filled final. The O’rangers had the championship in their sights, and no Savage Speeders in the final to challenge them. They were fueled by their ambition, leading through most of the twists and coming down the home stretch in first place. Starry had a silver medal, and a step up from the previous year’s podium all but secured, but that wasn’t enough for the sophomore marble.

In one of the most iconic chase downs ever seen in a Marble League rally, Starry managed to pass Clementin of the O’rangers just before the line, coming in for a hard-won gold medal. This astonishing victory catapulted the team from eleventh to fifth place in the standings. This remains not only one of Galactic’s best individual performances, but also their best ever finish in the Marble League.

2019 Rally/Year 4 After a short absence during the first Winter Marble League, the Sand Rally made its triumphant return to the ML under a different format. Marbles no longer had to qualify for the final in their own heat, but instead faced the starter with all fifteen marbles from the other teams. This was more reminiscent of the regular SMR setup, but very much alien to the Marble League competitors. Despite this, no one made the mistake they’d made in previous years. Everyone was looking out for the familiar gleam of the Team Galactic uniform.

It had been another interesting year of competition and once more the Sand Rally would serve as both the final event and the championship decider. The indomitable Raspberry Racers and Green Ducks were front runners for the highest honor this time around, but Galactic had upset championship contenders before. The only question mark was if Cosmo, in their first official Marble League rally, could replicate the success of teammate Starry in the event. Galactic fans at home and in Seven Seas Stadium held their breath as the competitors went to their marks.

The battle for gold began in earnest the moment the marbles were sent off. Cosmo found himself in a pack of marbles at the front, all struggling to gain a few inches on the rest of the field. However, no marbles relented as the bends and curves in the track became more and more difficult to navigate. Nine seconds out from the finish line, the Balls of Chaos had established a lead and never looked back, while Galactic struggled back in fifth.

It was looking like Team Galactic would miss an SMR podium for the first time in their history, just before Cosmo pulled off a masterclass in maneuvering. Smoothly weaving around marble after marble and beating the Raspberry Racers, Cosmo came down the home stretch for silver. Once again, the team’s efforts in the SMR buoyed their place in the standings, this time pulling them from eleventh up to eighth.

No team has ever dominated an event quite so completely as Galactic has done with the sand rally.

Three years have brought them a complete set of medals; gold, silver and bronze. They are the only team to have medaled every year in one event, as well as received a medal of every color in a single event. It seems very likely that the Sand Rally will be the closing event of Marble Leagues to come.

Looking forward to Polaria 2020, if Team Galactic can perform steadily throughout the competition and keep themselves within striking distance of the top until the final event, they may well be able to put on their afterburners in the Sand Rally and win their first ever championship in front of the home crowd.

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Team Galactic Stadium Undergoes Super-Massive Renovations By: Valencia Parker The stadium is expected to be done in the early winter of 2020 and is currently on schedule.

Three months after acclaimed singer/ song-marble Billie Marblish performed her worldwide hits at the Andromedome Stadium in Polaria, the front office of the stadium received a welcome call from the JMRC. “We are very excited to host the 2020 Marble League,” said Andromedome architect Atlas on our tour through the facility. Among the grounds were pieces of large construction equipment, cranes, and stadium staff milling around.

“It’s honestly been one of our dreams, but we didn’t even put in an application for the 2020 Marble League. In these first few years of hosts being chosen, we feel very fortunate to have made the cut. It’s a big thrill. I’m a big fan,” Atlas remarked as he showed me the plans for the stadium. Having already been built in Polaria, only a few big pieces of the puzzle are yet to fall in place: safety renovations, the playing fields, and stadium seating.

Amongst the crowd, we caught up with Brick Metselaar, head foreman of Wet Concrete LLC. “When we had worked on the Seven Seas Stadium, we were concerned about the safety of the athletes first.

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We had trial runs of rafting where we were able to work out some of the kinks with the passengers falling out of the raft and into the stream. Luckily, we used test dummies which held real weight. Once we got the raft straightened out, we had to widen the walls to prevent head injury. And then we were good to go,” Metselaar stated to The Rollout. He credits safety officer Emergency Jones for her role in helping to oversee proper regulation of the tracks.

“Being a safety administrator is never easy, but I think we have some smooth sailing ahead of us here in the Andromedome,” Jones mused while looking around at the start of a major Marble League event course (it’s a secret!).

Metselaar, Jones and Atlas are some of the many proper engineers on the job directing the upgrades to the stadium as well as overseeing additional construction, including the SeatGeek meet and greet area, as well as the VIP boxes and the commentator’s box.

“I just love that Greg Woods,” Emergency Jones said animatedly waving around her clipboard in the barely-started commentary area. “His voice is like smooth-silk and he just makes me feel…safe. I was unable to catch up with him last year, but this year I’m determined to get an autograph with him. It would make me so happy and

We also said we wouldn’t print that, but this reporter, for one, thinks Greg Woods would love to see it.

Evolution of the Stadiums through the years

Back to more important matters, Atlas gave The Rollout team a tour of the back offices of famous bands and performers at the Andromedome. Bands like The Rolling Rollers, The Spin Proctors, Mellacus and Minos, Marbellica, and the world-famous Mibsters have all played the Orion Stadium, which maxes out at around 8,000 spectators.

“We have to increase the size to 11,000 plus. That was the size of the Seven Seas Stadium last year, so it’s been a gradual process of putting in new chairs and filling arena seating. Often times, this venue has a tendency to feel intimate with how close everyone can get to the bands that play here, but in this case, it’s going to be a sporting event so we’ve had to change things around a bit,” Atlas told The Rollout while looking out his posh office window. Amongst the pictures on his desk, there lay a photo of a little marble-tyke meeting Astron at a science fair.

“Is that your boy?” I asked Atlas. He smiled.

“Yep. That’s him and Astron. Look at him, so happy isn’t he? He wants to be an astronomer like Astron when he grows up and go to the International Space Marble.”

“What about you? What do you want to do with this whole project?”

“I’m going to be happy just to have my name on it, next to Wet Concrete and the JMRC. I am in the business of building memories that last a lifetime. And if I can get one kid to feel the magic that my son felt meeting Astron, I think we’ve done a great job.”

The Arctic Circle (Snowballs ML2018)

Seven Seas Stadium (Oceanics ML2019)

Reactions around the League: Our first interviewee was Razzy, the captain of the reigning champions.

“It looks like a nice stadium” he observed while looking at the plans.

“I hope it’s not too different than Seven Seas, because we did well in that one! They are putting a big emphasis on safety again, which is good to hear. They are also using brand new tracks and equipment that follow JMRC codes, so I think we can excel in this stadium too.”

Team Galactic’s Starry was also excited, but for different reasons.

“This stadium is really going to make us feel at home. The atmosphere (pun intended) is going to be absolutely amazing, and I think that we’ll get the upper hand as a result. The one thing I’m disappointed about is that they opted to go with 11,000 seats like the Seven Seas Stadium instead of adding more. We have a big enough fan base to fill 15,000 seats, and it would’ve given us even more crowd energy to feed off of, but I know that however many Galactic fans are in attendance, they will be loud.”

We also received the opportuty to hear Greg Woods’ perspective on the building. “Well, I can’t complain too much. The architects worked with me to create a custom announcing booth, so I’m very excited to work in it next year! They took me to the stadium and we went up and down the stairs to find the perfect level to see all the action, so I guess I’ll have the best seat in the house!” We are all excited for another year of Greg Woods play-by-play!

Although there is some criticism, the overwhelming reaction to the new Orion Stadium renovations is very positive. We are all very excited to watch the 2020 Marble League in this state of the art venue!

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Thank you to all these amazing people for making this magazine possible: Matthijs Schade: CEO of The Rollout Novawolf: Head Editor Issue 3 Valencia Parker: Assistant Editor & Writer Amanda Edgington: Head Proofreader & Manager Stynth: Assistant Proofreader & Writer Architect: Assitant Editor Foucaulf & Mellacus: Assistant Managers

And of course to all the amazing writers and copyeditors of The Rollout: Writers: Novawolf (TG Through the Years pre 2016, All the individual member pages) Stynth (TG Through the Years 2016 & RRS) KingOfBots (TG Through the Years 2018, From the Stars to the Sand.)

Valencia (TG Through the Years 2019, Stadium.)

NotSoSilent (TG Through the Years Future) Copyeditors: Nivekyrias KingOfBots