Snowballs

The Snowballs are an all white team introduced in Marble League 2016. The team is represented by Snow, Snowy, Snowflake and Snowstorm.

In Marble League 2016, the Snowballs did poorly and managed to finish only in 14th place after accumulating 14 points. The only medal they won was a bronze in the Relay Run event. Despite not finishing the race in the final run and coming last in the 4 way race, Snowballs were awarded a "consolation bronze" as the official has identified a defect in the lane 1 that the Snowballs were competing in. The Thunderbolts and the Snowballs were both awarded the bronze medal and 5 points each.

In the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers, Snowballs were tied for 13th and thus were eliminated before the final tournament. Snowblast also become a member for Marble League 2018.

The Snowballs were the host team of Marble League 2018 and thus automatically qualified. Their performance in the friendly made them big favorites, but their burn out in the beginning of the games was discouraging before their first gold medal in the sixth event, Team Pursuit. The team ended in seventh place overall.

After falling short of qualifying for the 2019 season, the Snowballs participated in the Marble League Showdown for one of eight spots in the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. They placed first, and managed to secure a place in the upcoming qualifiers.

Team MembersEdit

Snow, Snowy, Snowflake and Snowstorm were the original members of Snowballs and the current members of the team. Snowblast joined the team in 2018. Snowflake became team captain in 2019.

2016 Team	2017 Team	2018 Team	2019 Team	2020 Team
Snow	Snow	Snow	Snow	Snow
Snowy	Snowy	Snowy	Snowy	Snowy
Snowflake	Snowflake	Snowflake	Snowflake	Snowflake
Snowstorm	Snowstorm	Snowstorm	Snowstorm	Snowstorm
		Snowblast	Snowblast	Snowblast

CoachesEdit

Note: Events include any kind of events (friendly rounds, other tournaments, ...).

HistoryEdit

Pre-Marble LeagueEdit

The Snowballs come from the small city of Hailfern in the northeast of North America. When the Snowballs' team members were young, Hailfern was but a village known for its ski slopes, and nothing else. Snowflake lived in an acacia log house on one of the ski slopes there. In fact, her parents were the owners of that particular slope, which they somehow named after her: Snowflake Slope. It remains a tourist destination for marbles who live in the southeast of North America. It is believed that the O'Marbles family, who later form the O'rangers, used to hang out at the slope before competing in the Fruit Circuit.

Snowflake would travel down the slope every day on her way to school in Hailfern. While at the school's after-school snowtubing club, she met her future teammates, Snowstorm and Snowblast. A few years later, Snowflake founded the school's ski team and started practicing on her family's slope. The ski team later entered a local skiing tournament. The Hailfern Ski Team proved a worthy contender and qualified for the regional finals at Blancouver. Suddenly, during the finals, Snowflake found out that her father had been killed in an avalanche. She dropped out of the competition and returned home. Snowstorm and Snowblast talked to the other ski teams to try and raise support for Snowflake's family.

The Blancouver team, headed up by Snow and Snowy, donated their funds from hosting to Snowflake's family. Snowflake dropped out of school to help her mother run the ski lift. Months later, the team from Blancouver came to Hailfern for a friendly match. Snowflake came along to support her former team. Snow, Snowy and Snowstorm came to visit her to recount their previous competitions. They later went out and rolled together into the night. They then promised to meet up again.

Snowflake's mother supported her daughter in marble sports. Snowflake eventually rejoined the school ski team and, once she graduated, Snowflake, along with Snow, Snowy and Snowstorm, moved to Snoronto to attend the University of Snoronto. They continued to compete together in various university marble sports competition. They eventually came to be known as the Snowballs, and they made rivals of the university's other main group: the Gliding Glaciers, who hail from the island city of Guuk. The Snowballs became one of the most popular university teams in North America and brought international attention to Hailfern.^[2]

2016Edit

The Snowballs ended up being invited to compete in Marble League 2016 as a wildcard entry compared to internationally renowned teams like Team Primary, the Savage Speeders and the Rojo Rollers. The team had a decent start to the competition, gaining one point in the first event, Balancing, five points and a technical bronze medal due to a track defect in Event 2, the Relay Race. However, they only managed to earn another eight points over the next ten events, earning no points in six of those events, finishing the competition in a disappointing 14th place.^[2]

2017Edit

The Snowballs returned to the Marble League for the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers with high hopes. However, those hopes were soon crushed. They came fifth and eighth in the first two events, but earned no points in the final two events. The team came joint 13th with the Kobalts and the Balls of Chaos, 4 points short of qualifying. The Snowballs realized they needed more professional experience, so in the offseason, they went to the MFC Championship League, which the Balls of Chaos mentioned to them, and competed there as an exhibition team.

Meanwhile, Snowblast stayed in Hailfern and rebuilded the Hailfern ski team to win its first regional title. The village had also started to expand in business. A construction company, Arctic Corporation, started working on an arena and training facilities for the Snowballs on the opposite side of the mountain from Snowflake Slope. The stadium was named The Arctic Circle upon completion.

During the fall on 2017, the stadium was visited by Jelle and Dion Bakker, and Greg Woods during their world tour, after visiting the Royal Family of Snoronto. They liked the stadium so much that they offered the Snowballs the honor of hosting Marble League 2018. The team accepted and became the first team to host a Marble League.^[2]

2018Edit

The Snowballs automatically qualified for Marble League 2018 as hosts. They recruited Snowblast as their reserve member for the Marble League 2018 Friendly Round, which was basically a practice round for them. They dominated the round, staying in the lead ahead of Marble League mainstays – the Savage Speeders, the O'rangers, and Mellow Yellow. Because of this, the Snowballs quickly became a favorite for the championship title.

In fact, the Snowballs proceeded to start the main competition really well, with Snow finishing 4th in the first event, 5 Meter Ice Dash. However, in the next event, Ski Jump, Snowstorm had a mediocre performance, finishing 9th, and the team came last in the Halfpipe event. A mediocre seventh place finish in the Bobsled event saw the team fall to 13th overall. At this point, fans were starting to question the Snowballs' status as title contenders.

But the Snowballs had no intention of giving up. They later managed to turn things around in the next three events, with the team's first actual medals, a bronze for Snowflake in Speed Skating, and a gold in Team Pursuit. They followed this up with a fourth place finish for Snowy in Snow Rally. This put the team in second overall. However, the Snowballs did not medal again and dropped to eighth as of Event 11, Ice Hockey.

Before the final event, a blizzard in Hailfern led to an avalanche that destroyed the stadium and severely damaged the Snowballs' training facilities. The Bakker brothers and the IMC decided to use the Bakker Bowl as a temporary stadium for the final event, Sand Mogul Race. Snow was chosen to represent the Snowballs in the event. He reached the Semifinals and was tied with Ocean of the Oceanics for time. As a result, the Snowballs concluded Marble League 2018 at seventh overall, tied with the Raspberry Racers for points, but ahead with a gold medal against the Raspberry Racers' silver, also from the Team Pursuit event.

The Snowballs began to rebuild the stadium in the offseason. They also competed in two events: the 100 Meter Water Race, where Snowflake did not finish, and the Amazing Maze Marble Race, where the team came second-to-last.^[2]

2019Edit

The team's struggles continued into the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers, where the team finished in 18th place, thus failing to qualify for Marble League 2019. Snowflake made a comment suggesting that the conditions weren't fair at the Seven Seas Stadium, the stadium of the Oceanics. This drew scrutiny from the Oceanics. The Snowballs dropped the charges after negotiations between the Royal Family of Snoronto and the Royal Family of Dunduei.

The Snowballs then heard of the announcement for the Marble League Showdown 2019 and got back to training in their recently repaired training facility. The team did exceptionally in the competition, earning a medal in all events except for Collision. Snowstorm earned a bronze medal in the Sand Rally, Snow won gold in the Funnel Race, and the team claimed silver in Balancing. The team earned 53 points and won the Showdown, securing their spot in the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers.^[2]

2020Edit

While training for Marble League 2020, the Snowballs received an invitation from the JMRC to take part in Marbula One Season 1. They happily accepted it and chose Snowy and Snowflake to represent them. With their strong performance in Showdown 2019, the Snowballs could bet on Marbula One to prove their newfound supremacy in marble sports as they kept an eye on the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers.^[2]

Even though the team won the Marble League Showdown 2019 they were not able to qualify for the Marble League 2020. The team collapsed in the 5-meter sprint, where they sat fifth in the overall standings, and finished fifteenth overall due to Snowflake finishing last in the sprint. For the second straight year, the Snowballs will be watching the Marble League from the couch. Frustrated fans have called for the replacement of longtime coach Blizzard, as well as demands that Snowy take over as captain.

Marble League 2016Edit

Main article: Marble League 2016

*Snowballs originally finished 4th in the final, but because of a defect in upper lane, the lane they were running in, they received 1 extra point and they later received a bronze medal after the podium ceremony.

Marble League 2017 Edit

Main article: Marble League 2017

QualifiersEdit

The Snowballs failed to qualify for Marble League 2017.

Marble League 2018Edit

Main article: Marble League 2018

As hosts, the Snowballs automatically qualified.

Friendly Round Edit

Main TournamentEdit

Other 2018 Competitions Edit

The Snowballs took part in two other competitions in 2018: the 100 Meter Water Race and the Amazing Maze Marble Race.

Marble League 2019 Edit

Main article: Marble League 2019

QualifiersEdit

The Snowballs failed to qualify for Marble League 2019. Some have speculated that this was due to the difference in weather conditions compared to their home.^[3]

Marble League Showdown 2019 Edit

Main article: Marble League Showdown 2019

The Snowballs qualified for the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers.

Marbula One Season 1Edit

Main article: Marbula One Season 1

The Snowballs took part in Marbula One. Their team consisted of Snowy and Snowflake.

Their season was notable for the sharp contrast between the members' performances. Snowy managed to earn 58 points on his own, even earning a race victory and two 3rd place finishes on his way to 2nd place in the Driver's Championship. On the converse, Snowflake was notable for her poor performances, including a 14th place finish after starting from pole position. The team ultimately finished with 66 points, good enough for 4th in the Team's Championship.

*Snowy set the fastest lap of the race and was awarded an extra point

Marble League 2020Edit

Main article: Marble League 2020

QualifiersEdit

The Snowballs failed to qualify for Marble League 2020.

ResultsEdit

Gray background indicates tournaments as the host team.

Marbula One ResultsEdit

Gallery Edit

Team Profile 2020

Marbula One (S1) Poster

Add a photo to this gallery

Trivia Edit

• The Snowballs, so far, are the best performing Marble League host team.
• The Snowballs are the first winners of the Marble League Showdown.
  • Furthermore, they have the singular record of having won at least one of each type of medal, which they achieved in 2019.
• In the Snowballs' announcement poster for Marbula One, Snowflake's childhood home (the acacia log cabin) makes an appearance in the background.
• The Snowballs along with Mellow Yellow, the O'rangers and the Pinkies are the only teams that are a solid color.
• The Snowballs are often confused with the Pinkies due to their similar colors.
• The Snowballs are one of four teams to never successfully qualify for a Marble League via the Qualifiers. The others are the Kobalts, Rojo Rollers, and Turtle Sliders.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Skystrykr (15th March 2019). 2019 MarbleLympics - Team Members. Reddit.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Stynth (11th January 2020). RetRollSpective – Snowballs. Marble Sports.
3. ↑ Stynth (27th January 2019). The Teams You’ll Miss In The 2019 MarbleLympics. Marble Sports.