Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Rachel Trader’s friends couldn’t believe it when she tried out for a roller derby league in Kansas City, Mo. At the time, Trader was a 19-year-old biology major working for Sprint — hardly the image of a typical roller derby girl.
“When I tell people I do roller derby they say ‘I don’t see you as that type of girl,’ but really there is no ‘that type of girl’. We have people of all kinds doing this,” Trader said.
Once a month at Hale Arena in Kansas City, Mo., 80 girls lace-up their skates and compete for the Kansas City Roller Warriors, an all-female roller derby league. Each player has a skater name, and Trader unleashes her alter ego, Archie Lee, in the rink. A member of the Dreadnought Dorothys, skating in front of thousands of people gives Trader an opportunity to show fans an aggressive side to her personality.
“You really are a different type of person, and that is the joy of having a different kind of name,” Trader said. “It is a different feeling to have an outlet to blow off that steam because a lot of us don’t have a way outside roller derby to get rid of that stress.”
breakbox
Rules of the derby Each team consists of blockers in front and a jammer in back. The jammer must skate through the pack to score. Points are counted starting with the second pass through the pack. Blockers try to keep the opposing jammer from scoring, body checking from the front or side is allowed. Using your hands and tripping is not allowed.
The league was started four years ago when the girls would practice in parking lots filled with broken glass and debris. Word spread about the women, and the league quickly drew fans. An average crowd at Hale Arena ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 people. There are even plans for a reality TV show about the league, that will air on Metro Sports in Kansas City next fall.
It is not only skaters who get into the action, but fans as well.
Roller derby fans are also passionate about the league.
Mary Burleson drove from Arkansas to cheer on “The Knockouts” in last Saturday’s event. Burleson, who sported a white wig and a long blue dress, serves as the team’s unofficial mascot, and has been a fan of the league since it began.
“You have girls beating up on each other,” Burleson said, “There is no greater entertainment if you ask me.”
Currently, the league is trying to showcase its athletic side, and shed unwanted stereotypes from its past. In the 1970’s bouts were scripted, putting roller derby in a category with pro wrestling, rather than an actual sport.
Tonya Hagedorn, Lawrence resident and police call dispatcher, is constantly asked whether the sport is real.
“We don’t work this hard in practice to not try our hardest to win,” said Hagedorn, who made the team despite breaking her arm in tryouts.
The girls practice three times a week, and injuries range from torn ligaments to concussions.
For Joy Durham, also known as DurHammer, roller derby takes a lot more effort than people think.
“I played soccer for eight years and that was nothing compared to this in terms of how physical this is,” Durham said. “You have to be a serious athlete to play roller derby, you can’t just do this for fun.”
Brooke Leavitt, one of the founders of the Kansas City Roller Warriors, has seen girls try out and quit after realizing how tough it is. Leavitt, who skates with only one arm after a bus accident left her handicapped at the age of three, thinks the league finally has the right mix of girls.
“Knowing that there is 80 girls that come back week after week and give it their all is what is so special about this league,” Leavitt said.
— Edited by Gretchen Gier
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Comments
Roller girls get physical
Good to see the derby getting some media coverage, but I can't help but point out a glaring omission in this article: the Kansas City Roller Warriors all-star team is currently the #1 ranked team in the nation, having won the most recent national tournament in September 2007. That's #1 out of 39 ranked teams, 54 teams in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, and +300 leagues nationwide ... so it's kind of a big deal!
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