Scandi Lust, Janie Jawbreaker and Roxy Balboa go wild in Fort Smith

Submitted by The City Wire staff on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 10:29am.

 story and photos by Ruby Dean
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Roller Girls Gone Wild Rumble in the Jungle sounds like a name from a bad movie, but it was a bout between the River Valley Roller Girls and the Oklahoma City Tornado Alley Roller Girls.

About 250 spectators came out to Crystal Palace Skate Center in Fort Smith to cheer for the home team. A portion of the proceeds from the event went to support the Sebastian County Humane Society.

Roller derby is an American invented contact sport which includes pivots, jammers, and blockers skating around an oval track.

How is the game played? Each team sends out five players onto the track (one jammer (scorer), three blockers (defense), one pivot (a blocker who may become the jammer later in that jam). Helmet covers are used to display the players' positions: a cover with two stars is used for jammers, a striped cover is used for pivots and no cover is used for blockers. Points can only be scored by the jammers which are designated by helmets with stars on them. A pivot wears a striped helmet.

The pack which includes everyone, but the jammer lines up 30 feet in front of the blockers. The referee blows a single whistle and the pack starts out. Thirty seconds later, the referee blows the whistle twice which signals the jammers to start. The jammers main objective is to pass the pack and lap as many times as possible scoring one point for each lap obtained.

The first jammer to pass the pack becomes the lead jammer. This then becomes known as the jam which lasts two minutes in which each jammer tries to score points. If the lead jammer sees that the opposing team is about to score points, they can call the jam off and are the only ones who can.

Each game consists of two 30-minute periods. At the end of each jam, teams field another line up of players and the next jam starts exactly 30 seconds later. Penalties are given to skaters who block illegally, fight or behave in an unsporting manner, or otherwise break the rules. They are sent to a penalty box for 1 minute immediately upon incurring a penalty.

Costumes are usually worn and can be rockabilly, humorous and theatrical. Tutus and tattoos are common, as are fishnet stockings. Most players in these leagues skate under aliases, many of which are creative examples of word play with satirical, mock-violent or sexual puns, alliteration, and allusions to pop culture.

In the first half of play, the Tornado Alley Roller Girls' jammer had no problem scoring points as they racked up 108 points while the River Valley Roller Girls skated for 17. Just before halftime, Sunni Lively (Scandi Lust) was thought to have broken her ankle and had to be taken out of the game and to the hospital.

Spectators saw pushes, shoves, elbows, and even a little cheek during the game. The game was very physical with a few players kissing the ground. Luckily, Scandi Lust was the only real injury of the night. The TARG's defense wouldn't allow a comeback in the second half of play as RVRG tried to get some momentum going. The second half was basically a repeat of the first. The Tornado Alley Roller Girls went on to win the game 250-54.

The River Valley Roller Girls won in 2008 and the Tornado Alley Roller won in 2009.

Syriana Price, 4, poses with Janie Jawbreaker (Ryane Durham) of the River Valley Roller Girls.

(Left to right) Referees were Noah Tall (Lindi Edens), Linz Slay (Lindsay Jerden), Hot H2O (Brandi Krumb), Hugh Cretan (Hoyt Richardson), Hard Ass Brass (Brian Humble), and standing Brotha Trouble (Jim King).

Referees Hugh Cretan and Noah Tall check the derby girls to make sure they are not wearing illegal gear or pads.

Players were announced and shook hands with opposing team.

Scandi Lust (Sunni Lively) leaves the game with what is thought to be a broken ankle.

Janie Jawbreaker (Ryane Durham) knocks an OKC player out of the way.

Axl Rhoades (Lizzy Rhoades) is the jammer for the RVRG trying to score some points.

TARG talk about defensive strategies to keep RVRG from scoring.

TARG's blockers try to keep the River Valley Roller Girls from getting around the rink.

As Axl Rhoades gets knocked out of bounds she takes down referee Hugh Cretan as players and coaches try to move out of the way.

RVRG's fans cheering them on included (L-R) Holly Kwiecinsky, Jamie Riddel, Jessica Geren and Rachel Jennings.

Both teams posed for a picture after the match. River Valley Roller Girls are on left and Oklahoma City Roller Derby Tornado Alley players are on the right.

Arkansas-Democrat Gazette (Cover of 'Style' Section) - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Women on the Fast Track

By Stephen B. Thornton

Taking names such as Southern Hostility, Scrappy Sue and the Bruise Whisperer, Arkansas women are breathing new life into the sport of roller derby.

Megan Darnold, 28, who becomes Madame Madness when she skates with the Little Rock Derby Girls, grew up in California watching the Los Angeles Thunderbirds and the Bay City Bombers on television. She recalls heading out to her driveway afterward at age 7 or 8 with her best friend.

“We’d go outside and we’d knock the crap out of each other on skates,” she says. After being involved in competitive sports all her life, she has returned to her childhood favorite.

“This basically combines the aspects of a lot of different sports I’ve enjoyed over the years, like football and hockey and freestyle skating all rolled into one,” she says.

The Little Rock Derby Girls have held two matches at their home rink, Arkansas Skatium, 1311 S. Bowman Road, Little Rock. They have a benefit exhibition scheduled for Friday and a March 1 bout with the Backwoods Betties, one of two teams in the Northwest Arkansas Rollergirls league, which is in its second year of action.

The Northwest Arkansas league also includes the Arkansas Killbillies. That team heads for Tulsa on March 9 to play a benefit match with the Green Country Rollergirls Allstars. The Northwest Arkansas league has matches scheduled through September.

The Rock-n-Renegades of the Central Arkansas Roller Derby league played their first home match Jan. 20 against Fort Smith’s River Valley Rollergirls at Skate World, 6512 Mabelvale Cutoff Road, Little Rock. The visitors won by a score of 148-52.

Some of the 300-plus fans screaming from the sidelines were members of the Memphis Hustlin Rollers, who helped the fledgling Rock-n-Renegades team. Members of the Renegades traveled to Memphis to observe the Hustlin Rollers’ bouts. They also practiced and scrimmaged with them.

“We were scared to death because they were really good and, at the time, we were really green,” says Rock-n-Renagades member Holly Duvall of Benton.

Duvall, 39, aka Outlaw Woman, injured her foot during warm-ups at the January bout, but remained on the sidelines screaming and shouting with coach Rick Langston. Only after the bout did Duvall realize she needed medical attention. The foot was broken and she will be on crutches for a few more weeks.

River Valley Rollergirls ’ Stephanie Jackson, whose rink name is Juke Jackson, dislocated and broke two bones in her ankle about halfway through the game. She showed no pain or regret as she was taken out of the rink on a stretcher.

Duvall appreciates the diversity of friendships she has built through her team. “It’s a great group of people, there’s everybody you can think of in this group and we get along just like a bunch of sisters.” For information on forthcoming matches, go to the following Web sites: The NWA Rollergirls: nwarollergirls.com The River Valley Rollergirls: www.rivervalleyrollergirls.com The Little Rock Derby Girls: www. littlerockderbygirls.org The Rock-n-Renegades: www.cearderby.com.

Sequoyah County Times (Cover) - Monday, October 22, 2007

Girls get tough for roller derby

(pic info) Tammy Reed of the Nicut area recently joined the River Valley Rollergirls roller derby league.

By Monica Keen, Staff Writer

Whipping around the skating rink, they are blurs of fishnet stockings, multi-colored tights, even mini-skirts. But their attire is deceiving when the women smash into each other in an attempt to wipe out their teammates.

During this practice, they are playing a game called last man - or in this case - last woman standing. They are hurtling around the rink in pairs and threes, shoulders ramming into each other in an attempt to literally be the "last man standing."

One woman takes a hit that leaves her sliding across the slick wooden floor, eliciting "ooohs and ahhhhs" from her other teammates. The woman who hit her questions if she is OK, concern in her voice. Fortunately her teammate is uninjured. And so goes the game of roller derby.

Twice weekly these women, members of the River Valley Rollergirls roller derby league of Fort Smith, Ark., meet at Wheels in Motion in Van Buren, Ark., for some full contact roughness.

But by day these same women lead ordinary lives, as nurses, a student, a graphic designer, massage therapist, and even a teacher. For four hours each week those same women shed their work attire and don roller skates, elbow pads and other gear for a sport they have come to love.

"We're all walks of life," Tammy Reed of the Nicut community north of Muldrow said.

Donned in a black bandanna, Elvis T-shirt, shorts, black tights, and hot pink polka-dot socks and shoelaces on her four-wheel skates, Reed is one of the newest members to join the group.

Reed joined the team five weeks ago after receiving an invitation to come out to one of the practices. She watched the women one evening and they asked if she wanted to put on a pair of skates. She did, and she's been coming to practices ever since.

"I hadn't been on skates in 15 or 20 years," Reed said.

Skating was a childhood pastime for Reed and she said she lived at the skating rink in Sallisaw on the weekends when she was growing up.

"The floor seems farther away than it did 15 years ago," Reed said, laughing. "It hurts more than it did."

Now she is back in the rink and loving it. While Reed has joined the roller derby league, she is not part of the actual team yet.

"They're not making me get out there yet," she said.

"It is great, so funny to watch everybody metamorphize," she said. "It's very physical. They have no mercy."

Currently Reed, who knows the basic concept of roller derby, is learning the rules of the game by circling the floor as the women practice and scrimmage.

"Our girls are good," she said. "I'm still grannying around."

The team has had a good season, which is soon coming to a close. Since May 2006, they have played Tulsa twice, and won both games, and placed fourth in a tournament in Tulsa.

The team captain and league founder, Desirée Williamson of Fort Smith, said the team has two bouts left, on Oct. 27 against Assassination City in Dallas and another on Nov. 10 against Destruction Junction of Columbia, Mo. Both events will be held at Kay Rogers Park Expo Center in Fort Smith.

THE CONCEPT

Williamson, who is known on the floor as "Bruiser Friendly," said that she started the league in May 2006 after roller derby began popping up all over the country and seeing a roller derby show on Arts & Entertainment television.

Williamson said roller derby is something for women to do that's actually a full-contact sport, which is unusual for women.

The events are called bouts and 14 girls make up the team. There are currently about 20 women in the league who attend practice. During a bout, five women are on the floor at a time for each team. Four blockers and one jammer make up the team, and the jammer is the only one who scores the points. She explained that the jammer scores points by passing the blockers of the other team, known as the pack.

"The jammers try to make their way through the pack," Williamson said.

To be a jammer, the woman has to have the most speed, endurance and agility. The jammer is also the one who gets hit the most because the jammer is the target. But Williamson noted those in the pack get their fair share of hitting.

A game, she said, is made up of two 30-minute periods. During the 30-minute periods there are two-minute jams, in which the points are scored. The team with the most points at the end of the game, wins.

Williamson said they are currently trying to form two teams in Fort Smith so they can play more, and they are recruiting women for the league.

There is no skill requirement or age limit, but women must be at least 18. To be a member, there are $35 monthly dues, which go toward the rink rental and other fees.

"We're a lot of different levels," she said, adding that before forming the team she had not skated in 13 years.

During practices, the women practice skating maneuvers and endurance, as well as allowing the women to be more comfortable on their feet while hitting and pushing.

"We do quite a bit of falling," Williamson said, which she noted is part of practice.

But the hitting is what most women seem to enjoy the most, like Blakely Johnson, 18, the youngest member on the team who is known as "Drop Dead, Darling."

"It's something different to do," Johnson said. "How often do you get to hit other girls legally? That sounds bad.

"It's fun. It's like boxing or football. It's just on wheels."

A student at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Johnson has been with the team for four months.

When asked what makes a rollergirl, being tough and having attitude are most important, she said. She said roller derby is for those who want to do something unconventional with their time.

While the roller derby of the past centered on more of a show, Williamson said they aspire for true athletics, although she admits there is a sense of silliness to it.

"We want to be recognized as a real sport."

For more information about the league, visit www.rivervalleyrollergirls.com.

KFSM TV 5 - Sunday, September 9, 2007

Adria’s Athlete of the Week - River Valley Roller Girls (9/9/07)

By Adria Goins

VAN BUREN - By day these women have regular careers but by night their job is to rule the rink. More than 20 ladies make up the River Valley Roller Girls and they have the same mission; to knock down the competition any way they can.

“Actually getting to hit people. That’s the best part. You get to take all your aggression on someone else,” said Blakely Johnson, member.

Several of these roller girls got started not knowing a thing about the sport. Some did not even know how to skate.

“I put off doing it for a long time cause I thought there’s no way I’ll be good enough. I can’t skate good enough, I’m not mean enough and when I finally came out and did it I was really pleased,” said Sunni Lively, member. “I had no skating skill and it took me maybe three months to be able to feel comfortable on my skates and to feel comfortable with the full contact and after that it’s a breeze.”

No matter how the group counts the points it is a game the play to win.

“It’s not just a bunch of violent girls. They’re actually pretty good people,” said Heather Parks, team member.

Times Record (Cover of Sports) - Thursday, July 26, 2007

Derby Divas Get Revival Rolling

(pic info) BRIAN D. SANDERFORD • TIMES RECORD
Desireé Williamson (Bruiser Friendly), left, knocks Sunni Lively (Scandi Lust) off course during a River Valley Rollergirls practice Thursday at Wheels in Motion skating rink in Van Buren.

(pic info) BRIAN D. SANDERFORD • TIMES RECORD

By Grant Tolley

TIMES RECORD • This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Back in the early 1970s, women’s roller derby was big. Really big.

Weekly bouts were shown on television and more than 50,000 screaming fans once showed up at Comiskey Park in Chicago for a match in 1972. Madison Square Garden in New York City regularly packed the house with upwards of 19,000 in attendance.

Soon after the peak, the sport faded back into obscurity. Gone, maybe, but not forgotten.

Bell bottoms made a return to the fashion spotlight in the 1990s, and now, as unlikely as it may seem, roller derby is again rocking the rink. Since 2001, more than 198 leagues have formed and flat track roller derby has been featured in Newsweek, The New York Times and CNN’s “Now with Paula Zahn.”

While the sport was already experiencing a rebirth with grass roots leagues sprouting up, a popular show on the A&E cable network about an Austin, Texas, team called “Rollergirls” pushed the sport into the spotlight. While the earlier version of roller derby featured pre-determined outcomes and theatrics like professional wrestling, the new derby takes itself seriously as a competitive sport.

“I was a big fan of the show,” said Desireé Williamson of Fort Smith. “I knew Fayetteville had started a team and was going strong and I thought it would be fun to get a team started around here, too.”

Williamson and a few others started to recruit friends who were looking for a fun way to get their aggressive tendencies out while getting a cardiovascular workout. And it doesn’t hurt if you like to party a little bit.

Recruitment started in April 2006 with a MySpace.com site, posters and bulletins. By late May, there were enough women out to start having organized practices. It took until January before the team was actually up to speed enough to start having some actual bouts.

The River Valley Rollergirls were born.

The team practices at Wheels in Motion in Van Buren at 6:30 on Mondays and on Thursdays at 8 p.m.

Wheels in Motion owner Mack Mackin became the team’s coach almost by default.

“First, they just started having practices here,” Mackin said. “I would just watch at first, but I can’t stand to see people not skating right, so I started making some suggestions. Pretty soon, they were saying, ‘Hey, you have got to show us how to do this right.’”

Mackin didn’t have much roller derby experience but says he has coached a lot of speed skating teams and roller hockey squads. The derby is “kind of a cross between the two.”

Some of the recruits have speed skating backgrounds, but many were just avid skaters as children. Team rules require skaters to be at least 18 years old, but most team members are in their mid-20s to mid-30s. Most of the women haven’t skated in 10 years or so before they come out for the squad.

“We spent a long time just working on our fundamentals and skills and getting into shape,” Williamson said. “People love to see the hitting, but we don’t hit anybody until they are ready for it.”

About 18-20 women have been regular participants with as many as six to eight new recruits attending a recent practice.

“We are always looking for new girls,” Williamson said. “If we get enough girls out for two teams, they could go against each other and that would be great. Our ultimate goal would be to have about four teams and we could have a league.”

For the most part, players say bruised muscles and general soreness as the most common injuries. Skaters are instructed in ways to fall and must wear protective gear on knees, elbows, helmets and mouth guards.

The rules for roller derby are relatively simple. Each team sends five players to the track at a time with one of their fastest and best skaters designated as a “jammer.” The jammer’s job is to pass as many of the other team’s skaters as possible during a designated amount of time.

The other four team members serve as “blockers” to try to slow the other team’s jammer and make things as difficult as possible for the other team’s blockers.

Points are scored for each opposing player a jammer can pass. The action results from the falling, fighting, tempers and general mayhem that unfolds on the track.

Officials are present to make sure the action does not get out of hand. Penalties are called for intentional tripping, holding, biting, carrying a concealed weapon and selling tobacco to minors.

Dues to join the team are $35 a month, with most going to rent the rink for practices. Safety equipment costs around $100 for the minimum needed and skates vary widely according to quality.

Veteran team members usually loan new recruits equipment and hand out encouraging words in the early going.

“You don’t have to be super fast,” Williamson said. “There are multiple player positions and we work with everybody on their skating ability, speed and endurance.”

Roller derby competitors are not allowed to use inline skates, which allow for more maneuverability, and must compete on old-school “quad-type” skates.

A new recruit at a recent practice was Nancy Mailand, 35, who said she used to be a competitive speed skater as a youth.

“I saw a sign about the roller derby team looking for new members and I thought I would give it a try,” Mailand says. “It took me awhile to build up my courage, and I just watched the first practice.”

Another new player, Suzell Gillooley, doesn’t give her age but says she “would be the oldest one on the team.”

“I remember when the old roller derby was on TV,” Gillooley said. “I always thought it looked like a lot of fun.”

New players must pass several levels of skills testing and work up to the point where they can participate in contact drills and be in a bout.

As team members gain experience, they work up to earning their own derby name. Williamson is known as “Bruiser Friendly.” Other team members are “Chain of Jules,” “Good Golly Miss Mauly,” “Cannibal Sativa,” “Bottoms Up” and “Scandi Lust.”

But, “until you earn your name you are just ‘Fresh Meat,’” says Mailand.

“My first bout was on a Saturday,” says Lori Graham. “I am glad I thought ahead to ask off on Sunday because I was really sore.”

Tulsa World - Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Contact Sport

By Anne Brockman World Staff Writer


1st photo: Miranda Rivera (left) aka Rosie the Wrecker takes a hit from Good Golly Miss Mauly, a River Valley Roller Girl at Sunday’s bout. The River Valley Roller Girls from Fort Smith, Ark., eventually beat the hometown team 92 to 80.


2nd photo: Stephanie Parker (center) aka Krankee Yankee assists her team’s jammer during the Arkansas River Rampage roller derby held Sunday. The all-girl teams competed to a packed crowd at Broken Arrow Roller Sports, where the Green Country Roller Girls practice.

Broken Arrow Ledger -Wednesday, May 23, 2007

River Valley Rolls the ‘Girls’

 
By G.B. Poindexter, Writer/Photographer

Broken Arrow Rollersports was at or near capacity for the first-ever women’s flat track roller derby bout May 20.

The River Valley Roller Girls from Fort Smith, Ark., defeated the hometown Green Country Rollergirls 91-80 in a close match.

“Wow, the place was packed,” said team captain Nancy Gallaway - a.k.a. Elektra Violette, “and so many people told us how much fun they had afterwards.”

Vans for both teams were parked outside of the skating rink decorated in “Mad Max” attire complete with Styrofoam horns.

Inside, fans of all ages began to cheer at the top of their lungs as skaters from both clubs knocked each other down, taking out a row of folding chairs in the process. Bodies hit walls, fans, and anything else in the way when skaters, each wearing traditional skates, were knocked off course.

Points are awarded each time a team’s “jammer” passes the pack of blockers and reaches the starting line before their opposing jammer.

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Blockers are not allowed to extend their arms however body blocks and hip checks are fair game, and very entertaining.

“I’m not injured but gosh am I hurting,” said Violette after her team’s loss. “We are going to have to keep better track of scoring next time.”
GCRG

The next bout is scheduled for July 13 and 14 during the Tulsa Auto Expo and Auction car show when GCRG will host an eight-team tournament at the fairgrounds.

Car show organizers have allotted 20,000 square feet for the urethane wheeled spectacle.

For ticket information log onto www.greencountryrollergirls.com.

Arkansas Times - Thursday, April 26, 2007

They’re On a Roll, In Fishnet

Women assume alter egos for three new roller derby leagues in Arkansas.

By Kerri Jackson

Many friends cringe when I mention my secret shame of roller derby infatuation. The sport’s close association with ’70s wrestling leaves them believing it’s nothing more than a stage show that’s at best undignified and at worst trashy. The attraction for them is elusive.

Roller derby is as much entertainment as sport, but the same could be said of the NBA or NASCAR. Derby athletes are trained to take a hit and fall with grace, just like boxers and hockey players, but they do it wearing fishnet stockings and short skirts, and that’s the rub.

Whether you love it or hate it, whether you believe penalties that include public spankings make it misogynistic or that the permission for women to behave aggressively makes it feminist, roller derby is growing in popularity across the country and in Arkansas. Those involved say they dream of the day the sport will be on par with boys’ football in Arkansas.

While that’s not likely to happen any time soon, derby has touched a nerve in women who were tired of the wimpy sports available to them. They’ve been empowered by eight wheels and an alter ego. Some are skating away from bad marriages and others are just looking for something in their lives that doesn’t feel ordinary, but all have found an identity they say exists nowhere else.

“Derby makes you feel young,” says Christi Coffey, aka Good Golly Miss Molly, captain of the “Red” team of the River Valley Roller Girls League in Fort Smith. When not on the track, the 32-year-old mother of four homeschools her children and describes herself as “almost 6 feet tall with a good chunk of weight on me.”

Originally a sport for both sexes, the latest incarnation of roller derby is dominated by women. A game, or bout, is played between two teams for three 20-minute periods on a flat circular track in a skating rink. Jammers score points by lapping the pack of skaters during the two-minute jams; one point is scored for every player on the opposite team that she passes after one lap through. Blockers help their jammer get through the pack; pivots skate in front and control pack speed.

“The sport is essentially going around in circles, so there has to be a crowd-pleasing aspect with trying to promote it,” Michelle Obana of the NWA Rollergirls in Fayetteville. That’s where the salty names and sexy fishnet stockings, costumes and skirts come in. Obana defends Arkansas’s standards as more family-friendly than those of some leagues in other states (“cheerleaders wear less than we do”), but there is no getting around it: Sexy performances are part of the sport.

“I think if you were a pastor’s wife, it would probably be a little harder to get away with,” Obana said.

Whatever it is the Rollergirls are doing, they’re doing right. A January bout in the generally conservative town of Springdale drew more than 1,000 people, Obana said, and had to be moved from the Rollergirls’ practice rink, Razorback Roller Rink in Rogers, to the All Star Sports Arena to accommodate the crowd.

Each of the three Arkansas leagues have decided for themselves how much raunch they’re willing to accept. The Central Arkansas League doesn’t use a “spank alley” penalty. (The penalty requires a skater to skate through a line of men who spank her as she goes by.)

When River Valley skaters are charged with a penalty, they spin the wheel of punishment where spank alley could come up. But River Valley rules don’t allow names that would offend the community. Other leagues in the state don’t mind what you call yourself.

Obana says roller derby is the “rock star of sports. There’s a culture that follows roller derby. It’s almost like skateboarding. First there was the sport, and then there were clothes and hair cuts.” She cited MAC Cosmetics’ lip color called “Roller Derby” as the first of many products to come. But don’t let the company’s frosted soft peach description of the lipstick fool you into believing there is anything soft about this sport.

Bumped, bruised and occasionally broken, these women fill their practice breaks with tips on which muscle creams are most effective and discussions about whether an ankle is too sprained to skate on.

“Remember, it’s not if you get hurt, it’s when you get hurt,” declared Kristi Belknap, captain of the Rockin’ Renegades of the Central Arkansas League. Her blonde hair, pale skin and soft voice contradict her track name, Southern Hostility. Coffey warns new recruits when they come to practice at Wheels in Motion in Van Buren that it takes “a lot of time, money and commitment to skate.”

“Part of that commitment is to the pain. Thankfully, no one’s lost fingers or eyeballs, but that’s happened in other places. Fortunately, bones heal.”

About the time and money: The women must pay dues and buy their own equipment. Including skates, knee and elbow pads, helmets, mouth guards, uniforms and fishnet stockings, the initial start up costs can be about $500. In an effort to give and get their best in the world of bumps and bruises, all of the Arkansas leagues practice two or three times a week for two hours. The practices are designed both for endurance and for skill development.

“I couldn’t get them to hit each other there for awhile,” says Rick Langston, who played ice hockey before Jacksonville’s Skateworld owners asked him to coach the Central Arkansas League.

He says the strong relationships that the women have developed make them less aggressive with each other at times. “But we got a couple of new girls who aren’t afraid of that and the first practice with them we had some girls on the floor. They’ll learn.”

During practice, he acts as part big brother, part ringmaster and part disciplinarian as he chatters from the middle of rink at the skaters over the Top 40 radio music and air conditioner rattling. “I told them, I’ll make you better skaters than any other team. I’ll teach you how to fall, how to take a hit and how to outrun girls who want to hit you. You’ll be the best-conditioned team out there, and the rest will take care of itself.”

The National Women’s Flat Track Derby Association was formed in 2004. Since that time, 124 teams in 35 member leagues have sprouted up around the country. Arkansas’s three women’s roller derby leagues formed within the past 12 months. The NWA Rollergirls’ teams, the Hardwood Harlots and Twisted Sisters, kick off their second season in April. The River Valley Roller Girls’ teams — the Red and the Black for now — had their first live scrimmage in February and are finalizing the schedule for their inaugural season. The Rockin’ Renegades team of the Central Arkansas Roller Derby League is making plans for its first live scrimmage at the end of the summer. Each league says they hope to attract enough girls for three to four teams per league, which would reduce the amount of travel necessary to compete.

Because of the travel, tough practice schedules and overall time commitment, there are quite a few washouts in roller derby. “Some girls come in thinking it’s going to be so kick ass, and then they realize it’s hard. It’s a sport, and you have to train. Or they get pregnant,” said Amber Stevens, the almost waifish mother of two who uses Tara Nippleoff as her Derby moniker for the Rockin’ Renegades.

The ones who stay profess to love the sport, but for different reasons. Most of the women interviewed say they felt like something was missing before they joined the roller derby, and the sport fills that need.

Melissa Barnett — or B. Malicious — of the Rockin’ Renegades says she doesn’t want to be what people think of as a typical mom. “You go to work, take care of the kids, and join the Junior League. I want to prove them wrong … I’m not a stiletto-wearing, hors d’oeuvres eating, tea-sipping, know-the-right-fork kind of girl.”

They may not be making Emily Post proud, but most say they have a sense of pride about their team and their personal improvement as athletes. Coffey, who’s passed up four job promotions because it would interfere with practice schedules or bouts, said, “You either go in with your whole heart, or you go home.” When Obana interviewed for her current job as a graphic artist, she told them about her derby schedule to be sure that there would be no conflict.

Most of the skaters have jobs, children and lives they must balance with their derby obsession. I met women in the medical and insurance fields, even some accountants. There are also stay-at-home moms who get out of the home to skate. They don’t feel a need to explain why they like roller derby and the alter egos they take on. They don’t think it’s odd to wear penny loafers to work and roller skates at night.

Still, there is unmistakable light in their eyes when they talk about the shock factor of derby.

“I never played sports growing up,” said Obana. “I don’t know what it’s like to be on a basketball team, but I can’t imagine it’s like this.”

The women of Arkansas roller derby see their futures slightly differently. Some want roller derby to be part of the X Games. Some want their teams to go to the association championship. Some just want more girls to participate so there will be more teams for intrastate bouts. But all feel like they are just on the cusp of something big.

“One of these days, I want to turn on the news and hear that Arkansas beat whoever, followed by the derby bout scores,” says Obana with an almost defiant laugh. “You never know, it could happen.”

Times Record (Entertainment Cover) - Thursday, February 1, 2007

Roller Derby Divas

 
(photo info) Photo by Kaia Larsen • Times Record - Team members of the River Valley Rollergirls practice Monday at Wheels in Motion in Van Buren. The 20-member team is one of three women’s roller derby teams in Arkansas. The other two teams are based in Fayetteville and Jacksonville.

By Scott Smith - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

To each other, they’re the best of friends. But if you’re wearing the jersey of an opposing team, the River Valley Rollergirls might just run you down.

Formed in May by Desiree Williamson, the 20-member group is taking the noteworthy heritage of flat-track roller derby and, with the kick of skate wheels and a growing level of confidence, placing the competitive event into the present. Based out of Wheels in Motion, 1007 Fayetteville Road in Van Buren, the women are athletic in their determination, commitment and talent, and they’re equally graceful while maneuvering across the skating floor. They’re able to do the seemingly impossible — scoot at frantically high speeds while only centimeters apart from each other.

“Some of the things took me a few weeks to learn, like running on my stoppers,” said Jennifer McKinney in between practice sessions Monday night. “For me, it’s a lot of fun.

“Well, of course it’s not fun when you get hit,” added the 27-year-old mother of two with a laugh. “But overall, it really is a lot of fun.”

Like her teammates, McKinney has a derby name. She goes by “Brutal Butterfly,” a reflection of her soft-spoken nature mixed with her assertive drive on the rink’s floor.

“It’s great exercise and it really is a lot of fun being a part of this,” said McKinney, while adjusting her helmet’s strap.

The River Valley Rollergirls comprise one of three women’s roller derby groups in Arkansas, said Julie McFarland, a committee head and Rollergirls member known as “Chain of Jules.” The other two teams are based in Fayetteville and Jacksonville, she said.

“We don’t have a season yet for the team, but we hope to eventually get a season going,” said McFarland, who teaches English at Northside High School. “There’s four games in a season, and really, big cities are the ones that have seasons. We’d like to get one eventually, and we hope to play the other Arkansas teams soon.”

Roller derby calls for each team to have five people on the track at a time, with four members from each team acting as blockers, she said. The remaining player is jammers, who try to pass the other skaters to score points, McFarland said.

“Each time they pass an opponent, they get one point,” she said. “We play in two 20-minute periods, and it’s however many points you can get.”

Penalties do creep up in the competition, McFarland said. Hip checks and shoulder moves are expected and accepted, but kicking and hitting someone’s back are unacceptable, she said.

“You can get sent to the penalty box, and you have to stay there for a minute; then you’re back,” McFarland said. “You can’t really get kicked out of a game unless you do something really terrible. I mean, a person would have to really wail on someone to get into that kind of trouble.”

Steering clear of unsportsman-like conduct, the local team recently beat the Tulsa-based Green Country Rollergirls 22-21 in Springdale. A “Skate with the Rollergirls” is next, taking place from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Wheels in Motion. The family-friendly event will include meeting the skaters, games, demonstrations and recruiting, Williamson said.

“It’s great, because roller derby started in the 1930s, and it’s made a resurgence,” McFarland said.

“Yeah, some women were doing it in Austin, and a show on A&E helped kind of bring it back for some people,” Williamson added. “We’re growing as a team. We have seven original members and new members.”

For Williamson, the camaraderie, even during intense practice sessions, is unbreakable.

“Just meeting with the girls every week is a highlight; we make a lot of good friends in this,” she said. “And of course, the exercise is good. Hopefully, we’ll get more teams going when we get finished.”

McFarland takes pride in the diversity found among her colleagues.

“It’s great, the different jobs they have, and most of these women here, they’re mothers,” she said.

Like McKinney, Sunni Lively has two children at home. She admitted that four months of practice crept by before her confidence came up to speed.

“I started with no skill,” Lively said with a smile.

Now, she is sure of her abilities. It’s telegraphed in her derby name, “Scandi Lust.”

“Oh, the name? It’s a play on words, you know,” Lively said while taking to the rink. “It’s all just for fun.”

After skating laps and building speed, the local team took a breather, guzzled bottled water and then scrimmaged. The practice came complete with helmets and pads. Curiously, a competitive streak was present — the young women did their best to make each other tumble out of play. Yet despite the seriousness of the session, a sisterly sentiment couldn’t be knocked out of bounds.

“Are you OK?” McFarland asked a teammate after they pulled each other to the floor. The fall resulted in smiles, not bruising.

This bond the River Valley Rollergirls share will be on display during an exhibition at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at Wheels in Motion, as well as when they serve as waitresses for a Mardi-Gras fundraiser Feb. 17 at Landry’s Restaurant.

“This is all good because it’s good cardio exercise, and it’s good practice,” Williamson said. “With practice, you build up endurance and speed skating.”

Mark Mackin, Wheels in Motion owner and coach for the team, watched from the side as McFarland, Thumper Hopson and Megan Parochka crashed into each other during scrimmage.

“They’re great,” he said. “They’re really good and they can hit.”

Williamson said an exhibition is scheduled for May, with an exact date and venue to be determined at a later date.

“We’re always looking for more girls,” she said. “You have to be 18 or older, and you can call Wheels in Motion at 474-3705 to sign up. We want to reach 40 girls, and we could even take as many as 48 girls.”

In McFarland’s mind, the practices are more strenuous on the mind and body than games.

“Hitting girls I’m friends with, yeah, that’s the hardest part for me,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s good. We’re friends. Nobody gets seriously hurt. No one’s been rushed to the emergency room, thankfully.”

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Times Record (Cover Story) - Monday, August 7, 2006

Rollergirls Ready To Rock

(pic info) KAIA LARSEN • TIMES RECORD
Members of the River Valley Rollergirls practice Tuesday at Jack’s Skateland.

By Betsy Turner - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sporting skull-covered black tights, pigtails and short black shorts, River Valley Rollergirl team member and department store supervisor Christi Coffey seemed amused when asked if she was scared of getting a few hits in a roller derby match.

“I’ve had four kids,” Coffey, 31, said. “I’ve got tattoos. And I’m in protective gear. It would take an awful lot (to worry me).”

Coffey joined the 19 other rough and tough women who make up the River Valley Rollergirls, Fort Smith’s first roller derby team, on a recent Tuesday evening at one of their two weekly practices.

Roller Derby, which began in the 1930s as part roller skating entertainment and part endurance race, has seen a growing interest in the last five years with all female leagues popping up across the country and the creation of an A&E cable television show called “Rollergirls,” which followed players from Austin, Texas.

The sport, which in its modern form has an edgy feel with a lot of physical contact and punk costumes, has just recently emerged in Arkansas, with teams forming in Fayetteville, Jacksonville and Little Rock.

After learning about the formation of a team in northwest Arkansas, graphic designer and team president Desiree Wiliamson, 25, said she decided that she would like to try to start one up locally as well.

“I wanted to try out up there (Fayetteville), but it’s so far,” Wiliamson said.

Inspired by the athletic benefits of the sport and the possibility of bringing a new entertainment venue to the city, Wiliamson began putting up flyers and set up a MySpace account in April to recruit members. Seven women attended the first meeting, 14 at the next, and now about 20 regular members are practicing. Wiliamson said it had been nearly 12 years since she had skated, with many of the players having similar absences from the sport.

Just like getting back into riding a bike, she said the laps around the track get easy quickly for the new players.

“Everybody picks it up just like that,” Wiliamson said. “It just comes back to you.”

Candyce McCormick, a 31-year-old mother and student, said the thrill of reviving a once-dead sport for women enticed her to get on skates.

“I remember Roller Derby from being a kid,” McCormick said. “I thought it was cool. Ladies being tough and athletic.”

Racing around the track, occasionally taking a hard fall or a smack from a stray elbow, the women are preparing to play in what they hope will grow to a four-team league by next spring.

Wiliamson said they are still actively recruiting up to 40 women for the league. The only requirements of potential members is that they are female and at least 18 years old, pass a minimum skills test, bring $5 for a rink fee and have a “positive” attitude, Wiliamson said.

Women interested in the league can drop in on practices from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday night at Wheels in Motion in Van Buren or check out the group’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/rivervalleyrollergirls. The location for the practices is a new one.

Although the fundamental skating skills players learned in the junior high open-skate nights come in handy, the moves in Roller Derby matches, called “jams,” aren’t quite as pre-teen friendly. Labeled as a contact sport, Roller Derby skating is a mixture of athleticism, wrestling, entertainment and pure aggression.

The rules basically go like this: two opposing teams — each consisting of three blockers, a pivot and a jammer — make up a pack. The two pivots from each team lead the formation followed by the blockers and the two jammers in the back. When the game begins at the first whistle, the pack begins skating.

At the second whistle, the jammers attempt to skate through the pack first to become the “lead” jammer. The jammers pass the pack and on the second re-entry get one point for each player of the opposing team that they pass. The lead jammer can call off the two-minute rounds at her discretion. There are four half-hour periods in each bout.

The Rollergirls, which is a limited liability company, have yet to get into much of the contact part of the sport because they must first have insurance from the U.S.A. Rollersports. Wiliamson said the group is also working to meet the eligibility requirements to join the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Next spring, she said they hope to have their first inner league matches in a large area such as the convention center or at the fairgrounds.

Recently, the women have been holding fund-raisers and are looking for sponsors for a 2007 calendar they are putting together. The group has been holding a contest for the name of the leagues teams. Wiliamson said names will likely be based on Fort Smith’s history revolving around Miss Laura and “Hanging Judge” Isaac C. Parker.

Mysti Rogers, 28, who works, goes to school and is a mother of three, said she thought the league would be well received in Fort Smith. She said she felt it would be especially appreciated by the college crowd in the area.

“Its something different and Fort Smith needs something going on,” Rogers said. “I think its a pretty cool thing to add. The more (entertainment), the better.”