by Thurston Gore
Olympia is pretty rad. I like it a lot.
But let’s be honest: There’s not a whole lot our little northwest city is known for on the national map, outside of the beer, of course. (Oh, and riot grrls.) This is especially true when it comes to the sports arena.
But there’s at least one sport that Olympia is known for in pockets around the country, and in some cases, the globe: roller derby!
Last year, the Oly Rollers, Olympia’s local Women’s Flat Track Derby Association-sanctioned (WFTDA) team, went undefeated, storming the regional and national tournaments en route to the 2009 WFTDA National Championship. Last year also saw the birth of a new league, Underground Derby, also located in Oly. In addition, a little to the south in Centralia, the Rainy City Roller Dolls (whose roster contains a mix of Olympia and Lewis County skaters) have quietly become a force on the northwest derby scene.
Now, thanks to turnouts of more than 5,700 fans at recent Rat City Rollergirls (Seattle) bouts, the sport is quickly becoming one of the nation’s worst kept secrets. Anyone who’s been to an Oly Rollers or Underground bout has seen how packed Skateland can get.
Still, it seems while roller derby awareness has grown here, few are aware of just how lucky us Olympians (and surrounding area residents) are when it comes to the sport. So consider this your derby primer. Then make sure you do a little on-site research yourself at any of the three’s upcoming home bouts.
Roller Derby Basics
Before we go into the teams, here’s a quick-and-dirty on how the sport works.
Two teams each field five skaters on the track, four blockers and a jammer. One blocker, wearing a stripe on her helmet, is the pivot. She helps determine where the pack is. The jammer wears a star on her helmet and is the point scorer for her team.
Basically, jammers earn a point for each opposing skater they lap legally. Yes, this is roller derby. But yes, there are rules. The basic strategy is that blockers attempt to stop the opposing jammer from getting through the pack, while at the same time trying to open holes for their own jammer.
That’s a pretty quick rundown, but you can find all you ever wanted to know about the rules and more at WFTDA’s (the sports governing body for sanctioned leagues) web site: rules.wftda.com.
The Oly Rollers
The Oly Rollers’ Cosa Nostra Donnas took last year’s national title, topping Duke City (Albuquerque, NM), Rat City ,and Rocky Mountain (Denver) at regionals before upending defending national champs Gotham Girls Roller Derby (New York), the Denver Roller Dolls, and perennial contender Texas Rollergirls’ Texecutioners (Austin).
This season, they’ve started off just as hot, beating the Philly Roller Girls and the Rose City Rollers (Portland) in February at Bremerton’s Slaughter County Roller Vixens-hosted Wild West Showdown tournament. The Cosa’s also topped the Mad Rollin’ Dolls (Madison, Wisc.) in March, and in April hosted and beat Baltimore’s Charm City Rollergirls.
What you need to know is this: until someone beats the Cosas, they are the team to beat; the undefeated, undisputed national champs.
Nationally, the WFTDA West Division No. 1 ranked Oly Rollers are known as one of the fastest teams on the flat track. Skaters like Atomatrix, Heffer and co-founders Tannibal Lector and Sassy, among others, have all competed nationally in speed skating and/or roller hockey. B Tease N and Riot Girl joined their aforementioned teammates as skaters who have been around since the team began bouting in 2007 (joining WFTDA last season). Skaters like Trick Tracy, Punchin’ Judy, Deadly Aim and Intended Anger are all solid veterans as well, and the team has some fresh faces this season.
Early on, the Oly Rollers weren’t known for their affinity of the rules, earning them a shady reputation out of town. But over the past two seasons, they’ve made huge strides in not only rules (and staying out of the penalty box), but also working as team to use some rules to their advantage.
In addition to the Cosas, Oly fields the Dropkick Donnas, the league’s B-team, as well as a freshmeat team, the Bella Donnas, who began this year. Several current Cosas have spent significant time on the Dropkick roster (although it was before the team underwent a name change this season from the Prima Donnas), showing its value as not only a competitive team in its own right, but as a great farm club for the Cosas.
Oly has some incredible home bouts scheduled for this year: a road bout in May against Boston; hosting Rocky Mountain on May 22 at Skateland, their home track, with an undercard of the Dropkicks versus Rose City’s B-team, the Axles of Annihilation; but the one you won’t want to miss is on June 5, when the Cosas welcome the Texecutioners back in a rematch of last year’s national title bout.
Underground Derby
Beginning late last year as a split from the Oly Rollers, Underground hosted its first bout earlier this season. Underground is not sanctioned, along with many other northwest derby leagues. Still a new league, they’ve yet to bout outside its four teams: the South Bay Bombers, the Rolling Regulators, the Oly Outlaws, and the Diva Derby Dolls. Plans are in the works however, for a travel team, the Death Dealers, forming to take on other leagues.
Currently, Underground has hosted home bouts in a mini-tournament format, with the league teams pairing up and bouting before playing the winner in shortened bouts (typically, derby is played in two 30-minute halves.)
But while the league is new, they have many seasoned vets on their rosters, including Regulators Foxy Blocker (former Oly Roller), Legs Le’Nor (former Rainy City) and her former Fort Lewis Bettie Brigade teammate Gloria Sass (the Fort Lewis league is now defunct); Outlaws Tiffinator (former Oly Roller), and more former Fort Lewis skaters including Rapunzel and Tamazon. Other skaters who have flashed their skill in the league’s short time include former Rainy City skater and current Diva Vi Kerious, as well as fellow Divas’ Jacky Oh Nasty, Lil Miss Stuffit and Bad Medicine, Bombers’ Dirty DisGrace, Krazie, Lil Tonka and Malice in Wonderland.
The league may be new, but it’s developed itself quickly, and with the addition of a travel team, should be ready to start bouting other area leagues soon. In the meantime, Underground hosts its next home interleague bout on June 12 at Skateland, also its home track.
Rainy City Roller Dolls
The first league to split off from the Oly Rollers, Rainy City formed in 2007 (Rainy City is also not currently WFTDA). Skating out of the Rollerdrome in Centralia, Rainy City skates with a mix of Olympia and Lewis County skaters.
Though often considered the underdogs, Rainy City turned a lot of heads last year en route to a 7-3 overall record (counting tournament wins as one win), beating sanctioned teams such as the Bellingham Roller Betties and the Slaughter County Roller Vixens’ league team Terrormedixxx. Rainy City also bouted tough against Dockyard (Tacoma), Jet City (Everett) and others, showing that this little start-up packs quite a wallop.
And while they’ve seen a large transition from last year’s team to this season, including the losses of Miss Mel Mangles (Rose City), Holly Hobbler, Bashley Juggs (Dockyard), DVS Dicer (Sin City Rollergirls; Las Vegas) and more, Rainy City has kept pace, earning an exciting win against SCRV’s Death Rattle Rollers and the Dropkick Donnas in the first bout between the leagues since they split.
Team captains Lucyville Slug-Her and Slaughter-Kinney join Crack Attack, NicFit, Lady Gag-Ya, Frau Blocker, Bruiseanne Con-her and Lil Miss Mak’Her Mark as the team’s top blocking threats. Others like Toot A. Lou and Deathrose, while primarily jammers, join Lucyville, Poise N Bury, Killer B and Bella Sol as some of the squad’s top hybrid blocker-jammer types.
While a small-town league, Rainy City has proved numerous times in the past two seasons that it has the heart (and the muscle) to hang with anybody. Known as a hard-hitting team, Rainy City has spawned numerous all-star skaters now at other leagues, including Mangles, Napalm Beth and Mercyful Kate of Rose City’s Wheels of Justice, as well as the aforementioned Bashley Juggs and DVS Dicer.
While not at home again until June, Rainy City heads to Coos County, Ore., for Rollerpalooza from May 21-23, a Coos County Roller Girls-hosted derby campout, complete with bands, the beach and fire dancers. If there’s one thing you need to know about Rainy City, it’s that the team is always a candidate to win the afterparty.
So now that you know a little more about each of your area derby teams, get out there and support your local roller derby! ◙
More information about the roller derby, including complete bout schedules, can be found online at www.olyrollers.com and www.rainycityrollerdolls.com.