The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Their pamphlet touts it as "perfect for girls that ripped the heads off their dolls." But officials with the Flin Flon area's soon-to-launch women's roller derby league insist that such colourful slogans aside, the sport is about wholesome camaraderie. "It's a very clean sport, but it's still aggressive," says Rebecca Hayward, a member of the league's start-up board. "It's still fun, it's still fast and furious." Tentatively titled the Rock City Rollers Derby League (unless someone else has already claimed that name), the league is set to begin practices within a month. Inclusiveness will be the mantra, with women of all ages, shapes and backgrounds welcome Ð indeed encouraged Ð to take part. "Everybody can play," says Julie Desroches. Desroches began putting out feelers for a roller derby league about a year ago, having become addicted to the sport after taking part in practices in Winnipeg. She elicited the interest of a handful of women, but the momentum fizzled when Desroches spent some time out of town. Then earlier this month, when Saskatchewan's Gapland Rollers derby team hosted bouts at the Creighton Sportex, interest was reinvigorated. An informational meeting last week, attended by 16 people at the Creighton Community School library, confirmed interest in the concept. League 'a go' While the league is "a go," as Desroches puts it, she and her fellow volunteers still have a lot of work to do before the wheels are officially turning. They must register with the Canadian Women's Roller Derby Association. They must form committees, such as finance and training. And they must get those who have shown an interest to formally sign up. Players will have to open their wallets to take part. If the league attracts 15 members, for instance, each participant will be looking at about $475 a year in fees and insurance. But Desroches has no doubt the league will succeed, confident that others will come to share her passion for roller derby. "It's an aggressive sport, but you still get to look good out there," she says. "You still get to dress up and be a different persona. You get to kind of become somebody you're not, possibly, in your life (and) get out there and get your aggressions out. It's very theatrical, too. People put on makeup, they put on different kinds of garbs." Hayward sees the league as an important option for area women in search of a new outlet to become physically active. 'Not much' "There's not much here for women to do unless you're into hockey or you're into slo pitch baseball, which I'm not really into," she says. Looking at roller derby leagues in other communities, Hayward says it is clear the sport carries a broad appeal. "There's (different) professions (represented)," she says. "People from moms to people who are lawyers are actually doing this. It's just something different for you to get the stress of your day out." Hayward hopes the formation of the league will inspire women in other northern communities to launch their own leagues. "If we can succeed, any other place can," she says. "Thompson might go, 'Yes! Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach can do it, let's try and get a team going.' If they get a team going, then we have more and more people to play." For the time being, however, there are no other roller derby teams in the northern Manitoba-Saskatchewan region. The nearest leagues are in southern Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. "But teams are willing to travel, which is the nice thing Ð they're willing to come up and bout us," notes Desroches. Greatly aiding the formation of the league is the Town of Creighton's offer of the Sportex seven months a year, free of charge, beginning next spring. Jodie Belhumeur, another start-up board member, says complimentary access to such a facility is a gift other roller derby leagues would jump at. "We're very, very fortunate," she says. Overly violent? Yet no matter how lucky league organizers are, the fact remains that roller derby is still sometimes viewed as an overly violent relic of the sporting past. While that can't be good for recruiting, Hayward hopes such misconceptions fade with proper education. "If people watched the theatrical stuff that happened in the '70s, obviously they're going to think that, yeah, it's a rough sport," she says. "Ébut it's got its safety (rules). You can't hit above your shoulders, you can't hit below the knees. You get penalties." Sounds like a sport suitable for all women Ð whether their childhood dolls remained intact or not. For more information about the roller derby league, contact Julie at 687-4421.
