By Stephanie Ells, Revelstoke Roller Derby
The Revelstoke Derailers ended its inaugural season with a 204-176 win over the Okanagan Derby Dolls in Kelowna on Saturday.
We came into the game as the underdogs, expecting a tough and strategic game. Both teams have a good mix of strong blockers, smart pivots and agile jammers. Both teams have also worked with Lime, a top notch professional roller derby coach who focuses on strategy and smart game play.We are still in our rookie year and the Dolls are a mixed team of veteran players (many of their players play for other teams as well).
The Okanagan-Shuswap Roller Derby Association (OSRDA, which the dolls are part of) is the closest league to Revelstoke Roller Derby (RRD) and has been a mentor league to us from the very beginning. OSRDA opened its practices at the Hassen Arena in Armstrong to our girls last year when we did not have a practice space. Because of that we knew a lot of the girls already and knew that they would be a lot of fun, but also a challenge, on the track.
We only had 12 girls on our roster (a full roster is 14) and two were playing their very first game ever, after passing their basic skills testing only a few weeks ago. We also had Commanda and A.C. Slayedher coaching us on their own, for the first time.
The Derailers held a small lead for most of the game, but the Dolls fought hard and were rarely more than one power jam away from the lead. In the end it was our team work, solid coaching, and penalty free jammers that pulled us ahead for a final score of 204–176.
It was a great end to an amazing rookie year. I’m so proud of all the hard work that every single skater, official, volunteer and all the fans have put into making RRD such a huge success!
We look forward to the possibility of seeing the Dolls, and maybe other OSRDA teams, on the track in Revelstoke in our 2013 season. In the meantime, the league is still desperately seeking an indoor practice facility for the winter. We want to offer the women of Revelstoke a year round team sport. Our only requirements are that the flat skating surface is 90-feet long by 60-feet wide. We have the means to work with a facility to leave the surface in better condition than before we used it.