With team names like the Arch Angels and the Rookies, you might not expect the members of the St. Albert’s Heavenly Rollers Derby League to be the toughest thing on eight wheels, but make no mistake these females are fierce on the flat track.
Roller derby is a rough sport.
“It is a full-contact, high-impact sport,” said Celeste Thiesen, a five-year roller derby veteran who is both the league’s vice president and art and merchandise director.
The Heavenly Rollers will play a bout against Calgary’s Chinook City Kill Jills Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Servus Place.
In this high-energy sport, two opposing teams of five, roller-skate around a flat track in the same direction. The jammer on each team tries to score points by lapping members of the other team. The four blockers on each team try to impede the progress of the opposing jammer. Primarily women play roller derby, but men’s leagues do exist.
Bouts, or games, consist of two half-hour periods with an intermission in between.
Roller derby seemed to disappear in the 1970s, but the sport has been enjoying a resurgence since the early 2000s. Roller derby even spawned a feature film in 2009 titled Whip It that explored the culture of the sport.
And “there absolutely is a roller derby culture,” Thiesen said.
“It’s a pretty fantastic sport, and there are a lot of things that go into keeping a league running and so essentially that roller derby league becomes like your family – your second family,” she said. “That’s kind of what the culture is about and it just helps that everybody has the same goal and same interest in mind so you find yourself gravitating towards those people that have the same interests.”
Part of the roller derby culture is the players’ famously feminine and edgy outfits, and derby names like Fey Tality, Petra Phi and Sue Nami.
“Roller derby has always had an aspect of show to it, even though it’s a very serious sport and we are all athletes,” said Thiesen. “There is that element of the show and it’s just a great opportunity to have an alter ego really, to become somebody else that you aren’t in the daytime.”
St. Albert’s roller derby playing season runs from April to October, but the teams practise from January to November. Thiesen said the league is always looking for new players 18 and over—no experience necessary.
“We run newbie programs throughout the year and so we give dedicated track time to people that are just trying out the sport so that they don’t have to feel anxious around the rest of us that can skate,” said Thiesen. “They get their own time to work on the skills and build up to a level where they can join the rest of us in practice.”
The league also rents the gear that first timers need to give roller derby a try including helmets, roller skates and knee and elbow pads.
“We’ve run two (newbie programs) already this year, and we’ll probably run another one in the fall,” said Thiesen.
There are three teams in the Heavenly Rollers league: the Arch Angels travel team and two house teams.
We’re actually debuting our Rookies (Saturday) so this is the first time that they’ll get to play at home, in front of a home crowd together,” said Thiesen. “The Rookies are a group that we put together for newer leagues that don’t really have the level of the Arch Angels.”
The Heavenly Rollers’ Rookies are a mixed team with women of varying skill levels. Sending out a mixed group—rather than the veteran Arch Angels—to face newer leagues means the teams will be more evenly matched. “You know, it’s a little bit of a closer game,” said Thiesen.
