Lethbridge has welcomed the sport of roller derby with open arms. The Deathbridge Derby Dames thrilled, spilled, bumped and bruised their way to a comeback win against The Missfits of Mayhem last Saturday night.
The North Pavilion at the Lethbridge exhibition grounds was packed and buzzing with anticipation prior to the 7:30 p.m. start. Many people came to show support to loved ones involved in derby, and the rest were simply curious to see the feisty derby girls crash and bash each other around the track.
Prior to the debut home game, many people attended the ‘Zombie Walk’; where members of the Lethbridge Community dress up and act like zombies as they walk across town. This spilled over into the roller derby theme, “Night of the Rolling Dead”, creating an eerie atmosphere of un-dead players, referees and audience members.
“It was great! I’ve never been to a derby game before and it was pretty awesome, I caught on pretty quick to the rules”, said Sara Strickland who was seated in “suicide seating” located front row around the track.
The crowd began to roar with excitement as they too began to grasp the rules and purpose of the game. Yelling, applauding as the Dames and Missfits checked, blocked and took some massive falls.
Roller derby is a full-contact sport and if you ask any of the team members about injuries, they’ll waste no time showing off their war-wounds with a great big grin. However, today’s roller derby is much more focussed on skill, strategy and stamina than just bone-crushing hits.
During the bout, the derby girls were intimidating, sassy, females, but when the clock stopped they showed kindness and support to their fans, their competition and each other.
Lindsey Skakum, aka “Dreamwhip,” was thrilled about the support the team received in its debut.
“It was just awesome, the crowd was behind us, it was great to see so many people out from the community supporting us all the way. It was just a great experience having our team together as a unit, totally playing and helping each other out, and the other team did a great job against us so it was just a good game all around” said Skakum.
She and the other players are regular members of the community who escape the day to day grind and de-stress in an unconventional way. They tie on their skates and transform into their fierce alter egos, with nicknames and attire to match.
The players describe a feeling of empowerment that reflected into the audience and produced an energy through the entire crowd. Spectator, Keni Milne was extremely excited about the win saying “It was super fun! They did really well and they won so yaaaay Lethbridge!”. Milne is from Medicine Hat, where she first experienced roller derby and was excited to see that Lethbridge was finally getting involved after much anticipation.
The Deathbridge Derby Dames were triumphant over The Missfits of Mayhem, winning 169-159. Although Lethbridge was the less experienced team, they managed to please and entertain the crowd with a big win on home turf for their very first game.
“It was my virgin game so I’ve never been to anything like this before. The crowd was amazing. I was so surprised that we got the turnout that we did”, said Samantha Squarek, or as her fans know her, Bones of Fury. “We kicked some ass tonight, I’m so excited right now!”
Photo:Tess Calderbank