麻豆社区

The Yukon Roller Derby Association (YRDA) is holding Wham! Bam! Solstice Slam!, a doubleheader bout, Saturday at Mount McIntyre.

The doors and bar open at 5:30 p.m. The action starts at 6 p.m. with Flower Power (Alberta) taking on Midnight Stunners (skaters from Alaska, B.C. and Y.T.). Game 2 goes at 8 p.m. with Yukon Roller Derby battling Ptarmageddon (Alaska).

The skaters will be competing on a track marked with tape and other markers.

The Star dropped by a practice Sunday at the Canada Games Centre to check out the action. YRDA president Christy Huey, AKA Christy Crack-Her, explained what was going on.

鈥淲e are scrimmaging. We鈥檙e playing roller derby, which is a full contact sport, full gear, on roller skates.

鈥淲e are gearing up and practising for our double header bout that鈥檚 happening this weekend.鈥�

Huey said the league started in 2009.

鈥淚鈥檝e been a part of it since January of 2016,鈥� related Huey, who鈥檚 been president for almost five years.

She explained the appeal of the sport.

鈥淵ou can see we鈥檙e skating really hard. It definitely gets your heart rate up. It鈥檚 a really intense sport but yet at the same time, if you look around, everyone is different body types, they鈥檙e from different walks of life. It鈥檚 just a very inclusive sport.鈥�

The league used to be called Yukon Roller Girls.

鈥淭his past year we re-branded and have become a fully inclusive all-gender league. So anybody is invited to play with us,鈥� related Huey.

鈥淲e have male-identifying, female-identifying, trans, non-binary, everybody.鈥�

Huey said interest in the sport is definitely picking up.

鈥淚n February 2020, we had a full rostered league we built, we were ready to go. We were signed up for several tournaments down in B.C., ready to rock and roll, basically. And then the pandemic hit.鈥�

The league was unable to practice for about a year and a half due to pandemic measures.

鈥淭he league definitely crumbled,鈥� recalled Huey. 鈥淧eople moved away, some people chose to have children, all those fun things that happen that take you away from a sport like this.

鈥淪o just this past year, we鈥檝e been working on rebuilding the league. I think we were down to only about seven people when we came back together, and now we have a full rostered team. We now have brand new refs that will be reffing their first game as well.鈥�

Huey said the sport gives them a sense of community. 25-30 people are currently involved.

A complete team consists of 15 players.

Each team field five players on the track. Four of them are blockers, the fifth is the jammer, the only one who can score points.

鈥淥nce the whistle blows, the jammer comes out; they have to get through the pack (the blockers) and once they get out of the pack, they skate around the entire track and try to catch back up to the pack and every person that they pass on the opposing team counts as a point,鈥� explained Huey. 鈥淚f they can pass everyone, they get points and so the blocker鈥檚 job is to a) protect their point by not letting the jammer get by them and b) provide offensive maneuvers to get the other opposing blockers out so that their jammer can score points.鈥� If a jammer gets jammer status; they can call the jam off before the two minutes is over. Therefore, the amount of jams in a half can vary greatly.

A jammer gets jammer status by being the first out of the pack at the start of a jam. The jammer has to start behind a jam line behind the pack. Blockers can鈥檛 go behind the jam line.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e hustling when the whistle blows because they really want to be able to control the jam. It鈥檚 the most power you get in the game,鈥� said Huey.

A standard bout is two 30-minute halves.

A half is made up of two minute jams with 30 second breaks in-between.

There are about 20 different penalties, including using a forearm to gain advantage. Another penalty is a 鈥渃ut track鈥�, in which someone gets knocked off the track and comes back ahead of where they were. There are also legal and illegal hits.

Penalties are 30 seconds each.

Huey said the YRDA will be hosting an entire weekend of events. 60 to 70 people will be invoved.

鈥淔riday, we鈥檙e having a public roller disco. So that鈥檚 open to anyone who wants to come skate on the track with us. We have a limited selection of roller skates that we can lend to people and then people are encouraged to come out with their roller skates or inline skates.鈥�

They are also running roller derby skills clinics on Saturday and Sunday during the day.

鈥淲e鈥檙e bringing up one of the best players in Canada, Miracle Whips (Claudia Mar茅chal). She鈥檚 coming up and running a huge clinic of four different sessions on different skills.鈥�

YRDA has about 60 people registered for the 鈥渂oot camp鈥�, including 35-40 people coming to Whitehorse for the camp from Alaska, B.C. and Alberta.

Laura Pauls, AKA Sassquatch, 鈥渨ith a little extra sass,鈥� as she puts it, is the bouts director for YRDA.

As the title implies, she schedules bouts for the organization.

Regarding the Solstice Slam, Pauls said she is 鈥渟uper-excited, because we have some pretty rad teams coming up.鈥�

Two teams will be coming in to participate in the bout this weekend.

Ptarmageddon and Flower Power are assembled from all over Alaska and Alberta, respectively.

Pauls said the teams will also be picking up players from B.C.

Pauls offered her description of roller derby.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e just going to see us get hit a lot, hit other people a lot, maybe go to the penalty box a few times. There鈥檚 some announcers that will explain some of the stuff that鈥檚 going on.鈥�

Pauls said the game appeals to her as a way to wind down.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to think about work, I don鈥檛 have to think about home, I just go out on the track and that鈥檚 where everything happens and it鈥檚 like a fresh start and you get to restart your whole week. It鈥檚 a super-good way to recharge your batteries.鈥�

鈥淎nd it鈥檚 just fun. I like my teammates a lot.鈥�

Huey added they are planning two Try Derby nights July 14 and Aug. 11.

鈥淲e鈥檙e inviting the public, anyone who鈥檚 interested in getting involved in roller derby.

鈥淲e鈥檙e gonna have a sign-up list at our bout for people who want to check us out first. From there, anyone who really enjoys it can come and we鈥檙e going to be doing a 10-week Learn to Play Roller Derby clinic in the fall for anyone. You don鈥檛 have to have any skill at all or athletic ability. We鈥檙e there to support and it鈥檚 gonna be awesome.鈥�

Tickets for the double header bout this weekend are $25 and can be found on Eventbrite. A limited amount will be available at the door as well. Pre-ordering is recommended due to the limited amount of space.

鈥淐ome check us out,鈥� said Huey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a lot of fun. We鈥檙e back and we鈥檙e stronger than ever and we鈥檇 love people to see that and be a part of it.鈥�