The derby season is off and rolling with a massive opener last weekend that went beyond the hype, drawing a capacity crowd of costumed fans to cheer as women from four teams in three cities competed for glory in war paint, leather hot pants, and smoking fast skates.
Rossland fans — not to mention the Gnarlie’s Angels themselves — were ravenous for a victory over Salmo’s Babes of Brutality after the Angels were brutalized last fall in the West Kootenay Women’s Roller Derby League’s debut bout, and the hard training since then has paid off.
Rossland took Saturday’s game with a final score of 135 to 113.
“We’ve been wanting this since last June, when we started,” said the Angels’ jammer and also the team captain for the bout, Canuck Norris. “It’s absolutely amazing, I had to fight back tears the last half.”
The effort was clearly that of a team and not any particular individual. “We have the best chemistry ever,” Norris said. “We do so much as a team outside of this, so we’re on a whole other level when it comes to friendship and teamwork. It’s pretty awesome.”
Fans weren’t just treated to great derby, it was a spectacle and a party. Thunderous cheers shook the arena after Alissa “Dandelion” Arnason crooned the national anthem, and the momentum carried into the debut bout between the two Nelson teams, who finished neck-and-neck.
Then the half time show featured Nelson’s superb samba band, Moving Mosaic, “got the crowd really pumped,” Pants said. “They were really, really amazing. The Angels were out warming up while the band was playing, it picked everything up a notch.”
Across the board, the game has gone up in quality since last fall, with faster moves and better strategy obvious even to a roller derby ignoramus.
“We have been training so hard and have excelled so fast,” Norris said, wiping the sweat from her brow in the locker room after the bout amidst shouts, backslapping, and big smiles. “It’s actually kinda scary how quickly this team has come together in terms of strategy — we already had the endurance.”
Assitant coach Phil Yer Pants, a new face on the bench since last year, was impressed by everyone’s stamina.
“I wasn’t even skating and it was tiring,” he said. “Our girls went out and did a really solid job, a great season opener.”
During the league fundraiser in Trail at the beginning of April, the women watched themselves in the Gnarlie’s Angel movie filmed last fall and were surprised at the noticeable improvement in the game and the skaters, both Angels and Babes.
“People have learned a lot in training sessions, boot camps with outside people helping to work on strategy, a referee clinic at the end of March,” Pants said. “A lot of the skaters went to that and gave everyone a much better understanding of the game.”
“It’s great,” he continued. “The more it improves, the more exciting the leauge will be.” The Babes and Angels, most of whom only started last year, have shown just how quickly the learning curve can be mastered, something that bodes well for the league as a whole as the new teams in Nelson, Castlegar, and Trail build themselves up.
A big factor in the Angels’ development, Norris said, was Salmo jammer Beretta Lynch who has played derby for eight years, skates on the national team, and has highly developed skills that are plain to see as she deftly skips blockers sprawled across the track.
“I have to give her every bit of credit,” Norris said, “she taught us everything that she knows. As good as she is, she’s also really gracious and has always been there for us. She helped build this team.”
“She came out and coached us. She offered her expertise, nurturing us. I don’t think that we’d be the calibre that we are if we weren’t playing against someone that good all the time. On some level we owe it to her for sure,” Norris said.
The Gnarlie’s Angel’s next bout is on May 6, playing Nelson’s Killjoys at the Castlegar Community Complex. For more information, visit www.kootenayrollerderby.com.