There’s an unspoken code among the baddest of the bad in women’s roller derby that brings them together to support one another in everything, but especially during bouts.
Mother Nature, baddest of them all, didn’t get the memo Saturday, and her nasty weather affected attendance for the South Shore Roller Girls’ triumphant return to the Hammond Civic Center. Where the team was anticipating at least 900 fans to fill the stands, less than half that showed up.
To say it was disappointing is an understatement, said Beth Garcia, team spokeswoman, especially since the team pounded the Lafayette Brawlin’ Dolls, 311-132.
“We enjoy playing them a lot, and we wanted to share (the team’s return to the Civic Center) with them. They’re really good people,” Garcia said Sunday. “But it was the first snow of the season.”
The Roller Girls wanted to get back into the Civic Center ever since they became SSRG, but the cost was prohibitive for a new team trying to get its bearings, Garcia said. As such, the team skates at the Jean Shepherd Center in the city’s Hessville section.
Each bout, the crowds got bigger and the buzz got louder, and the center called them home a couple of months ago, Garcia said. The team was ecstatic.
“Forty years ago, the Civic Center was the place to see roller derby, and we were just thrilled to come back,” Garcia said.
The Roller Girls practiced there this month leading up to the bout to see if they were going to like the floor, Garcia said. She prefers Jean Shepherd’s, but it’s a highly personal choice. And they always tell their opponents what kind of wheels they should bring for their skates because you always give your friends a heads up of the terrain.
“I have a great family, but I don’t see them often, so when I started with derby, I fell in love so quickly because you get a whole new family,” she said. “There’s no judgment in derby, and you have an automatic connection with all the women.”
That means you’ll see opposing teams in the stands screaming support for their sisters, as Illiana Derby Dames Julia “Trixie Trample” Faubion, Jan “Janaconda” Drechney and Erin “Voo Doom” Korzienewski were. The women intermittently yelled “Spooky!” to show their friend, Roller Girl Renci Stewart, they were there.
“We all support local derby and go to each other’s practices,” Faubion, of Munster, said. “Derby is about bringing people up. It’s very positive.”
And it’s a lot of hard work, Drechney said. But that work carries over into their personal lives and makes them better people, the three agreed.
“I just got a job as a flight attendant, and I’m sure if I wasn’t in derby, I’d have never had the confidence to go after it,” Faubion said.
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Carl Hasselgren, of Hammond, lives vicariously through the women of roller derby. His daughter used to skate for the Alamo City (Texas) team years ago and never got to see her play.
“I used to come here all the time when I was a kid to watch derby,” Hasselgren said. “It’s just fun watching the girls put their hearts on the line and play hard.”
Melissa “Melicious” McBain, of Lowell, will start practicing with the team when it starts up again in January. She fell in love with the sport after seeing “Whip It,” the 2009 roller derby comedy starring Ellen Page. She described her first few times on wheels as “coming in like a little baby giraffe.”
“Derby is really the only female contact sport that has aggression to it, but it also really is a big family,” she said, watching the game intently. “Everyone is super patient, or I would’ve probably quit after the first practice.”
The proceeds from Saturday’s match went to benefit the Girl Scouts.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.