Story in Akron's West Side Leader!!!
PLEASE NOTE: We are not actually Akron's first or Ohio's third league formed, but we still ROCK!!!
New women’s roller derby team rocking out in Akron area
By Mike D’Agruma
NORTHEAST OHIO - When you’re in a band, people really don’t know what to make of you. You’re looked at with one-part admiration, two-parts intrigue and one-part wariness.
And it’s perfectly understandable. There are a lot of stereotypes associated with being in a band and there are a lot of musicians out there living up to them.
And there are a lot that don’t. There are a lot who work in offices and mingle in contemporary society that just love the release that comes with playing - just being a guy onstage sans shirt with hair in pigtails and socks on arms jumping around shredding his guitar.
It’s the energy that draws you. The fun, the insane level of camaraderie combined with the synchronization of music blending into a rush most will never experience.
It’s really a lot like being a roller girl - an NEO Rock ’n’ Roller Girl.
The NEO Rock ’n’ Roller Girls are the Akron area’s first all-women roller derby team - third in Ohio - and were formed May 16 by 11 women brought together primarily by a passion for the sport of roller derby, according to team members. But don’t even begin to picture the sensationalistic, scripted, WWE wrestling-style roller derby of the 1970s. [For more details on roller derby, see sidebar below right.]
It’s 1980s punk rock meeting ballet. It’s hardcore emotion, dedication and aggression blending with grace, style and beauty. It’s cute skirts and fishnet stockings; personalities that are equal parts charm and attitude.
It’s sport meeting style.
It’s an interesting team. Outside the rink, they have vastly different lives. They are students and professionals, stay-at-home artists and stay-at-home moms, girlfriends and wives, parents and daughters.
In their skates and on their rinks, however, they change. They aren’t sales reps or assistant nurses or soccer moms. They aren’t team members Becky Basilone, of West Akron, and Sara Misconish, of Cleveland. They are roller girls “Free Bird” and “Ruby Doomsday.” (Everyone on the team has a registered pseudonym.) They are a single entity, a sisterhood.
These are women you could spend hours with at a coffee shop but not last seconds with on a roller rink. Once you step foot on their practice rinks at either the North Canton Skate Center or Springfield Lake Roller Rink, you’re walking on holy ground.
That’s because derbying is their element, their sport. And their sport seemed to seek them out - through documentaries, fliers, the Internet, word-of-mouth, open-skate nights or, oddly enough, while installing or having cable installed at their homes.
And each of the 11 original members chose to strap on their skates and helmets for various reasons. They wanted to get in shape, get back into skating, take out aggression, take back some of their youth, follow a passion, follow intrigue, live the life.
“Somebody felt something was missing and they found roller derby,” said Akron resident Catherine Boesch (aka “Kitty Hellcat”). “It’s a chance to get out of your normal routine and it makes you happy.
“There’s just pure joy in skating,” she added. “It’s like Christmas and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny all wrapped up into one.”
And the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the national federation the team hopes to be sanctioned by when ready, has a 22-page tome of rules and regulations to govern all of it. The team has new recruits sign a waiver and buy the full arsenal of protective gear - helmet, mouth and wrist guards and knee and elbow pads - before allowing them to practice. This precedes the numerous necessary forms needed to be filled out if one becomes a full-fledged member.
The Rock n’ Roller Girls have been having official practices and meetings for about two months and will continue do so for at least another 10 before they plan to begin bouting. Just as one must learn to walk before running, the team is learning how to skate before blocking. A good chunk of the two-hour practices are spent perfecting more complicated skating maneuvers. According to North Canton resident Elise Koontz (aka “The Payback”), they’ve only recently started learning how to block and move in a pack.
“The group of girls we have right now are very dedicated,” said head coach Brian Phillips. “I think they’re going to get this going, and I think they’re going to succeed with this; I really do.”
The team is still looking for roller girls and volunteers of all kinds. Practice takes place Sundays at 10 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. at North Canton and Springfield, respectively. Membership dues cost $45 a month. For more information, visit www.neorocknrollergirls .com.
New women’s roller derby team rocking out in Akron area
By Mike D’Agruma
NORTHEAST OHIO - When you’re in a band, people really don’t know what to make of you. You’re looked at with one-part admiration, two-parts intrigue and one-part wariness.
And it’s perfectly understandable. There are a lot of stereotypes associated with being in a band and there are a lot of musicians out there living up to them.
And there are a lot that don’t. There are a lot who work in offices and mingle in contemporary society that just love the release that comes with playing - just being a guy onstage sans shirt with hair in pigtails and socks on arms jumping around shredding his guitar.
It’s the energy that draws you. The fun, the insane level of camaraderie combined with the synchronization of music blending into a rush most will never experience.
It’s really a lot like being a roller girl - an NEO Rock ’n’ Roller Girl.
The NEO Rock ’n’ Roller Girls are the Akron area’s first all-women roller derby team - third in Ohio - and were formed May 16 by 11 women brought together primarily by a passion for the sport of roller derby, according to team members. But don’t even begin to picture the sensationalistic, scripted, WWE wrestling-style roller derby of the 1970s. [For more details on roller derby, see sidebar below right.]
It’s 1980s punk rock meeting ballet. It’s hardcore emotion, dedication and aggression blending with grace, style and beauty. It’s cute skirts and fishnet stockings; personalities that are equal parts charm and attitude.
It’s sport meeting style.
It’s an interesting team. Outside the rink, they have vastly different lives. They are students and professionals, stay-at-home artists and stay-at-home moms, girlfriends and wives, parents and daughters.
In their skates and on their rinks, however, they change. They aren’t sales reps or assistant nurses or soccer moms. They aren’t team members Becky Basilone, of West Akron, and Sara Misconish, of Cleveland. They are roller girls “Free Bird” and “Ruby Doomsday.” (Everyone on the team has a registered pseudonym.) They are a single entity, a sisterhood.
These are women you could spend hours with at a coffee shop but not last seconds with on a roller rink. Once you step foot on their practice rinks at either the North Canton Skate Center or Springfield Lake Roller Rink, you’re walking on holy ground.
That’s because derbying is their element, their sport. And their sport seemed to seek them out - through documentaries, fliers, the Internet, word-of-mouth, open-skate nights or, oddly enough, while installing or having cable installed at their homes.
And each of the 11 original members chose to strap on their skates and helmets for various reasons. They wanted to get in shape, get back into skating, take out aggression, take back some of their youth, follow a passion, follow intrigue, live the life.
“Somebody felt something was missing and they found roller derby,” said Akron resident Catherine Boesch (aka “Kitty Hellcat”). “It’s a chance to get out of your normal routine and it makes you happy.
“There’s just pure joy in skating,” she added. “It’s like Christmas and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny all wrapped up into one.”
And the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the national federation the team hopes to be sanctioned by when ready, has a 22-page tome of rules and regulations to govern all of it. The team has new recruits sign a waiver and buy the full arsenal of protective gear - helmet, mouth and wrist guards and knee and elbow pads - before allowing them to practice. This precedes the numerous necessary forms needed to be filled out if one becomes a full-fledged member.
The Rock n’ Roller Girls have been having official practices and meetings for about two months and will continue do so for at least another 10 before they plan to begin bouting. Just as one must learn to walk before running, the team is learning how to skate before blocking. A good chunk of the two-hour practices are spent perfecting more complicated skating maneuvers. According to North Canton resident Elise Koontz (aka “The Payback”), they’ve only recently started learning how to block and move in a pack.
“The group of girls we have right now are very dedicated,” said head coach Brian Phillips. “I think they’re going to get this going, and I think they’re going to succeed with this; I really do.”
The team is still looking for roller girls and volunteers of all kinds. Practice takes place Sundays at 10 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. at North Canton and Springfield, respectively. Membership dues cost $45 a month. For more information, visit www.neorocknrollergirls .com.