Charm City Roller Girls: glam, glitter and bruises
The Charm City Roller Girls roller derby team is used to bruises, fractures, sprains, tears, and all manner of pain. This is the price derby athletes willingly pay for the exhilaration of the sport. Women undergo a grueling 10-week boot camp to learn the basics before trying out for the league. It may take more than a year of mastering further skills to be drafted to a team. Roller Girls train hard for long hours to stay in shape, improve, and avoid injuries.
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- Charm City Roller Girls’ All Stars touch hands and cheer to end their huddle before facing Philly’s Roller Girls, the Liberty Belles. Baltimore lost to Philly in the second game by 231 to 129. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Uvetta Work of the Charm City Roller Girls’ All Stars, right, tries to derail Philly jammer Devoida Mercy of the Liberty Belles. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- James Bennett of Rockville, left, a self-proclaimed “derby widow,” roots for his wife, Lisa Bennett, AKA “Lucky Penny,” of Female Trouble in the match against Philly’s Roller Girls, the Independence Dolls. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun )
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- The striped legs of a Philly Independence Dolls player whizzes by in the first game of the night, against Charm City Roller Girls’ Female Trouble. The Philly team won, 215 to 166. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Susy Pow, jammer for the Charm City Roller Girls’ All Stars, left, gets knocked down by Damage Dahl of the Philly Roller Girls’ Liberty Belles. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Baltmore’s All Stars bench coach Blind Banshee leans over I.M. Pain (Kacey Huntington), who was knocked down by a direct hit to her shoulder midway through the first period. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- I.M. Pain, icing her bruised shoulder, right, is briefly on the bench with All Stars teammates, from left, Uvetta Work, Holly Gohardly, Lady Quebeaum, and Colleen Best. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- With her bruised shoulder bandaged, I.M. Pain, co-captain of the Charm City Roller Girls All Stars team, returns to the action, taking her turn as the jammer. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Philly Roller Girls’ Liberty Belles’ pivot, Ginger Vitis, left, jockeys for position again Charm City Roller Girls’ All Stars jammer, I.M. Pain, right. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- The two opposing jammers, who wear star covers on their helmets, wait with their teams for the start of the next two minute “jam.” From left, Baltimore’s All Stars’ Lady Quebeaum, I.M. Pain, and Uvetta Work are in position in front of VanEssa “V-Diva” Sites of the Philly Liberty Belles, far right. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Philly’s LIberty Belles jammer Teflon Donna, center, tries to get past All Stars blockers Battery Operated, left, and Mary Busch, right. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Philly’s Independence Dolls jammer, Kong, left, moves to the outside to get past Charm City’s Female Trouble blocker Jeanne Dark, center, and pivot, Smearin’ Off Ice, right, in the first game of the night. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Charm City Roller Girls’ Female Trouble blockers Deathany, second from left, and Canadian Bacon, right, try to keep Philly’s jammer for the Independence Dolls, Savidge Booty, from breaking through the line. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Charm City’s Female Trouble jammer, Ela Trick (hidden except for helmet) looks for an opening beyond Philly Independence Dolls blockers, Trixie Trauma, left, and PMS, center, in the first game of the night. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- In front from left, Ela Trick, Uvetta Work, and Red Pepper try to hold back Guantanamurder, (wearing the jammer’s star cover on her helmet), from passing them, at a Bootcamp training session for the Charm City Roller Girls held at Skateland North Point. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Kate Meehan, left, and Holly Gohardly practice seal blocking with a partner, creating a wall to prevent opposing skaters from passing, during a Bootcamp training session for the Charm City Roller Girls held at Skateland North Point. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- In the role of jammer, Jeanne Dark, third from left (wearing star cover on her helmet) tries to get through a line of four blockers, from left, Beta Blockher, Lady Quebeaum, Mighty Mite, and DB Velocette, at a Bootcamp training session for the Charm City Roller Girls held at Skateland North Point. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Beta Blockher, left, and Sadie Stingray, center, practice blocking Nuckin’ Futz, behind them in the role of jammer, at a Bootcamp training session for the Charm City Roller Girls held at Skateland North Point. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Sadie Stingray, left, and McJagged, right, watch the practice during their brief moments on the bench, at a Bootcamp training session for the Charm City Roller Girls held at Skateland North Point. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
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- Fans ring the track to high-five all the players, including Female Trouble’s Smearin’ Off Ice, right, at the end of their match against Philly’s Independence Dolls. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
Charm City Roller Girls’ “B” team, Female Trouble, is battling Philadelphia’s Independence Dolls in the first bout of an interleague doubleheader of the WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association) at the Clarence “Du” Burns Arena in Canton. Female Trouble falls to their strong Philly rivals, 215 to 166, but they never lose their smiles. It’s fun. Next up are the Charm City All Stars, also facing a tough Philly squad, the Liberty Belles. Baltimore’s All Stars are ranked 12th in the world at the start of this season, and #3 in the WFTDA Eastern Region, right behind Philly.
After taking a direct hit to the shoulder midway through the first period, All Stars co-captain Kacey Huntington lands facedown on the track. Huntington’s roller derby name, I.M. Pain, has become agonizingly apt. The bout comes to a halt, but not for long. I.M. Pain, 31, with her bruised shoulder iced and bandaged, is back on the track in the second half. After holding their own at halftime, the All Stars are overwhelmed by the Liberty Belles, 231 to 129. Baltimore’s skaters seem undeterred by the loss, and their loyal fans ring the track to offer high-fives to both teams.
The game is divided into two-minute jams, with five players on each team. After the “jammer’s” first pass through the wall of opposing players, called blockers, she becomes the “lead jammer” and can score each time she passes opposing players on subsequent laps. Jenna Los, 34, known as Allie B. Back, observes, “You have to rely on your teammates to win; one person does not win or lose a bout.” Teammate Amy Callner, 39, adds, “I love the physicality of play and the strategy involved. We play offense and defense simultaneously.”
Callner, one of the founding members of CCRG, recalls that there were few contact sports for women when Maryland’s all-woman flat-track roller derby league began in 2005. “Roller derby redefined what an athlete looked like.” Throw in the “glam and glitter…and it seemed a safe place to explore and play with what femininity really meant for a lot of us…” Once Callner, whose moniker is Lady Quebeaum (pronounced “kaboom”), also discovered “just how much I really liked to hit people,” she was hooked.
Rachel Smith, 40, known as Red Pepper, loves both the exercise and friendship she has with her fellow skaters. For Smith, the deep camaraderie among teammates means that everyone can be themselves and feel fully accepted. Callner concludes, “This is not a hobby. This is a second job that pays me in muscle, grace and joy.” Female Trouble and the All Stars will be ready to roll again on April 13th, in the next home game of the interleague season at Clarence “Du” Burns Arena.
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