PATRIOT BREMERTON
KITSAP WEEKLY: Woven of wool and love
Two sections, 28 pages
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 | Vol. 19, No. 28 | WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
Roller Derby: ‘fun, hard and you can hit people’
1918 Spanish Flu pandemic hit Bremerton hard BY MARK BRIANT MBRIANT@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Northwest Derby Company blockers ArmaGhetto, Brawlyanna and Medusya prevent an enemy jammer from breaking Michelle Beahm / Staff photo through to score points in the roller derby bout held Saturday, Sept. 17.
Full-contact women’s sports team has home in Northwest Derby Company BY MICHELLE BEAHM MBEAHM@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
What is roller derby? It’s a full-contact sport. An all-inclusive community. A tension-relieving activity. An extreme way to exercise. “It’s fun, hard and you can hit people,” said Jessica Dickerson. “It’s chaotic, and when you can get on the same level with your team, it’s the best feeling.” Known simply as “Jess” in the roller-derby community, she is September’s “skater of the month” for Kitsap County’s Northwest Derby Company. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the company is home to the only adult roller derby league in the county. Nearing the end of its fifth season, co-captain of the team Aimee
“As women in our society ... you’re taught your whole life not to be loud or take up space, or (you’re) chastised for not being delicate or feminine ... In roller derby, what’s so fantastic about it is it’s all inclusive. If doesn’t matter if you’re big, small, skinny, fat, brown, orange. None of that matters in roller derby. All that matters is if you want to skate, you want to play.”
— Aimee Durgan, co-captain of Northwest Derby Company
Durgan (also known as Brawlyanna) said it got its start as a co-ed recreation team based in Port Orchard called Skate Club. When that ended, they developed Northwest Derby Company in January 2012, part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Roller derby in an athletic competition that has five players from each team on the rink at a time: three blockers, one pivot and one jammer. The jammer is the point scorer, who has to break through the enemy blockers and pivot to lap around, scoring points. The blockers and pivot not only have to block the enemy jammer, but also have to clear the way
for their own jammer. “I really like blocking because not only is it more physical in terms of getting to hit,” Durgan said, “but it’s also a little more mental than being a jammer. Jammers have to be smart … but as a blocker, you’re trying to work in tandem with four other people. When you’re a jammer, you’re just kind of on your own and hoping your team is going to help you.” Dickerson said the challenge of being a blocker is working with her teammates and switching between offense and defense at the right time. Sol Zamora, another member of NDC SEE ROLLER DERBY, A6
BREMERTON — The influenza epidemic of 1918 did not spare the fledgling town of Bremerton. However, few places actually did escape its ravages: 40 million of people died the world over, wreaking the worst human cost from an epidemic since the plague in Europe during the Middle Ages. For Bremerton, the worst impact from the Spanish flu hit Bremerton in September 1918, as the Great War was winding down and people (and the Navy) were preparing for the Armistice. Few, if any, families in Bremerton escaped without at least one family member coming down with this savage affliction. Local doctors and other medical personnel worked round-the-clock to stave off the threat, but with SEE HISTORY, A9
PSNS & IMF apprentice program graduation BREMERTON — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility honored 184 skilled members of its workforce during the apprentice program graduation ceremony, Sept. 16 at the Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center. “It is a challenging program and you should all be very proud of this accomplishment,” PSNS & IMF Commander Capt. Howard Markle said to the graduating class. “I am certainly proud of what you have achieved so far in your careers and look forward to working with you now as journey-level craftsmen and women.” Family members, friends, instructors, supervisors, apprentice program alumni and local government officials attended the ceremony, which took place on the 125th anniversary of the shipyard’s establishment. In his keynote remarks at the graduation ceremony, Markle said, “You truly are a very unique group, a very small group that still does what America was built on. What you do each and every day is you work on those ships, SEE GRADUATION, A9
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