‘The Coolest Thing’ HARBOR CITY ROLLER DAMES KEEP ROCKING THE DERBY SCENE

BY MARK NICKLAWSKE

Elbows fly, legs twist and bodies crash as the Harbor City Roller Dames and North Star Roller Derby from Minneapolis wrestle around an oval track lined with fans in folding chairs awash in loud music, referee tweets and excited announcers

Ten skaters, five from each team, pile up on the concrete floor of an old hockey rink deep inside the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Wheels squeak, and a knee pad is ripped apart as the battle features all muscle and brawn.

And then — maybe a minute into the jam — lightning on wheels strikes: Emma Peters-Axtell, a Roller Dame known as “Soko Rebel,” finds a seam in the moving body wall and breaks through. She spins and does a sideways tip-toe dance along the out-of-bounds tape, turns backward and raises her arms as if she just nailed a Triple Lutz. The scoreboard racks up five more points for Harbor City.

The Roller Dames go on to defeat North Star Roller Derby 199-125 in the second bout of the three-bout Northshore Ottaline Derb-a-thon Sept. 15. The event, part of the Northshore Inline Marathon weekend, served as a showcase for Midwest women’s roller derby.

For the first-time fan, this is a good place to learn about the game.

“How I describe roller derby is NASCAR plus hockey,” said Abby Jean Goodell, who helped establish the Harbor City Roller Dames in 2007. “It’s full contact, pass as many people as you can … you play offense and defense at the same time.”

It’s a sport where players on four wheels deliberately crash into each other at high speed, own and operate the team and feature creative nicknames on jersey backs.

Goodell, who uses the skater name “Aurora Whorealis,” discussed derby strategy, culture and business with teammates Megan “Dready Krueger” O’Brien, who serves as team general manager, and Stephany “WhattheSteph” Kline, team treasurer, prior to Derb-a-thon events.

One thing for sure, today’s roller derby has little in common with the high-banked, made-for-TV melodrama of the 1970s.

“It’s less WWE and more athletic,” Goodell said. “There are actual rules.”

Unlike professional wrestling, participants are not allowed to punch, trip or clothesline their opponents. More athletic moves such as jumping, fast footwork and whipping a teammate ahead for speed are encouraged.

“Even if you have no idea what’s going on, it’s super fun to watch,” she said.

O’Brien agreed. She said she fell in love with the sport the first time she saw it at the DECC.

“I literally had no idea what was going on,” she said. “I just knew there was a ‘jammer’ and I was like ‘JAMMER! Yeah.’ Every time they got points it was, ‘You’ve been jammed! I don’t know why.’ It was a fun three hours for me.”

Kline was in the middle of the action that same night. Her memories are more painful.

“I got injured,” she said. “I fell and dislocated my left kneecap. That’s why it’s still in a brace. It’s loose and forever will be.”

Goodell said derby is a rough sport, and its first lessons teach skaters how to fall. Knees and elbows take the worst pounding.

“It only hurts when you’re not playing derby,” O’Brien said.

Like O’Brien, Goodell knew she had to be involved the first time she saw derby. “It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I was like rock and roll mixed with sports mixed with you get to yell and hit people and still be friends with them. That’s the coolest thing.”

The group said derby teaches women how to use their body in new ways and instills determination and teamwork.

For example, Kline discovered the sport when she was a teenager and joined the Roller Dames after she turned 21. “I’ve never been on a team before. I’ve never been athletic,” she said. “I looked at all these different types of women and thought, ‘I can do this.’ A week later, I went to my first practice.”

The Harbor City Roller Dames also serves as a social network and business incubator. Team members sell t-shirts and other merchandise, manage a website and social media feeds, recruit sponsors, organize road bouts and hold fundraisers such as dog washes, drag shows and art displays.

Goodell said her work as a founding team member taught her important business lessons that she uses now as the owner of a Superior tattoo shop. O’Brien manages the Hot Topic store in the Miller Hill Mall, and Kline is a dental hygienist.

The Harbor City Roller Dames currently have 15-20 skaters who pay monthly dues for practice space and are responsible for their own gear and insurance. It also has a large group of non-skating officials who serve as announcers, promoters and scorekeepers. New skaters are always welcome, as are new officials and referees.

The Roller Dames are members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association and stage their home bouts beginning in the spring at Wessman Arena in Superior. Each home bout is special, said team members, with a handpicked national anthem performer, a ceremonial first whistle and side attractions like a kid zone, live music and giveaways. Bouts are already scheduled for next May and June.

Goodell said the Roller Dames are currently ranked at a Division III level, behind teams from larger cities, including St. Paul and Minneapolis. North Star Roller Derby, for example, has enough players for three teams.

“We don’t want to play the (nationally ranked) Minnesota Roller Girls because we would just die,” Goodell said. “It’s hard because we don’t have a ton of skaters and, like, we all have real-life stuff that we do.”

But on the roller derby track, real life disappears. The “Soko Rebel” can blast through jams like an NFL running backs on wheels.

“I love it,” said Peters-Axtell, as she greeted fans and friends after the DECC bout. “I helped start the team more than 10 years ago, and I just love it.”