February 11, 2015
Hell on wheels Recipes
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Whole Grains for the Whole Day
Feature Section
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The Real Estate Guide
Photo by Brett Auten The St. Chux Derby Chix mix it up during a recent scrimmage. The Derby Chix are ranked in the top 35 in the world in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. The Derby Chix play their first home game on Feb. 21 at Matteson Square Gardens.
The St. Chux Derby Chix roller derby team mixes passion with action By Brett Auten The rolling thunder; chirps, sudden and sporadic. Instructions and signals, complaints and congrats echoed at different volumes. The occasional splaying of spandex skaters to the hardwood, like baby deer on ice. Roller derby. It’s alive and doing quite well here among us. The St. Chux Derby Chix have steadily built a legitimate club in the world, yes world-wide, sport of roller derby. If one has any memory at all of the sport it is mostly nostalgic. Roller derby was regarded as the bad step-sister to professional wrestling. Hair pulling and tripping was just the start of it. But the times have changed for the better. Roller derby has gone legit and the Derby Chix are not only having a ball doing it but inching their way toward elite status. The St. Chux Derby Chix are part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), a national governing body for female-only, skater-owned, flat-track roller derby leagues. As of 2014 the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, (WFTDA), had 243 full member leagues. The Derby Chix were founded in 2009 and started competing in 2010. After a couple of seasons they became globally legit, becoming a full WFTDA club. They currently have two travel
School
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2015 STEM Extravaganza teams, the Pack in Black (the WFTDA squad) and the Hell’s Belles. After a surging 2014 campaign, the Derby Chix enter this season ranked in the top 35 of the WFTA. The sport has changed dramatically in its culture and standing. Look no further than the Roller Chix head coach. Andi Cook is a transplant from England who spends his daylight hours as a research scientist. He got into the sport and played briefly for the St. Louis men’s team, the Gatekeepers (who are currently ranked second in to world) before trading in his skates for a whistle. “I was just looking for something,” Cook said. “Something to meet people and hang out. I found that St. Louis isn’t the best place to randomly meet friends.” The majority of the Derby Chix roster comes from the St. Charles area along with a number from St. Louis. Jamielee Connor, of St. Charles, has been with the club for five seasons. She’s seen Derby Chix coaches come and go and some not even show. Because of a co-worker, Connor went out to watch a match and it snowballed from there. “I never really played sports growing up but it looked fun and appealing to me,” Connor said. “It was fast paced, action packed, it was all girls. It looked competitive and fun.” O’Fallon’s DeAnna Seithel had no rec-
ollection of roller derby’s past. Once she found out about a sport that hearkened to her childhood mixed with a little physicality, she knew it was a fit without even seeing it played. “I skated as a kid all the time and when I found out about it I was like, this is for me,” Seithel said. “I found out where the practices were and went and signed up. I had never seen it. But anything on quads (four wheels instead of inline skates) that’s right up my alley.” See HELL ON WHEELS page 2
Over The Fence
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FSF Mutation Meditation
Oscar Watch 2015
“Still Alice” photo courtesy of BSM Studio
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