Roller derby is not a sport for the faint of heart. But try telling that to several female athletes from the Southtowns, who take pride in receiving — as well as dishing out — their fair share of bumps and bruises while skating for the Queen City Roller Girls.

More than a dozen former or current residents representing Hamburg, Eden and Blasdell are involved in the QCRG, which is Western New York’s first all-women’s flat track roller derby league. League matches, or bouts, take place at North Tonawanda’s Rainbow Roller Rink. Twelve local women skate in the rough-and-tumble, albeit finesse, league, while two southtowns-area men serve as referees.
A March bout between the Nickel City Knockouts and Alley Kats featured another standing room only, boisterous crowd at the 1,200-capacity Rainbow Rink. The rink’s dimensions are approximately 190 feet-by-100. A state-of-the-art scoreboard also illuminates the rink.

The league is comprised of five teams, including the Alley Kats, Nickel City Knockouts, Devil Dollies and Suicidal Saucies, to go along with the league’s travel squad, the Lake Effect Furies. Local squad members of the defending league champion Suicidal Saucies include Shannon Carlin-Menter, with the derby alias of “Dr. Dementor,” who is a resident of Eden and graduate of Eden High School; Terra Bialy, or “La Mala Rubia,” a Frontier High School graduate and Hamburg resident; Deborah Hughes, “Sissy Fit,” a native of Hamburg who attended Orchard Park High School; Jennifer Kemp, “Kiss This,” who grew up in Hamburg and now lives in Eden; and Corinne Eberwine, “Wrecks Kitten,” a Hamburg native who graduated from Hamburg High. Eberwine, who is a third-year team veteran, serves as director of marketing for the QCRG, while Carlin-Mentor captains the Saucies’ squad.

Stacy Tuberdyke, who is better known as “Tuesday Hula,” skates on the Devil Dollies’ squad primarily as a “blocking jammer” and also plays on the 34-member Lake Effect Furies travel squad. Tuberdyke is a native of Hamburg and graduated in 1995 from Frontier High, playing varsity soccer for the Lady Falcons’ squad, as well as club volleyball for a southtowns recreational league. Tuberdyke, whose maiden name is Lickfield, grew up as a neighbor to current QCRG referee Jeff Parker, known as “Shocker,” as each resided on Bradley Lane. In spring 2006, several women began brainstorming for the concept of a women’s roller derby league. Recreational group skating took place at Rainbow Rink on Wednesday evenings, but area females wanted to take the skating to a new level after witnessing several national derby league events.

Finally, the QCRG took form in February 2007 under the guidance of co-founders Lisa Kane (“FloTorious”) and Hughes. A “Slugs and Kisses” exhibition was followed by an official league schedule, and Tuberdyke assumed the title of League Training Committee co-chair, along with current referee Jacob Zdrojewski, or “1-Up.”

Hughes remembers watching a documentary on national roller derby and took the idea of the QCRG and helped promote the league at area college campuses, radio stations and publications. The response, she said, was great and Hughes has seen the league get more and more popular.

“It’s getting better and better with lots of people watching,” Hughes, a team jammer, said of roller derby. “Back in 2006, when the league was forming, we thought it’d be a great idea, and it has been...The venue (at Rainbow Rink) may be smaller, but you get packed houses and the spectators feel that you’re right on top of the action.”

Tuberdyke, who earned a degree in communications from the University of Buffalo, where she surrently works as a New York State University police officer, credits fellow Frontier graduate Jason Isla, or “Red Fox,” for his work as the QCRG “facilitator.” Isla, she said, has networked through his VertaSource business to help get sponsors, such as New Era Cap Company to donate league-emblem hats to the QCRG. Isla also serves as a non-voting member on the league’s Board of Directors. Tuberdyke has also used her past work experience in marketing to help in extending league networking opportunities.

Other locals on the Dollies include Kelly DiDomenico, or “Kiki Konkussion,” a native of Blasdell and graduate of Sacred Heart Academy; Maggie Bratko, or “Maggie DeSade,” who works in Hamburg and attended West Seneca East High School; and Maureen Olson, “Cha Cha Wheels,” who also works in Hamburg and grew up in the Southtowns area.
Locals on the Alley Kats include Hamburg native Michelle Johnson, better known as “NForceHer,” a Frontier High graduate who captains the Kats’ team; and Lauren Zdrojewski, “Alablaster No. 216,” who recently moved to Hamburg with her aforementioned husband, Jacob, who referees bouts. Jacob Zdrojewski graduated from Hamburg High in 2000. Parker also serves as one of the league’s 13 officials.

Karen Ham, who is known as “KarnEvil,” is a native of Hamburg and skates for the Nickel City Knockouts’ squad. The Nickel City Knockouts, Devil Dollies, Suicidal Saucies and Alley Kats have rosters of 20 players ages 21 and older, with a “Queen’s Court” non-roster group of athletes waiting in the wings for a team spot to open up. Tuberdyke said a skating camp for interested participants- including potential skaters and referees will take place on Sundays in August.

DiDomenico said she loves the physicality of the sport, citing her active athletic background growing up in Hamburg and playing volleyball and basketball, as well as swimming, at Sacred Heart Academy. DiDomenico, who currently lives in Blasdell, met Tuberdyke about four years ago and said the two had similar sport interests and personalities.

“I just like to be silly and like sports in general,” the 31-year-old DiDomenico said while she and teammates hosted the bout between the Alley Kats and Nickel City Knockouts. “(Roller Derby) is the best of both worlds. It’s skating and blocking. It’s a challenge physically...(Forming the league) was a chance to put Buffalo on the map with roller derby.”

Three positions in roller derby are the jammer, pivot and blocker. According to Women’s Flat Track Derby Association rules, the jammer starts behind the pack of skaters and wears a star helmet cover, attempting to find her way through the pack and legally passing as many opposing players as possible to score points. The pivot wears a striped helmet cover and starts at the front of the pack, controlling the pace of the pack and serves as the last line of defense against the opposing jammer. In rare strategic situations, the pivot can also act as a jammer when those position players exchange helmet covers. The blocker plays both defense and offense, attacking the opposing jammer while helping their team’s own jammer through the pack by occupying opposing blockers.

Referees signal the start of the “jam” and pack takeoff with a single whistle, then start the jammers’ skating with a double whistle after the last blocker in the pack crosses the pivot line; points are earned for each opponent a jammer passes once she laps the pack. The “lead jammer” is earned by the first jammer who passes each opponent legally in the first pass through the pack. The lead jammer is able to “call off” a jam before the two-minute lap is over, done so by placing hands on hips. If both skaters fail to pass each opponent legally in the first pass, no lead jammer is called and the jam will last the full two minutes. Oftentimes, body checks are administered and skaters fall to the ground. Helmets, elbow pads and knee pads are worn by each skater, and a protective foam buffer was recently installed along the rink’s outside wall to ensure further player safety.

Each bout consists of two 30-minute halves, with the clock continually running between the two-minute-long jams, except for when timeouts are called by team captains. Four referee whistles indicate the end of a jam. Also, once a jammer is 20 feet away from the pack, that skater is out of play and may not be engaged by an opposing skater. Pivots and blockers skating 20 feet in front of or behind the pack are also considered out of play and must fall back to or catch up to the pack to legally engage any skater. Minor penalties called stem from any form of illegal blocking as a lesser threat to other skaters, as well as blocking or assisting out of the pack and intentionally cutting the track or skating out of bounds.

Major penalties are handed out as a result of committing “gross unsportsladylike conduct,” such as deliberate or extended insubordination to a referee, fighting, illegal blocking seen as a more serious threat to other skaters (such as blocks above the shoulders or below the thighs) and the accumulation of four minor penalties accrued by a skater. Penalties last one minute, resulting from skaters assessed a major, with the player’s team being short a skater during that time. DiDomenico said with a laugh while watching a March bout that she’s “probably spent too much time in the box” before she was injured, adding that she’s become accustomed to life in the affectionately termed “sin bin.”

Carlin-Menter remembers hearing through the grapevine that the league was forming back in 2006 and since has never looked back. As the captain of the Saucies, she has the duty of putting together game lineups and player positions and says it’s a challenge dividing playing time between a roster of 20 girls. She said being a roller derby skater requires a high level of athleticism.

“You’ve got sprint times and you’ve got to get places quickly,” Carlin-Menter noted.

Bialy, a blocker on the Saucies, said she enjoys the “take-charge” atmosphere of roller derby and uses similar techniques as a Buffalo Schools teacher to install a no-nonsense attitude in the classroom. Still, it’s the closeness of the team on and off the track that provides Bialy the most happiness.

“There are friendships built that I will have the rest of my life,” the 35-year-old Bialy said. “We hang out a lot.”

Many players balance their time between roller derby, work and even raising children. Bratko said her husband has been especially understanding of her time commitment at the roller derby. A former soccer star at West Seneca East, she said she’d like to continue skating for the Dollies for a long time. She’s a jammer on the track, meaning attempts to score points by skating deftly through the pack of players and legally passing them. Her teammates, she said, “have her back,” both on and off the track.

“Right off the bat, they accept you,” Bratko noted.

Kemp has a flair for the dramatic and loves the aggressive nature of the sport. Since skating as a child while growing up in Hamburg, Kemp said she’s always been passionate about all her sports, whether it was softball or gymnastics in high school.

“I’m a brawler,” Kemp, a blocker for the Saucies, said with a grin. “I grew up fighting my twin brother a lot, so it started at an early age. I love hitting. This is my first season on the team and I love it. The nicknames are great, too. I don’t think I know any one of the girls’ actual real names.”

When the women aren’t skating in bouts, they can be found hosting and setting up other events and selling team merchandise, meeting members of the public and continuing to spread the word of roller derby. The personalities of the women seem to mesh under an overall understanding, and Lauren Zdrojewski said a mutual level of respect exists between teams.

“You can go and get knocked down by someone, then go out and join the same girls out for a beer later on,” said the 26-year-old Zdrojewski, a first-year QCRG member originally from Cleveland. “All the girls are really nice and teach you things...I remember watching a match in Cleveland in the past and thinking, ’Hey, I can do that.’ I looked up the {QCRG} online and they made it look so easy...The only time you really get hurt playing is when you’re not paying attention.”

Johnson, a 1995 Frontier High graduate who played softball and volleyball for the Lady Falcons, said upon completing her first practice, she was instantly hooked on the sport. She now captains a team and recruits and drafts new athletes while helping teach players techniques.

“I’ve always been more of a physical person, so I knew it was something I wanted to do,” said Johnson, a three-year QCRG veteran. “(The QCRG) really empowers women to do things they’ve never done before. We’re here for the love of derby.”

Tuberdyke, who has been selected nationally among 150 females to participate in a recent ’March Radness” derby event in Los Angeles, said she’s grown attached to the QCRG. She described this season as a year in transition for the league, but women’s roller derby continues to attract attention, especially after the release of a movie depicting the sport in “Whip It,” starring Drew Barrymore and Juliette Lewis.

“We’ve got a lot of four-year veterans here who may or may not be here next year, but they’ve really shown the way for all interested female athletes,” said the four-year derby veteran. “Derby is such a dynamic sport...It’s aggressive, and I like to hit and take hits.”

For additional information on the roller derby league or to purchase tickets, visit the Web site www.qcrg.net or call Rainbow Rink at 693-1100.

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