On any given weeknight, a dozen Lethbridge College staff, students and alumni are geared up and ready to roll – literally.
In a room that feels like an empty warehouse, on the naked concrete floors, bright yellow tape marks an outline of a flat track. Women in fishnet leggings and short shorts are prepared for battle. The referee’s whistle blasts and the Lethbridge Derby Dames are set free on the track.
Roller derby is a fast-growing sport in Lethbridge and it just so happens that some from Lethbridge College populate the Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild.
“It’s not your typical sport,” says Martina Emard (Print Journalism ‘93), vice president of the Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild. “It is a lot of fitness and competition. I think a lot of people see girls dressing up and skating around and prancing and it is so not like that. There is blood, there is sweat and there are broken bones. There are girls who just pour their hearts out into this sport to make it work.”
Emard – who is known on the track as Cherri Blaster – is a Lethbridge College alumna and faculty member. She began working at the college in the fall of 2002 as an instructional assistant in Communication Arts - Advertising and Public Relations and is now an instructor in that program.
Emard got into roller derby because she loved to skate and had been skating all her life. “When I first contacted the roller derby league in 2010,” she says, “they hadn’t even practiced yet. So I was lucky to get into it at the very beginning.”
Today, the Guild consists of three teams – a more elite travel team and two house teams.
“Some skaters enjoy playing, enjoy practicing but don’t have a big interest in competing or being on the travel team,” says Emard. “So that is why we have our house teams, which allow the recreational players to still enjoy the sport.”
The Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild is run by the skaters themselves. For most skaters, derby is a lifestyle and not just a game.
Each team sports its team jersey and the required safety equipment. As for the rest of the wardrobe, anything goes. “If you want to be flamboyant and be someone completely different than you are off the track, you can,” says Emard. “You can dress in hot pink, wear red lip stick and dye your hair purple for the game and then go back to your other persona when you’re not skating. And then there are other girls that just dress for comfort and to not overheat.”
Derby girl Jessica Olson – known at the track as Hellz Jezebel – is a new addition to Lethbridge College. Olson transferred her Addictions Counselling degree from Medicine Hat to enter into Lethbridge College’s Criminal Justice program this past fall.
While taking her schooling in Medicine Hat, Olson saw a derby poster and was invited to a practice by a fellow student. She has been hooked ever since.
“I just like the game,” Olson says. “I like competing and I love the atmosphere. As soon as there are other derby girls, there is this family where you already have immediate friends. You can go anywhere and even if you don’t play on the team, you find out someone is a derby girl – you’re already connected to her.”
Recent Lethbridge College grad Dawn Roper – also known as Hellvetica Bold – studied multimedia productions and discovered the Lethbridge Derby Dames while perusing Facebook one day.
“I’ve never done anything as exciting as derby,” Roper says. “I have never really been an athlete, or played sports in my life. So, it was really cool to be a part of the team. And the community of the team, I really like that.”
Anyone interested in trying out roller derby can drop into one of the Guild’s practices. Skaters are provided with skates and all the safety equipment needed. The only requirement to getting involved is to be at least 18.
“It is a really empowering sport for someone who has never been in sports before,” says Emard. “We are all from so many different backgrounds and we all mesh. There are people who I have met I would have never met otherwise. Just come in with no expectations and have fun.”
*** Roller Derby Members with Lethbridge College Connections
Staff Jennifer Nerissa Davis (General Studies/Psychology faculty) Martina Emard (Applied Management faculty and Lethbridge College Communication Arts/PR graduate ‘93)
Students Chantal Lortie (Practical Nursing ‘13) Jessica Olson (Justice Studies ‘13)
Alumni Melissa Belter (Communication Arts/Print Journalism ‘07) Monique Lessard Dawson (Environmental Assessment and Restoration ‘05) Molly Elliot (Interior Design ‘11) Brenna Allsop Nicholson (Practical Nursing ‘10) Mel Palmeter (Conservation Enforcement ‘02) Dawn Roper (Multimedia Production ‘12) Desiree Unvoas (Communication Arts ‘06) Alaina Fabro Wells (Communication Arts ‘99)
*** The Basics of Derby
The object of roller derby is the same as the object of most sports – to beat the other team.
Meets are called bouts and consist of two 30-minute periods and two-minute jams. During a jam, each team has two jammers and four blockers on the track. After two whistles everyone skates in the same direction and jammers try to skate through the blockers.
Each blocker who is passed nets one point for that team.
Blockers, meanwhile, must play offense and defense by trying to get their jammer through the pack while keeping the other team’s jammer from getting through. Blocking is done with hits, which are regulated by the referee.
Elbowing and clothes-lining someone – that is, linking elbows with a teammate to try to take an opponent down– are both illegal; hits must be above the knees, below the shoulders and not from behind.
To prevent injuries, players must wear helmets, mouth guards, wrist guards, elbow and knee pads, and they must carry personal health insurance.
Roller derbies include other rules as well, but those are the basics.
For more information visit lethbridgerollerderby.ca.
In a room that feels like an empty warehouse, on the naked concrete floors, bright yellow tape marks an outline of a flat track. Women in fishnet leggings and short shorts are prepared for battle. The referee’s whistle blasts and the Lethbridge Derby Dames are set free on the track.
Roller derby is a fast-growing sport in Lethbridge and it just so happens that some from Lethbridge College populate the Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild.
“It’s not your typical sport,” says Martina Emard (Print Journalism ‘93), vice president of the Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild. “It is a lot of fitness and competition. I think a lot of people see girls dressing up and skating around and prancing and it is so not like that. There is blood, there is sweat and there are broken bones. There are girls who just pour their hearts out into this sport to make it work.”
Emard – who is known on the track as Cherri Blaster – is a Lethbridge College alumna and faculty member. She began working at the college in the fall of 2002 as an instructional assistant in Communication Arts - Advertising and Public Relations and is now an instructor in that program.
Emard got into roller derby because she loved to skate and had been skating all her life. “When I first contacted the roller derby league in 2010,” she says, “they hadn’t even practiced yet. So I was lucky to get into it at the very beginning.”
Today, the Guild consists of three teams – a more elite travel team and two house teams.
“Some skaters enjoy playing, enjoy practicing but don’t have a big interest in competing or being on the travel team,” says Emard. “So that is why we have our house teams, which allow the recreational players to still enjoy the sport.”
The Lethbridge Roller Derby Guild is run by the skaters themselves. For most skaters, derby is a lifestyle and not just a game.
Each team sports its team jersey and the required safety equipment. As for the rest of the wardrobe, anything goes. “If you want to be flamboyant and be someone completely different than you are off the track, you can,” says Emard. “You can dress in hot pink, wear red lip stick and dye your hair purple for the game and then go back to your other persona when you’re not skating. And then there are other girls that just dress for comfort and to not overheat.”
Derby girl Jessica Olson – known at the track as Hellz Jezebel – is a new addition to Lethbridge College. Olson transferred her Addictions Counselling degree from Medicine Hat to enter into Lethbridge College’s Criminal Justice program this past fall.
While taking her schooling in Medicine Hat, Olson saw a derby poster and was invited to a practice by a fellow student. She has been hooked ever since.
“I just like the game,” Olson says. “I like competing and I love the atmosphere. As soon as there are other derby girls, there is this family where you already have immediate friends. You can go anywhere and even if you don’t play on the team, you find out someone is a derby girl – you’re already connected to her.”
Recent Lethbridge College grad Dawn Roper – also known as Hellvetica Bold – studied multimedia productions and discovered the Lethbridge Derby Dames while perusing Facebook one day.
“I’ve never done anything as exciting as derby,” Roper says. “I have never really been an athlete, or played sports in my life. So, it was really cool to be a part of the team. And the community of the team, I really like that.”
Anyone interested in trying out roller derby can drop into one of the Guild’s practices. Skaters are provided with skates and all the safety equipment needed. The only requirement to getting involved is to be at least 18.
“It is a really empowering sport for someone who has never been in sports before,” says Emard. “We are all from so many different backgrounds and we all mesh. There are people who I have met I would have never met otherwise. Just come in with no expectations and have fun.”
*** Roller Derby Members with Lethbridge College Connections
Staff Jennifer Nerissa Davis (General Studies/Psychology faculty) Martina Emard (Applied Management faculty and Lethbridge College Communication Arts/PR graduate ‘93)
Students Chantal Lortie (Practical Nursing ‘13) Jessica Olson (Justice Studies ‘13)
Alumni Melissa Belter (Communication Arts/Print Journalism ‘07) Monique Lessard Dawson (Environmental Assessment and Restoration ‘05) Molly Elliot (Interior Design ‘11) Brenna Allsop Nicholson (Practical Nursing ‘10) Mel Palmeter (Conservation Enforcement ‘02) Dawn Roper (Multimedia Production ‘12) Desiree Unvoas (Communication Arts ‘06) Alaina Fabro Wells (Communication Arts ‘99)
*** The Basics of Derby
The object of roller derby is the same as the object of most sports – to beat the other team.
Meets are called bouts and consist of two 30-minute periods and two-minute jams. During a jam, each team has two jammers and four blockers on the track. After two whistles everyone skates in the same direction and jammers try to skate through the blockers.
Each blocker who is passed nets one point for that team.
Blockers, meanwhile, must play offense and defense by trying to get their jammer through the pack while keeping the other team’s jammer from getting through. Blocking is done with hits, which are regulated by the referee.
Elbowing and clothes-lining someone – that is, linking elbows with a teammate to try to take an opponent down– are both illegal; hits must be above the knees, below the shoulders and not from behind.
To prevent injuries, players must wear helmets, mouth guards, wrist guards, elbow and knee pads, and they must carry personal health insurance.
Roller derbies include other rules as well, but those are the basics.
For more information visit lethbridgerollerderby.ca.
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