Sunday, January 11, 2009

Happy Black & Blue Year!

On a completely non-design related topic, last night was the season opener for our local roller derby league, The Naptown Roller Girls.






The 2009 season will be the league’s third and will introduce a new junior varsity team, The Warning Belles. Last night our varsity team, The Tornado Sirens, bouted the Pittsburgh’s Steel City Derby Demons. Although the ticket count has not been made official, I am guessing there were somewhere around 3,000 spectators. Our league’s fan base never ceases to amaze me. The average attendance for our neighboring Midwest leagues is more like 300-500 spectators.
Last night was a tough loss for our Sirens. While they managed to dominate during the first half of the first period, Pittsburg eventually figured out the Siren’s strategy, adjusted their game play and swiftly put up a painful point spread. With a solid lead at the end of the first period, the Steel City girls just kept racking up points in a big way. It was obvious that Naptown was not going to win this one. However, when I looked around there was not a empty patch in the crowd. If I were at a Colts or Pacers game people would be filing out early to get a head start on the traffic.
I don’t know what spell our girls have cast on the city, but 3 years later they are just as enchanted. And rightfully so, roller derby is one exciting sport! Maybe it is the fact that these girls do everything for free; they run the business of the league, organize practices, schedule and compete in the bouts and even clean up the pavilion for no pay. In fact, roller girls pay to play! I have always been told that a person is likely to succeed if they are doing something they are truly passionate about. There is something intoxicating about a person with passion and these girls have it. With 5 minutes left in last night’s bout, you could see so much heart on that track. Maybe that is why the fans stay. As long as the girls are fighting, the crowd will have their back.
These images were taken at the bout by our amazing photographers Marc Lebryk and Tom Klubens:








As a retired roller girl I stay involved with the league as a member of the creative committee and a referee. I hope to share some of the behind the scenes work that goes into making this league so amazing but for now I just wanted to introduce you to your Naptown Roller Girls.

*This is for Polina:




3 comments:

Polina Osherov said...

how come there's no photos of you in your cool ref getup?

Nikki Sutton said...

For more great photos, check out Jarred Haller's blog at - http://albums.phanfare.com/2450096/1449957

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