By Caitlin Crowley, [email protected], @snackattack17
Originally published in ‘4our on the Floor Derby Magazine’, February 2016
February 6th marked the season opening of two Fort Wayne, IN roller derby teams. The triple header began with the Fort Wayne Derby Brats (Varsity) vs Darlings of Destruction Jr. Roller Derby (Supernovas) (Rochester Hills, MI). DOD strongly favored star passes. The official final was a victory for FWDB 263 – 229.
Fort Wayne Indiana’s first and only Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby team bouted Hammer City Roller Girls ‘Eh! Team’ from Hamilton, Ontario for the main event. Hammer city took an early lead, but lost it in the second fifteen minutes. FWDG powerful line up of Jammers scored several 15+ point jams, keeping a clear lead from half time on.
Powerful blocking and several failed apex jumps lead to high track cuts on both teams, with five skaters total fouling out. Fort Wayne lost three jammers by the end of the bout to foul outs: #69 Pushy-Cat, #105 Majestic, and #119 Kellie Adkins.
“We had an A+++ ref staff. The game was called so tight there was literally zero room for errors”, Pushy-Cat.
The shortage of jammers lead to several fresh faces jamming. As well as the uncommon sight of, MVP Blocker, Rachel Tension, taking a star pass to score 10 points. But #00 Legs Fordays and #9 Feline Frenzy remained to jam and help Fort Wayne to victory. Legs Fordays is Fort Wayne’s newest jammer, transferring from Lake City Rollergirls (Warsaw, IN). This is Legs’ second consecutive MVP Jammer award.
FWDG is coached by former skater, and Fort Wayne’s first female coach, Amber Ryder ODaniels. Ryder is a veteran skater (Killamazoo & FWDG) and first time coach.
“Tonight we displayed a lot of heart, teamwork and athleticism. I am always floored by the tenacity of these skaters who do it all for fun. Penalties were a bit of a challenge for us tonight, however the time out was called to get the skaters to focus and remember who they are…FORT WAYNE DERBY GIRLS.”, Amber Ryder.
Several of the FWDG continued on to play one more bout on February 6th. Fort Wayne captains coordinated a Co-Ed bout between WFTDA and MRDA teams from Ohio and Indiana. Team Indiana consisted of skaters from FWDG, Naptown Roller Girls (Indianapolis), Race City Rebels (MRDA Indianapolis), and was coached by R.I.P Tide (FWDG). Representing Ohio was Ohio Roller Girls (Columbus), Gem City Roller Girls (Huber Heights), Cincinnati Roller Girls, and the Cincinnati Battering Rams (MRDA). Indiana took it’s third win of the night in the co-ed bout.