Rink opens with roller derby exhibition

Editor's note: The below version corrects the Devil's Angels email address, the participating team in Friday's event and the participating team in an upcoming July 20th roller derby event. 

MOSES LAKE - The Larson Recreation Center skating rink opened for summer skating Friday with skating instruction, games and prizes, and a demonstration of the sport of roller derby by a newly formed local team, the Devil's Angels.

And it's definitely a sport. "It's a serious sport," said Kim Becht, the president of the Devil's Angels. It's making a comeback throughout central Washington, among other places.

"It's addicting," Becht said. Moses Lake's teams were both founded this year, the Bomb Squad in February and the Devil Angels in May. There are teams in Wenatchee, Tri-Cites and Ellensburg as well.

The premise sounds really simple. It's played on a flat track. There are five players per team, with one player allowed to score (called a jammer). The remaining four players are blockers, and their job is to, well, block the other team from scoring.

The jammer's job is to get around the other team's blockers. Sounds simple. Even sounds easy. Yeah, but they're not called blockers for nothing.

"Each team's blockers use body contact, attempting to knock their opponents out of bounds or impede their movements," according to an information sheet, Derby 101, available from the Devil Angels. Blockers can't throw elbows, use hands, feet or head. But they can body block.

Participants must be 18. The Devil Angels have players ranging from their early 20 to early 50s, Becht said.

The Moses Lake teams haven't entered competition yet, said Carly Garcia, Bomb Squad president. Prospective participants must pass written and skills tests before they qualify for competition, Becht said. Roller derby girls must pass a timed skating tests, know how to stop, how to block and "learn how to fall properly," Garcia said.

"It's very conducive to family," Becht said. The teams are supported by member dues and fundraisers, and families get involved, she said. Both teams have received many donations from the community, Garcia said.

Both teams are recruiting players, and any woman who wants to participate can attend Devil Angel practices, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, or Bomb Squad practices, 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday. Both practice at the ice rink, 610 South Yakima St.

Prospective participants also can contact the teams as mlbombsquad@yahoo.com or  devilsangelsskate@yahoo.com.

The Bomb Squad will be part of an exhibition scrimmage July 20, the "Brutal Bash in the Basin," which also will feature teams from out of town.

The Devil's Angels will be taking the weekend off and volunteering at Relay for Life in Moses Lake, according to Jessica Huntley, with the team.