A roll on the wild side
Beth Rutherford photo Columbia Basin Roller Derby player Beth Rutherford, left, levels an opposing jammer during a bout.
Beth Rutherford photo The Columbia Basin Roller Derby team includes, front to back, from left; Mauly Mormon, Katiedyd U. Dirty, PTellHer Pain, Stellicious, Roxy Riot, Meean Kitty, Brawl Flower, Medusa Damage, Shannanigans, Sasstastic, Jordangerous, Wenezday Thumpday, Whack, WreckingBall and Black Widow.
MOSES LAKE — With names like Wenzday Thumpday, PTellHer Pain, WreckingBall or even Mauly Mormon, it’s hard imagine they hit like a girl. But these women are hell on wheels and they love the rough and tumble sport called roller derby.
The Columbia Basin Roller Derby team is part of the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association. This particular group of women from Ephrata, Wilson Creek, Moses Lake and Soap Lake, love to take a walk on the wild side. They’re drawn together by a full-contact game on skates.
Beth Rutherford (PTellHer Pain), 26, works at Takata, an airbag propellent manufacturer here in Moses Lake. Captain Alissa Starkweather (Wenzday Thumpday), 33, drives a school bus for the Moses Lake School District. Stella Shull (StellIicious), 36, lives in Wilson Creek.
They come from the farm, the city, they work in agriculture, for the schools, manufacturing, but their love of knocking somebody elbows over tea kettle is the common bond that brings them together.
“I’m not one of those that likes to go to the gym. When I got into roller derby I really didn’t even know what it was, but I liked the workout,” said Starkweather, who along with Lisa Culbertson, is one of the last of the original team that started back in 2013. “It involves such a vast kinds of personalities. Somebody asked me if I did roller derby because I look like roller derby girl.
“There’s some girls that look the part. There’s some girls that go by their actual name. Some girls put on their make-up on and go out and play roller derby.”
Shull just laughed at the question, “What does a roller derby girl look like?”
“Roller derby to me is excitement, getting in there mixing it up,” said Shull, who is going into her third season. “My very first scrimmage ever was over in Pullman. It takes a year or so to train and learn, but I actually got to play. I was playing against a 70-year-old woman and I’m thinking I’m going through her. She knocked me on my (bleep). I was like, whoa, that’s what I get for prejudging someone.”
Roller derby is scored by how many times your jammer can work their way through the opposing team. Each team has four blockers, defenders if you will, and one jammer. Sometimes the jammer is about strength and stamina, others it’s speed. The bouts consist of two-minute intervals called jams, where teams jockey for position. The jammer scores, the blockers deny and they wear pads and helmets for a reason — it’s game on when you’re circling the track.
“Once you make the initial lap, you score points for every skater your jammer passes,” said Rutherford. “You typically alternate lineups. You do, sometimes, stay out there for more than one jam. Sometimes there’s a very skilled wall out there and you need experience. It’s very much an interval game.”
The Columbia Basin team practices twice a week at the Lakeview Roller Rink in Soap Lake, but this year they will host bouts at Soap Lake High School. The schedule starts in February and runs through April. They will host bouts in February and April during the eight-bout season and play away bouts in Ellensburg, Yakima, Spokane and Centralia.
“I have met the most diverse group of men and women I’ve ever met in my whole life,” said Starkweather, who is going into her fifth year. “It’s a lot of fun and I plan on doing this for as long as I can.”
For more information call team vice president Wendy Fratella-Harris at 509-431-5990 or visit www.facebook.com/CBRD.women.