FRINGE 1.3 | Page 14

              How did you get involved with derby? I have a friend who lives in Ohio and saw her posts on Facebook. I found the Camel City thrashers and the rest was history. I started at the end of January 2013. Was it different than you expected? I don’t know what I thought going into it. I loved to skate; that was my attraction to it. I guess I was just mostly concerned about “can I really do   this?” I was concerned about hitting. Will I be able to take the hitting, will I be able to hit? It’s a huge commitment, much bigger than I anticipated. But I wasn’t really doing anything else other than working, so why not spend my time doing   this? Do you address the other players by their derby names? Yes; it’s weird if you address them by their real names. What is derby culture like? It’s a really awesome community. It’s very tight-knit. Everyone looks out for each   other, which is something we probably all gravitate to in derby. In some kind of way, most of us, if not all of us, felt like some sort of misfit. And then we found this, this huge community of misfit people. I don’t know where my life would be without derby. I could start   the women’s empowerment side of it. It’s the most empowering thing I’ve crying. I was wondering about ever done. It’s changed me as a person. I used to be kind of a pushover, but now I have the confidence to stand up for myself, and to shine because of who I am. I wish I had come to derby a lot sooner. I would encourage anybody to participate, in any kind of way they could. Even if they couldn’t skate, there are so many other things that go on to make these things happen. There are always people encouraging you and lifting you up. When you’re sad, they want to make you happy. These are girls that have your back. It’s pretty important. If you’re a mother and you have daughters, put them in the sport. Let them play any sport, honestly, but don’t be afraid of this because it’s full contact. There are a lot of rules and regulations, all geared towards safety. It’s not a free for all. Do you think derby is less aggressive than people think? I think that people have a skewed view of it, because when you say roller derby, they think the derby of the 70’s, but hopefully we are changing that. Can you tell me about the history of derby names? That’s my wife right there,   Butternut Squasher, and I’m Sass Squasher. I think derby names started in the   70’s, because it was theatrical, kind of like wrestling. And then the name idea stuck when it became more of an athletic-based sport. More competitive and less     for show. Do people consider it a sport? Oh, definitely. We have kind of a “have your own adventure” type league. We have home teams, which are recreational, for people who aren’t super serious about roller derby yet. We have the Battleground Betties, Elm Street Nightmares and the Mad Dollies. That’s intro play, so they play within Greensboro. Then we have a B team and an A team, Counterstike and Gate City. Those are our travel teams. We travel all over the place within the US. We’ve had one team travel internationally to come play us. Really, from where? I don’t remember. Maybe Norway. Is derby big there? It’s big all over Europe. But the US pretty much dominates. Us, Canada, England, Australia, those are the stronges