Rose CIty Rollers
Portland has a good number of rec leagues, where anyone with interest and desire can join a team. We also have our pro teams, the Blazers and the Timbers (despite their complete lack of acknowledgment of the queer community, but, hey, that’s a topic for another post).
Finally, we are lucky to have a league that incorporates recreational play for complete beginners as well as awesome spectating opportunities — the Rose City Rollers. RCR has been kicking around Portland since 2004, and in that time they’ve created an infrastructure that should be the envy of any upstart league.
They have four home teams which compete against one another, an all-star team that competes against teams from around the northwest, an even all-starrier team that competes nationwide, a recreational program for total beginners, a training program for those who want to ultimately join the home teams, and a juniors team for girls ages 12-17 (which is called, somewhat hilariously, the Rosebuds). And this isn’t your mama’s roller derby — in contrast to the staged bouts popular on tv in decades past, these competitions are completely real.
Whether you’re interested in skating yourself or in taking in a bout (or both!), the Rollers have some exciting opportunities coming up.
On March 18th, the Break Neck Betties, one of RCR’s four home teams, scrimmage Tacoma’s Femme Fianna. The next day, two of the home teams, the High Rollers and Guns n Rollers, go head to head in the third bout of the season. Both are sure to be great matches, and at just $7 and $14 respectively they’re cheap to boot.
Tryouts for RCR’s Fresh Meat training program take place on May 7th. Prior to that, the league is holding a month-long bootcamp for 30 lucky ladies, where you’ll get prepared to try out for the Fresh Meat program, which ultimately leads to joining a home team. If you just want to have some fun skating without worrying about making the cut, you can join the recreational program at any time.
