Roller Derbies: Rock and Roll is Alive in Ohio

The phrase “Rock and Roll” was coined in Cleveland, but Akron area women have taken it to a whole new level.

Take that phrase, add in fishnet stockings, zany costumes, fast-paced action, creative naming conventions, and a truckload of toughness and desire, and plop all those things into a pair of roller skates,  and you come up with the Rock 'n' Roller Girls, an all-female roller derby league. 

The Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls will hit the big-time beginning May 10, 2008. Following a year of planning, paperwork and practice, they performed their first home bout at the Pinnacle Sports Arena in Medina Ohio, just west of the 77-Route 18 exit in Fairlawn, Ohio.

If you think this might be a ton of fun to attend, you are absolutely correct. It was fun just attending a practice!

For only $10 presale, or $13 at the door, you’ll be treated to three twenty minute periods of non-stop pushing and shoving as the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls try to jam home a win against their northern inter-league counterpart, the Flint City Derby Girls of Michigan.  For advance sales tickets, visit www.NRRGirls.com   Doors open at 5:00.  The bout begins at 6:00 PM.

While this is their first official home contest, the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls have already made their presence known within the community, staging an exhibition bout and raising over $2,300 for “Until the Violence Stops,” a program put on by the Women’s Network.

Running down the slate of names, we have Chrissie B. Hynde, Teeny Houdini, Eighty-SixHer, Suicide Blonde, Amber Vendetta, Alexa Clipper, DisGraced Kelly, Agent Skullie, B.F. Goodbytch, Taking Names, Amy Animal, blackhalo, Sweet Demise, Scarlet GoDancin’, and the list rolls on an on (no skating pun intended).

You might recall watching Roller Derby on TV when you were a kid (assuming of course you aren’t a kid now).

Back then, it was co-ed and the track was banked, much like a Nascar oval.  There were also rails the contestants might fly over.  The Northeast Ohio Rock N Roller girls are flat track skaters, so no banked track, and no rails; additionally no men.

The sports resurgence found its roots in Texas back in 2001 and its popularity is extending across the land.  Currently Ohio has teams in Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron.

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