Dan Falloon
Crystal Caul is hoping to start some mayhem in Borderland.
The former member of the “Babes of Thunder Bay” roller derby team is hoping to bring the sport to Fort Frances.
Caul is planning an information session for Saturday, April 3, and both potential skaters and referees are invited to attend. At press time, a time and venue had not been selected, so those interested are encouraged to contact Caul at borderlandrollerderby@hotmail.com or at 274-8483 for more information.
“Once we get up and running, and people see what’s it’s all about, and see it in action, it’ll make a difference,” she reasoned.
Caul said there is a place for pretty much any woman with a desire to participate, noting smaller, swifter players have a role as do bigger, more solid competitors.
“People of any age, or any size, can play,” she enthused. “I’ve never really been super-athletic and this is really the only team sport I’ve ever played, and I really enjoy it.
“You don’t have to be the most athletic person and work out,” she stressed. “There are girls that are 250 pounds and girls that are 98 pounds.”
Caul noted a minimum of 14 players would be required to get a team going here, but ideally would like to gather a group of about 20 for a beefed-up roster.
She added the league also is looking for coaches and referees.
In the interim, some former Thunder Bay-affiliated coaches and players will help with drills and other training.
Roller derby has had scattered moments of popularity over the past half-century, but the current revival has helped the sport seep into smaller communities, including towns such as Picayune, Miss. and Orange Park, Fla. (both with a population of about 10,000), Essex Junction, Vt. (population 7,000), and Mt. Morris, Mich. (population 3,200).
As well, the proposed local team would find itself a reasonable distance from several other circuits, with Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Fargo, Duluth, and Bemidji all hosting teams.
The Twin Cities also is home to three squads.
But Caul cited a difference between previous incarnations of roller derby and its current state—the ’60s and ’70s were about the spectacle, the present day is about the sport.
“It’s a full-contact sport,” she explained. “It’s not like in the ’70s where they clotheslined each other and punched each other, in more of a wrestling kind of way.
“It’s an actual sport. It has rules,” she stressed. “You can’t elbow, you can’t push from behind, no head-butting.”
That isn’t to say that there isn’t an entertainment element. Participants often compete under clever, assumed names, often using some form of wordplay.
Caul, for example, goes by “Mora Pobitch”—a play on the name of talk show host Maury Povich.
She noted derby names only can be used once, and are registered at www.twoevils.org to ensure there is no overlap.
At this point, Caul already has garnered interest from about a dozen locals after creating a Facebook group called “Borderland Roller Derby” to help spread the word.
She also plans to try to recruit members from International Falls and surrounding areas.
One other item on Caul’s list is to secure a practice space for the team, noting the small gym at Fort Frances High School is a possibility right now.
As for actual “bouts,” she felt Fort High’s big gym, one of the arenas at the Memorial Sports Centre, or the Couchiching Recreation Centre all are possibilities.
Caul explained each team has five players on the floor at a time, with three different positions: three blockers, a pivot, and a jammer.
“There’s a blocker, and basically, they hit and block people,” she noted. “And then there’s a pivot, who is pretty much the lead blocker.
“They set the pace for the other players on their team. They keep track of what’s going on all around the track.
“And then the jammer is the one who scores the points,” she added. “The jammer starts behind everyone else, and the rest of the girls stand in a bunch, which is called a pack.
“The jammer has to try to get through the pack, and then for each person of the opposing team that they pass, they get a point.”
Passing the pack and then getting past the opposing jammer again results in a “grand slam,” which, to the chagrin of baseball purists, results in five points in roller derby.
A “jam” is ruled dead either after two minutes or when the lead jammer signals it over by putting her hands on her hips.
Meanwhile, each “bout” lasts for 60 minutes, with a halftime in the middle.
Caul still is a relative rookie, having just participated in her first live roller derby in Winnipeg back on Feb. 27 as the “Babes of Thunder” took on the hometown “Murder City Maidens.”
“It was a little intimidating the first time around,” she recalled. “They [the crowd] were all very excited and I think that they were just glad that they got tickets.”
The event’s 1,900 tickets sold out well in advance of the Maidens’ home debut.
The roller derby revival has been helped along by the 2009 movie “Whip It,” starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore.
Caul felt the action scenes in the movie were accurate, but the light-hearted attitude displayed by some of the characters might have been a little too whimsical of a representation.
“I think it was a little too theatrical,” she remarked, while noting the action in the movie was on a banked track while the local team would play on a flat one.
“People are playing right to win,” she added.
For those looking to join the sport, but are without roller skates, Caul noted there are a couple of options.
Skates are available at stores in larger centres, although Caul said she and many of the “Babes of Thunder” picked up their skates at www.rollergirl.ca, where complete packages for new athletes, including skates and protective equipment, range from $275-$385.
