A whistle tweets, signaling the end of the jam. Wheels squeak to a stop, and knee pads slam onto the shiny linoleum floor of the Lynden Skateway skating rink. At first glance, roller derby almost looks like wrestling on roller skates.
“They eat, live, breathe the sport,” says Shreddy Bruisevelt, one of the coaches who started Whatcom County’s first junior roller derby league in 2017. The Subdued City Rollers teaches youth ages 5 to 18 from the time they first step into roller skates to when they are ready to play full-contact derby.
“They’re so full of energy, they’re kind of fearless,” says Ron Chesko, also known as Coach Cone, a coach for level two skaters.
The junior skaters participate in games at three different levels: Level 1, Non-Contact, teaches kids how to get comfortable safely skating; Level 2, Positional Contact, allows controlled contact during derby matches; and Level 3, Full Contact, allows kids to play with the same rules as adult derby.
To score points in roller derby, the jammer (the skater with a star on their helmet) needs to lap the opposing team’s blockers. Both teams do this simultaneously.
“Strategically, it’s so different from most of the other sports that exist,” says Bruisevelt. “It’s one of the only sports where both teams are playing both offense and defense all the time.”
Unlike many of the adult roller derbies in Whatcom, the Subdued City Rollers are open to all genders. “It’s so inclusive. All body types, all personality types,” says Krystal Tegarden, or as everyone in derby calls her, Lovey. “There’s a little something for everyone here.”
Instead of dividing up levels depending on age, they rely purely on skill level. Level 3 ranges from ages 11 to 18. “It’s always fun to see the smaller skaters going up against the bigger skaters,” says Chesko. “Everybody holds their own.”
Tegarden enjoys being a part of kids’ skating journeys and seeing their progress firsthand. “Most of these kids can’t even stand on their skates when I get them, and they go through such a great transformation. Some of them are building confidence, some of them are getting a little bit more active,” Tegarden says. “They make all these great friends and get excited to be here every day.”
Derby forces kids to work on both the strength of their bodies and character in a team environment. “They learn that if they can do this, they can do anything,” says Tegarden. “I have them embrace their weirdest self.”
Each kid chooses, or is given, a derby name. Some of the junior skaters’ names include Daredevil, Slayor, Trip-and-Fall, Peanut Butter, Black Hole, and Evil.
“There are so many things in this world that we don’t have control over,” says Tegarden. “But here, they can be exactly who they are.”
Subdued City Rollers hosts a new skater training program twice per year, with the next session beginning in early fall. Practices are every Sunday at midday and Thursday evening at Lynden Skateway. League dues are $50 a month per junior skater, after which their siblings get a half-off discount.
421 Judson St., Lynden, thesubduedcityrollers.com
Photograph by Malia Fraser
