Credit for following story to Northwest Guardian. View online at
http://www.nwguardian.com/2014/03/27/17652/skaters-form-a-cast-iron-family.html
"Weekend Cover Story
Skaters form a cast iron family on, off
track
People of all walks
welcomed into tight-knit group in a rough-and-tumble sport
By Dean Siemon/Northwest Guardian
Published: 12:47PM March
27th, 2014
Rachel Wyrick started to
skate for a local roller derby team at Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s AFC Arena in
December 2011, a few months after her husband was killed while deployed in
Afghanistan.
While she has yet to
compete in a bout because of a torn abdominal muscle, Wyrick said being a part
of the roller derby community at JBLM, most recently with the Cast Iron Skaters
club, has been therapeutic through the rough times.
Many of the members of the
Cast Iron Skaters say the team is like a family of families; everyone is there
to support each other.
“I don’t know if it
would have been the same on another team because it’s military,” Wyrick said.
“People understood if I started crying during practice.”
The co-ed derby squad
began practicing last fall to prepare for the season opener Saturday against
OneWorld Roller Derby of Seattle at the AFC Arena on Lewis Main at 6 p.m. The
sport has brought together more than 20 participants made up of service members,
spouses, civilian employees, contractors and even those not affiliated with the
installation.
Family support
Like Wyrick, many of the
skaters for the Cast Iron Skaters are military spouses.
While not all of them
have lost loved ones, everyone can relate and sympathize. There are active duty
service members, prior service and retired military on the team, as well as
spouses who have waited at home while their service members were overseas.
“It gives you the extra
military family,” said Tech. Sgt. Rebecca Schmidt of the 62nd Aerial Port
Squadron. “It gives you a new family where everyone can accept you no matter
what your issues are.”
That roller derby family
expands outside JBLM, even outside Washington and the rest of the United
States.
Team co-founder
Jacqueline Dow began skating with the Roller Girls of the Apocalypse in 2010
while her and her husband, Dennis, were stationed at Ramstein Air Base in
Germany. Shortly after being transferred to JBLM, Dow was accepted by the JBLM
derby team at the time as one of their veterans.
With the Cast Iron
Skaters, the same acceptance is given to new skaters who moved from the East
Coast and as far away as Japan.
“You will always be
welcomed by the derby community,” Dow said.
Children sometimes
attend to skate during practices. Despite the current lack of a youth team in
the program, children are often skating and learning roller derby basics.
Not just a league of
their own
Christopher Qualters
knows as a male skater on a co-ed roller derby team, the women on the two teams
he’s skated with “try really hard to knock you down.”
It’s a no-win situation
if they notice the male skater tries to take it easy on them when it comes to
the physical part of the game.
“When you move out of
the way, they’re like ‘Oh, I’m really going to have to knock you down,’”
Qualters said.
It would be an
understatement that Qualters has been knocked down a few times while skating
with women. Originally a team photographer for the Bettie Brigade, he skated
with the women for fun.
But with the co-ed Cast
Iron Skaters, the men and the women compete on the track together. It’s a
change of pace that adds another level to practice and makes everyone better.
“It gives you a lot of
difference you wouldn’t be able to get skating with just women,” Schmidt said.
“It gives us an extra level to practice with.”
It also adds another
demographic for JBLM’s newest derby squad with different parts of installation
represented.
Being yourself
Apart from the sense of
family roller derby brings, it also allows many of the athletes to be
themselves — evidenced by face paint and derby names.
During the day Schmidt
works in an office in uniform. When it comes to bouts, she lets her hair down,
puts on crazy makeup and wears a jersey with the name “Tasty Bits.”
“I get to be something
that I can’t be every day at work, so it’s nice to be able to do that,” Schmidt
said.
It also helps to have
practice after a day at work and release frustration.
“There’s always a
certain person that makes my life pretty difficult at work, so it’s nice to be
able to relieve all of that,” Schmidt said. “It’s nice to be able to use it as
fuel out here.”
For female skaters like
Dow, it’s a suitable sport for those who grew up as tomboys — one of the many
unique qualities of the roller sport.
“I can act like an ass
and be myself,” she said.
Getting the ball, or
skates, rolling
Since Dow and Wyrick
co-founded the Cast Iron Skaters, one of the main factors in accepting new
skaters was making sure they had the personality to join a family atmosphere
that accepts new members from all walks of life, regardless of talent and
skill.
And don’t worry if
you’ve never skated before; the others will teach you.
“You may get people who
have never skated before and after three or four months, they just have that
knack and they transition into awesome skaters,” Dow said. “They’re probably
some of our top skaters now.”
Practices are Wednesdays
and Sundays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Cast Iron Skaters are still a young
squad, seeking new members to expand to the long-term goals of having separate
teams for men, women and children.
“Just come and have fun
and enjoy the physical fitness part of it,” Dow said.
When you go
What: Cast Iron Skaters season opener against OneWorld Roller Derby of Seattle
When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
Where: AFC Arena on JBLM Lewis Main
To learn more: go to the team’s website at www.castironskaters.com or
the “Cast Iron Skaters” Facebook page.
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