The East Kootenay Roller Derby League recently held its first event and even though Golden may not have a team they are being represented in the league by local business owner Sharma Yawrenko who is a member of The Killer Rollbots based in Invermere.
Yawrenko is the owner of Plain Wayne & Jane Boutique who could not wait to get involved with the league.
“I have heard of roller derby and have always been intrigued with the whole sport. When I heard Invermere had a team I had my skates by the next week,” Yawrenko said. “The fact that it’s a bunch of babes on roller skates smashing each other is pretty rad.”
As an athlete in many sports Yawrenko has been working hard to understand the rules of the game.
“The actual balance of roller skating came quite naturally to me since I play hockey, skateboard and surf . I also played rugby for a few years so I was quite comfortable getting hit. The rules of the sport I’m still learning,” she said. One of the challenges she faced was coming up with her derby identity. “Well it’s hard to come up with one because you have to register your name with all the derby names in the world and you can’t have the same name as someone else so it took me a week. I love Black Sabbath so why not be Scrap Sabbath.”
As for the “Sucker Punch” event held at the Marysville arena on August 27, Yawrenko said the event was a huge success and a lot of fun to be a part of though she was nervous before the match started.
“I thought I was going to puke but at the same time couldn’t wait to get out and kick some a#%! Our first bout was amazing, it sold out. I have never been a part of something so big before. Six hundred tickets were sold and people were lined trying to get in. We all were in a bit of shock but pumped up to show everyone all our hard training.”
The best part of joining the Killer Rollbots for the player is having a coach that is super dedicated to training a bunch of rowdy girls.
“I feel this is a true team sport it’s amazing to play and people really love to watch it. Derby is more like a life style, you really have to commit to play this sport We were training three days a week, two hours a day. This isn’t a sport you can causally drop into when you feel like it.”
Yawrenko also added that a great place to check out where to get equipment for people wanting to get involved was at rollergirl.ca
“They have a package that hooks you up with everything from pads to skates.”
In the future Yawrenko is hopeful that Golden will get a team but stresses they need to have a good coach in place to make the sport work.
