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The
Kansas City
Roller Warriors is the angry
mutant love child of skaters Dirty Britches
and Princess Anna Conda, formerly known
as Brooke Leavitt and Mandy Durham, respectively.
The initial idea for the league was born
in the spring of 2004 within the quiet confines
of the public library where the two women
were employed.
Inspired by the Texas
Rollergirls website, Leavitt semi-jokingly
suggested the idea of forming a Kansas City
roller derby league. After a brief discussion
the girls decided it was an idea worthy
of pursuit.
“At that point we didn’t even
realize there were rules,” says Durham.
“We just thought these girls were
getting all padded up and beating the hell
out of each other on skates. It seemed like
a pretty great idea. We were kicking ourselves
for not thinking of it sooner.”
The presentation of an apparently violent
sport within a uniquely theatrical context
proved irresistible to both women. “It
was really appealing to me on so many levels,”
says Durham. “It was an opportunity
to be creative and intensely physical and
to build something totally unique from the
ground up.”
Leavitt began contacting girls from the
Texas league and asking questions about
what it would take to get a legitimate league
off the ground. She also received quite
a bit of guidance and support from Ivanna
Spankin of Arizona Roller Derby, which at
the time was the only other existing flat
track league besides TXRG. Leavitt got the
paperwork in order, and by June, Kansas
City Roller Warriors, LLC was officially
established.
“We started skating in a parking lot
in the middle of the summer,” says
Leavitt. “There was broken glass and
crap all over the place, and we’d
just go out there and skate in circles until
I thought we were gonna die from heatstroke.”
It was around this time that Durham approached
John Hernandez to ask him if he might be
interested in coaching. Hernandez knew both
women from attending school at the Kansas
City Art Institute, and to their pleasant
surprise, he accepted.
“It’s not like there was a local
roller derby authority,” explains
Durham, “so we knew we just needed
to find someone with a lot of patience who
was really good with people. We got really
lucky when John decided to help us.”
The girls put flyers all over the city in
hopes of finding other women ready to commit
themselves to a life of pain, anguish, and
exquisite thigh muscles. New skaters slowly
trickled in, and by the fall the league
had moved practices to a small community
center.
“We basically skated on a small basketball
court,” says Leavitt, “In one
part of the floor there was this huge lump
where there had been some water damage.
Also there was a stage in front, so we had
girls continually crashing into the front
of the stage while we were doing drills.
So that was pretty sweet.”
Eventually the league was able to move into
Winnwood Skate Center, where practices are
now held three times a week. Nearly 50 girls
now proudly call themselves part of KCRW.
The Roller Warriors held their first official
season from January through June of 2005
and packed the house at every game. In February
of 2006, KCRW sent an All-Star Travel team
to play in the first National Flat-Track
Roller Derby Championships in Tucson, Arizona.
KCRW placed 6th in the nation out of twenty
participating leagues.
In a 10-minute bout on the first day of
the tournament, the Roller Warriors faced
off against the source of their original
inspiration, the mothers of all-female flat
track derby- the Texas Rollergirls.
KCRW lost.
By one point. |
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