Category Archives: News

Blacksnake Rollergirls, Dead Girl Derby, General derby, House games, KCRW, News, Photo Albums

(Tons of) Bout Photos

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One thing any derby fan worth his/her salt has realized in the three-ish years we’ve been doing this is that we have a lot of roller derby in this town. And that’s a good thing. Whatever your preference, whether it’s hard-hitting men’s flat track action, the WFTDA rule set, the MADE rule set, or amazing coed bouts, Kansas City roller derby has nearly everything a fan of the flat track could possibly want.

Alongside all that amazing sports action is a plethora of bout photos that we at KC Derby Digest take great pride in… and that sometimes backs us up a week or two. When you follow as much roller derby insanity as we do, that tends to happen. Game dates conflict, photos get backlogged, and we get frazzled. But it’s what we do, and we love it.

Having said that, let’s get caught up on some of the amazing bouts this fantastic city has to offer during derby season.

The 2014 Rink of Fire

Teal Teal Teal! Kill Kill Kill! The Knockouts are the 2014 Rink of Fire champions for the first time ever. They took down the formidable Black Eye Susans 134-99 in a championship bout we won’t soon forget.

Earlier that evening, the Victory Vixens secured third place against the surging Dreadnought Dorothys, who as we said earlier this week, are not to be underestimated in the coming season(s). They’ve had a rough go of it the last couple of years, but given their performance on the track at the Rink of Fire, they’re on their way back up in a big way.

Bout photos are published, people!


Click for the full photo album.

Dead Girl Derby’s Coed League

One thing that’s never been seen before in Kansas City is coed flat track roller derby. We’ve had mash-ups in the past and pick-up leagues on the banked track that sporadically featured coed action, but never before has a league featured established coed teams in which the ladies and gents directly competed on a regularly scheduled basis. Well, thanks to Dead Girl Derby, that’s all changed, and history has been made in the process.

The Public Enemies and the Untouchables debuted last month at B&D Skate Center, and we couldn’t have been more excited. The coed league not only features some of the most promising up-and-coming talent Kansas City has to offer, it also boasts some of the biggest names to ever take the track in this town, names like Bomb Pop, Jamalamadingdong, and Red Ripper, just to name a few. Ladies are coming out of retirement to play for this league, so if that doesn’t tell you how huge this is, I have some beachfront property in the desert southwest I’d like to see if you’re interested in.

Last month’s coed bout featured some of the best derby photos we’ve ever had the privilege of publishing, and you can check them out here.


Click for the full photo album.

The next coed bout will be on Sunday, May 18th at B&D Skate Center, and we’ll be sure and bring you reminders about that on Facebook and here on the web site.

Zombie League

Last season, the good people at Dead Girl Derby had one of the greatest new ideas we’ve seen since we started following this fine sport back in 2010: take the skaters who aren’t rostered for that month’s bout, for whatever reason, and roster them for a B-team-style bout against each other. They brought back the OG team names — Black Plague and Gang Green — but kept the lineups consistent and offered it up to the crowd as the third game of the evening. Fans received thrice the derby action for their money, and the ladies involved got some valuable experience on the track — and in front of an audience — that they might not have otherwise gotten.

And as this league continues to grow by leaps and friggin’ bounds, so will the amazing action fans are treated to both at Hale Arena and at B&D Skate Center. The Zombie League debuted last month alongside the Coed League, and the results were incredible. As always, we have the photos.


Click for the full photo album.

The Zombie League’s next game is again on the same night as the Coed League, May 18th. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, we’ll keep you updated.

28 Skates Later

The Blacksnake Rollergirls of St. Joseph are now in their third season and loving every minute of it. As their derby footprint continues to grow, so will their coverage here on KC Derby Digest regardless of the fact that St. Joe isn’t technically Kansas City. The league itself was founded by former Dead Girl and Royal Pain Notorious L.I.Z., who has been in the news herself recently due to some unfortunate circumstances they’re still recovering from. However, last month’s zombie-themed event, 28 Skates Later, was an incredible success at the St. Joseph Civic Arena, and as always, we were on hand to join in the festivities.

The four St. Joseph teams — the Jesse Janes, the Venomous Vixens, the Danger Dolls, and the Rushin’ Rollettes — are really starting to dazzle some people with their skill and tenacity on eight wheels, and we look forward to their bouts every month, never mind the 55-mile drive. These BRGs make it worth every mile, and if you’re so inclined, we would encourage you to check out their next game on June 7.

For now, we’ve got photos from 28 Skates Later, zombie makeup and all:


Click for the full photo album.

As always, keep an eye on KC Derby Digest‘s Facebook page for upcoming bouts, events, and fundraisers, and we will see you trackside, coming soon! Roll on, Kansas City!

KCRW, News

KCRW Wreck League

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Derby fans, if you’ve ever been interested in sorta, kinda, maybe seeing if This Roller Derby Thing is for you… or might be for you… well, we know just the ladies who can help with that. Obviously.


Click for the Wreck League page.
Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Roller Warriors.

Full details lie ahead in that link, but the important stuff is this: Wreck League practices begin Wednesday, May 28th. Dues are $45/month or $125 for the full three-month session. Practices are Sunday mornings 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and Wednesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m. You will also need to bring: helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, mouth guard, and quad skates.

There are two drop-in dates that will only run you $5 if you really just want to see what all the fuss is about; those are May 14th and May 21st.

Practices are located at Winnwood Skate Center, which is not your typical skating rink and may well have the best floor you’ll ever hope to skate on. The address is 4426 NE Winn Rd, KCMO 64117. You won’t be disappointed.

Main requirement: a willingness to have fun. On that front, you won’t be disappointed, either. Join us for Wreck League, coming soon!

General derby, House games, KCRW, News

2014 Rink of Fire

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If you’ve been following the KC Derby Digest Experience on social media, or if you were among the record-breaking crowds at Municipal Auditorium the evening of the 19th, you’re already in the know about who won the 2014 Rink of Fire Championship for the first time in the long and storied history of the Kansas City Roller Warriors.

Our Ladies in Teal, the Knockouts, took the trophy for the first time ever, final score 134-99. After last season’s heartbreaking last-minute loss to the 2013 champion Black Eye Susans, the Knockouts roared back in ’14 to an undefeated season that included this victory over the Susans and sealed their place in Kansas City roller derby history.


Photos to come. For now, your 2014 Rink of Fire champion Knockouts.

We are quickly getting caught up on photos, and in fact, we are working on the Rink of Fire set now, so as soon as they’re published, we’ll let you know. Congratulations also to the Victory Vixens for their third-place finish over a Dreadnought Dorothys team that has made some very impressive strides over the last couple of years and will be quite difficult to handle in the coming seasons. The Kansas City Roller Warriors always promise some very competitive, hard-hitting flat track action in KC, and they never disappoint. Congratulations to all the ladies of KCRW for a terrific 2013-14 Winter Season, and we look forward to seeing our Roller Warriors again on May 18th as the All-Stars and Plan B take the track at Winnwood Skate Center for their final home appearance of the year.

Blacksnake Rollergirls, Community, News

Taking Care of Our Own

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The derby community, as big as it is in Kansas City, has seen its share of hardship in the past couple of years, and we always seem to pull together and get through it. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again over the weekend as Notorious L.I.Z., founder of the Blacksnake Rollergirls, and her family lost their home to a fire. No one was home at the time, so everyone is safe. The house and everything in it, though, was a total loss.

But as always, we’re coming together to take care of our own.


Click to see the Go Fund Me fundraiser page.

MX Plosion, formerly of the Kansas City Banked Beauties and now refereeing for the Blacksnake Rollergirls, has set up a Go Fund Me page to help Liz and her family recover from this astounding loss. As of press time, they’ve already racked up over $3,000 in donations (in the first 24 hours), but the question remains — is it really possible to do enough for a family in this situation? No. No, it is not.

So don’t be deterred by the lightning pace with which the fundraising “goal” was reached. MX has said the donation page will remain open through this coming Friday, and we’d like to see donations surpass the $5,000 mark if at all possible. If you’re at all able, even the smallest donation will add up and help this dear family as they piece their lives back together. We can’t even imagine the loss. But the good the community is already doing is enough to bring a tear to the eye, although we frankly wouldn’t expect anything less from the people of Kansas City roller derby.

Other Ways to Help

What’s that you say? What are some other things you can do to help the Notorious family during this extremely difficult time? We’re sure glad you asked:

To begin with, you can drop off donations of clothing and toys at the St. Joseph Firefighters Hall on Tuesday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It’s located at 4314 S. 40th St, St. Joseph MO 64507.

In addition, there’s also a Rummage and Bake Sale Fundraiser happening on April 26th in at the corner of Grand and Walnut in Cameron, Missouri. Follow that linky-pooh to see the Facebook event page. There’s a list of things they’ll be accepting as donations for the fundraiser, and they’ll even make arrangements to pick things up if you’re not able to go very far.

And finally, KC Carr of KC Derby Digest will be making a trip up to St. Joseph this Saturday to take donations of clothing, toys, gift cards, and anything else you might want to send along. Feel free to e-mail him at kcderbydigest [at] gmail-dot-com, and he’ll make arrangements for pick-up/drop off of any donations you’re generous enough to provide.

Edited to add: Many of you have been asking for needed clothing sizes, so we’re updating today’s post to include those. There are seven individuals altogether: two adults (male and female), plus three boys and two girls:

Men’s size L shirts, 32×34 pants, 10.5 shoes
Women’s size S shirts, 10 pants, 7 shoes
Baby boy clothes, 3-6 months
Size 2-3t girls 6 shoes
Size 5 girls size 11 shoes
Size 6 boys size 11 shoes
Size 8 boys size 3 shoes

Seventh Day Benefit Concert

Finally, the band Seventh Day, always a friend to Kansas City roller derby, is donating all advance ticket proceeds from their show this Saturday, April 12 to benefit the Notorious L.I.Z. family.


Click to see the Facebook event page.

The show will be held at the All-Star Rock Bar at 7210 NE 43rd Street in KCMO. The first band will go on at 9:00, and the show will also feature Approaching Midnight and The Summit. (Order of the bands won’t be known until showtime.) Details on how to order advance tickets are posted on the Facebook event page, just click that photo right there.

In addition to the advance ticket donation, Seventh Day will be raffling off this guitar, which will be autographed by all members of the band and presented to the winner of the raffle at the end of the show Saturday night. All proceeds from the raffle will, of course, go to help the family as well.


Click to see the full-size photo.

We simply can’t thank you all enough for your unbelievable support. The Kansas City roller derby community is like nothing we’ve ever seen. Thanks to all the leagues who have helped/donated, enormous thanks to Seventh Day for their compassion and generosity, and most of all, thank you, the readers of KC Derby Digest, who encompass all of the above and more. We couldn’t do a bit of this without you.

Blacksnake Rollergirls, Dead Girl Derby, General derby, House games, KCRW, News

Derby Weekend

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Three amazing leagues are playing in and around Kansas City this weekend, derby fans, and as usual, KC Derby Digest is here to make sure you know all about it.


Click for the Facebook event page.

Dead Girl Derby kicks off their fifth season of flat track excellence at Hale Arena this Saturday night. The Dead Girls are certainly broadening their horizons this season with the addition of separate Zombie League and Co-ed League games to be held at B&D Skate Center in Independence, and we’ll have much more information about those events in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, the four house teams will take the track this Saturday night at Hale to ring in the long-awaited 2014 season. It’s been a miserable winter for most of us, and Dead Girl Derby never fails to heat things up. The first contest of the night will pit the always-dominant Shotgun Sheilas against a Lovely Lethals team we’re frankly expecting some great things from this year. If you’ve been following along at all, you know that 2013 wasn’t terribly kind to the Pink Ladies; we can imagine they’re anxious to put ’13 behind them and get the new season rolling. They’ll get their chance this Saturday night.

The second game of the night features the reigning Dead Girl Derby champions, The Royal Pains, taking on a Deadly Sirens team that also stumbled in a bit in 2013 and really didn’t equal the sum of their parts. You can expect the Teal to roar onto the track in a bid to make an early impression in 2014, particularly against the Purple Passion, who seemed pretty well unstoppable the last time we saw them on eight wheels. Saturday night is going to be quite the caper at Hale Arena. If anyone has something to prove, it’s these Deadly Sirens, and you can bet they’ve got a strategy in place to make sure it happens.

Doors open at 5:00 Saturday night, and the first game begins promptly at 6:00. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for kids ages 6-12. Kids 5 and under will only cost your sanity. Kidding, we love ’em, and it really is fun for the whole family, so bring ’em on out.


Click for the Facebook event page.

Also on Saturday night, the Blacksnake Rollergirls of St. Joseph are kicking off their third season with The Mad Jammers Tea Party at the St. Joseph Civic Arena!

The reigning 2013 BRG champion Danger Dolls look to mix things up with a Jesse Janes team that is looking for some serious redemption in 2014. That’s the first game of the evening. Next up, the Rushin’ Rollettes square off against the Venomous Vixens in what’s guaranteed to be another killer night in St. Joe. All things being equal, the teams within the Blacksnake Rollergirls organization tend to be very well-matched, and it’s that kind of unpredictability that makes their events so much fun to watch. From a fan’s perspective, there’s really no better place to be in St. Joseph on a Saturday night than the Civic Arena cheering on your favorite rollergirls. The ladies of BRG will deliver every time, and between that and the craziness at Hale that same night, there’s really no reason not to lose your voice trackside this weekend.

Doors open at the Civic Arena at 5:00 Saturday night, and the first game begins at 6:00. Tickets are $12 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12, and free as hell for kids 5 and under. Click that link right there and it’ll practically do the work for you.


Click for the Facebook event page.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, the always-incredible Kansas City Roller Warriors round out the weekend’s derby action with Game 3 of their 2013-14 Winter Season at Winnwood Skate Center.

Doors open at Winnwood at 2:00 Sunday afternoon, and the first whistle is at 3:00. Adult tickets are $13 online at that little link right there, or you can pony up $16 at the door if you’re not into the whole planning thing. Tickets for munchkins are $6 at that link or $8 at the aforementioned door. Rugrats ages 3 and under are admitted free.

The Kansas City Roller Warriors are celebrating 10 years of derby awesomeness in Kansas City by bringing it back to where it all began, so you won’t want to miss it. Whichever your league, whatever your team, we look forward to seeing you trackside in Kansas City this weekend!

Community, Cowtown Butchers, Dead Girl Derby, KCRW, News, Photo Albums

KC Roller Derby at the 2014 Polar Plunge

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The annual Polar Plunge and 5k Strut to benefit Special Olympics Kansas is always a memorable experience, particularly for those taking the leap into the lake for such a great cause. The Kansas City roller derby leagues are there every year to help raise money for our Special Olympians, and this year was no exception. It was KC Derby Digest‘s third year joining the derby festivities out at Shawnee Mission Park, and as always, there was nary a dull moment.

I’m told that the water in the lake this year was the coldest it’s ever been, even colder than in 2011, when Plungers required the assistance of men with chainsaws to even get into the water. Longtime sponsor Papa Murphy’s was on hand to mercifully feed us pizza as the morning turned into afternoon, and the highlight of the morning had to be when Fox 4 meteorologist Michelle Bogowith‘s doberman freaked out about the drone filming the festivities from overhead. Animal comedy never disappoints.


SCARY SKY THING IS SCARY.

We threw together a fun video overnight of KC Roller Derby’s day at Shawnee Mission Park and uploaded it to YouTube for your enjoyment. Feel free to share as you like, it’s only about a minute and a half long. It includes several snapshots from the event, as well as the plunge into the lake at 11 a.m.

And finally, the photo album itself. No Kansas City derby-related event would be complete without one of those:


Click for the full album.

Many thanks to Donna Zimmerman, Senior Vice President of Public Relations and Communications, for providing KC Derby Digest with press accommodations at this year’s very successful Polar Plunge and 5k Strut, and thanks as always to the incredible men and women of Kansas City roller derby for taking the time to help such a fantastic organization. We will definitely see everyone out there again next year!