Druid City Dames Celebrate 5 Years of Roller Derby in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa's one and only roller derby team has been jamming and blocking teams from all over the United States for 5 years now!
Druid City Derby was established as a league in 2015 along with the team Druid City Dames. They held their first practice on July 22 of that year at the downtown location of the YMCA. Unsure of how many would come and give roller derby a try that day, the 12 women that did were a great surprise!
After their initial practice, 7 skaters stuck around to make the base of the team. Those are Megan (Valhallaback Girl) Gunter and Kelly (Assault E. Senorita) Wolfe, the two co-founders, and founding members Princess (Duchass of Painbridge) Nash, Layla (Anthrax Angel) Sasser, Carla (Scarla O' Teara) Atkinson, Allie (Goredi LaForge) Sorlie, and Kristin (Blue Orchid) Fink.
To accompany the Druid City Dames team graphic, a Druid City Derby logo was created and dons seven stars above the city of Tuscaloosa to symbolize the seven skaters who stuck around that day.
When asked about how she feels about the team after five years, head coach Assault E. Senorita said,
We're definitely a lot bigger. Our membership has grown to 47 skaters. We've also gone from being a recreational league to being a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). We used to practice in a gym that wasn't equipped and even scrimmaged with Birmingham's Tragic City Rollers before we ever got to scrimmage with ourselves. We now work like a well oiled non-profit organization.
Since canceling their entire 2020 season due to the pandemic, DCD has created new artwork symbolizing their "undefeated" 5th season and have t-shirts available for purchase online. Druid City Derby was established not only as a roller derby league but also as a non-profit organization. So, these funds will allow the league to keep going.
And if that is not enough, DCD became a full WFTDA member league, in January 2019 and will be internationally ranked with their peers in 2021!
I have been honored to have been the play-by-play announcer for the past four years and have been joined by Alt 101.7's Meg (Thillary Clinton) Summers for the past two so we want roller derby back at Super Skate just as much as the Dames do!
Congrats to all skaters and officials involved with Druid City Derby and cheers to another 5 years!
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