Derby girls know how to roll
Krystle Holleman
Issue date: 2/3/09 Section: M2 (Arts & Entertainment)
Contact sports for women are few and far between. Student-athletes have field hockey and lacrosse, but not much else.
At UM-Flint, there is even less to chose from. That will soon change with the addition of Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Club (WFTRDC) to the list of athletics offered to students.
Roller Derby is currently one of the fastest growing sports in the nation. It has recently made a comeback, thanks to its athleticism and feminism.
The WFTRDC is essentially The Flint City Derby Girls, who established themselves as Genesee County's first Women's Flat Track Roller Derby League team in March 2007.
Kymm Atherholt, president and director of public relations for the Flint City Derby Girls, knew it would be a challenge to recruit
members in Flint, a town facing yet another economic disaster, and keep them involved.
"Reaching out to girls became quite difficult and disheartening, mainly because we were all paying $35-45 each out of pocket to play, and that still wasn't covering rink costs," she said. "Girls were leaving because they couldn't afford to play."
During the 2007 fall semester, Atherholt saw a local news story
about how the university was not only encouraging new and current students to get involved in campus sports, but also getting more sports groups started on campus.
Atherholt said she thought of the possibility of bringing roller derby, and its extreme popularity to not only Flint, but to the campus, and in doing so, would create Roller Derby history by being the first league to be associated through a University.
"I guess I was hoping not only to recruit and gain interest, but to hope that other universities would follow suit," said Atherholt via email.
After a few meetings, the idea was approved and Atherholt had helped to create the WFTRDC at UM-Flint. Then the team hit a brick wall.
"After filling out the necessary paperwork, and jumping through all of the hoops, we came to a standstill. Our club status was hanging in the balance, awaiting word from Risk Management in Ann Arbor. We figured that the Hockey Club would have to have similar standards and liability issues as us, so we didn't fret too much about it."
At UM-Flint, there is even less to chose from. That will soon change with the addition of Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Club (WFTRDC) to the list of athletics offered to students.
Roller Derby is currently one of the fastest growing sports in the nation. It has recently made a comeback, thanks to its athleticism and feminism.
The WFTRDC is essentially The Flint City Derby Girls, who established themselves as Genesee County's first Women's Flat Track Roller Derby League team in March 2007.
Kymm Atherholt, president and director of public relations for the Flint City Derby Girls, knew it would be a challenge to recruit
members in Flint, a town facing yet another economic disaster, and keep them involved.
"Reaching out to girls became quite difficult and disheartening, mainly because we were all paying $35-45 each out of pocket to play, and that still wasn't covering rink costs," she said. "Girls were leaving because they couldn't afford to play."
During the 2007 fall semester, Atherholt saw a local news story
about how the university was not only encouraging new and current students to get involved in campus sports, but also getting more sports groups started on campus.
Atherholt said she thought of the possibility of bringing roller derby, and its extreme popularity to not only Flint, but to the campus, and in doing so, would create Roller Derby history by being the first league to be associated through a University.
"I guess I was hoping not only to recruit and gain interest, but to hope that other universities would follow suit," said Atherholt via email.
After a few meetings, the idea was approved and Atherholt had helped to create the WFTRDC at UM-Flint. Then the team hit a brick wall.
"After filling out the necessary paperwork, and jumping through all of the hoops, we came to a standstill. Our club status was hanging in the balance, awaiting word from Risk Management in Ann Arbor. We figured that the Hockey Club would have to have similar standards and liability issues as us, so we didn't fret too much about it."
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