Beyond the track in Charlotte: How roller derby has changed the lives of its players
From its beginnings in the 1930s, the sport of roller derby was designed to give off an air of intimidation. Terms like “fresh meat” (new players) and “whip” (an assist technique), along with menacing derby names such as Mac the Ripper, Rock Mobster and Sarcastic Glitch have created an undertone of fierceness.
But behind the seemingly unbreakable exterior, roller derby is a group of women who are as inspirational as they are tough. For one Charlotte woman, roller derby gives her the power to stay sober. Another sees it as quality time with family. One player found the strength to come out. And for another woman, she’s creating an opportunity to forge the way for others who look like her.
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Each member of Charlotte Roller Derby has a story to tell – here are a few:
Black women belong in roller derby
After attending her first roller derby game with her dad at age 17, Natalie “Fury” Gardner knew the sport was in her future. Today, she is one of just two remaining players from the original Charlotte Roller Girl team and one of only two Black team members.
“Roller derby is such a place of inclusivity, but there’s always a feeling of people of color not having a big role in it. There’s this false perception or false idea that derby is only for white women. I don’t think that’s true,” Gardner said.
Why? Gardner has a theory. “If you Google ‘roller derby,’ the majority of pictures are of white women with long hair, ripped tights — it doesn’t show Black women with Black features, so it’s automatically turning away people of color,” Gardner said.
She is hopeful that with additional exposure and awareness, more Black players will be interested in the sport.
“When I play against other people of color, I always make an effort to say, ‘How’s it going? I can’t wait to play against you,’” she said. “I try to acknowledge them and say, ‘Hey, I see you here, and I’m glad you’re doing this.’”
The strength to come out
In addition to helping Haley Holland come out of her shell socially, roller derby empowered “The Little Merblade” to have the strength to be her true, authentic self and come out as a gay woman.
“When I first joined derby, I wasn’t out yet. I actually had a boyfriend at the time, but I wasn’t living authentically because I didn’t want to be in a relationship and I was doing it more to be accepted in society,” Holland said. “Knowing I had people in my corner rooting for me who didn’t care who I was, just wanted me to be myself, opened that door to come out to everyone.”
From the start of her derby career in Savannah, Georgia, to her time playing during a 10 month stint in Germany and ultimately onto the team in Charlotte, one consistency has remained for Holland.
“There is a camaraderie that comes with the sport. You skate against people and lay them out and then go out after and have a beer together like — hey, that was a nice hit. Everyone uplifts each other. We are all here to do the same thing and just genuinely be ourselves,” Holland said.
Not your typical mother-daughter activity
Amber “Nerd” Williams was the first in her skating-loving family to join roller derby. But once her mom, Tami Williams, saw her in action she said, “I absolutely have to do this.”
A few months later, the two convinced Tami’s older daughter, Krystin Williams, to join — and for the last decade it’s been a family thing.
“There are very few people of any age who can play on a sports team with their mother but especially in your 20s and 30s,” Krystin said. “It’s cool because we know we will see each other twice a week, so I feel like it has made us closer. Even when we are on different charter teams, we take turns supporting one another, carrying gear.”
Interestingly, even their positions parallel life. “I’m mainly a jammer, and my mom is a blocker, so it’s cool when she gets to pivot for me because she has my back — literally,” Krystin said.
Some families bake cookies together during the holidays, while others gather each Sunday for a meal, but the Williams have a tradition not likely found in many families. When a derby helmet has to be retired (after any major impact), the family adds it to a helmet tree in their backyard, where they become new homes for birds.
A little something for mom
A traditional sport athlete her entire life, Megan “Miso Fierce” Tyson first picked up roller derby in 2010, playing with the Kokeshi Roller Dolls while stationed in Okinawa, Japan, with her husband.
When she became pregnant with her first son, Timmy, she took a break from playing to become a coach.
“The great thing about derby is you don’t have to be a skater to be a part of the community. You can be a coach, a ref, volunteer on the board — there are so many ways to be involved,” Tyson said.
She similarly put playing on pause when she became pregnant with her second son, Sam, after moving to California. “I actually went into labor the morning I was supposed to be coaching a practice — I’ll never forget it,” Tyson said.
While there wasn’t much permanence to her life as a military wife and mom, derby provided Tyson with a home, no matter what her address was.
“As transient as it is being in the military, derby has always brought a sense of community. Almost within moments of arriving someplace new, I was just scooped up into this world that was the team and the leagues, and I felt very lucky in every league I’ve been a part of,” Tyson said.
The Tyson family eventually moved to Charlotte, and Tyson jumped back into playing derby in addition to starting a new career as a teacher. Now her boys, ages 8 and 10, along with her students from Croft Community School — where she can sometimes be seen skating through the halls — are some of her biggest fans.
Trading drinking for derby
Clarissa “Lacy Lawless” Lacy skated at her local rink growing up, but it wasn’t until a friend at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting invited her to a roller derby bout that she first heard about the sport.
“She said, ‘Why don’t you play? And I said ‘Hell, no.’ I didn’t want to break an arm, I couldn’t – I do hair for a living,” said Lacy, who owns South End hair salon Theory.
But her excitement was palpable when she got home from the game, and it was her husband who encouraged her to give derby a shot. She signed up that night for her first practice, started the very next day, and has not looked back since.
“I had no gear, nothing, but I fell in love with derby that day,” Lacy said. Six years later, at the age of 51, Lacy is the now the president of Charlotte Roller Derby, and she credits derby with giving her a healthier and more fulfilling activity that replaced drinking.
“It’s the community that keeps people coming back — the teammates, the friendships. Especially as you get older, it gets harder to make new friends and find new, healthy outlets,” Lacy said. Her commitment to derby and to not drinking has remained relentless.
A match made on the track
Liz “Kansas” Zweigle and Lisa “Growler” Long had both “lived two full lives” before meeting while playing and serving as board members for roller derby in Washington, DC, in 2018.
“Running a nonprofit roller derby league is no joke! In retrospect, we were learning a lot about each other — our dreams and visions for the league, how we handle stress, how to support each other. It was a great training ground for our future relationship,” Long said.
It was a few years until Zweigle woke up with the stunning realization that she was in love with Long. The epiphany was far less shocking to those who had been around the two and seen their connection.
“We slowly got to know each other, and over time we realized that we were ‘the one’ for each other. We fell in love with our best friend,” Zweigle said.
Zweigle eventually proposed, sharing two engraved commitment rings. The couple made it official this June. Just after their wedding, the team surprised them after practice with a celebration.
“Roller derby is a big part of our origin story — we literally never would have met if not for roller derby — and it continues to play an important role in our relationship both on and off the track,” Zweigle said.
This story was originally published September 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
