KAPA‘A — The Warden, Tamminator, Calamity Crush, Kaizer PermaMento and Suki-2U will be in Arizona this weekend for the Dust Devil Roller Derby Tournament. The public had an opportunity to view these five derby women during a home bout hosted
KAPA‘A — The Warden, Tamminator, Calamity Crush, Kaizer PermaMento and Suki-2U will be in Arizona this weekend for the Dust Devil Roller Derby Tournament.
The public had an opportunity to view these five derby women during a home bout hosted by the Garden Island Renegade Rollerz as a fundraiser to help the women with their trip to Arizona.
Labelled as a St. Patrick’s Day event, GIRR coach Dan Ahuna said the Saturday night bout at the Kaua‘i Inline Hockey Association rink allows the people to see the girls in action with donations going to help the girls with the trip.
“They’ll be featured live on Derby News Network,” said Suki-2U. “These five Kaua‘i women are part of 20 girls from Hawai‘i made up from teams out of O‘ahu, Maui and Kaua‘i who will be participating in the Arizona tournament.”
The five Kaua‘i girls are excited about doing the tournament which runs April 2 to 3 because it attracts some of the top teams from around the country, and will be aired live on Derby News Network.
“We’ve been around for just about a year,” Ahuna said. “I’m so proud of what these girls have accomplished in such a short time.”
Coming off a 131-101 win in Hilo before a sold-out audience of about 2,500 people, the GIRR squad was divided up into the Shamrocks and Rainbows for the home bout which played for an overflow crowd at the KIHA rink.
The Shamrocks relied on its strong blocking led by The Warden and Calamity Crush, who also took her turn as jammer, ending the Rainbows’ hopes, 82-79 at the final whistle.
The Shamrocks took an early lead and held on for a 59-35 showing at the intermission, partially due to the Rainbows’ jammer being sent to the penalty box.
But following the special dance performance by the Pink Pebbles, the Rainbows capitalized on the Shamrocks’ jammer in the penalty box to take a slight lead behind the jamming skills of Tamminator, selected as captain for the Arizona contingent, for the Rainbows, going up against Suki-2U of the Shamrocks.
Suki-2U roared back onto the track after serving her penalty and the Shamrocks chipped back at the Rainbows’ lead, stopping the boards at a one-point deficit, 75-74, with about four minutes remaining.
But the official time out for an injury left the Rainbows with one less on its squad and the Shamrocks pulled ahead for the win.
Calamity Crush, coming from a Mainland roller derby experience, said GIRR can always use more girls and to help with the recruitment, offers free clinics every Saturday at Kalena Park in Lihu‘e from 4 to 6 p.m. for girls interested in roller derby.
Additionally, Suki-2U said while the five GIRR women will be in Arizona, other skaters from the organization will be helping the March for Babies, hopefully skating the course around the Kukui Grove Center, Saturday morning.
The GIRR is dedicated to providing an opportunity for women athletes to achieve their maximum potential, athletically, intellectually, and socially through the sport of roller derby, states its website. Visit www.girenegaderollerz.com for more information.
