The newly-christened Lady Macs roller derby team battled hard, but lost their debut bout of the season against a more experienced side from Kimberley, B.C. at Thelma Crowe arena in Canmore, Saturday (April 27).
Despite dropping the bout 246-132, the home opener against the Bavarian Barbarians representing the East Kootenay Roller Derby League was an overall success for the Bow Valley team and its newfound fans.
Roughly 250 tickets to the event, which for newcomers was billed as a mix between a hockey game, rock concert and Halloween party, were sold through pre-sales and, according to media representative Lesley Bannister, total attendance was about 350.
“We had a great crowd. It shows how much roller derby is supported by this community,” said Bannister, a.k.a. “BanisHer,” who is also a blocker for the Lady Macs.
“I’m really looking forward to our June bout because if we can have this many people showing up for our first bout in April, I know when we play in Banff we’re going to get more people hooked on the sport.”
That early-summer tussle against the Damsels of Distress from the Foothills Roller Derby Association takes place June 22 at Banff’s Fenlands Recreation Centre, which should be enough time for the Lady Macs to regroup following a tough opener.
“They’re a higher calibre team and they’ve been playing a lot longer than we have,” BanisHer said about the Barbarians, adding the final score was a result of taking bad penalties.
“We’re a pretty athletic team, I don’t know if it was we were getting tired,” she explained. “I think the common thread between us all was that we were getting pretty frustrated. That’s where the experience comes in.”
Following a great start, the Lady Macs suffered the loss of jammer Lindsay Grafton, “Trippy Stix,” due to a shoulder injury in the first half and, coupled with some unclean blocking, failed to regain momentum for the rest of the bout.
“In the first half we dominated,” she said. “The second half they had a lot of penalties and we started to play their game instead of ours. We started racking up the penalties and not playing clean.
“We have really strong jammers,” she continued. “I think we demonstrated in this game we need to work on our blocking, our hitting and making sure we stay out of the penalty box because it makes the jammers job a lot easier.”
The unwavering support shown throughout the game from the home crowd, with many donning black and red Lady Macs T-shirts, helped spur the Valley ladies to achieve their own personal goals in the bout.
“We all went into the game with our own individual goals and we all realized those goals,” the media rep said, from the blockers laying the biggest hit to the jammers getting through the pack successfully.
“It was great to see we all picked something to work on and succeeded with that,” she added. “Now it’s a matter of working on those skills.”
Looking ahead to the Banff bout in June, BanisHer is confident the Lady Macs will be able to deliver a home win for its fans and an equally exciting atmosphere.
“It will be a bit more of an evenly matched team,” she explained about Foothills. “They’ve been playing for about the same amount of time as we have. They’re a really good sister league to us.
“It will be a really good opportunity for the Bow Valley to see us take home a win,” she added. “It’s certainly not going to be an easy win. Those girls are big hitters.”
Bannister said the Lady Macs would like to thank all of their sponsors and volunteers for helping make their home debut a success.
“Most of all I want to thank all of the fans that came out to cheer us on. We had a great crew of volunteers that need to be appreciated as well as all the officials.”
