LOCKEFORD ROLLER DERBY TEAM READY
VICTOR — A bunch of Little Rascals and Liberators will be invading the Clements Fire Department on early Saturday evening.
For the first time this season, the Little Rascals, for children up to age 17, and Lockeford Liberators, for women 18 and over, will be hosting their first-ever scrimmage against the Mo-town Misfits out of Modesto. The Little Rascals and Liberators, both non-profit organizations, will be holding their matches at the Clements Fire Department, located at 18901 Highway 88 in Clements.
“Just laid back scrimmages,” said Michelle Cioli, one of the members of the Liberators who is an assistant coach for the Little Rascals.
Cioli, a member of the Liberators who goes by the derby name “Slick Mic”, and teammate Amie English, who also coaches the Little Rascals’ team, said that their teams are officially sanctioned through the USA Roller Sports. English said that both teams are members of USA Rollers Sports. Starting in January 2018 after the holidays, Cioli said that both local squads will be able to compete in sanctioned games.
English said that the Little Rascals formed through Casey Lara, the Liberators’ team president who is a Lodi area resident. Going by the derby name of “Lez B Honest.” Lara has been competing in roller derby going back toward the end of the 2000s.
“She asked if I could help out with this, and I said ‘yeah, OK,’” said English, who has also been involved in roller derby for many years.
The teams practice inside an old winery building that is no longer in use in Victor. The teams have been practicing in the late afternoon to early evening hours weekdays.
Women on the Liberators’ squad are Lara, Cioli, English, who goes by the derby name of “Miss Bad English”; Kathryn Capps; Berenice “Foxy Burns” Ortega; Danielle “Dani Dukes” Noble; Heather Piper and Stacey Amarontez.
Through their Facebook page, the Liberators want to establish the Little Rascals as
“a healthy outlet for children and teenagers, helping to promote integrity, self-confidence and sportsmanship.”
Members of the Little Rascals’ squad are Maryn “Queen RynLentless” Rogers, Andrea “Crazy Bre” Barriga, Amelia “Makin’ Trouble” Dyer, Anthony “The ATrain” Harrison, Mackenzie “HaleFire” Duncan, Josh “Hubba Bubba” Duncan, Abbie “Chuttie Abbie” Capps, Isaian “Skull Crusher” Protz, Virginia “Rollin’ Vendetta” Flores and Karye “Blazin’ Green” Harrison.
Members of the Little Rascals and Liberator wear protection from head to toe. They wear padded helmets, gloves that are also heavy in padding and similar to weightlifting gloves, elbow and knee pads and topped off with roller blade shoes.
“We’ve had two, three people who got hurt,” English said.
The sport of roller derby has been around since the mid-1930s, but became very popular in the mid-late 1970s entering the early 1980s on TV for both women and men. The object of the contact sport is each team has five players to start, skating in the same direction counter-clockwise around a track that is 103 by 75 feet. Game play consists of a series of short match ups known as jams in which both teams designate a jammer who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team.
The Little Rascals and Liberators would like to scrimmage, at least, four more times before the Christmas/New Year holidays start in five months, English said.
The doors for the matches against the Mo-town Misfits on Saturday open at 5:30 p.m. The youth contest is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., and the women at 7:30 p.m. People who are planning to attend one or both matches are highly encouraged to bring chairs.
For any youth or women 18 and over who want to join the Little Rascals or Lockeford Liberators, visit their Facebook page and send a message, or call English at (209) 587-7250.
The teams are also looking for sponsors this season or in 2018. Anyone or a business interested can visit their Facebook page and send a message, or call Capps at (209) 601-0730.
On Saturday, Aug. 12, the teams will be holding a fundraiser, a spaghetti dinner at the Capri Bar and Grill in Lockeford. Doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner starting at 6 p.m. and dancing from 8 p.m. until closing. Tickets are $25 each. To purchase tickets for the dinner, contact English or send a message through the group’s Facebook page.