The newly formed group, begun in July, is the first women’s roller derby team organized outside of Baton Rouge and New Orleans in recent memory. Skaters arrive for practice in various stages of rink dress, some with the full-on stockings and snarls, others less aggressively attired, but all arrive with one desire: to participate in a sport that allows women to be as rough and confrontational as they want to be ... within the limits of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association rules, that is.
Once she heard of the new team being formed, New Iberia native Melissa Kidd, aka Maddie Manthrax, was interested. Kidd is an athlete with no aversion to the pain that accompanies training to win in physical competition.
 Melissa Kidd of New Iberia. Advertisement
|
A New Iberia soccer player for nine years, she began playing at North Lewis Elementary before moving on to Willowwood soccer teams. In addition to skating in roller derby, the 19-year-old athlete is also a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she is studying exercise science in preparation for becoming a physical therapist.
“I really thought it was interesting and different and it’s another team sport I would like to play,” Kidd said. “It’s with girls and and it’s really fun.”
Kidd said she has not received negative comments from anyone about joining the team, or at least not yet. Her friends were supportive and were more interested in how she found a place to play.
“They were just like, ‘Wow, that’s different,’ ” she said. “My parents just kind of expect it, for me to be looking for different stuff on the boyish athletic side.”
Kidd works, studies and plays hard. Not only is she an inaugural member of the Acadiana Good Times Rollers, she also stays busy as a student of Tae Kwon Do, a hard-hitting sport and martial art. Her reason for joining roller derby is simple. She likes the competition and does not shy away from pain and injury.
“What worries me the most is the speed and running into everyone,” she said. “I’m actually looking forward to knocking people out of my way.”
Kidd’s older sister Katherine Kidd does not worry about her sister’s new role as a roller derby star.
“She’s able to roller blade and run and do martial arts,” she said. “I think it may all come together.”
The team itself is a positive contribution to women’s athletics in the area, she said, adding there are not many outlets for women athletes professionally.
The Kidd siblings have a history of athletic participation, beginning with New Iberia Recreation Department softball program. The only words of advice Katherine Kidd would give her younger sister are practical and supportive.
“I think that the only advice is to use everything she learned, and to be careful, and to kick butt,” she said.
Roller derby was once more spectacle than sport, a necessity during an era when contact sports were dominated by men, but is enjoying a resurgence thanks to a national association that focuses less on novelty and more on the talent and abilities of a younger generation of women raised on competitive sports.
“We are much, much more of an actual athletic competition these days,” said Laurie Hayes, team captain and co-founder.
Hayes, also known as AccostHer Wilde, credits the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association with helping the sport gain credibility through its membership and regulations. At 23 years old, Hayes was not around for the earlier version of derby, but she is aware of the earlier negative aura.
“Previously the focus was on the spectacle, few rules, dirty fighting, fun and messy,” Hayes said. “In a way it was more exploitative of the idea of women athletes. Today it’s still kind of exploitative, but the formalization of rules and goals gives it a definite background in athleticism.”
Hayes is the only current member to have previously played roller derby. She said forming a derby team has been attempted in Acadiana before now, but for various reasons previous efforts were not successful. Now, however, the climate is different and the response to the team, both in number of recruits and fans, has been phenomenal.
“By the time I got here, the team already existed in potential, I just had to add water,” Hayes said. “Anything can grow in this climate, and if the Deep South can support an ice hockey team, by all means, they can support aggressive, attractive women knocking each other over in skirts.”
The Acadiana Good Times Rollers are currently practicing regularly and preparing for WFTDA membership and future bouts. The team’s initial fundraiser will be Sept. 28 at the Skate Zone in Lafayette. The cost is $5 at the door. For more information visit www.goodtimesrollers.org.
Comments