Mid Michigan is falling head over heels in Derby Love

They call it Derby Love. And like all affairs of the heart--or in this case dates with the roller derby track--it has multiple meanings.

There is the love of the sport and staying true to it, as women's roller derby is speeding into the public consciousness after hiatuses since popular stints in the 1950s and 1970s.

There is the love of spectators, often squealing little girls, who wave signs for their favorite teams and players, sometimes dressing in their colors and waiting in line for skaters' autographs.

And there is the love among the players who wear all kinds of hats off the rink--nurses, teachers, stay-at-home-moms, hairstylists, students, engineers, electricians--but come together to block, jam and pivot around the track. The skaters race around rinks, showing their love in funny ways sometimes; knocking each other down, shoving, pushing. Love is also expressed in more typical fashion, like sharing meals, helping when needed, bonding.

"You all become like a little family," says Theresa Roach, who lives in Grand Blanc and skates for the Mid-Michigan Derby Girls.

No matter where the skaters come from or their leagues are based, Derby Love is a common term.

"Derby Love isn't some marketing thing. I feel like it's something the girls just came up with themselves. It just naturally happens because it's a large group of women spending all this time together," says Roach. "Some of the girls on the team can be like your best friend, some can be like your cousin you don't get along with but you love and respect them. You're willing to risk injury for any of them."

As for the sport itself, Derby Love is spreading in a wide whip across the country and Michigan. Teams hail from Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Saginaw, Flint, Traverse City and other Michigan towns--and more form seemingly every week.

The Flint City Derby Girls formed in 2007 and, after a rough patch, a few players broke off and formed the Mid-Michigan Derby Girls in 2008. They had their first bout in 2009. A third team, the Tri-Valley Derby Girls gave derby a go, but has folded into the Mid-Michigan league.

"You're going to find that a lot of smaller cities have two leagues," says Flint City Derby Girl Jackie Knoll, an English teacher from Grand Blanc. "I guarantee you that's because there's been a split."

Bouts attract 200 to 300 fans to Skateland in Mt. Morris one Saturday a month. Flint plays to crowds a bit larger at Rollhaven Skating Center in Grand Blanc.

The girls also hit the road for bouts, and both leagues are working through the requirements to become a member of WFTDA, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association in Austin, Texas. It's what the NFL is to football and NHL is to hockey--without all the high-paid stars and salary caps. Both are apprentice teams paired with veteran teams from other cities.

What's yet to be discovered is whether Derby Love equals economic happiness.

Juliana Gonzales, executive director of the WFTDA, says some teams go the route of business venture, and some opt for break-even recreation.

"About half the leagues operate as nonprofits and about half are for profit," Gonzales says. "It's still a very DIY, grassroots sport, amateurs, but they're in control of their own business model. What's most important is that the league is a reflection of the community."

Nevertheless, with the addition of more teams and spectators can come money and opportunity.

In some towns, derby attracts thousands while other cities draw spectators by the dozens or hundreds. Sponsors are a part of the game, and now state, regional and national derby championships are being welcomed by city planners and economic development officials.

Many teams avoid the commercial approach, "the profit monster," as Knoll describes it, because of what it did to one of the first resurgent teams back in 2001.

"It's what tore apart the Bad Girl Good Woman League in Austin," she says. The split is documented in the movie Hell on Wheels.

That crash-and-burn episode could explain why about half the teams nationwide operate as nonprofits. The other half are LLCs. Flint is in the process of becoming a nonprofit; Mid-Michigan is already there. Nonprofit status makes it easier to obtain corporate sponsorships.

It also is connected to another aspect of Derby Love that has skaters show their communities they care by getting involved. That's most often done through charity.

The Flint Derby Girls work with the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan and the YWCA Safehouse in Flint. The Mid-Michigan Derby Girls direct their efforts toward the homeless by working with the Shelter of Flint and to pediatric cancer research by supporting a cycling group from Saginaw.

Whatever road they take, with two to three practices a week, league meetings and a board and committees to serve on, it's definitely a committed relationship.

"It's a huge commitment. It's definitely not something you decide to join on a whim," Roach says. "You really are committing to spending a lot of time thinking about roller derby, practicing, getting injured. You get bruised, you get banged up. Your family misses you. You wouldn't want to come back if you didn't want to be together."

Sounds like true Derby Love.

Kim North Shine is a Detroit-area freelance writer whose 9-year-old daughter has a bout program full of Detroit Derby Girl autographs.

Photo captions, top to bottom:

Mid Michigan Derby girl OOPS, left, is challenged by friend and rival TKO during a match in Mt. Morris.

Delia Brusies, left, out races fell Mid Michigan Derby Girl OOPS.

Gypsy Rose rounds turn three as the Lead Jammer.

Mid Michigan Derby girl Eraseher, left, gets a boost by holding on to KikAss, center.

Each of the derby girls' skates are as unique as their on-rink personas.

Writing on the floor warn spectators of the dangers of siting near the Suicide seating.

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