News

Kim "8Mean Wheeler" MacKenzie. Photo by Bob Ayers

Nov. 23, Vancouver BC – Three British Columbia roller derby players and one coach are in the last days of preparation for the first ever Roller Derby World Cup from December 1st to 4th in Toronto.

Teams from Canada, USA, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Finland, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina will be competing in the very first international roller derby competition.

All of the twenty Team Canada players who made the cut are at the highest level of the sport, but forming a cohesive team made up of amateur athletes from Vancouver, Nelson, Red Deer, Edmonton, Regina, London, Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, Montreal and St. John’s has been a challenge for coach Ian “Mack the Mouth” MacKenzie, a Coquitlam resident and coach of the Terminal City All-Stars. “We’ve done the most amount of coaching in the last thirty days than we have in the last four months, because before that it was more about fundraising and [finding] sponsors. Now that we have more of a playbook together, we’ve taken the opportunity, even if it’s four or five of the girls from the team, they get together and work and scrimmage and play out some of those strategies.”

Terminal City All-Star and Team Canada player Lucy “Luludemon” Croysdill puts a positive spin on the geographical challenge. “We’re spread out, but that means that we get a wealth of experience from all areas of the country. Also, the great thing about having skaters from all over is that we’ve got fans all over…they’re excited about skaters that are from their province or their league. In my opinion, Team Canada is about more than just this World Cup…[roller derby] is still relatively young in Canada, and I think that having a Team Canada has really helped people identify with an elite level [of roller derby].”

Nelson resident and member of the West Kootenay Women's Roller Derby Leauge Bobbi “Beretta Lynch” Barbarich is looking forward to the high level of competition. “I’m most looking forward to skating against people from other countries. I know it seems very simple, but skating against someone from Brazil? That’s awesome! And being able to skate against the best of the American skaters. It’s going to be like a carnival ride.”

Coquitlam's Kim “8-Mean Wheeler” MacKenzie, a member of the Terminal City All-Stars, isn’t too worried about the threat of her talented neighbours to the south. “We’re not going to focus on any one player or team. We’re just going to do the same thing that we’re setting out to do when we play any team, which is focus on our teamwork and communication.”

To kick off the tournament, Canada takes on France on Thursday, December 1st at 5pm EST. All bouts will be streamed online at Derby News Network.

For more information about the Roller Derby World Cup tournament, presented by Blood & Thunder Magazine and Toronto Roller Derby, go to teamcanadarollerderby.ca or rollerderbyworldcup.com.

For more information about the Terminal City Rollergirls in Vancouver or to arrange an interview, contact media@terminalcityrollegirls.com.