The Gem City Rollers are entering their 20th season of operation as non-profit, skater-owned team.
The local group is hosting three home games at the Dayton Convention Center this year. They kicked off the those home games with a full house of new and faithful fans on June 27.
Jessica Beans is a volunteer trainer for the team. She said they run a very competitive and strategic game, battling for points by passing the hips of other players when they are able to get a lead.
“When you get lead there's a lot of strategy," she said. "We can run it long and try to rack up as many points as we can or we just get one pass and then call it off.”
Beans has been playing with the team since 2020 under the name Slamwise Gamgee. While she has not been with the Gem City Rollers throughout their entire career in Dayton, She says she joined when their A-team, Purple Reign, was on a winning streak.
“We were ranked number 12 out of 160 teams in our region, which is all of the Northeast America, 160 — we were 12," she said. "So I feel like I came in on this time where we're really coming into our own.”
The Gem City Rollers’ audience has also grown over the years, pushing the organization to rent larger spaces like the Dayton Convention Center over their earlier local skating rink venues.
A record number of fans filled the stands at the team's first home game of the season. Shalita Burger with their public relations team said they sold around 150 tickets and saw between 200 to 300 visitors including the opposing team's audience members.
"We have never filled up the bleachers before. This time we had to find a lot of extra chairs for seating," she said.
Despite the team's large, local fanbase in its 20th year, the Gem City Rollers didn’t always have a massive following or three full groups to work with.
Those sub-teams support around 80 league members these days, but at one point they had just seven team members.
The group is now made up of three heats; the A-team, Purple Reign, the B-Team Violet Femmes and the C-Team, Lavender Haze.
Lisa Smith is a Gem City Roller who’s currently taking a break from playing on the team. She said their sub-groups play other members of a larger roller derby organization based on their skill-levels
“We're a part of a larger organization called Women's Flat Track Roller Derby," she said. "And that organization has rankings in certain divisions.”
First Home Game for the Season
The team traveled for much of the start this season but its first game at home placed them against the Louisville Roller Derby.
Both the B and C teams battled for points around a hand-taped track in the Dayton Convention Center's larger rental space.
That battle involves a lot of direct-contact, strength and teamwork which can leave players with injuries. Beans said that is part of the sport, but there are rules to protect from serious and unnecessary harm.
"If there's anything egregious or that's completely unsafe, you can get ejected from the game," she said. "You can't punch anybody, even though the movies say you can. You can hit them with your shoulder as hard as you want, but you can't punch them. So there are very defined rules that are meant to keep our skaters as safe as it can be, being a full contact sport on roller skates.”
After 15 years of participating in roller derby games, Gem City team member Leslie Fairchilds said the community connection is worth the hard hits in this sport.
“We have fun pretty much beating each other up and then go party together," she said. "And we're all friends.”
The co-chair for sponsorship and fundraising for the Gem City Rollers Danielle Tarbert said roller derby might seem like a violent sport, but it is one of the most welcoming games you can attend.
“Derby is for women, fems, and thems, although there are men's leagues if that's your vibe," she said.
This year's first home game also coincided with pride, highlighting that welcoming atmosphere for audience members of all backgrounds.
Beavercreek resident Salem Shepherd said this was her first ever roller derby game and she decided to try it out because of what she heard about inclusivity and the game's welcoming community.
“More people like me are represented on the team and in the crowd, and that makes me feel a lot more engaged with it in a way that I don't, by like mainstream sports I guess," she said.
Kelly Carpe from Yellow Springs also attended the first home game of the season to show her young daughter how sports can celebrate women’s strength.
“It is important for me to bring my daughter and her friend out to this because I wanted her to see women being really fierce in something that they're doing and being like athletic and just sort of seeing what women can do," she said.
The team's scheduler Megan Faragher said their success over the years is not only a credit to their team, but the Dayton community as a whole. As a nonprofit, they rely on local sponsors and businesses to thrive.
“There's a lot more involvement in the local Dayton community and partners and I think that's been really exciting too," she said. "So as an organization it's grown, you see a lot of leaders that are growing in the organization. I just think that has been really excited to watch over the last decade that I've been here.”
Future matches in Dayton will take place on August 29 and September 19.
Beans said they will host two skater clinics around September and October for people interested in joining the pack.
“We're always looking for skaters, transfer skaters, people that want to learn," she said. "So people can come to that new skating clinic in the fall and then become a roller derby player."
