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Appalachian Rollergirls Receive Full Membership to WFTDA; Season’s Second Bout on April 12 in Greensboro

by Madison V. Fisler

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photo by Phil Lackey

April 8, 2014. The girls are back and ready for action. The Appalachian Rollergirls, our hometown women’s roller derby team, has officially received full membership status to the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association and officially began the 2014 roller derby season with their first bout on March 8.

With this membership, the new Class C members can now enjoy the full benefits of WFTDA membership including competition in sanctioned games and eligibility for rankings. The Appalachian Rollergirls are one of nine new members of the WFTDA with others including leagues from Canada, Germany, Japan and the United States. 

The WFTDA now has 243 members leagues an 101 apprentice leagues. 

The Appalachian Rollergirls are an 18+ all-female skater-run flat track roller derby league based in Boone, North Carolina founded in 2010 whose mission it is to encourage female athleticism, empowerment and community awareness through various activities and events throughout the year. 

Appalachian Rollergirls is currently 0-1 for the season. The team dropped the season opener by a mere 11 points to the Greenville Derby Dames of Greenville, South Carolina. 

“For this season, we lost a good amount of skaters due to injury and relocation,” Said Jennele Vaquera, team captain of the Appalachian Rollergirls.

Because of the loss of teammates, the Rollergirls have merged with another roller derby team in the Outer Banks to give their skaters a chance to compete in the big leagues.

“With that turnover, we only had seven skaters coming into the season. We have a lot of new girls, so our hope is that by next year we will be able to stand on our own. With roller derby, when you travel you try to practice with another team, and we practice with them when we are down there. Due to their area, they can’t really get the ball rolling as far as being in the league, and they had skaters from their team that wanted to compete on a bigger scale. So now seven of their players are registered under our league. This is going to be a great merger for sure!”

The next bout for the Rollergirls will take place at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 12 against the Gate City Allstars. Doors will open at 4 p.m. with the bout officially beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door and are $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 8-12 and chilren 7 and under will receive free admission. 

For information about the Gate City Allstars, visit the team’s website here

Appalachian Rollergirls will be hosting matchups in Hickory this season for two “semi-home” bouts and will play one home game in Boone at the Holmes Convocation Center at Appalachian State University on Aug. 9. The Hickory bouts will be hosted on May 10 and June 7 at Skateland.  

Check out the season schedule for the Appalachian Rollergirls and come out to show your support.

  • April 12 – Greensboro
  • May 10 – Semi-Home bout against Rogue in Hickory (Skateland)
  • June 7 – Semi-home bout against Mid-Atlantic in Hickory (Skateland)
  • July 26 – Rogue
  • Aug. 9 – Home Bout against Carolina at the Holmes Convocation Center
  • Sept. 10 – Urge

“I think this is going to be a great year for us,” Vaquera said. “Considering our first game, we played a team that is ranked 145th, which is pretty good. They should have cleaned the floor with us and we were ahead up until halftime. We had quite a lead and we really held our own. If that is an indicator for the rest of the season, I think it will be great.” 

For more information about the Appalachian Rollergirls, tickets for bouts or the upcoming roller derby season, click here