Two players collide during a warm-up scrimmage game at the Santa Cruz Derby Girls practice. The SCDG is coming off its first win of the season, during which the team destroyed the Sin City Roller Girls last week in Las Vegas. Photos by Molly Solomon

A flurry of color rushes past as women dressed in everything from shiny shorts to Hello Kitty socks skate around a rink marked with tape on the concrete floor. Tattoos peek out from shirts and wisps of crazy-colored hair escape from helmets as women of all ages warm up for practice. These are the Santa Cruz Derby Girls.

In just the last decade, roller derby has catapulted to popularity. In 2001, there was only one roller derby league in the country. However, over the past 10 years, that number has increased to over 400 leagues around the world, most of which are grappling for Women’s Flat Track Derby Association membership — or WFTDA. At the end of their last season, SCDG was granted this certification and is now competing in the Western region for the first time.

Liv N. Letdie, who is one of the jammers for the Boardwalkd Bombshells, said that receiving WFTDA status has provided a great amount of incentive for the derby girls.

“Having the certification has raised us from basically a ‘farm league’ to what is considered the NBA of roller derby,” she said. “Having the WFTDA membership is like putting a bigger carrot in front of us to work harder.”

Teammate Foxxee Firestorm said that having the WFTDA status also provides the league more notoriety which in turn increases support for roller derby in Santa Cruz.

The Santa Cruz roller derby league has expanded since its founding in 2007. Starting with just 25 women, the league has grown to around 100 roller derby girls in three teams: the Boardwalk Bombshells, the Harbor Hellcats and the Seabright Sirens. This three-tier approach portions off the women into teams appropriate for their ability, with the Bombshells as the “A” team, Hellcats as the “B” team, and Sirens as the “C” team. Although all teams within the league are sanctioned with WFTDA status, the Boardwalk Bombshells represents the league in most of the sanctioned bouts because of their status as the “A” team.

Despite having three teams, the roller derby girls are still a close-knit crew. The team’s cohesiveness can be attributed to the extracurricular work that the derby girls of Santa Cruz do. Every derby girls is on a committee that serves the league which ranges from spirit committee to public relations. At each home bout, they choose a non-profit organization to receive a portion of their proceeds.

Derby girl Cleopatra Catastrophe is co-director of the SCDG.

“Everyone is a cog in the machine that is roller derby here in Santa Cruz,” she said.

Since its founding, SCDG has donated over $10,000 and more than 550 hours of volunteer work to community groups, schools and non-profit organizations. The team is currently awaiting approval from the IRS to receive non-profit status.

Although roller derby takes a considerable amount of time and commitment, the women participating are more than happy to commit.

“There is no reason I would volunteer this much time away from my kids and family if it wasn’t important,” said derby girl Foxxee Firestorm.

Although the derby girls are serious about their community outreach, they also engage in the quirky party spirit of roller derby. Derby girls are known for their eccentric outfits and personalities.

Liv N. Letdie watched as a woman with purple-streaked hair and tattoos skated by.

“The booty shorts and fishnets might bring people to the bouts,” Letdie said, “but once they actually see roller derby, they’re addicted.”

Roller Derby is more than a sport: it’s a way of life that brings in influences from kitschy 50’s emblems of alternative lifestyles. Photo courtesy Sean Vranizan.

Photo courtesy Sean Vranizan.

The warehouse walls are covered in faded white paint, peppered with scuffs and stains. By the looks of the rafters the building could have been a retired factory, but around the edge of the room, there are hints of the owners’ distinctive style: a DJ booth by the front of the room, a smiley face lawn chair along the far wall, and a rainbow wheelchair with painted gold rims. However, the most distinguishing feature of the warehouse is the yellow tape that marks an oval track in the center of the cement floor.

On April 3, 14 local women arrived at the warehouse in skates, kneepads, mouth guards and helmets to learn the skills needed to be a derby girl. For three hours, Head Coach Shamrock Roller and team captain Lindsey Seiler of the Boardwalk Bombshells, one of two Santa Cruz Roller Derby squads, ran drills practicing the everything from the correct way to stop to the best way to fall.

There was a diverse range of skills within the group; some took painful spills while others effortlessly weaved their way around the track.

The desire to be a derby girl united this eclectic crew.

Nikira Hernandez, a queer youth program director at the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz, said that the derby girl boot camp was only her fourth time ever skating. Despite a couple falls on the cement floor, Hernandez was not deterred.

“I was volunteering at an event that the derby girls were volunteering for and I thought that they were about the hottest shit on wheels,” she said. “I wanted to be part of it.”

After one of Hernandez’s falls, Seiler, a brunette covered in tattoos, including a roller skate on each of her calves, screamed about the importance of toughness in roller derby.

“Falling is good — it strengthens you!”

Shayna Meikle, nicknamed Pigeon, has blond hair with pink tips and 22 tattoos of her own.

She said that although the derby girl lifestyle lends itself to tattoos and dyed hair, the team is a mesh of many types of women.

“Roller Derby is an alternative lifestyle sport,” Meikle said. “But we get sweet cupcake moms too.”

In fact, Pigeon said that the players’ professions are just as diverse as their backgrounds; there are doctors, bartenders, teachers, lawyers, dog sitters, and small business owners, with ages ranging from 23 to 51 years old.

Manuela Larios, nicknamed Insta Gator and a member of the Harbor Hellcats, the second of the Santa Cruz teams, works as a preschool teacher and has two daughters.

“Derby is really good because it shows that girls can do tough sports,” Larios said. “My 7-year-old does gymnastics, but she wants to be a derby girl.”

One of the few males in the warehouse was Dave Strauss. The skating and conditioning coach said he’s new to roller derby, but has a background playing hockey.

“It’s cool to see women have something that’s their own,” Strauss said. “Anybody can watch it and enjoy it — everybody likes to see someone get hurt.”

Larios finds that roller derby can appeal to anyone looking to have a good time.

“Who wouldn’t want to see a bunch of girls running around in tights and underwear, beating each other” she said. “And you can drink beer while you’re watching!”

The two teams play once a month, and each match has a theme — the season opener on April 10 is titled “Tokyo at Night.” Dressing up is highly encouraged.

While the nicknames and costumes are entertaining, Strauss said the masquerade element also holds real significance.

“It’s almost like they’re leading somewhat of a double life,” Strauss said. “They can come and really be themselves.”

For Kathleen Lee, who chose the nickname Snarls Darwin because she’s “kind of a big biology nerd,” the roller derby allows is a place where she can express parts of her personality that many have not seen.

“I’m really kind of quiet and shy,” Lee said. “I don’t really come out of my shell a lot, but I think I really needed to express that side of myself.”

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If you think you have what it takes to be a Santa Cruz derby girl, email recruiting@santacruzderbygirls.org to get details about the May 2 tryout.

The modern game of disc golf (also called Frisbee golf in some circles) originated in 1960s Southern California. Largely due to its simple rules and short, inexpensive list of necessary equipment, the sport sport quickly expanded from there. Today, there are nearly 6,000 public disc-golf courses worldwide, half of which are in the United States alone.

It’s no surprise, then, that the unique sport has taken root in Santa Cruz in the form of the De LaVeaga Disc Golf Course, one of the highest-rated and most beautiful courses in the world.

The course, originally established in 1984, is located on Upper Park Road, off Banciforte Drive in the east side of Santa Cruz. It features 27-holes accented by steep ravines, open meadows, towering redwoods and sweeping panoramic views of the Monterey Bay. A breathtaking and picturesque locale to let off some steam and learn a knew game, the De LaVeaga course is free to the public (though donations are appreciated, since they help keep the place up and running) and is open every day from sun-up to sun-down.

Archery

Also located within 1,200-acre De LaVeaga Park, situated among lush greenery and worlds away form the bustle of Santa Cruz proper, is an archery range founded and run by local organization the Santa Cruz Archers (SCA). The range, open to the public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to four, features a variety of outdoor and indoor activities, an expansive collection of three-dimensional animal targets and holds a regular stump competition in which archers must survive a marksmanship gauntlet that bares striking resemblance to the basketball game of “H-O-R-S-E”.

The list of notable archers to grace the range with their skills is long — it even includes former world longbow champion Larry Yien. But keeping with its mission of building and continuing the practices of field and target archery while maintaining a spirit of camaraderie among all archers at all levels, the SCA provides various opportunities throughout the year for newbies to learn and practice archery in free-shoots and classes.

Set within a peaceful environment, surrounded by soaring oaks and redwoods, the range is also a great place to reconnect with a different, simpler time, or as Henry Bertram, who teaches an archery class for Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation, put it, “the range lets you hook up with what it’s like to be a more primitive human being.”

Paddleboarding

At Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, Moss Landing and just about everywhere in between, local paddleboarders can be seen gracefully rowing along the coast. Pulling from elements of surfing, rowing and even yoga, paddleboarders stand on fiberglass boards, ranging from ten to fifteen feet long and propel themselves through the water, usually using a single oar-like paddle.

Some paddleboards stay near the shore and, seemingly without effort, skim serenely atop gentle ocean waves. Others patrol the Monterey Bay with eyes peeled hoping to catch a glimpse of famed Santa Cruz sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters. Still others take an aggressive approach, intrepidly charging massive waves and cutting through the surf with sharp turns and twists.

Kayak Connection, a Santa Cruz company that offers tours of the Monterey Bay and lessons in a variety of water sports, touts paddleboarding for its multiplicity: it can serve as a powerful core workout, a strength training mechanism for everyone from surfers to marathoners, a vehicle to coastlines and wildlife that are inaccessible by any other means, or simply as a calming and meditative way to connect with and enjoy the Santa Cruz surf.

Roller Derby

Grab your roller-skates, pads and helmets and get ready for a rumble!

A sports staple founded in 1920s east-coast cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Boston, the roller derbies of old, which involved both male or female participants, featured professional athletes roller skating around a rink and trying to score before being knocked down (or out) by members of the other team. The game itself involved two teams of skaters, each with a “jammer” who could score, and four other players who would block, hit and try to stop the other team from scoring by nearly any means necessary.

Though the object of the game remains, some aspects of the sport have changed a bit since way-back-when. Today, the sport is dominated by amateur (read: unpaid) females who combine tenacity, athleticism and attitude, resulting in an showman sport that spans the globe — from Australia to the United Arab Emirates — and is truly like no other.

Not the type of place to shy away from this brand of intensity, Santa Cruz has embraced local roller derby leagues with cult favoritism. Notable teams include the Harbor Hellcats, Boardwalk Bombshells, Santa Cruz Roller Girls and Santa Cruz Derby Groms (a daring team of young Derby Girls in-the-making). Our local Santa Cruz derby chicks participate in frequent competitions, or “bouts,” versus any team that dares to meet them and, for those with enough gusto, the Santa Cruz Derby Girls league challenges locals to join their “Fresh Meat” team and see if they can hack it with the high “rollers.”