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Vancouver roller sports groups rally for rink time

Roller derby participants forced out to the Fraser Valley for available floor time
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New Westminster's Ashlyn Drummond and others in the Vancouver Junior Roller Derby are holding a rally for more wheeled sports space at the Robson Square rink on Sunday, May 5.

Scores of young people who live for jams, blocks and booty bumps are in a jam themselves.

It’s not the type of jam they want.

Members of the Vancouver Junior Roller Derby (VJRD) are inviting any and all wheeled sports aficionados to the Robson Square rink on Sunday, May 5 for an event that’s a bit of everything: it’s a protest, a celebration and call to action to make room for wheeled sports in Vancouver.

“We’ve had exactly the same problem since the league started, but this is a problem for all leagues,” VJRD chair Laura Drummond told the Courier. “The adult leagues are suffering, and we have teams that started in Vancouver where team members now have to drive out to Chilliwack.”

The VJRD was established in 2013, and its players range in age between six and 18. Many live in Vancouver, specifically Mount Pleasant, though the league draws from across the region.

The membership numbers are capped at 50 — two or three teams — not by choice, but by space.

The Mount Pleasant Community Centre is ground zero for the bulk of a season that runs September to June, but it’s too small.

League play moves to the rink at Trout Lake for a two-and-a-half month period once the ice is out during May and June.

“An ice rink is ideal for us — there is plenty of space, we’ve got a place for people to watch and it’s concrete. It’s everything we need,” said Drummond’s daughter Ashlyn, who captains the league’s senior team known as the Scream Punks. “We could expand in that space and we can grow, but then we’re forced back into Mount Pleasant in September, where we’re restricted. We can’t take more kids.”

The rules of engagement in flat-track roller derby include a pair of 30-minute periods, during which two-minute “jams” are conducted to score points. Jammers put points on the board by getting by the hips of their opposing blockers. Body contact is involved, but only for those over the age of 12.

Beginner level roller derby, minus body contact, is offered for young kids or adults new to the sport. Being new to the sport is a non-starter at this point due to a lack of space, and a year-long waitlist to get into the league.

Vancouver School Board facilities are off the table, given the potential for floor damage. Floor hockey, for example, is only permitted when plastic shafts and blades are used.

The Vancouver Park Board is somewhat stuck in the middle of the discussion. While priority is given to non-profit, minor sport groups such as the VJRD, individual community centre associations have their own guidelines for programming and priority.

In the winter months, dry floor user groups are left in the cold because of hockey and other ice sports. That’s left Ashlyn, who lives in New West, and others like her driving out to Cloverdale or Chilliwack to get their derby on.

“There are a lot of misunderstanding about floor damage and it’s hard to communicate to people about how rollerskating is quite OK on floors,” Laura Drummond said. “Floor hockey can really damage floors and yet they’re allowed in and we have this reputation. So part of this upcoming rally is communicating to people that we’re OK in your space.”

If the Drummond gals had their druthers, a new rink would be built somewhere in Vancouver that could be shared equitably among all user groups. Rink specs — roughly 200 feet long by 85 feet wide — are the sweet spot for roller derby. Unfortunately for the Drummonds, those are the same dimensions needed for hockey and lacrosse.

“We’ve had people who’ve been generous with their time and brought us up in conversation, but the reality is, there’s been no movement on new space,” Laura Drummond said. “I’m really cognizant that part of this is a long-term plan… but that’s long term. In the interim, what’s going to happen is we could lose a lot of these leagues because they’re unable to grow, plan and effectively develop their long-term players.”

Sunday’s rally, which coincides with International Roller Derby Day, rolls from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Robson Square rink. An online petition lobbying the city and park board for more space is online HERE. 

@JohnKurucz