SAUGUS — The New England Junior Roller Derby (NEJRD) showed its holiday spirit Sunday with a Winter WonderSLAM scrimmage between the Arctic Blue Yetis and the Blizzardy White Snowmen at Roller World.
Wendy Matusovich, NEJRD’s president, founded the organization after COVID-19 caused a shutdown in the roller derby world. With Boston’s league not bringing its junior team back after COVID, Matusovich and other parents decided to form their own team.
“The important thing about (NEJRD) is it’s often a place for kids who want to play sports but haven’t found their home elsewhere … they just might not fit in a traditional sport,” Matusovich said.
She said that everybody is a derby body and that there is a place for anyone of any size.
Coach “Case,” who has been a derby coach for over a decade, has seen the derby world grow in her 16 years in the community.
“There was a mass growth in the first couple of years, and then it chilled out a bit,” she said. “During the pandemic, everybody became obsessed with roller skating, which was amazing. Junior roller derby has seen a mass growth. We’ve evolved from 10 players in our early years … to, I think, 45 active skaters now.”
“Case” started her journey as a competitive figure skater before shifting into the derby world. After breaking her foot, she pivoted, going to pastry school and working at Perkins School for the Blind. However, she found herself working with NEJRD when Matusovich got her on board with coaching.
“Case” also emphasized that there has been amazing growth in the region as a whole, with Maine and New Hampshire creating more active leagues.
“It’s wild and it’s also a beautiful thing, because you’re always meeting people that want to try something different and want to really express their strength and athleticism in a way that they weren’t allowed to before because their body type just didn’t match any traditional sports,” she said.
She said that her favorite part about playing the game was getting to know people and watching how people of all shapes and sizes could thrive in the rink and that all body types were celebrated. Her favorite part about coaching was working with the kids and parents.
“What I love about coaching is every single one of those kids is so special and each one requires different attention and has different needs. Understanding how to teach each child is probably my favorite thing,” she said.
Captains “Slay-La” and “Dubs” both agreed that roller derby was a sport that everyone could be a part of and enjoy.
“I knew I wanted to play a sport with this mindset, and I wanted to play a sport that says anyone can do anything and it doesn’t matter who you are,” “Slay-La” said.
She said that it blows her mind to see the growth that they’ve had and that she wished everyone could experience this.
“It’s just such a great community to be a part of and one of the most welcoming places,” she said.
“”Dubs” said that the team has every type of person on it and that even though everyone is so different they all love each other and the sport.
“I tried cross country, I tried track, I tried all of these different sports. Nothing was right for me,” she said. “I got to this sport and I loved it and it became my whole life and I’ve been able to branch out and play different sports thanks to derby.”
The match ran with two 30-minute halves and the skaters rotated in units through jams, which last two minutes where the teams have the opportunity to score. The Jammers, wearing stars on their helmets, are the only ones who can score during the jam by making it through the blockers. Each unit included a different age group ranging from 8 to 18.
Derby shows off the ultimate amount of teamwork as blockers must try and hold off the opposing jammer while also creating holes and space for their own teammate to make it into scoring position.
The first half showed off incredible teamwork from both squads. However, Arctic Blue would come out swinging with a 116-87 lead going into the intermission.
“Landshark!” drove the score up for her team with multiple inside passes through the Snowmen blockers. However, “The Wolverine” kept things close with a stellar end of half showing as jammer.
One of the highlights of the scrimmage came in the second half with “Mads” and “Just Kai” showing off their jammer skills on the track. Both skaters passed through blockers slamming into one another, joking around as the time winded down. “Just Kai “was able to barrel through the Pack while “Mads” kept herself in bounce with a leap over a blocker’s skate.
The Yetis finished triumphant with a score of 203-140.
While the older skaters showed the most skill, the younger members of the league were just as involved. There were some shaky legs and awkward falls, but each one got back up and continued.
Many of these young skaters are a part of the league’s Bambi Bootcamp, a six week program to learn how to derby. You can sign your kids up for Bambi Bootcamp at https://forms.gle/WZSfgGa2Y6DUtcYh9.
