After more than three years of traveling at least three times a week to Monterey to participate in women’s league roller derby, Stacey “Super Sonic Pebbles” Vanderlei knew she needed to make a change. The traveling was too much for her and her kids.
“I work in Morgan Hill so when I skated in Monterey, I would go from Morgan Hill to Gilroy at least three to four times a week,” she said. “Doing it after three and a half years, it was hard.”
After talking for nearly five months, Vanderlei joined with Stasha “Irish Kreemd’R” Maroney and decided to bring adult-league roller derby to San Benito County.
Unlike the Hollister Derby Girls, which mostly focuses on junior roller derby enthusiasts, the Faultline Derby Dollz are exclusively for adults, Vanderlei said.
The Maroney and Vanderlei creation – officially started three months ago – has seen a steady increase of participants as they searched out a home from practice and possibly bouts. Now, the pair can continue fulfilling their roller derby love, while spending more time with their families.
“We were spending 14 to 20 hours a week away from our kids so we decided to start something here,” Maroney said.
It wasn’t an easy transition.
The most difficult aspect of developing the new team was completed earlier this month, when they found a practice space on Orchard Road off of Fairview Road. So far they’ve spent only a little more than a week at the new practice facility.
The two co-founders hope to eventually have enough women to create teams at three different skill levels – with nearly 60 girls, Vanderlei said. Today, the team has 15 active participants, some who’ve never roller skated before.
It was meant to be for Jenna Ortolan, who never participated in roller derby, she said.
“Well, I’ve always been curious to do it but I never knew of a place,” she said. “And one day, I got a flyer on truck and I was totally up for it. And I really wanted to do it.”
So far it’s been exactly what she hoped it would be, Ortolan said.
“It’s been awesome,” she said. “I’m just learning how to skate again and everything, getting my endurance back up. I love it, though. It’s a lot of fun.”
Ortolan, who doesn’t have a roller derby name, is just one of the many “fresh meat” or new skaters who have shown interest in the derby league, Maroney said.
“We have a lot of brand new skaters,” Maroney said. “We get together three times a week. And we break the girls up so they get up to minimum skills. At that time, if they pass their assessments – and they have the skill levels to compete – they will be put on a competing team.”
Two-year roller derby veteran DeeDee “Speedy DeeDee” Overman coaches the new skaters before they are thrown in with the more experienced players, she said.
“Getting them used to being comfortable on their skates is their first challenge,” she said. “There is a really high learning curve, so women pick it up really fast, especially if they’ve skated as a kid. It comes back like riding a bike.”
Overman, who hasn’t skated in nearly a year, is happy to have an adult-focused roller derby team in the area, she said.
“I’m excited to get back into it,” she said. “I miss skating and I miss the girls.”
Because of the adult-league focus, the rules will differ slightly, Maroney said. Unlike the junior league, where it’s only positional blocking, the adult league will be more physical.
“In women’s (league) it’s not free for all and not full contact but it’s as close at it gets,” she said.
Eventually, they hope to get more bouts, Maroney said.
“We plan on having a lot of bouts,” she said. “I don’t know how many we will have this year because it’s in the second half of the season, but we will have bouts,” she said.
The first bout of the year is tentatively scheduled for Redding in October.
Regardless of when the Derby Dollz do bout, they’re happy to have an adult team in the area.
“I would say the most important thing – and the reason why I do derby – is it’s a really great exercise and you meet a lot of awesome women – not only from your team but you meet other women from different teams,” Overman said. “It’s like this little community of girls. It’s very women empowering and lots of fun. It’s the only exercise that I’ve been able to stick with that’s fun. I would say that would be the biggest thing.”
