FL Roller Derby League Plans To Build One Of Few Banked Tracks In U.S.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Sunshine City Roller Derby has come a long way since its casual start during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initially, skaters came together in 2020 simply looking for something to do as another local league, Deadly Rival Roller Derby, shut down during the pandemic and people were tired of being cooped up inside.

“We started kind of informally,” Chelsea, a St. Petersburg resident who skates under the name of Codzilla and didn’t want her last name published, told Patch. “We were just outside skating when everything closed down and that organization and other derby groups weren’t meeting. And we also drew trail skaters who weren’t even in the sport, park skaters too.”

By 2022, Sunshine City Roller Derby formalized and began hosting public events.

Now, this year, not only has it become a nonprofit organization, the league also announced its plans to build a banked track and is raising money for the project. It will be one of just a handful of leagues across the country to boast a banked track.

“From day one, we always kind of had the mission to bring a banked track back to Pinellas County,” Chelsea said.

In addition to raising the funds to build the track, “one of the biggest problems we’re having is that we don’t have the space for it,” Lucero Hernandez, a St. Petersburg resident who skates under the name Carnage Asada, told Patch.

They currently practice and hold bouts on a flat track at the Largo Event Center.

“This is a nice venue. We could fit the track in here, but then we would lose the space for the fans,” she said.

The league has also started traveling out of state to take on other teams. In October, they traveled to San Diego and in June, a group of skaters will head to Seattle to take on Tilted Thunder Roller Derby. Sunshine City is also raising money to help offset travel expenses.

The league has seen significant growth over the past year, recently welcoming 10 new skaters into an introductory class where they learn the basics of the sport, including skating on quad roller skates.

“This is probably the biggest our league has ever been,” Hernandez said. “It’s huge. We’re growing a lot and it’s an exciting time to be a part of our league.”

And the league is always looking for new skaters and volunteers to join. People of all genders, backgrounds and skill levels are welcome.

“We have a wide assortment of people from all walks of life,” Chelsea said. “We’ve got students. We’ve got scientists. We’ve got waitresses. We’ve got software engineers. We’ve got publicists.”

Deedra Willaford, a St. Petersburg resident who skates under the name Circuit Break-Her, was drawn to the community aspect of roller derby. Her interest was piqued after the movie “Whip It” came out and she decided to give it a try after running into members of Deadly Rival skating in a park.

“I tend to be kind of shy but I enjoy social activities that have that camaraderie aspect, like a yoga class. You’re doing a group activity but sometimes not interacting with everyone. You're in a communal space, so this has that, which I enjoy,” she told Patch, adding, “It’s not just a team; it’s a family. There’s camaraderie. You acquire a lot of friends very quickly, like, ‘cool, I’ve been adopted.’”

Hernandez discovered the sport after leaving the military and quickly realized roller derby fulfilled something that was missing in her life.

“When you’re in the military, you’re used to having that community, that unit that you’re always with, train with, work with and you do all these things with, and roller derby really seemed to be that community,” she said.

Sunshine City Roller Derby is a tight-knit group that supports and empowers each other, Chelsea said.

“It’s family for people who need it. It’s sisterhood or siblinghood for people who need it,” she said. “We watch each other’s dogs. We take each other to the airport. We check in on each other when there’s a natural disease or when somebody’s sick. We take care of each other.”

As the league grows, people can support it by donating to the organization’s travel fund here.

“But the biggest way to support us is to come to the games, to be frank,” Chelsea said. “We’re here because we love this sport and we want to share it with others.”

Upcoming bouts including Spring Break-Her on April 18, the Pride Home Bout and the Schoolyard Smackdown on Aug. 15, all at the Largo Event Center. A Bowlin’ and Rollin’ fundraiser is also planned for May 18 at Ten Pin Lanes in South Pasadena.