Suburbia Roller Derby Comes to Mount Kisco Library

Decked out in colorful socks, short skirts, team tanks and of course, roller skates, members of the Suburbia Roller Derby League were on hand at the Mount Kisco Public Library on Saturday to sign posters and hand out t-shirts, sweatbands and other goodies before a screening of the roller derby-themed movie Whip It.

In addition to promoting the film, which members were excited to see hit theaters last fall, they were also there to drum up excitement for Saturday night's bout between their all-star team, Suburban Brawl, and Connecticut's Stepford Sabatoge, as well as to talk about the league—the county's first and only all-female flat track roller derby league—in general.

Founded in 2007, the league is player owned and operated, and has about 40 members who hail from all over the county and surrounding areas.

"We all work so hard, and as female athletes we want to see it grow," said Kimberly O'Leary from Ossining, explaining how movies like Whip It and a growing interest in the sport have helped make it more popular over the last few years. "It's not just a kitschy girls club. We work so hard on being physically fit and progressing and growing as individual players."

And the players themselves, who range in age from 21 to 50, come from a wide variety of backgrounds: There are students and stay-at-home moms, county employees and executive assistants, among a host of other professions.

But as soon as they hit the rink—wearing everything from red fishnets to sparkly skirts to nurse uniforms—they shed their outward persona and become skaters with names like Satan's Cheerleader, Hard Core Vette and Fatal Booty.

"I bruise all the time," said O'Leary, who goes by "Vixen Von Bruizen" and has been involved with the league since 2007, "Any hit and I have beautiful, purple flowering marks all over me, so your name kind of finds you."

O'Leary, an executive assistant in Newburgh who is also head of coaching and training for the league, first joined after seeing an ad on Craigslist and loves the outlet it provides.

"There are 35 women who aren't basing their friendship with you off of how much money you have, who you're married to, what kind of job you have. You don't even know the person's real name for 6 to 8 months in," she said, "You become friends and bond over the goal of playing a game together."

For others, like Jane McManus, a sports writer who lives in a section of New Castle that's in the Ossining postal area, roller derby was a chance to do something for herself.

"It wasn't a family or career obligation. It was just something I wanted to do," said McManus, aka "Lesley E. Visserate," a nod to Lesley Visser, the famous sports broadcaster. "For so many years I'd been focusing on my daughters in their infancy and toddlerhood and it's such an intense time. I wanted to do something to get back into shape, to feel active again."

McManus, who joined the league three years ago, also missed being part of a team.

"There aren't a lot of team sports for women after you get out of college. And this is something where you really have that team camaraderie," said the mother of two.

Currently, players are split up into two traveling ­­­teams—the all-star Suburban Brawl and Backyard Bullies—who battle it out against teams up and down the East Coast and two intramural teams—Botoxic Avengers and Indian Point Sirens.

And the league is continuing to grow. This year, tryouts yielded a "Fresh Meat" class of 17 members, who'll spend the next 3 to 9 months learning the rules of the sport, as well as how to hit and fall.

Spectators are on the rise too, with a crowd of more than 750 gathering at the team's home base in Yonkers to show their support during the last bout. And with the league hosting the Eastern Regional Tournament at the County Center in September, members are hoping to continue to gain exposure and spread the word about roller derby.

The next bout is scheduled for May 8 at the P.A.L on North Broadway in Yonkers.