M.E. Ortman had never worn a pair of roller skates before showing up for her first Springfield Roller Derby practice two years ago.
An educator, wife and mother of two, Ortman was in need of an activity of her own. She stumbled across Springfield Roller Derby and decided to attend a new recruit meeting.
"This is not something I would have ever done. I didn't know anything about roller derby, to be honest," Ortman said. Soon, she was hooked and now she is celebrating her third season with the league — she joined in April 2022 and is known as Panic Attack! on the track. "I just kept coming back. I just fell in love with the people and community and they're like my family now."
Ortman is one of nearly 100 members of Springfield Roller Derby, a women's flat track roller derby league established in 2006 — at that time as Springfield Roller Girls.
Right now, the league is preparing for its largest event of the year: the Show Me Skate Invitational Tournament.
This is the second year Springfield Roller Derby is hosting the tournament, to be held July 5-7 at Jordan Valley Ice Park. The three-day tournament will bring together eight teams, including the Kansas City Roller Warrior All Stars, Capital City Crushers (Topeka, Kansas), Confluence Crush Roller Derby (St. Louis/Metro East, Illinois), CoMo Roller Derby (Columbia), Natural State Roller Derby (Fayetteville, Arkansas), Twister City Roller Derby (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and Foundation City Roller Derby (Kansas City).
The tournament's schedule is as follows:
- Friday, July 5: Doors open at noon, first whistle at 1 p.m.
- Saturday, July 6: Doors open at 8 a.m., first whistle at 9 a.m.
- Sunday, July 7: Doors open at 8 a.m., first whistle at 9 a.m.
About 7 p.m. Saturday, July 6, a Show Me Skate Mashup will be held, which is an open gender game following Women's Flat Track Derby Association rules. To learn more or sign up, email ShowMeSkate@SpringfieldRollerDerby.com.
Concessions, team merchandise and vendors will be available throughout the tournament.
Tickets for the tournament are available in advance online for $10 per single-day pass and $25 per weekend pass. Advance weekend passes are only available through July 1. Limited single-day and weekend passes will be available at the door.
At the end of each day, Springfield Roller Derby will host an after-party at Hold Fast Brewing, with beer and games.
Springfield Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, the official international governing body for flat track roller derby. As of Thursday, Springfield Roller Derby was ranked No. 39 of 75 in its region. For context, the top-rated team in this region is the New Jax City Rollers in Jacksonville, Florida. The league has won all nine games it has played this season with a 511.81 game point average. Springfield Roller Derby has won three of seven games played this season, with a game point average of 26.38.
Springfield Roller Derby league's evolution
Springfield Roller Derby — at the time Springfield Roller Girls — was founded by Ted Hall, Jason McDaniel and Catina Ankrom in 2006, according to the league's website. The league practiced for a full year before its first bout in October 2007 against the CoMo Derby Dames. The league lost by a small margin.
Current Springfield Roller Derby Head Coach Suzanne Cantrell — known on the track as Psycho Suzie — didn't compete in that first game because she was too young, but she was there, cheering on the team. She joined the team as soon as she turned 18 in 2007. This is her first season as head coach.
As a longtime member, Cantrell has seen the league change in size and culture over the past 17 years.
"Whenever I started, we kind of had this alternative rock-and-roll kind of vibe. It wasn't an uncommon thing to hear of someone getting into a fight," Cantrell said. "It was really raw, rough around the edges, a homegrown type of deal."
Over the years, Cantrell has witnessed the league become a more safe, inclusive space.
"I think COVID kind of changed us for the best. We are now way more inclusive than we've ever been," Cantrell said. "Back in the day, we wanted to win and we didn't care what it took to win. And now, we still want to win, but we are uplifting people. Instead of being like, 'Oh, that sucks,' we try to give good feedback and we try to encourage people that if they're not making the A-team to keep trying."
The league's name was changed in 2021 to Springfield Roller Derby to be more professional and inclusive.
The size of Springfield Roller Derby has also ebbed and flowed. When she started, Cantrell said the league was quite small. But now, with nearly 100 active members, the league is seeing more interest than ever before.
Part of this increase in interest, Cantrell said, is likely due to the "boom" in roller skating at the height of the pandemic. A New York Times story published in June 2020 dubbed the season "The Summer of Roller Skates," as videos of people learning how to skate during stay-at-home orders trended on social media.
"I think it was because it was something you could do outside by yourself," Cantrell said of roller skating. She's noticed the effect of this trend in her new recruit classes. "We have skaters in our new recruit class who we started earlier this year, and most of them knew how to skate."
Since 2009, Springfield Roller Derby has offered two league memberships: All Stars (the league's A-team) and Battle Brigade (the league's up-and-coming B-team). The Battle Brigade was established in 2009 as a way to "give skaters playtime and experience before moving up to our A-team," the league website says.
Today, Springfield Roller Derby calls the Jordan Valley Ice Park home, but the league has practiced and held bouts at several venues over the past 18 years. Initially, the now defunct Skateport was the league's home, but when the roller rink was demolished in 2014, the league was forced to move. Before Jordan Valley Ice Park, the league called the now defunct Remington's Downtown and Springfield Expo Center home.
'Community of misfits'
When it comes to what Springfield Roller Derby offers to the community, members cited different benefits.
As a rural community native, Cantrell said the league has provided her — and others — with an opportunity to try out a contact sport, which she didn't have growing up.
On a deeper level, Ortman said Springfield Roller Derby represents a "rare" pocket of acceptance and hard work in the region.
"We are just a community of people who just love this sport and love everything we stand for," Ortman said. "We don't stand for any hate or bigotry. We are all about love and acceptance and inclusion."
Ortman, who played soccer from the time she was three through college, said she never played on a team as close-knit and special as Springfield Roller Derby.
"I share things with these people that some of my closest friends don't know," she added.
One way members work to make the league inclusive is through accessibility. Recently, an individual who is hard of hearing joined the league. Due to the contact nature of roller derby, this member is unable to wear a cochlear implant while out on the track.
To help strengthen the entire league's level of communication, Ortman helped create sign language cards with basic signs that can be used during practices and bouts.
"We are inclusive and open to anybody who wants to be a part of this sport," Ortman said. "We will find a spot for them."
Kayla Guilbault, who is known on the track as Admiral Painway and is a part of the league's Ad, Merch and Media Committee, described the league as a "tapestry," made up of different folks from different walks of life.
"I feel like (Springfield Roller Derby) is really a place for people who don't fit in in the places that are most obvious in Springfield," Guilbault said. "#17, The Spread Eagle, likes to call it our community of misfits."
How do you play roller derby?
Roller derby games are called "bouts," which feature one-hour of gameplay on a "track," set up like a traditional, oval track.
One bout is made up of two 30-minute periods and each period is comprised of several two-minute "jams." A jam may be as short as 20 seconds, but no longer than two minutes, Ortman explained.
During a jam, two teams provide five players. Each team features a Jammer, Pivot and four Blockers. A Jammer is indicated with a star of the helmet and a Pivot is indicated with a stripe on the helmet.
A jam starts with both team's Jammers behind the "pack," which is the group of eight Blockers. A Jammer must pass this pack before points can be accumulated. This is called the "Initial Pass."
Once the Initial Pass is complete, a Jammer scores points by passing opponents. One point is gained per opponent passed on the track.
The first Jammer to pass the pack is deemed the "Lead Jammer." The Lead Jammer is able to end a jam at any point.
"They can call off the game within those two minutes if they feel like they're losing or are not going to get as many points," Ortman said.
The team with the most points by the end of each 30-minute period wins.
What's the financial investment?
Through Springfield Roller Derby does have some gear available for its members, folks who are serious about continuing their roller derby career should invest in their own.
The Women' Flat Track Derby Association requires all players to wear quad roller skates, a helmet, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads, and a mouth guard. Ortman said on the low end, all of this gear can be purchased for about $250. However, some roller skates alone can cost several hundred dollars.
How do you get involved?
Folks interested in learning more about Springfield Roller Derby should complete a member interest form, which is available on the Springfield Roller Derby website at springfieldrollerderby.com. Roles within the league include skaters, skating and non-skating officials, coaches and game-day volunteers.
Springfield Roller Derby practices from 6:30-9:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at the Jordan Valley Ice Park. The league's season tends to run January through August.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. She has more than five years of journalism experience covering everything from Ozarks history to Springfield’s LGBTQIA+ community. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her atgcross@news-leader.com.
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