KAPA‘A — The Maui Roller Girls came to town and “shuv-ed” past the Garden Island Renegade Rollerz, 204-90 Saturday before a large “Summer Shuvin” crowd at the Kapa‘a Inline Hockey rink. “The Maui girls are the best in the state,”
KAPA‘A — The Maui Roller Girls came to town and “shuv-ed” past the Garden Island Renegade Rollerz, 204-90 Saturday before a large “Summer Shuvin” crowd at the Kapa‘a Inline Hockey rink.
“The Maui girls are the best in the state,” said Dominic Acain, whose wife skates with the G.I. Renegade Rollerz. “They’re also one of the older clubs in the state and they’re girls are so good, they do the training for almost all the girls.”
The Maui Roller Girls are Maui’s first all-women flat-track roller derby league started in February 2008 by Killa Kelly, according to its website. The team started with four girls and grew to more than 20 girls skating anywhere they could on the Valley Isle.
On Saturday, Maui lost little time asserting itself, grabbing the lead jammer position in the first handful of jams in the half.
When Kaua‘i was finally in a position to grab the lead jammer spot, it was sent to the penalty box, giving the Valley Isle skaters almost full control in spite of the strong vocal support from the Kaua‘i fans.
With just minutes remaining in the half, Kaua‘i finally was able to wrangle several lead jammer spots bringing the half to a close, 128-33 in favor of Maui.
“We’re playing pretty good,” Roxy of the G.I. Renegade Rollerz said during the half. “The score doesn’t really reflect how good we’re doing. A lot of our girls are playing in their first bout, including myself, so I think we’re doing good.”
The Rollerz took advantage of the break to recoup, coming off the half by snaring the lead jammer spot and scoring the first four points of the half.
But it was a losing battle as Maui came back, peeling off chunks of points while limiting the G.I. girls to two- and four-point increments.
Tamminator, the G.I. Renegade Rollerz’s jammer, broke open late in the game, capitalizing on the Maui jammer in the penalty box and peeled off one of the team’s largest increments to bring the deficit to 186-83.
Maui answered with Gunner and exit4 taking the lead to bring the bout to an end, 204-90.
The GIRR holds Eastside practices at the Kapa‘a Hockey Rink for veterans on Sundays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Cadet skaters have open skate on Sundays from 4 to 6 p.m. and on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.
Westside practices are on Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Smokey Valley Clubhouse in Waimea.
Visit www.gardenislandrenegaderollerz.com for more information.