KAPAA — A local roller derby club will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary the best way it knows how — throwing down on the track.
Garden Island Renegade Rollerz will host a match against Maui Roller Girls today at the hockey rink at the Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex in Kapaa starting at 4 p.m.
“We’re really excited about it. This is a great time for our club,” said GIRR member Mele Khalsa. “We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, and we are going really strong. We got a big, solid team. We’ve got a lot of interest and a lot of great leadership. So, yeah, we’re riding the wave and we’re rocking it. We’re stoked to be coming into our tenth year so strong as a team.”
The event, dubbed “Birthday Bout,” will feature a league roller derby match followed by a mixed scrimmage and a celebration afterward.
“This is probably our only home game of the year here. The other games we’ll be playing will be travel bouts,” said Khalsa, who has been with GIRR for seven years. “Hopefully next year, we’ll have more opportunities for our fans to come and watch. This year, we weren’t able to get anything on the books with the other teams to come visit us here, other than this one game with Maui. This is everyone’s chance to come see us.”
Roller derby is a contact sport played between teams of five roller skating on a track.
The jammer, designated with a star on the player’s helmet, scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. Blockers and pivots, a blocker who can convert to the jammer during play, attempt to block the opposing jammer or can assist their own jammer.
A couple of players have skated with GIRR since the club’s founding and will play today — Anaik “Pussy Go Score” Martin and Tammy “Tamminator” Fernandez.
The public is welcome. It is free, but a $5 donation is suggested.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
