Category Archives: BAD Skater of the Month

Time to give October's BGOTM recognition . . .

Dual’s sense of humor and lighthearted attitude is appreciated by her league mates and volunteers alike. Her dedication to B.A.D. is evident in all that she does for the league. She’s a fantastic teammate who encourages everyone around her to enjoy life and reminds us all that roller derby is meant to be fun. She’s no stranger to hard work; off the track, this half French, half American, often steps up to help with activities outside of the Events committee and always with the best attitude and a positive perspective.

Photo credit: Photography by D.E.sign

Name: Dual Hitizen

Number: 29

Team: Oakland Outlaws, All-Stars

B.A.D. League Involvement: Events Co-Manager

What’s the story behind your derby name?

I am a dual citizen – both French and American. After much thought and brainstorming, Grizzly Addam from Pioneer Valley Roller Derby in Western Mass., came up with Dual Hitizenship. I loved it but shortened it to Dual Hitizen in order to keep some sanity while sharpie-ing my name onto the back of a shirt.

How long have you been playing roller derby?

Since September 2010. 5 years now. Time rolls by when you’re having fun!

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?

I moved to the Bay Area from D.C. for work in July of 2014 and started skating with B.A.D. that very month.
What’s your skate set-up?

White plate and purple wheels.

Just kidding (kind of). I believe I have Riedell boots (it has a number in the name. . . pretty sure there’s a 5 involved). I really love my boots! They feel like slippers. Plate-wise, I’m using Avengers. Then the wheels are Omegas. They absolutely have a specific hardness to them.

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?

I love judo! It’s great for balance and upper body strength.

I also love handball and badminton. Unfortunately, handball is pretty far away and all the available badminton places seem to only cater to 12 year old Asian boy demographic. I probably can’t compete with 12 year old Asian boys . . .

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.

Matching Smarty Pants’ footwork while I was blocking her when B.A.D. All-Stars played the Texecutioners earlier this year!

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.

“Live fast, Have Fun, Be a bit Mischievous.”

And our BAD Girl of the Month who merits recognition from May 2015. . .

Not only does she run the coaching committee like a boss, but Dirty Lil’ Trick (aka Sasha Fierce) gives a 100% on the track.  And you can usually find her perfecting handstands after every practice – a nicer trick than her usual hard hits that regularly take opponents out of bounds. Read more about how our resident BAD bro has gone from disco skates to derby fierce.

Photo Credit: IGP Photo

Name: Dirty Lil’ Trick

Number: 405

Team: Berkeley Resistance, All-Stars

B.A.D. League Involvement: Executive Director of Personnel – works with Coaching, Officiating and HR, which basically means attending a lot of derby related meetings.

What’s the story behind your derby name? Just thought it up one day I guess. I skated as Sasha Fierce this season, and watch out for Broseph next season. ?

How long have you been playing roller derby? 5 years.

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.? 5 years. I was rolling around the city in old fashioned disco skates when I saw a flyer for a bout and knew immediately that derby was in my future.  I made it through tryouts and have been hooked ever since.

What’s your skate set-up? My boots are Bonts, but I think the rest of my set up is made up of leftovers from the lost and found.

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity? Dodge ball and 4-square.  I’m the reigning 4-square champion of the Berkeley resistance.  

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015. Winning home team championships with the Berkeley Resistance! And  playing with Team Gold at Full Metal Bracket, the B team championship, in Austin.

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us. “Be humble,  hungry,  and always the hardest worker in the room.” – Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson

Bella Bomber and hubby DJ ODB have been a part of the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls family for quite some time. Bomber is frequently the first to volunteer, the last one standing at clean up and the girl with the biggest smile. Her love for all things B.A.D. is as infectious as her laugh. Continue reading →

The B.A.D. Girl of the Month of May is one of our newer skaters, rolling out in the silver and pink of the Berkeley Resistance, Foxy Throwdown! #10 in your programs, #1 in your hearts, Foxy comes to us from colder and wetter Seattle, where she skated for Rat City. And what’s she done since she got here? Oh, only wrestled to the ground the vastly complex committee that is Bay Area Derby Girls PR. As someone said when she was nominated, Foxy is “THE BOSS. Killing it since jumping in to take over PR, flying by the seat of her pants and making awesome [stuff] happen. In addition to being very nice and a fantastic communicator.”

[Author’s note: the writer of the B.A.D. Girl of the Month posts is a member of the PR committee, and can agree wholeheartedly with those statements] But like all B.A.D. Girls, Foxy isn’t just about how she makes the league better off the track. There’s that pesky business of making her team better ON the track. She’s a fearsome presence on skates. As a teammate put it, “She’s extremely good at taking people down with her [butt]. Jammers try to hit her out of the way and basically bounce back off and end up on the ground.” She’s also “very into team camaraderie,” which is also evidenced in how well she’s fit in to the league at large. Congratulations to a warm and intelligent addition to the league, and this month’s Bad Girl of the Month, Foxy Throwdown!

What’s your gubmint name (the one on your birth certificate)? It’s a secret.

How did you get your derby name? When I started playing there were no African Americans on my league. I wanted a name that did three things: represented a strong black woman, was a fun, fairly-simple-to-figure-out pun, and could be shortened into something that I wanted to be called. Foxy Throwdown is a play on Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown character from the 70s Blaxploitation movie of the same name. Fun fact: my mom went to high school with Pam Grier.

What do you do for non-derby work? I’m a UX Optimization/Marketing Copywriter.

How did you become involved with our league? How long have you been with us? I took 2014 off, had moved to the Bay Area and realized I wasn’t finished playing roller derby and also needed a way to meet people and keep active. So, here I am again. I transferred to B.A.D. after playing for six years in Seattle with the Rat City Rollergirls.

Do you have a favorite derby moment or one thing you are most proud of? The thing that I’m most proud of is that in my seventh year I’m still growing as a skater and changing with the sport. I’m learning and utilizing new skills and becoming effective in different ways. I’ve learned so much from so many great people here at B.A.D; it keeps me from thinking “How much longer can I do this?”

If you had one super power what would it be? Would you use it for good or evil? Teleportation. Hands down. Seriously, why has no one invented this yet?

Where would you love to live, if not in the Bay Area? I’ve moved so much in my life I have no desire to think about moving anytime soon.

Who’s your derby crush? My crushes change and evolve as I meet and get to know more people. I couldn’t possibly name just one person.

What’s your personal goal for 2015 (derby or otherwise)? Generally speaking 2015’s going to be a great year for me. Things have been going fairly so far; so I’m cautiously optimistic. Derby wise, I’m just hoping to grow. A lot. Ideally, by the end of the season, I want people dreading seeing me on the track because they hate skating against me. There are only a few things that please me more than an opponent telling me that they think: “Oh no; not Foxy” when they see me in the lineup.

We're currently catching up on a backlog of BAD Girl of the Month articles that are overdue! From April 2015 . . .

She is instrumental in keeping BAD running behind the scenes by volunteering to run league practices as well as B&W scrimmages. With her positive attitude and great listening skills, Gretchen helped bring home the Berkeley Resistance's first league championship in 2015. Read more about what keeps this Libra’s seven-year derby career ticking below.

Photo credit: Mark Nockleby

Name: Gretchen Vomette

Number: 86

Team: Berkeley Resistance, All-Stars

B.A.D. League Involvement: Berkeley Resistance Coach

What’s the story behind your derby name?

I’m a puker . . .as a child, like every other day, as an adult much less so. I also wanted a name that wasn’t big and intimidating to live up to.

How long have you been playing roller derby?

Nearly 7 years!

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?

5 seasons completed. A change of pace, a change of coasts and the desire to play for THE best team and league in a perfectly temperate and liberal environment!

What’s your skate set-up?

Antiks (fuchsia suede with gold and black trim) on Arius plates

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?

I’m subbing on a rec softball team now with a teammate but I love a good dog-jog.

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.

Winning Champers!!! Experiencing Berkeley come together in our best and most hard fought bout this past October. The cumulative team power, knowledge and prep we flaunted that night was beautiful to be a part of.

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.

“Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”  Yogi Berra

For September 2015, we recognize the 2015 Rookie of the Year, Dreadzilla. The Oakland Outlaws' newest addition and an indomitable jammer, Dreadzilla comes to us by way of the Peninsula Roller Girls. In her short time at BAD, Dreadz started an informal derby training program for beginning and returning derby players in Dolores Park and quickly made a name for herself as a regularly rostered jammer. During BAD's volunteer events, Dreadz can be seen sporting an extravagant outfit and a big smile while pouring you a cold one. Come see her at our next home team game of if you can’t wait that long, check out her design business, Facebook or on Instagram @serpentesdesigns.

Photo credit: IGP Photo

Name: Dreadzilla

Number: 333

Team: Oakland Outlaws

B.A.D. League Involvement: Merch Committee. Interested in getting more involved with Reckless Rollers.

What’s the story behind your derby name?

It came to me in a dream one night. I also had dreadlocks for over a decade.

How long have you been playing roller derby?

About 3 and a half years.

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?

I’ve been with BAD for a year and a half. I moved back to San Francisco specifically to skate for BAD.

What’s your skate set-up?

I skate on Bont boots, Arius plates and Zombie 91s. My skates are my babies.

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?

I LOVE distance running! There’s not much in this world better than throwing on my sweet, sweet tunes and running the hills of SF.

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.

Hands down being drafted by the Oakland Outlaws. I still get excited when I think about that moment.

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.

“O Lord, what hast thou hoarded up for me in your great free treasure?” Some of the best parts of life require nothing more than being present.

March’s BAD Skater of the Month, Red Card, is a perfect example of how Bay Area Derby strives to include their local community from step one and beyond as we continue to grow our organization from the ground up.  After seeing her very first derby bout at the Craneway Pavilion about two years ago, Red Card signed up for our intro program, the Reckless Rollers. She also began volunteering as an official. After learning the basics and drawing from her competitive athlete background, Red put in the hard work necessary to make the jump from newbie to league member and passed tryouts. It wasn’t long after that Red found her way on to the roster of the Oakland Outlaws. In March 2016, she skated in her first ever game with the Outlaws against the Santa Cruz Derby Girls.

Red Card’s admirable work ethic doesn’t just end on the track. In addition to continuing to serve as a non-skating official, Red also serves her league as a member of the facilities committee and the bar manager for our Events team. In essence, she keeps our house clean and safe, our thirsts properly indulged or hydrated, and she’s got our backs on the track. Red’s dedication on and off the track has made this homegrown hero an incredibly valued member of both her team and the league as a whole.

Photo Credit: Lucas Saugen

Name: Red Card

Number: 27

Team: Oakland Outlaws

BAD League Involvement: Facilities Committee and Bar Manager for Events Committee.  As bar manager I work closely with sponsorship to get us sponsored for alcohol, coffee and the likes.  

What’s the story behind your derby name?: I played soccer all the way through college, so I knew it had allude to soccer.  Red was my nickname growing because of my hair.  When a friend tossed out Red Card, it was perfect and stuck from day one.  It also worked really well, as I started in officiating (NSO).  

How long have you been playing roller derby?: Almost 2 years, though there was an unfortunate break for a bit with some knee problems.  

How long have you been with BAD? What brought you to BAD? : I started in Reckless Rollers and just continued up from there.  I went and saw my first bout at the Craneway a while back and couldn’t believe how awesome it looked.  So I signed up when they had the next bootcamp and then just kept showing up.   

What’s your skate set-up?: Pretty beginner setup, though I’m looking to get new gear at RollerCon this year.  Riedell “Wicked” package: 265 boot, Powerdyne Rival plates.  Added Bionic super stop toe stops and Rollerbones Turbo 92s for wheels. I LOVE the wheels.  

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?: Soccer by far is my favorite non-derby sport.  I don’t play anymore, but for cross-training, I try to force myself to do sprint work at least once a week.  The crippling feeling in my lungs makes me know it’s good for me.

Share your favorite derby memory/moment of 2016 (so far).: Before the Santa Cruz bout, Oakland took a second to recognize and cheer for the fact that it was my first bout ever.  Made me know Oakland is my home and family.  

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.: “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
C. S. Lewis

Aside from the ethical implications, that means working hard when you know you need to and should for your team (ex: off-skates training or giving your all on the track), even though you could just lie and say you did.

This month we celebrate and honor Berkeley's Joss-hole as B.A.D. Girl of the Month! Joss skates for the Resistance in her spare time, by which we mean the time she's not spending totally co-owning our Events committee, which makes our bouts happen, and, you know, her day job.

Joss is a great asset to the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls, not just because of the committee work she does, but because of her great smile and wonderful sense of humor. She is tremendously hard-working, seems to be involved in everything, and totally in charge of whatever she does. Described as someone who is “feared on the track and a boss off the track,” her league mates also say she is “a reliable and dependable teammate, who knows how to balance hard work and dedication with laughs and fun,” “a go- getter who quietly, but effectively gets [stuff] done,” and “the prettiest Little Mermaid with her red hair.”

Congratulations, Joss, for being recognized as the B.A.D.-dest Girl this month!
Photo By: Mark Nockleby

What’s the one on your birth certificate?

Jocie Bartlett

How did you get your derby name?

The infamous BuzzKillR anointed me long ago when we were just wee Reckless lasses

What do you do for non-derby work?

Various types of event management/coordination and administrative boring-ness.

How did you become involved with our league? How long have you been with us?

Reckless Rollers long long ago when it was more of a Ya- Ya Sisterhood of the traveling safety meetings about 3 years ago.

Do you have a favorite derby moment or one thing you are most proud of?

Being drafted onto my team during an incredibly difficult time in my life. Viva!

If you had one super power what would it be? Would you use it for good or evil?

To steal others’ super powers, and most certainly with malintent.

Where would you love to live, if not in the Bay Area?

In the countryside of the Bay Area, somewhere where the culture is still awesome, derby is close, I can afford a mortgage, and horses.

Who’s your derby crush?

Gus, my spirit animal.

What’s your personal goal for 2015 (derby or otherwise)?

To not get injured. To play my hardest, and best. Ever. Oh, and to help my team crush it, and make it to Champers.

To be a successful teammate you need to exhibit hard work on the derby track, both at practice and on game day. To hold successful sporting events for thousands of fans you need a creative mind, strong organization and even more HARD WORK. Pomba is known by her team and league as on of the hardest of workers in her roles skating with the Berkeley Resistance and as Events Co-Manager and for that, we recognize her awesomeness and dedication from November 2015.

Photo cropped to feature Pomba. Original photo credit: Mark Nockleby

Name: Pomba

Number: 242

Team: Berkeley Resistance

B.A.D. League Involvement: Events Co-Manager and Insurance Liaison. I also help coordinate inter-league games for Berkeley.

What’s the story behind your derby name?

Pomba is my last name. In my competitive softball days my teammates and high school classmates always called me Pomba, so it seemed to make the most sense.

How long have you been playing roller derby?

About 2 years.

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?

I’ve been with BAD for two-ish years. I started out as a huge fan, one day the offered a “learn to skate” bootcamp and took the dive from fan to skater.

What’s your skate set-up?

Bont Hybrid Carbons, that used to be white but now too dirty to tell. Reactor Pro Plates. Rollerbones Turbos.

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?

I have a personal trainer who has been pretty life changing and I really enjoy working hard with. For fun, I play softball on Friday nights with some of my Berkeley teammates. We’re also in the process of creating a champion speed walking team with our league-mates.

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.

Berkeley Winning Champs.

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.

“Can you smell what the rock is cookin’?!” -Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

From July 2015, we'd like to recognize this BAD skater . . .

Mary Prankster is no joke when it comes to BAD finances. She’s been whipping the Finance Committee into to all-star shape by streamlining processes, compiling excellent reports so we can all see where the league is financially, and generally rocking things all around. Also, in her arsenal is an array of valuable architectural knowledge as BAD continues searching for a new practice space. From drawing up track dimensions and then helping us maintain our budget – BAD is lucky to have Pranks keeping us from too much mayhem.

Photo credit: Lucas Saugen

Name: Mary Prankster

Number: 64

Team: Oakland Outlaws

B.A.D. League Involvement: Finance Manager and also involved with the Space Search

What’s the story behind your derby name?

The Merry Pranksters are an infamous group that traveled around the States in the 60’s causing general delight and mayhem. They were chronicled in the book the Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test. This is a play on their name by changing Merry to Mary, which also happens to be my paternal grandmother’s name. I supposedly take after her, though I never met her.

How long have you been playing roller derby?

Two years.

How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?

Also two years since I started at B.A.D.! I wore my old speed skates from the 80’s as part of a Halloween costume a few years ago. A friend said to me, “You should play roller derby!” They were right . . . a few months later I found B.A.D. and signed up for a pre-Reckless class.

What’s your skate set-up?

Antiks. I’m a fan of ankle support.

What is your favorite non-derby sport or cross-training activity?

Trail running with my pup, Harvey! And backpacking when I can get away for a weekend in the Sierras.

Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.

In our game against the Belles this year, in the last few minutes of the game the score was very close – within a few points. Our coach, Huck Sinn, called a timeout and we huddled for a regroup. Huck pulled out a passionate motivational speech and declared, “I won’t lose by three points again!” (The Outlaws have lost to the Belles by three points twice in recent years.) And sure enough, the Outlaws came together for a win . . . by four points.

Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.

From a woman who will always be my inspiration, my Mom, “What’s the worst that could happen? They say no. But they might say yes and you won’t know unless you ask.”