KRISTIE MOSS / Scroll

Skate derby a new fashion runway

Allison Walker WAL04015@BYUI.EDU sports asst. editor

Mohawk-spiked helmets silhouetted against the light of a disco ball, tight baseball pants and afro wigs with sweatbands can only mean one thing: BYU-Idaho’s Roller Derby.

Just because it’s a lesser-known event doesn’t mean it requires minimal preparation.

“The sport takes so much out of you. You have to prepare for weeks,” said Owen West, a junior from Redlands, Calif. “It takes a lot of meditation and weeks going to the DI to find a good costume.”

Joe Cooper, a senior from Idaho Falls, agreed. “It takes hours of intense cardio training, not to mention at least an hour of Zen meditation a day,” Cooper said.

Several rounds made up the entire event. Races of 30 laps, 18 laps and several combinations of winners determined the overall winner — Team Chuck Norris. But team The Athletes also made their mark winning the costume contest.

The intense competition revealed itself in the rematch debate at the end. A fast six-lap race to the Star Wars theme music determined the winner.

Team Renegade came in a close second and seemed well prepared dressed in camouflage with foil spikes on various parts of their body.

While Grant Smith, a senior from Tullahoma, Tenn., slept in and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in preparation, other team members had some different techniques.

“I had Jane Fonda help me stretch and my uncle came from Vietnam to teach me to Judo chop on skates,” said Adam Heffner, a freshman from Modesto, Calif.

Kyra Solheim, a senior from Champlin, Minn., envisioned and carried out the event.

She said it gave good skaters a chance to show their stuff, race and have fun.

Fun, cutthroat and painful.Whatever adjective used to describe the derby, it seemed to inspire those participating and watching to aspire to achieve their dreams, on or off skates.