Sick Town Roller Derby

Sick Town Roller Derby

Metro area	Corvallis, OR
Country	United States
Founded	2008
Teams	S*M*A*S*H Unit
Track type(s)	Flat
Venue	Linn County Fair & Expo Center - Albany
Affiliations	WFTDA
Website	sicktownrollerderby.com

Sick Town Roller Derby (STRD), formerly known as Sick Town Derby Dames, is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Corvallis, Oregon. Founded in 2008, the league consists of a single team which competes against teams from other leagues. Sick Town is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).^[1]

History

The league was founded by Brick Wallace and Magic Hips, two skaters with the Emerald City Roller Girls who wanted a league closer to their home town.^[2] It played its first home bout in September 2009, against the Lava City Roller Dolls.^[3]

Sick Town accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice Program in December 2009.^[4] By early 2012, it had enough skaters to host an intraleague bout,^[5] and in June 2012 it was accepted as a full member of the WFTDA.^[6]

In 2013, the league purchased the Lake Park Roller Rink in Lewisburg, the third-oldest roller rink in the Pacific Northwest.^[7] Sick Town planned to use the building as a practice rink, but shortly afterwards the facility was declared unsafe by the local fire marshal, leading to lengthy and costly restoration efforts.^[8] Membership dropped off during a lengthy hiatus, and in October 2017 the league played its first home game in three years, at the Linn County Fair and Expo Grounds in Albany.^[9]

In September 2016, league member Miranda "Dixieskullpopper" Prince gained local news coverage for appearing on the game show Jeopardy!.^[10] In April 2021, the league sold the Lake Park Roller Rink building after repairs became too difficult to keep up with. During this time, the league had paused practices due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and wasn’t able to return to practicing in a limited form until the summer of 2021. Since the league was without a venue for a time, they practiced outdoors until they were able to make arrangements to skate in Langton Hall at Oregon State University. In October of 2021, Sick Town began practicing at the Mid-Willamette Family YMCA Family Activities Center. The league was able to rebuild again and had their first home game in May 2023, more than 3 years after their last one which was held just prior to the Pandemic. In February of 2023, Sick Town Derby Dames changed their DBA to Sick Town Roller Derby (STRD) and adapted their logo to be more inclusive and better reflect their values that “All Can Skate Here”.

WFTDA rankings

Season	Final ranking[11]	Playoffs	Championship
2013	108 WFTDA[12]	DNQ	DNQ
2014	194 WFTDA[13]	DNQ	DNQ
2015	NR[14]	DNQ	DNQ
2016	NR[15]	DNQ	DNQ

• NR = no final ranking assigned this year

References

1. "Sick Town Derby Dames – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
2. Nancy Raskauskas, "Bounce, rock, skate, roll", Corvallis Gazette-Times, August 29, 2008
3. "Derby Dames host Skatemberfest", Corvallis Gazette-Times, September 24, 2009
4. "Apprentice Leagues", WFTDA [version of 23 March 2010]
5. Raju Woodward, "Ready to rumble and roll!!!", Albany Democrat Herald, March 8, 2012
6. "Nine Leagues Become Full WFTDA Members", WFTDA, 1 June 2012
7. Fuqua, Canda (10 October 2013). "Mid-valley roller derby rolls home at historic rink". Corvallis Gazette Times. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
8. Blank, Kyra (17 February 2016). "Sick Town Derby Dames Nurse Old Rink, Throw Party For the Cause - The Corvallis Advocate". The Corvallis Advocate. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
9. Fancher, Patrick (26 October 2017). "Sick Town Derby Dames host first home bout in three years Saturday". Albany Democrat Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
10. Paul, Alex (19 September 2016). "Albany woman gets "once in lifetime" shot on Jeopardy!". Albany Democrat Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
11. "Current Rankings", WFTDA
12. "Rankings: December 31, 2013". WFTDA. January 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
13. "Rankings: December 31, 2014 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
14. "Rankings: December 31, 2015 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
15. "Rankings: December 31, 2016 – WFTDA". wftda.com. WFTDA. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.