Give it up for our volunteer of the month, G-Thang!

Caring and committed, G helps out HRD in a number of ways, she is notoriously one of the first to step up and volunteer whenever we need it. G has been volunteering for HRD ever since she began boot-camp training. Her volunteering started with poster distribution, creating relationships with many businesses in the community. G later became an Usher at our bouts. She loved helping out so much that she also became the visiting team hostess. Last season she double-teamed most of the home bouts by being both an Usher and the visiting team hostess.

This season, along with her other duties G became the head of the track cleaning crew, she spends several hours each week cleaning the floors at Franshesci Hall, talking to Redwood Acres staff and picking up supplies in order to make sure that our skaters have a clean floor to play on. Ever appreciating, G asked that we give a thank you to Tone Cold for helping her clean the floors on a weekly bases. And that is just the tip of the ice-burg, she helps out so much I can’t even begin to mention it all here. She is also one of our skaters, improving her skills with each practice, don’t be surprised if you see her skating with the Widow Makers in an upcoming bout.

G has always been one that enjoys helping worthy organizations and hopes that in the near future she can be a volunteer for CASA of Humboldt County and possibly a Big Sister for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the North Coast. G is amazing, for her, it ain’t nuthin but a G-thang baaaaabay! Be sure to thank her, and all of our volunteers, we woudn’t be able to put on our bouts without them.

Hope you’ve got a sweet tooth, May’s skater of the month is PoiSIN CanDIE!!!

Although she never played an organized sport before joining HRD in 2009, PoiSIN has amazing athleticism, leaving skaters in the dust and on the floor with her amazing speed and hard hits.  Her form is stupendous; she gets so low she could eat a strip of bacon right off the top of her skates using no hands!  Not only is she an invaluable skater for the Redwood Rollers, she is also contributing to the future of Roller Derby through her daughter Savannah (A.K.A. Squirrel Stalker) who skates for HRD’s junior league, the Redwood Saplings.  PoiSIN also has two older sons who are very supportive of her and are huge fans of HRD!

Her teammates recognize that “she’s dedicated and does a ton for HRD. She’s a beast on the track and values her teammates”, and that she, “works hard, gets so darn low, hits hard, and keeps her head in the game”. Skaters also say that, “she’s solid, a true teammate, kind, hard-hitting, and basically a superstar”. She is a superstar in every aspect of HRD.

Fun facts:  PoiSIN loves chocolate, so if you ever wanted to buy her some candy, Chocolate Leaping Frogs are her favorite.  Keep your eyes peeled for Bruce Wayne, because PoiSIN’s dream car is the Batmobile!  Watch out for PoiSIN’s dark side; she is known to train baby koalas in hand-to-hand combat techniques…

Volunteer of the Month: Thunder Muffin

Please help us in congratulating our volunteer of the month…Thunder Muffin!

Thunder began skating with HRD back in the day when the league was brand new. As a new skater I was always terrified at the prospect of coming up against her in a pack. There is footage out there of her knocking the panty off of a jammer: she hit this girl SO HARD that the panty fell right off of her helmet, talk about brutal. After skating with the rollers for four seasons she had to step off the track due to an ACL injury which required surgery and cadaver ligaments to repair her knee. But Thunder’s love of roller derby didn’t stop just because she went under the knife, she continues to coach and inspire in our Redwood Saplings Junior Roller Derby program. Thunder pushed for the creation of a junior league so that the young women of our community would get a chance to play roller derby. There’s magic that we all feel when we lace up our skates and Thunder wanted to share that with the Saplings. Thanks to Thunder’s hard work our junior league has grown and thrived up here on the North Coast. Our Saplings bout each other regularly and get to travel to play other junior leagues in California. HRD is so proud of the Saplings and so grateful for Thunder’s dedication to ensuring the future of our sport.

We love you Thunder! Thanks for all that you do!

Fun fact: Thunder is a total water baby. When she’s not on the track she can be found swimming in the rivers of Humboldt County and is often mistaken for a mermaid.

Skater of the Month: Ruckus!

The name says it, all this girl brings the Ruckus! Don’t let her size fool you, Ruckus is a tenaciously vicious blocker. Just when a jammer thinks they are out of the pack, she will come in for the hit and suck her back in! Teammates describe her as a great team player that always has her teammates back out on the track. Ruckus is currently coaching for the Redwood rollers and for boot camp. Off skates she helps with booking the season, as she is one of the inter-league coordinators, scheduling competitive teams for our Rollers and Widows to bout against all season long. Ruckus first joined HRD in January of 2009. She started off as a Widow Maker and earned her spot on the Redwood Rollers in the 2010 season through her hard work and dedication. Ruckus is super dedicated to the league as she drives 45 min to come to practice 3-4 times a week!

 

Fun Fact: She is a huge Wu Tang fan… Hence the name Ruckus… Because she definitely brings it!

Volunteer of the Month: Ruby Red Delicious

Ruby in all of her cherubic glory, timing penalties for a recent scrimmage

Ruby, aka Christiana Coffman, is one of the super-est of super volunteers Humboldt Roller Derby has ever had the luck of having. Ruby first fell in love with roller derby when she started skating in our drop-in clinics in 2009. Though she soon decided that skating just wasn’t for her, she stuck with HRD – finding many ways to lend her time, expertise and a helping hand.

By day, Ruby works at a local credit union and in her spare time she miraculously volunteers for a host of other local organizations. Ruby has not only served as an HRD board member, HRD head of non skating officials, and HRD PR chair – she also serves on the board at The Sequoia Zoo. When not at one of her volunteer gigs, she is either in the kitchen baking fabulous gourmet treats worthy of their very own bakery or out on the town with friends. How she manages we will never know!!!

Ruby has since retired from the HRD Board of Directors and is now serving as the Head Non Skating Official and a member of the PR committee. You can see her in the middle of the track during bouts – working diligently with a clipboard and making sure all of the other non skating officials and the referees have the support they need. Behind the scenes she is coordinating the posters and making minor updates to the webpage. We are very lucky to have her as our very own Ruby Red. We’re convinced, she must be magic! We truly don’t know where we would be without her.

HRD thanks Ruby for all her work and the part she has played in building this great organization that allows women and girls in Humboldt County engage in the athletics, empowerment and community. Next time you see her at a bout, give her your thanks too!

Skater of the Month: SumBody!

Our newest skater of the month is not just anybody, it’s SUMBODY!!!

SumBody’s watching…

Sumbody, #Dial 911, is starting her first season this year as a valued teammate of Humboldt Roller Derby. Fellow skaters describe Sumbody as, “Tough, determined, and improving everyday”. Sumbody is a really hard hit’n blocker, who can make a jammer shake in her star panty.

By day Sumbody is a bookkeeper, crunching numbers, and by night, as a skater for HRD, she crunches opposing players. Sumbody uses both of these skills to contribute to our league, being badass on the track and using her bookkeeping smarts to help with the teams budget and financial organization. Sumbody says that she enjoys her work, which gives her the opportunity to meet many entrepenuers in Humboldt working on exciting projects.

In her spare time Sumbody loves to cook and have friends over for dinner. Her and her husband, Carter, restored a 1964 vintage Shasta travel trailer that they like to take camping.

Sumbody is strong and powerful, but also someone you can talk to. Skaters comment that she is always helpful when you,”need Sumbody to lean on”. Sumbody says she likes to let her actions speak for her, and that she admires the women who have built this league on pure heart and hard work and hopes to make a lasting contribution as a show of appreciation to those that have come before her. In the short time she has been in the league, she has already accomplished that, and we appreciate all of the hard work Sumbody does on and off the track!

Fun fact:

Sumbody is a licensed contractor for finish carpentry, cabinetry & millworks, who used to travel the world installing bars and fancy woodwork in homes, restaurants etc. before she got into bookkeeping.

Skater of the Month: Harley San Quinntin!

Harley assesses the situation on the jammer line

Please join us in congratulating HARLEY SAN QUINNTIN as our Skater of the Month for January 2013!

Harley joined our bootcamp in 2011 as soon as she turned 21 (our former age requirement) after waiting 2 whole years to join Humboldt Roller Derby. During those two years she spent her time practicing her skate moves at Blue Lake Roller Rink, where she currently works, which helped her breeze her way through the bootcamp system. Since being placed on the Widow Maker’s roster Harley has continued to work hard to hold down a spot as one of our leagues least penalty heavy jammers (only 4 trips to the box thus far in her career!!!). Harley was also a co-captain of the Widow Makers last season, as well as helped out in our bootcamp as a Level 1 trainer and also as a coach for our league during our off season. She’s a great teammate and will do whatever the league asks of her, whether that’s doing inventory on loaner gear for our boot camp attendees or hosting off skates workouts for her team mates.

When she’s not on her skates Harley can be found on campus at Humboldt State University where she is studying for a degree in kinesiology and participates in the Humboldt Circus. Harley can break down athletic movement for you AND juggle or spin fire at the same time! Harley likes puppies, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Pokemon, and other awesome nerdy things. Harley also likes to experiment with hair color: she often shows up to practice with blue, pink, red, or black  hair depending on how adventurous she’s feeling.

Fun fact:
Harley skates without her glasses, and technically can’t she while she skates. She’s pretty much like a bat, echo-locating her way through the pack.

Thanks Harley for all that you do!