Members of the Bulkley Valley Bruisers were in Burns Lake on May 10 to introduce residents to the sport of roller derby. More than a dozen local women came to the Tom Forsyth Arena and learned basic skills like stopping, falling, and turning. The Bulkley Valley Roller Derby is a non-profit association made up of local skaters, coaches, referees and non-skating officials, coming from between Houston and Hazelton. They value empowerment, inclusion, athleticism, integrity and accountability, and are proud to be part of the community. Their hope is to bring awareness to the sport of roller derby, and generate interest for potential new recruits, as next year’s plan is to include a co-ed and juniors teams to their organization. Roller derby is a contact sport in which blockers from each team try to prevent an opposing team’s “jammer” from circling a track to collect points while assisting their own jammer to score. It makes the action defensive and offensive at the same time. Players wear protective gear and in the best tradition of the sport, adopt nicknames fitting their own personalities and the contact nature of the sport. (Michael Riis-Christianson photo/Lakes District News)
