SALIDA – Three calendar days after the 90th anniversary of roller derby’s acknowledged genesis, Emeile deKay made her Durango Roller Girls debut skating at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds in Poncha Springs against rival Arkansas Valley. Paid a punished price for doing so, but kept getting back up, reenergizing a second half charge during which the guests closed to just four points back.
However, Arkansas Valley pulled away late with a 165-133 win.
“I used to play hockey once upon a time,” deKay – dubbed ‘Red Bull’ – said afterward with a laugh. “But it was fun. One thing I like about derby is that even if you get your butt handed to you, you learn very quickly from it. It’s all still really hard to me – jamming and blocking, all of it – and when I get out there I’m like ‘I did that wrong’ and ‘I did that wrong.’ I know that’s not what the crowd sees, but I love that it’s always a learning process.”
Immediately following a productive jam session by teammate Tatum ‘Noodle’ Schmidt, deKay’s noted effort, fiercely obstructed by ArkValley’s Ricketts, Katy ‘Obsidian’ Kellogg, Brenna ‘Kill ’Er Bee’ Buskist and Jamie ‘Doom’ Gregory, helped bring the DRG back to 122-110, before a timeout with 12:33 remaining in the bout allowed deKay, who’d attempted unsuccessfully to transfer jamming duty to Katie ‘Skidmark’ Moody before the whistle, to mercifully recover.
But, motivation had been established and three minutes later, four-point jams by Kelsey ‘Eager Beaver’ Beaver and Kelli ‘Atomic’ Henry had brought Durango – which had trailed 79-49 at halftime – back to 122-118. Unfortunately, the High Rollers responded with 16 unanswered points and then confidently inflated their 20-point cushion during the closing six minutes.
Despite being outscored by only two points, 86 to 84, after intermission, six Bronwyn ‘Track Sabbath’ Henry points during the final jam offset Schmidt’s four and secured ArkValley a 165-133 win.
“We went back to fundamentals a little. Blocking strategy, working as a team, communication – just building up our foundation again,” said DRG member Nicole ‘Wiley Coyote’ Wiley. “It was tough, but a lot of fun and a great time as always.”
For a rookie like deKay, the past two months (she’d actually sung the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to Durango’s June home bout versus the High Rollers, but did not see action) afforded her extra time and she indicated the wait was worthwhile.
“I’ve been practicing in the gym for this … worked really hard to get my minimum skills,” deKay said, “I passed literally a week ago. I asked the coaches about it every two seconds, because I knew it would give me the possibility of getting rostered … and I was probably a little ‘buggy’ about it; they were probably like, ‘Here she comes again….’ But when I get into something I get really into it … and hit my goals.”
