She hadn’t planned on becoming a double agent.
But neither was she against making up for lost time.
“This was my first bout back after being ‘retired’ for 10 years,” explained Nazla Rowan, “but … my legs came back faster than I thought! I’d originally started with Denver Roller Dolls in 2007, went to Rocky Mountain Roller Girls in 2009 and skated for them until 2016, then moved to the Western Slope, had kids, and … now I’m officially back – it’s been two-and-a-half months that I’ve been skating again, so … 20 years, almost, of roller derby off and on.”
Still, after helping the black-clad ‘Outer Space’ side build up a burly 56-point lead through the first 30 minutes of flat-track action Saturday night, Rowan (a.k.a. “Bones Patrol”) returned for the second half the Durango Roller Girls’ season-opening mix-up event suddenly sporting ‘Deep Sea’ white.
But despite ably helping the trailing team remain both salty and afloat enough to rally back to as close as 94-72 during the initial 15 minutes after intermission, Rowan’s contributions weren’t enough to fully buoy the bunch as Space boldly rocketed away to a 132-92 victory probably setting off a George Clinton-grade party on the mothership.
“It’s really nice to play with some new players and learn from them as well,” said Kristin “Kiss of Death” Smith, voted Outer Space’s Overall MVP. “For a lot of us not playing together, we really figured out how to as a team and really used our skills to make things happen. I think we did pretty well.”
Named the winners’ most valuable jammer, Dunning actually set the whole show off by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and with energy inside the building still, well, building, Outer Space gradually built up a 16-10 edge during the opening 7:30. Deep Sea responded and regained a 17-16 lead with 19 minutes still left in the first half, but an eight-point jam session by Amanda “Swiss Missile” Sharpless and a subsequent 12-point burst by Rowan gave Outer Space a 36-19 lead which only continued growing during the next 15:39.
Deep Sea head coach Kelsey “Eager Beaver” Beaver used a timeout with 4:39 left until the midway break, but unfazed Outer Space – helmed by the popular Beaver’s regular DRG ’mate Katie “Skidmark” Moody – closed out the half on a 29-1 run tearing the bout wide open.
But behind the re-energized skating of players such as Stacy “Ramp” Falk, Emelie “Red Bull” deKay and newly-acquired Rowan, Deep Sea pressed Moody into using a timeout with 15:47 remaining and her squad’s advantage cut to 94-72.
“You just try to assess, as a jammer, what they’re doing,” deKay, Deep Sea’s most valuable jammer, said. “They were knocking a lot of our players out on the line, so I was really trying to fight in the middle. Which is hard as a small player; you’re not going to muscle through every time and I wasn’t. Blockers can definitely make or break a team; I’ve played against teams where the jammer’s okay but the blockers are amazing, let their jammer through and cage the other one.”
And as the bout wore on, Outer Space’s pack players did more of both. The team outscored Deep Sea 14-4 during the next 4:32, and later owned a secure 120-88 lead with 4:36 remaining and the outcome much less in doubt.
“In derby it can go either way. Like, you could have a giant lead and then all of a sudden something happens and you catch up or it gets really close,” said Rowan, now of Glenwood Springs-based Roaring Fork Roller Derby and voted Deep Sea’s Overall MVP. “But out on the track, it didn’t feel like there was that big of a lead going into the (second) half because we were all playing our hearts out, killing ourselves to get points.”
All told, the Roller Girls were represented along with the rival Arkansas Valley High Rollers and fellow (but first-year) Salida-centric Courageous Roller Derby, plus RFRD and even High Altitude Roller Derby of Flagstaff, Ariz.
“This was my first home bout – I’d played one other, in (Poncha Springs, against AVHR) last year – so, yeah, still kind of a rookie,” a grinning Colleen “Dirty Birdie” Dunning said. “But we can definitely learn a lot from players from other leagues and seeing what their tendencies are – kind of taking notes so we know next time they come, what to look out for and be ready for.”
