Condoleeza Slice
#202
How many seasons have you been skating with the DC Rollergirls, and for which teams?
All of them! Original gangsta edition! 10 seasons on Scare Force (5 as captain) and 5 season on the travel team, captained 1.5 of those- I took a star pass.
I’m very proud to have been a part of the original 60. We were all so different and came together to build something really unique and worthwhile.
How and why did you first get involved in roller derby?
I saw the A&E derby show and researched locally if there was a team. I initiated a roadtrip to Charm’s first game with co-workers who I wrongly assumed I’d talk into joining with me. I missed playing team sports in high school and college. The Baltimore league told me about the MySpace page DC had started for recruiting. I had decided I wanted to do this before putting skates back on for the first time since middle school.
What was your athletic background before learning how to play derby?
I skated in middle school at open skates, but had no formal training. High school was a lot of baton twirling(which also translates into band geek life) cheerleading and track. Inner tube water polo in college was far more brutal than derby, so I came prepared. I’ve been held underwater and punched in the face. Hard to call those penalties.
What’s the story behind your derby name?
I knew I wanted to represent DC in the big community of WFTDA, our kind of NHL, and wanted a recognizably DC name and number, our area code.
What traditions or rituals do you have before skating in a bout?
Crunchy peanut butter and jelly. It’s perfect food. Coconut water saves me from dehydration.
I don’t need help getting worked up for battle. Completely the opposite. I focus on remaining calm knowing that my ability to remain calm will positively affect the team.
What’s your favorite DCRG memory?
Building something from not much of anything is my proudest moment. It’s come in many forms for me from the simplest jam where you start with 2 blockers, no jammer and still manage to get lead, to helping to start this league. I’ve truly enjoyed watching our hardest working boot campers progress to be All-stars, and being part of teams where there were not many individually highly skills skaters, but those skaters worked so well together that they performed like a much more competitive team than they should have been.
There was also that one time when it used to be called ‘regionals…’ We got a golden ticket due to two league’s inability to go, and made the trip as the lowest ranking team there. We were 12th in the eastern region and the top 10 went to compete. We trained like fiends and made our mark leaving as the 8th spot in the tournament. Every single person on that team gave everything they had. We made it to the big leagues together.
