Cincinnati Rollergirls coming to Fitton Center
Event is season finale of Celebrating Self speaker series.
The Cincinnati Rollergirls will share their passion for the sport of roller derby during the April Celebrating Self season finale at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.
Ian MacKenzie-Thurley, executive director at the Fitton Center, said the event is part of diverse programming offered there. Past sportsthemed topics have included FC Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Reds and Ickey Woods of the Cincinnati Bengals.
“And those are iconic, but the sport of roller derby might be a little new to the community, and there might be some that don’t know anything about it, and we’d like to bring that to Hamilton,” MacKenzie-Thurley said.
The Celebrating Self roller derby program will be start at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $21 for Fitton Center members and $27 for nonmembers, plus a $1 service fee. The event is sponsored by Hamilton Caster & Mfg. Co. Lunch is included and will be provided by Two Women in a Kitchen.
MacKenzie-Thurley said the event will answer questions like “What is roller derby?” and “Who are the Cincinnati Rollergirls?” or “What’s with the helmets, pads and the nicknames that the players have?”
“That’s one of the great things about Celebrating Self. It’s not a lecture, it’s a con- versation. It’s an opportu- nity to hear about the people involved, what they are pas- sionate about, the history of the organization, and most importantly, to ask questions,” he said.
Audiences will hear about the skaters, coaches, officials and support staff. They will also find out about the kind of roller skates used, the uni- forms and about the Wom- en’s Flat Track Derby Association. Skater and co-coach Callie Wright (skater name: Ursa Maimer) will speak at the event.
On average, 70 to 100 guests turn out for the Celebrating Self luncheon series.
The Journal-News spoke with Samantha Fox (skater name: Star Flatten’em), pub- lic relations director of Cin- cinnati Rollergirls.
Q: For those who aren’t familiar with the Cincinnati Rollergirls, can you tell us a little bit about the team?
A: The team has been around since 2009 . ... It’s basically just a big group of people from all over Cincinnati and sometimes, even outside the are . ... We’re all just a bunch of regular people getting together and playing a sport we really love.
Q: How do you came up with your player names?
A: It’s really individual, person-to-person. Roller derby has this history and
‘A lot of us are just really regular people. We have a lot of nurses, moms ... A lot of players usually pick a name that reflects their personality.’