On Oct. 26, the Green Mountain Roller Derby team laced up their skates for their second home game, or bout, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event, “Terror on the Track,” took place at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vt., and featured a match between GMRD and the neighboring New Hampshire Roller Derby team based out of Manchester.

The event had over 500 attendees, a great success for both the derby teams and the community, said Ky Chevalier, marketing coordinator and player for GMRD who goes by “ArmaGideon” on the track.

“Roller derby is a full contact sport played entirely on quad roller skates,” Chevalier said. “It’s a really fun combination of speed skating, but also sort of rugby-style defense. It’s unlike any other sport I have ever seen.”

Roller derby is not the unapproachable sport it is made out to be in films. While it is action-packed, the sport facilitates a unity between players across team lines, Chevalier said.

GMRD’s roller derby events focus on providing family-friendly fun for the Vermont community, allowing everyone to enjoy action-packed entertainment. 

“Terror on the Track” included Halloween-specific elements, like a costume contest and Halloween merchandise, as stated in an Oct. 9 press release from GMRD. 

“We are still trying to rebuild after COVID,” said Jessica Cole, a GMRD player and professional academic advisor at UVM who goes by “ShivHer & Spice” on the track. “We are hoping to do another [event] in the future because the community seems to enjoy derby.”

GMRD plays flat track roller derby, a version of the sport that rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Flat track derby brings the fast-paced action of traditional derby without the barrier of the traditional tilted, or banked track, according to the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.

“[Derby] really gets us working together as a group to reach a common goal,” said sophomore Nessa Khovov, a GMRD player who goes by “Nessquick” on the track. “I think that’s really beautiful.”

GMRD is Vermont’s first roller derby league, or team, and is owned and operated by skaters. Founded in 2007, the organization aims to uplift women, non-binary and gender-expansive individuals both on and off-the-track, according to GMRD’s mission statement. 

“There’s really not a lot of places for contact sports,” said Laura Ivins, league president and player for GMRD who goes by “Snatch McKraken” on the track. “I enjoy [the contact], because it’s very cathartic.”

For GMRD, roller derby is about more than just the game. The team supports a nonprofit at each event they hold, said Ivins. 

At a home bout in May, GMRD supported Essex Pride, raising awareness and donating money made from a 50/50 raffle to the organization, according to posts made May 15 by GMRD on both Facebook and Instagram.

“Our nonprofit coordinator will work to identify nonprofits that identify with our mission, or that need support right now […] then [the nonprofits] are brought back to the league for a league vote,” said Chevalier. “So we all have input on choosing nonprofits.” 

Profits made from a 50/50 raffle at the game also went to supporting the VT Flood Response and Recovery Fund, an organization based on community recovery and rebuilding after floods, according to the “Terror on the Track” event website.

“This is a pretty phenomenal community,” Ivins said. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, my hope is that this starts to gain a lot more traction in Vermont.”

Ivins hopes that more people will come to watch games and to join the team. 

GMRD is hosting a free introductory bootcamp Nov. 12-14. Over the course of three days, instructors will teach newcomers the rules of roller derby and basic skills required to begin training as an official or a player, according to the GMRD website.

“When I started, I could not skate to save my life […] but I felt like I had all the support in the world,” said Chevalier. “It’s a really positive place to be and it’s a really great place to grow.”