Mount Vernon High School student Renee Vig has been participating in the sport of roller derby.
Vig, a sophomore at Mount Vernon, has been a member of the Iowa City Bruisers club and member of the A team of the organization, the Misfits.
“I found out about roller derby being a sport in the area by Googling it,” Vig said. “I was interested in the sport and thought I’d just see if there was a team near me and surprisingly there was. It was the first site that showed up and I read more about their organization which sounded perfect to me.”
Vig said a lot of the skills she learned for roller derby were learned on her own, especially during COVID-19.
“A lot of my time was spent outside on skates, which led to me learning how to do the types of stops that they teach,” Vig said. “Another big thing I learned at home was going backwards as well as doing backwards crossovers for going around corners.”
Vig said being part of a roller derby team has only elevated her skating abilities, as well as motivated her to keep getting better in her skills.
“Right now I’m practicing how to do this ‘hockey stop’, which is something I’m learning with the team,” Vig said.
Vig has had the ability to participate in a few bouts this season, and recently participated in her first tournament in Lincoln, Neb., April 29 and 30, which she described as a lot of fun.
“We played three different teams that weekend which was exhausting, but it also was a helpful experience, knowing how those types of events usually go,” Vig said.
Vig said she originally wanted to be part of roller derby due to the roller skating aspect, but once she got more familiar with the sport, the team aspect has become more important to her.
“I also just feel like I’m becoming a tougher person because of derby, but that team aspect of derby, of having good communication and having to work as a unit, is what I love about it,” Vig said.
The team participates in bouts on Saturdays or Sundays. The Misfits and Blackhearts (the B team for the Iowa City Bruisers) practice together, a combined 25 skaters at some practices. The Misfits currently have 15 members.
“Being a part of roller derby I’ve learned how to use my voice more,” Vig said. “The most important aspect of derby, besides knowing how to skate, is communication so I’m always getting better at that at practices and games. We’ve learned the hard way how fast things can crumble without having communication.”
She said she has also become more agile on skates, learning how to quickly move across the track on skates.
“The thing I enjoy most about derby is my teammates and coaches, and really anybody who helps out with our organization,” Vig said. “They’re some of the nicest people I’ve met and I love being around and working with them. Also just playing a sport that involves one of my favorite things in the world is so cool. I just love roller skating, it’s amazing.”
Vig said that the challenges for skating have to be getting up early for some of the practices and dealing with problematic people on the teams at times.
“This is also a really difficult sport and it’s hard to grasp onto, so when I first joined as a rookie, and even now as one of the more experienced skaters, I feel like I’m not contributing enough to the team or that I should be doing better than I am,” Vig said. “But I know that’s not true, and either way, I have my team and coaches to uplift me or anyone who is in that funk.
“Also, some people hit really hard and it just hurts. I have so many bruises from this game.”
Dangerous on skates
June 1, 2023
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.