|
The Kansas City Roller Warriors (KCRW; the Roller Warriors) league was established in June of 2004 by Dirty Britches (aka Brooke Leavitt) and Princess Anna Conda (aka Mandy Durham) and was among the first leagues to help form the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) in 2004.
|
|
“We started skating in a parking lot in the middle of the summer,” recalls Leavitt. “There was broken glass and crap all over the place, and we’d just go out there and skate in circles until I thought we were gonna die from heatstroke.”
|
Leavitt and Durham put up flyers all over the city in hopes of finding other women to join the fledgling league. Soon, new skaters trickled in and by the Fall the Kansas City Roller Warriors had moved practices to a small community center. “We basically skated on a small basketball court,” says Leavitt, “In one part of the floor there was this huge lump where there had been some water damage. Also there was a stage in front, so we had girls continually crashing into the front of the stage while we were doing drills. So that was pretty sweet.”
The first public home team bouts were held in 2005 at Winnwood Skating Rink in Kansas City. In 2006, with about 50 skaters, the league transitioned from two exhibition teams to four home teams: the Dreadnought Dorothys, the Knockouts, the Black Eye Susans, and the Victory Vixens.
In February 2006, the Roller Warriors pulled together an All-Star team and traveled to Tucson, Arizona to compete in the Dust Devil Flat Track Derby Tournament; the first National Derby competition. This was the first time the Kansas City Roller Warriors played against leagues from other cities. Out of the 20 leagues represented at the tournament, Kansas City took sixth place and won over many fans for their speedy jamming, bruise-inducing blocks, and clean competition. In the fall of 2007, WFTDA held the first official National Championship in Austin Texas. The Kansas City Roller Warriors became a Cinderella story and took it all, winning the national title.
In 2011, the Kansas City Roller Warriors All-Stars placed second in the South Central Regional Tournament and made it all the way to fourth place at the WFTDA Championships. The very next year the team secured a 3rd place South Central title and placed in the top twelve at Championships.
The 2020 pandemic forced the league into a two year hiatus, but the Roller Warriors got back up in 2023 and began to rebuild. KCRW has risen from the ashes in the form of three new home teams: the Strawberry Hellions, the Midtown Misfits, and the 18th & Vines.
The Kansas City Roller Warriors continues to grow each year and has recently become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit sports organization.
The first public home team bouts were held in 2005 at Winnwood Skating Rink in Kansas City. In 2006, with about 50 skaters, the league transitioned from two exhibition teams to four home teams: the Dreadnought Dorothys, the Knockouts, the Black Eye Susans, and the Victory Vixens.
In February 2006, the Roller Warriors pulled together an All-Star team and traveled to Tucson, Arizona to compete in the Dust Devil Flat Track Derby Tournament; the first National Derby competition. This was the first time the Kansas City Roller Warriors played against leagues from other cities. Out of the 20 leagues represented at the tournament, Kansas City took sixth place and won over many fans for their speedy jamming, bruise-inducing blocks, and clean competition. In the fall of 2007, WFTDA held the first official National Championship in Austin Texas. The Kansas City Roller Warriors became a Cinderella story and took it all, winning the national title.
In 2011, the Kansas City Roller Warriors All-Stars placed second in the South Central Regional Tournament and made it all the way to fourth place at the WFTDA Championships. The very next year the team secured a 3rd place South Central title and placed in the top twelve at Championships.
The 2020 pandemic forced the league into a two year hiatus, but the Roller Warriors got back up in 2023 and began to rebuild. KCRW has risen from the ashes in the form of three new home teams: the Strawberry Hellions, the Midtown Misfits, and the 18th & Vines.
The Kansas City Roller Warriors continues to grow each year and has recently become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit sports organization.
