She’s competed with teams all over the country, and HKRD was lucky enough to add her to our rosters last year! Get to know August’s skater of the month: Sharon Beavers.

You were nominated by Texas Tease, who wants to know more about your background: why did you join roller derby, and who did you skate with before Hard Knox?

I started playing roller derby with Jacksonville Roller Girls in Jacksonville, Florida. I played with them for four years or so. Then I moved to Asheville and played with Blue Ridge for a couple of years, and then I took a little bit of a break after that. I skated one season with Little City Roller Girls, and then I took I guess about two years off. I got pregnant, I had a baby, all that good stuff, and then came back— to Hard Knox. I actually skated against HKRG several times when I played in Jacksonville (we were actually big rivals) and Asheville, so it’s kind of ironic that I joined!

What brought you to Knoxville?

My husband got a job in Sevierville and we had to move closer. I got a job in Knoxville, so we just decided that we’d live in Strawberry Plains to split the difference between him driving to Sevierville and me driving to West Knoxville.

How would you describe your derby playing style?

I would say that I am pretty aggressive. I like to be aggressive, which is good because I always grew up playing sports and was really aggressive, but they were sports that weren’t necessarily contact sports, like soccer and basketball and whatnot, so I got a lot of fouls when I played. So roller derby was pretty natural for me I think in terms of hitting..

What has been your favorite position to play?

I like being a blocker. I mean, I don’t mind jamming, and I’ve done more of that in the last couple of years, but I think blocking is just definitely my favorite and really going after the other jammer.

What are some of your strengths as a blocker?

I would say that I think I have good track awareness, usually. I have a pretty good gauge on where the other team’s jammer is and how our team needs to be setting up to be prepared for them coming up.

I mean, that’s a very useful strength to have!

Yes, and I mean sometimes it’s really hard, especially if your jammer’s still stuck in the pack, and so it’s hard to have awareness of where everything else is happening.

What have been some of your favorite achievements on the track?

I’ve gotten MVP a few times, which is always fun. Back when I started skating with Jacksonville, roller derby was kind of just becoming a big deal again in like 2009, 2010ish, so I was really lucky. Back then we were ranked #13 for WFTDA, which was a big deal, so we did some traveling, we went to Texas and New Orleans a few times, and you know it was really cool to be competing with some of the best teams who were in the league at that time.

Before you participate in a bout, do you have any kind of rituals to get you in the right mindset?

No, I tend to not try to take things too seriously. I like to be pretty calm, cool, collected, make sure that I’ve hydrated of course, and eaten well that day. I don’t really have any rituals. I think really just chilling out and not getting too worked up tends to work pretty well for me.

You played your first bout with the Lolitas earlier in the year. What was your experience of that bout or of the home teams in general?

That was a super fun bout— I mean, of course we won, which was awesome!

Yeah we did! (Your interviewer is also a proud Lolita)

I think it was really cool to— I love seeing fresh meat get to actually play, so it was really cool to see some people who had been practicing for several months (get to) actually take the track in a bout, and I think that was awesome. And I also love skating co-ed, and I think that gave us a chance to skate with people we don’t always get a chance to skate with too. It was a good game, but I feel like it was forever ago.

I know! I was like, I don’t even know if I should ask this because it was so long ago, but it’s the only one you skated with Hard Knox so far, so I have to!

No, I actually did get to skate the away game in Kentucky. And I got MVP that game! I did not even really deserve MVP, I just knocked down Beastmode. She’s an amazing blocker on their team, and I basically laid her out, and everyone was like, “Ooh!” And so I think that’s the only reason why I got it.

So what is your job outside of derby? And do you think it’s contributed to your experience of roller derby?

Yeah, so I have worked in digital marketing or communications ever since college. Right now I do social media for a national nonprofit and I think that one of the things that I have always done for the leagues that I’ve been involved with is some form of public relations or marketing or communications. But the first league that I was involved with, I also worked for a local newspaper at the time, so I got them a lot of press coverage and I was the spokesperson for local news segments. So yeah, I think that has played a role in some degree in helping the leagues I’ve skated with.

What is the story behind your skater name?

I did not choose it. When I started playing, they told me that there was a woman who used to play roller derby decades ago and was a donor to the league. Her actual name was Sharon Beavers. And my real name is Sharon, so when I joined, they were like, “Oh my God! Sharon Beavers!” And she had given the league like two or three thousand dollars or something to get started, and so she was like a legend to them, and so they wanted me to be the Sharon Beavers.

And the story behind your number?

I chose it, I’m a huge Ani diFranco fan, she’s like a singer/songwriter, and she has a song called “32 Flavors,” and so I just chose 32 because it wasn’t taken and I really like that song.

Do you have any derby heroes?

Oh man, derby heroes, I don’t even know who’s who in roller derby any more, you know? I hate to admit it— but I don’t really watch enough roller derby.

I just, we have some teammates who can name all of these amazing derby people, and I’m just like, how do you remember any of these people?

Yeah, I can’t even remember the name of the team I just played like two months ago!

What has roller derby taught you about yourself?

I think several things. I’ve always struggled with confidence, and I think roller derby definitely gave me more confidence, just in so many ways, like body image and you know being strong, and I think also it’s taught me that I can get along with anybody. I mean, I think that’s one of the great things about roller derby— you are put with all of these people who you may not have had anything in common with, but you all of a sudden have this crazy unique bond and they’re your best friends, but you would have never talked to those people before. So yeah, it’s taught me a lot. It’s taught me that I’m strong, that I am physically stronger than I thought I was. I mean I was always active and in decent shape, but there’s being in good shape, and then there’s being in good roller derby shape, and that’s a whole different caliber of being in shape I think.

What’s something about you that would surprise people?

I have seventeen tattoos, but I don’t have any that are super visible. So especially when I’ve had corporate-y jobs and then people find out I have tattoos, they’re like, “What?”

What advice do you have for people who want to play roller derby?

I think just do it. Like, you think you can’t do it, you’re scared of getting hurt or you’re not cool enough or not in shape enough or whatever the excuse is— I have seen some people who literally couldn’t stand on their skates and they have become amazing roller derby players, so I think you just have to get over whatever your fear is and just do it.

Who would you like to nominate for next month, and what do you want to ask them?

I want to nominate stella stRAnGE. I always see her on Facebook, posting videos of her skating in her living room, and I want to know how do you continue to be motivated to put skates on when we don’t haven’t regular practice?

Thank you for a great interview Beavs! You may not have gotten a chance to see her play this year, but she has been responsible for all of the amazing social media posts this year, so she’s already had a huge impact on this team! Until next time, be like Sharon Beavers and be aware of the metaphorical jammers in your life.

-smalls

Featured posts:

August Featured Skater: Sharon Beavers

Name: Sharon Beavers

Number: 32

Travel Team: Brawlers

Home Team: Lolitas

Years skating: 8