Name: Roller Bear
Number: 7
Travel Team: Brawlers
Home Team: Bombshell Bettys
Years skating: 1
She’s one of HKRD’s newest skaters and also one of the fiercest blockers you’ll ever meet! Meet May’s Skater of the Month, Roller Bear.
You were nominated by Inga Knee’Her, who wants to know how you are always so able to keep your positive attitude at practice.
I think I want to just make sure that everyone is having the best time doing something that we all enjoy. There’s no need for you to go in there and just be down on yourself. I mean, you’re there for you, for your team to have fun, so I just wanna make sure everyone is having fun. Whatever’s going on in your outside world, leave it at the door, and just come in here, have fun with your friends, skate with your friends, take out your frustration if you have to (I do sometimes). Just trying to have fun and I want everyone else to have fun, so I just try and keep it all upbeat and positive all the time.
What brought you to roller derby?
So when I was 15 or 16, I was at my grandma’s house. Me and my aunt were swimming in the pool. I played volleyball all through middle and high school, and I had bruises all over my legs. So me and my aunt were just kind of joking, and she was like, “I think you need to do a tougher sport—I could see you doing roller derby.” And I was like, “Ha ha, very funny.” Here we are, 15 years later, I’m doing roller derby.
My boyfriend had heard of Hard Knox and has followed the team and their Facebook and all of that, and he saw the interest meet in July [2021]. So he said, “What are you doing on this day?” And I was like, “I said, ‘I don’t know, what do you want to do?’” And he said, “Nope, you are going to this!” So he kind of pushed me into it, and I’m glad he did, because I don’t know what I would be doing now if I wasn’t doing this. I love it!
Had you skated as a kid?
I was a carhop at Sonic for a while. I’d go to Skatetown with my friends, and then roughly make my way through a shift at Sonic. That was not easy, but I learned some fundamental stuff there, like how to bend your knees, and things like that, but nothing to this caliber at all.
I have always been so intrigued by the carhops at Sonic! Do you get to decide, “I want to be on skates”? Or can you say, “I don’t wanna be”?
So when I was interviewed, they asked if I knew how to skate, so of course you would say yes, because that was like, you were going to get the job or not, so I was like, “Yeah, I know how to skate!” And then they encourage you to try it, and if you’re not comfortable, they don’t force you to do it. But it’s always been their thing, so they want at least one person to be able to do it. So I said, “Well, I’ll step up and do it.” I did it for awhile, and I think I only fell like two times, so it really wasn’t that bad.
Photo by: Inga Knee’Her
So what were your expectations of roller derby when you first joined?
I don’t really even know if I had any expectations. I went to that initial meetup, and some of the vets had come there and were showing off their skills, and I’m just watching in awe—I’m pretty sure that’s when I fell in love with Inga. So I’m just watching them and like, wow, I wanna be able to do these things. I just pushed myself and practiced outside of our practices, and I went to every practice that we had there religiously. I just wanted to absorb all of the knowledge. I did not expect to be where I am now, at all. I thought I would still be trying to pass the skills test at this point or something. So to be where I am now is mind blowing, but a happy mind blowing, a good mind blowing.
So I went in with just wanting to watch and learn, and not really had any big expectations of, “I’m going to be on this team, I’m going to do these things,” it was just, “I want to participate and do these things and learn things,” and now we’re here.
Have you found a favorite position to play?
Uh, blocker! [laughs]
What do you like about blocking?
It’s kind of thrilling when you have a good jammer, a strong jammer, and you’re able to stop them in their tracks. I love being able to do that. It doesn’t happen too too often, so I like blocking, but I also like being the brace for my team to communicate who’s coming up, where they are, and just help get everyone where they need to be. I just really like doing that.
So you feel like a support kind of style is what you like?
For sure.
This interview is just a couple of weeks before your first bout. How are you feeling?
Excited, nervous, all of the things! Kind of still shocked, honestly. Again, back to the expectations—did not think I would ever be to this point, but to get not necessarily rostered for the first game but as an alternate for the first game, I did not expect to be at that point. And then to be rostered and considered for the voting of a captain of the first Brawlers game, like just still in shock of all of that. I don’t think it’s really gonna hit until I’m skates on the track, and then it will all hit me and I’ll probably throw up or something. I’m not sure. We’ll get there when we get there!
I know you said you didn’t have any expectations; do you feel like you have any goals for yourself for this season, or is it still all too new and fresh for you?
Still pretty new. I don’t have any major [goals]. I’ve made the home team that I looked up to the most. I very much wanted to be a Betty, so being chosen was a big thing for me. And then already being rostered for a team, that was a goal, just being rostered for a game. I don’t think I have any more because it’s all just happening, it’s all so real, and becoming so real, like the closer we get to these games. I’m still in shock that I’m here and how real it is.
Tell me a little bit about your name and your number. How did you come to both of those?
My number has, like I said, I played volleyball in middle and high school, was my number then. I went to a private Christian school, so seven is the number of perfection and completion, so I was like, “We’ll just stick with seven, I like this.” So it kind of became like an inside thing with my school, and I’m happy to be able to keep it now. I was worried that someone on the team would already have had that number so I was gonna have to pick something else. I had some backups, but I’m glad I got seven.
The name: my dad has always called me “Bear,” so I just kind of wanted to incorporate that. He’s always called me Bear, it’s been a nickname for awhile, and why not just make it a Roller Bear? I’m on skates, so Roller Bear, the polar bear theme of me that’s just—I love the cold, so that’s the polar bear side I guess.
What have been some of your favorite derby moments so far?
The night that we drafted for home teams. That was really good, fun socializing, and then being picked to be on the team you wanted to be on—I look up to Inga so much, so that she picked me to be on her team, that was just a big moment for me. I’ve had some “Ah ha” moments I guess, in practice where things finally just clicked and like, “Oh I can do this thing.” Turn around toe stops were so hard for me. I struggled and now I’m sliding, so I love doing that.
Other than that, I just honestly like the outside of practice skating that I do with people because it’s just the bonding for me. I love bonding with everybody, and doing something that we all love together, it’s just a lot of fun. Those are some of my favorite moments, just being with everybody.
The community of it all.
Yes, I love the community of it for sure.
What has roller derby taught you about yourself?
That I do have a voice! I have always kind of sat back and let life happen, and now I’m taking over and standing up for myself, and speaking up. I think that’s why I like being the brace, because I can communicate to everyone, and it’s me doing it, and I’m not having to sit back and listen. I can speak up, so I found my voice with derby. Ironically, right before I went to the derby meetup, I quit my job, so I was already starting to find myself before I fully found myself with derby, so just all the steps in motion.
It’s kind of a culmination of a lot of things, then.
I feel empowered doing it, feel strong, a lot more confident for sure. I get the community of everyone. They build that confidence for you and they talk you up and it’s—you know they mean it, they’re not just gaslighting, they are talking you up, and I love it.
I really like our “Atta persons” that we’ll sometimes do [at the end of practice, shouting out a particular teammate who has done something well]. I’ll find myself in practice finding specifically, “What could I say about this person or that person?”
I’ll do that too, I’ll try and think of someone that hasn’t been mentioned before, or that maybe doesn’t get mentioned that often. We all see those moments of those people who have their “Ah ha” moment in practice, and that’s great, but I always like giving somebody else the spotlight who doesn’t get it very often.
So how do you spend your time outside of roller derby?
Uh, skating! There’s more to life than derby? [Laughter]
Rumors say!
Rumor has it! So I work, I have my Monday to Friday. I’m dating, I have my boyfriend, so we’ll do things together. He has his son every other weekend, so we’ll do things with him. Other than that, I just meet up with the derby friends or even my family when they’re available. We’ll meet up because they don’t live local. I’ll travel to go see them or just giving my time to others that I haven’t dedicated to derby already. Trying to split up my non-derby time. But it’s mostly derby, skating is mostly all I do.
Well we’re glad that you have that as an obsession!
Yes, I do! I will put 100% of myself in whatever I do, so that’s just me throwing myself in it.
Do you say that you give 100% to your team?
I do give 100% to my team. [Laughter]
So where does your family live? Are you originally from Knoxville?
Not Knoxville, no. Scott County. It’s close, a few counties over, about an hour or so’s drive. Scott County is where I was born and raised. I moved to Knoxville about six or seven years ago for work. There’s just not a whole lot of job opportunities in Scott County, so I moved here for work, for accounting, ended up in a warehouse, going back into accounting. But I love Knoxville, the atmosphere, and just all the things to do and always somewhere to go with someone.
If you take someone to Knoxville, what do you tend to do?
So when I lived in Scott County, me and a group of friends would travel to Knoxville to do things. We would either, Skatetown was a thing we would do every once in a while, but mostly bowling. I love bowling. So we would go bowling, and I haven’t gotten to do that a lot lately, but that’s something that I do enjoy doing with my friends. If they ever come over here, I’m like, “Let’s go to this place and bowl,” or just sit down and have a good meal somewhere. I like suggesting places that they’ve never tried, or obviously you don’t have that in Scott County, but I like opening them up to new places too. Good conversations, good meals, or bowling.
What advice do you have for anyone considering our Fresh Meat Program [beginning April 6]?
Uh, do it! Just do it. If you have considered doing it, that’s the universe telling you to do it, so just follow through. You will either love it or hate it, but there is no one I’ve met that’s hated it, so you’re probably gonna love it. Because you’ll find your voice, you’ll find your confidence, you’ll find things about yourself that you never knew. If you’re thinking about it, just do it, just sign up. Come to Fresh Meat!
Yes! We want new people, we want new friends.
Come be our new friends, our new family.
We don’t bite.
Sometimes…with the mouth guard we can’t.
Who would you like to nominate for next month, and what do you want to ask them?
I would like to nominate Raison D’êtremental because she is so fierce and we joined at the same time. She had an injury early on, and I just think it’s so brave of her to do something, get hurt doing it, and then come right back to it. She was rostered immediately! She’s just a good inspiration for a lot of people that, even those that are scared of getting hurt—just come back because it may or may not happen. It hasn’t happened to me, but it can happen and I think she’s so strong for coming back the minute the doctor released her. I love that! And like I said, she’s an inspiration to come back and be as powerful as she is—miss out on all that time, come back (because she was out for weeks, and we’re still continuing to do the things) and she just surpassed us and is rostered and that’s just, so inspiring of her. I love that so much.
So how did you come back? After being hurt so early on, a lot of people would have given up, but just, how did you overcome that and come back?
Thank you for a great conversation, Bear! You’ve stepped up as a leader in so many ways for our team, and I can’t wait until our fans can see you in action! Until next time, be like Roller Bear and find your voice in whatever you are most passionate about.
-smalls-