Lydia Earhart
I was shaking in my sandals as about 30 pairs of skates whizzed around my bare toes.
Why did I wear sandals to a sporting event? To be fair, I wasn’t playing, but I was in the midst of a Twin City Knockers roller derby bout for CityLife’s cover story this month. (Read more on Page 25).
An official at the bout let media photographers stand in the middle of the rink to get the best shot. She pointed at a box taped off as a safe space for photographers. “you don’t have to go into the middle rink, but that is were all the fun happens,” she said with a big smile.
As the crowd was building and finding their seats, I knew I wanted to get in the middle to get the shot. I wanted to see and be a part of the action happening all around.
The first period started, and I stayed in my seat as a part of the crowd looking on. I watched as players zipped around the rink as fast as they could as the crowd was yelling. Luckily, I watched a video the Knockers posted on their Facebook page titled, “Derby 101,” to come to the bout prepared.
I watched the photographer box with the officials, and referees were the only ones inside the rink. After halftime, I quickly scooted across the rink and stopped in the taped off photographer’s box. Whistles blew, and girls were racing to get through each other for points.
Standing in my box, I saw these women in a different light. In this prime view of the bout, I looked more into their eyes and saw the look of determination. I felt powerful just being around them – though I can’t even stand up on skates.
yells from the Twin City Knocker bench caught my attention as I thought back to walking in the Bossier Civic Center before the bout. I walked up to the team feeling a little intimidated as I looked for Amy Touchette aka Cherry Lola. After introducing myself, I started to warm up to them and see the women behind the painted faces marked up for intimidation.
Touchette rounded up the team captain, the Vindictive Vixen, otherwise known as Heather Smart outside of her roller derby. The Vixen, with a cracked skull painted on her face, showed a compassion for her team.
Back in the middle of the rink, the Knockers were down by a few points, but a nearly sold-out crowd of couples, families and even some seniors were cheering them on as our local team gave it their all. This was one of the first times where I spent the entire game cheering and staying to the very end to high-five each one of the players.
