The Yukon Roller Derby Association (YRDA) is holding Wham! Bam! Solstice Slam!, a doubleheader bout, Saturday at Mount McIntyre.

The doors and bar open at 5:30 p.m. The action starts at 6 p.m. with Flower Power (Alberta) taking on Midnight Stunners (skaters from Alaska, B.C. and Y.T.). Game 2 goes at 8 p.m. with Yukon Roller Derby battling Ptarmageddon (Alaska).

The skaters will be competing on a track marked with tape and other markers.

The Star dropped by a practice Sunday at the Canada Games Centre to check out the action. YRDA president Christy Huey, AKA Christy Crack-Her, explained what was going on.

“We are scrimmaging. We’re playing roller derby, which is a full contact sport, full gear, on roller skates.

“We are gearing up and practising for our double header bout that’s happening this weekend.”

Huey said the league started in 2009.

“I’ve been a part of it since January of 2016,” related Huey, who’s been president for almost five years.

She explained the appeal of the sport.

“You can see we’re skating really hard. It definitely gets your heart rate up. It’s a really intense sport but yet at the same time, if you look around, everyone is different body types, they’re from different walks of life. It’s just a very inclusive sport.”

The league used to be called Yukon Roller Girls.

“This past year we re-branded and have become a fully inclusive all-gender league. So anybody is invited to play with us,” related Huey.

“We have male-identifying, female-identifying, trans, non-binary, everybody.”

Huey said interest in the sport is definitely picking up.

“In February 2020, we had a full rostered league we built, we were ready to go. We were signed up for several tournaments down in B.C., ready to rock and roll, basically. And then the pandemic hit.”

The league was unable to practice for about a year and a half due to pandemic measures.

“The league definitely crumbled,” recalled Huey. “People moved away, some people chose to have children, all those fun things that happen that take you away from a sport like this.

“So just this past year, we’ve been working on rebuilding the league. I think we were down to only about seven people when we came back together, and now we have a full rostered team. We now have brand new refs that will be reffing their first game as well.”

Huey said the sport gives them a sense of community. 25-30 people are currently involved.

A complete team consists of 15 players.

Each team field five players on the track. Four of them are blockers, the fifth is the jammer, the only one who can score points.

“Once the whistle blows, the jammer comes out; they have to get through the pack (the blockers) and once they get out of the pack, they skate around the entire track and try to catch back up to the pack and every person that they pass on the opposing team counts as a point,” explained Huey. “If they can pass everyone, they get points and so the blocker’s job is to a) protect their point by not letting the jammer get by them and b) provide offensive maneuvers to get the other opposing blockers out so that their jammer can score points.” If a jammer gets jammer status; they can call the jam off before the two minutes is over. Therefore, the amount of jams in a half can vary greatly.

A jammer gets jammer status by being the first out of the pack at the start of a jam. The jammer has to start behind a jam line behind the pack. Blockers can’t go behind the jam line.

“They’re hustling when the whistle blows because they really want to be able to control the jam. It’s the most power you get in the game,” said Huey.

A standard bout is two 30-minute halves.

A half is made up of two minute jams with 30 second breaks in-between.

There are about 20 different penalties, including using a forearm to gain advantage. Another penalty is a “cut track”, in which someone gets knocked off the track and comes back ahead of where they were. There are also legal and illegal hits.

Penalties are 30 seconds each.

Huey said the YRDA will be hosting an entire weekend of events. 60 to 70 people will be invoved.

“Friday, we’re having a public roller disco. So that’s open to anyone who wants to come skate on the track with us. We have a limited selection of roller skates that we can lend to people and then people are encouraged to come out with their roller skates or inline skates.”

They are also running roller derby skills clinics on Saturday and Sunday during the day.

“We’re bringing up one of the best players in Canada, Miracle Whips (Claudia Maréchal). She’s coming up and running a huge clinic of four different sessions on different skills.”

YRDA has about 60 people registered for the “boot camp”, including 35-40 people coming to Whitehorse for the camp from Alaska, B.C. and Alberta.

Laura Pauls, AKA Sassquatch, “with a little extra sass,” as she puts it, is the bouts director for YRDA.

As the title implies, she schedules bouts for the organization.

Regarding the Solstice Slam, Pauls said she is “super-excited, because we have some pretty rad teams coming up.”

Two teams will be coming in to participate in the bout this weekend.

Ptarmageddon and Flower Power are assembled from all over Alaska and Alberta, respectively.

Pauls said the teams will also be picking up players from B.C.

Pauls offered her description of roller derby.

“You’re just going to see us get hit a lot, hit other people a lot, maybe go to the penalty box a few times. There’s some announcers that will explain some of the stuff that’s going on.”

Pauls said the game appeals to her as a way to wind down.

“I don’t have to think about work, I don’t have to think about home, I just go out on the track and that’s where everything happens and it’s like a fresh start and you get to restart your whole week. It’s a super-good way to recharge your batteries.”

“And it’s just fun. I like my teammates a lot.”

Huey added they are planning two Try Derby nights July 14 and Aug. 11.

“We’re inviting the public, anyone who’s interested in getting involved in roller derby.

“We’re gonna have a sign-up list at our bout for people who want to check us out first. From there, anyone who really enjoys it can come and we’re going to be doing a 10-week Learn to Play Roller Derby clinic in the fall for anyone. You don’t have to have any skill at all or athletic ability. We’re there to support and it’s gonna be awesome.”

Tickets for the double header bout this weekend are $25 and can be found on Eventbrite. A limited amount will be available at the door as well. Pre-ordering is recommended due to the limited amount of space.

“Come check us out,” said Huey. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re back and we’re stronger than ever and we’d love people to see that and be a part of it.”