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West Kootenay Roller Derby League disbands

The West Kootenay Roller Derby League has disbanded, but roller derby is still rockin’ in the Kootenays.

The West Kootenay Roller Derby League has disbanded, but roller derby is still rockin’ in the Kootenays.

The Dam City Rollers, Nelson Killjoys and Rossland Trail Roller Girls will all continue competing, but decided that they no longer needed a league.

“Roller derby is alive and well in the Kootenays, we just didn’t need the overarching government structure for the league anymore,” said Michelle Sylvest, member of the Nelson Killjoys who was interim president of the league before it disbanded. “I think that the three teams that remain have different styles of play and different goals, and it wasn’t necessarily working to always have to play against each other and plan things together.”

The league served an important purpose when roller derby first came to the West Kootenay, but Sylvest said it’s no longer needed.

“It made sense when roller derby first came to the West Kootenay to have a league because we needed to leverage our knowledge and resources, but now each team is very good at doing that on their own,” she said.

Castlegar’s team, the Dam City Rollers, will be travelling to compete and bringing in teams to play against.

The team did have a home game scheduled against Avalanche City for March 19, but it’s unfortunately had to be cancelled due to technical difficulties.

The Dams will also be participating in tournaments and are working on trying to schedule a mini tournament in town on May 14. They will be participating in a tournament in Kamloops the weekend of April 15 and a tournament in Vancouver on June 11 and 12.

The team is always on the lookout for new skaters, refs, non-skating officials and other volunteers. Those who are interested can visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/damcityrollerscastlegar.