The Baton Rouge River Center could be filled to capacity Saturday, but it won’t be for a graduation or a concert. Red Stick Roller Derby is returning to the track for its second home doubleheader of the season.
This season, the RSRD is part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s Apprentice Leagues, a program designed to help new roller derby leagues gain momentum and eventually become a full-fledged WFTDA league, according to blocker/jammer Caroline Ficara.
Ficara, whose derby name is Heidi Volatile, has been a member since the league’s formation. She said the current goal of the group is to become a WFTDA league.
“WFTDA is like our NBA,” Ficara said. “If we get that status, then we can compete regionally and then nationally.”
If RSRD succeeds in becoming a WFTDA league, it would be the second league in the state, after the New Orleans Big Easy Rollergirls.
The league has also dramatically changed since its inception in 2007. Caitlin “Rock Bottom” Cleveland, family, child and consumer sciences junior at the University, said RSRD has grown “significantly.”
“[The league] has gotten a lot more organized,” Cleveland said. “When the movie ‘Whip It’ was released, we got a lot of new members. They had to start going through training before playing with the veteran players.”
RSRD is now split into two teams: the Diables Rouges and the Capital Defenders.
The unity that comes with being a roller derby skater attracts a lot of people to the sport.
“[Roller derby] introduced me to some of the coolest people I’ve ever met,” said Haley Sibley, French sophomore.
Ficara loves the sportsmanship that comes with roller derby.
“It’s all business on the track,” Ficara said. “But the second it’s over, everyone gets along great. There is a real camaraderie between all the girls.”
Ficara also said roller derby is a great way to blow off steam.
“You have a bad day at work, and all you hope for is that tonight is a full-contact practice,” Ficara said.
Sibley said skating is an effective stress reliever when you get to “skate really fast” and run into people.
“It got me into fantastic shape,” Sibley said. “Yet it was so much fun, I rarely even realized I was working out.”
RSRD said other than becoming a WFTDA league, the group’s other goal is to have the sport taken more seriously.
“It’s nice to be recognized as an actual sport,” Ficara said. “You should be proud of what you’re playing.”
The Diables Rouges play the Beach Brawl SK8R Dolls, and the Capital Defenders play the Magnolia Roller Vixens on Saturday at the Baton Rouge River Center.
 
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Contact Taylor Balkom at [email protected]