Though the fair has ended, you can still smell the show animals. The reminder in the air doesn’t bother Queenie. She’s here to skate, and the only smell she’s worried about is the smell of victory.
Christina “Queenie” Blythe is one of Calskate Roller Derby’s jammers and an original team member. Two years ago, she was at a Halloween party where she met some derby girls who enticed her to attend a practice.
“And I was hooked,” she said.
Since then, she has skated in close to 20 bouts. The most recent was a scrimmage in Las Vegas, where she got to skate against girls who were picked to skate for team USA.
“I got my ass beat,” she said with a laugh.
The scrimmage was part of a five-day Rollercon event where skaters from all over the nation came together to teach, learn, and knock each other around.
Queenie comes to roller derby from a singing, dancing, and acting background, but she loves the full-contact team sport.
“It’s fun,” she said. “It’s mentally challenging. It’s physically challenging.”
You might think this 26-year-old mother of two has enough challenge in her life.
“There’s always fear,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve got two kids. I can’t just break a leg, but I love the exercise, the entertaining, the community.”
Coach “MegAevil” takes pride in what Queenie brings to the team: “She’s thin, lean, athletic, and fast. She can take a hit and keep on going where a lot of other jammers fall.”
To appreciate what Queenie does, you have to realize what her job on the track is. As a jammer, it’s her duty to careen around the track and try to thread her way through a pack of teammates and opponents, four of which are aiming to take her head off and leave her lying skates up in their wake.
And when she says she does it for the love of the game, there are no snickers. She’s doesn’t have a ridiculous contract; she isn’t getting paid. She has to raise funds, advertise, get the matches together, and sell tickets so she and her teammates can skate against another team doing the exact same thing.
Queenie’s next home bout will be on Oct. 1 against Santa Barbara’s Mission City.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2011.
