Have you ever wanted to change your name, throw on roller skates, and spend the evening racing around a skating rink plowing into other girls in the name of sportsmanship?
No?
Then it's a good thing you're not a Hudson Valley Horror.
Jeshurun Nickerson, who goes by Rxy Ramalotte during games, brainstormed the idea in 2006 to start a roller derby team as merely a way to fill her spare time and get some exercise. She and Danielle Correia (a.k.a. Pinky Swears) now serve as team presidents.
They're getting ready for the last game of the season, Oct. 26. A phone conversation with the two roller girls revealed that while they do wear skirts and fishnets as part of their game attire, it's only so they feel pretty while kicking some ass.
Can you both give your take on how the Hudson Valley Horrors got started?
Rxy: Basically, we were just looking for something to do in Hudson Valley. We wanted something athletic and empowering to women, and roller derby definitely fits that. We started out with just a few girls who showed up to practice and were just learning how to roller skate. They eventually blossomed into a team and learned a bunch of strategy.
Did you have to get licensing or anything? What was the paperwork involved in getting the team official?
Rxy: We basically just had to rent a rink for practices, and then buy insurance. Ha!
What was the tryout process like for the original team?
Rxy: We handed out fliers and talked to a bunch of crazy girls.
Pinky: We never had official tryouts like we do now. It was always like, if you come, you're in.
What was your first game like? Bloody?
Rxy: We had no clue. We got beat by like 106 points.
Pinky: I think on the business end we did pretty good. But in terms of the game itself and our strategy, we totally got our butts kicked.
Rxy: We got progressively better though. I think our next game we only lost by like 25 points. Ha!
Have you ever had to kick someone off of the team? Either for not skating well, or for not jelling with the rest of the team?
Rxy: No, thank God. We have laws and a general constitution. There's a byline there for how to deal with that situation if it ever does arise. But we've never had to. But there's definitely drama.
Pinky: People resign for their own reasons a lot of them time. From tryouts we get 14 girls to try out, and then by the end we have three left.
Why do you think the turn-around is so quick?
Rxy: It's time consuming. You have to practice six hours a week, and then also do whatever your committee needs you to do that week. Everyone who joins has to join a committee. And then we have events every other week on top of that.
Do you get a lot of gawkers who come to your games because they think it's kooky, and not because they want to see an actual game?
Rxy: Not really. The people who come are coming to see an actual game AND because there's flair to it. It's something they haven't seen before, but when they get there and see it – they have respect for what we're doing.
Pinky: I think for a lot of people it's a nostalgia thing too. Like the 40-and-over crowd. They had roller derby growing up and remember watching it as kids on TV.
Rxy: For the most part people are pretty open minded. The people who think it's just a spectacle don't come. It's mostly frat boys. Frat boys don't really dig roller derby.
There was a huge roller derby explosion awhile ago, and then it seemed to phase out a bit. What keeps you going strong?
Rxy: I think it's seen as a fad for the news people, they don't dig deep enough into it. We were in like five different newspapers when we first got started, and then it was like the media just got their fill and didn't keep covering it as a sport. It's really hard to get into the sports sections here. We've been in just about every lifestyle section, but not sports as much. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that media is primarily covered by men, and they just don't know what to make of it.
Pinky: Just because you don't see it in the media as much, doesn't mean that all of those leagues aren't still up and running.
How do you combat the view that your sport is just a fad?
Rxy: We get interviewed on the radio and for newspapers and stuff, and it always eventually comes down to us wearing fishnets and skirts. And it's not about that. It's about the fact that we can wear this stuff and still kick your ass.
What was it like being interviewed by The New York Times?
Rxy: It was really big because we had just started. The interview was early at like 8:30. And we were late because we were getting coffee for the news guys.
What made you decide on a horror theme?
Rxy: Well, we're all kind of scary. Ha! We're different and we all kind of dig the horror movie theme. We had 30 names picked out originally and the Hudson Valley Horrors won.
Pinky: I think it fits the area too, because it's a real eclectic area. It's a little rugged and spooky.
During your games, do you have theatrics and fake blood and stuff?
Rxy: Sometimes it's supplied on its own.
Pinky: We have a couple of Jason masks covered in blood that we give people's kids to run around in and stuff.
