Ann Arbor Roller Derby (A2RD) is a women's flat track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

league based in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

. Founded in 2010, the league consists of two travel teams, A2RD Travel Team, which competes against teams from other leagues, as well as a home "All League" team. Ann Arbor is a member of the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

(WFTDA).

History

The league was started in May 2010 by Kellee Gallardo and Milinda Villegas, with an open meeting in Ann Arbor, and held other recruitments during the year. By 2011 the league was being led by a board of directors and was coached by J.T. Slyde, who had helped train

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...

and

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

for their roles in the roller derby film '' Whip It'', when it filmed in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and Ypsilanti. When formed, the league featured two home teams, the Tree Town Thrashers and the Huron River Rollers, and also their travel team, the A2D2 Brawlstars, before evolving to the present team structure. The A2D2 Brawlstars played their first bout ever on June 11, 2011, losing to the Floral City All-Stars of Monroe, and hosted their first public bout on September 17, 2011, at Buhr Park Arena, a 131-96 loss to Flint City Derby Girls from

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

WFTDA competition

The Ann Arbor Derby Dimes are a member of the

(WFTDA), having been first accepted in the WFTDA's Apprentice Program in July 2012, and graduating to full membership in December 2013. As of June 2015, the Ann Arbor Derby Dimes were ranked 64th in the world by the WFTDA, and a member of the WFTDA Division 3. In 2015, Ann Arbor barely missed the cutoff for

WFTDA Division 2 The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 2 (WFTDA Division 2) was the second-highest level of play in women's flat track roller derby from 2013 through 2017. Comprising different structures over that time, in early 2018 the Women's Flat Tr ...

Playoffs, and then made their WFTDA Playoff debut at the WFTDA Division 1 level in 2016. That year Ann Arbor entered the tournament in Columbia as the 9th seed, and finished in 10th place. Ann Arbor returned to Division 1 Playoffs in 2017 at

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, but lost to

Tampa Bay Derby The Tampa Bay Derby is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three years old horses over the distance of miles on the dirt scheduled annually in March at Tampa Bay Downs racetrack in Oldsmar, Florida. The event currently carries a purse ...

280-99 and 255-105 to

2×4 Roller Derby 2x4 Roller Derby (also ''Dos por cuatro'': ) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded in 2010, the league consists of three teams that play against each other: Bully Chicks, Cowgirls From Hell and Blo ...

to finish out of the medals. In 2018 at the WFTDA Playoff in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Ann Arbor finished out of the medals, but ended their weekend with their first victory at WFTDA Playoffs in the consolation round, 213-185 over

Windy City Rollers Windy City Rollers is a women's flat-track roller derby league located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Juanna Rumbel (Elizabeth Gomez) and Sister Sledgehammer (Kelly Simmons) in 2004, Windy City is the first flat-track roller derby league establ ...

Rankings

* ''CR = consolation round''

References

{{Michigan sports , state=collapsed Roller derby leagues established in 2010 Roller derby leagues in Michigan Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 1 Sports in Ann Arbor, Michigan 2010 establishments in Michigan History of women in Michigan