Grand Raggidy Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

. Founded in 2005, the league is a founding 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 founded as "Grand Raggidy Roller Girls" by Tricia "The Vindicator" Woolfenden and Katy "Shutter Speed" Batdorff in 2005. The first public game for Grand Raggidy was held in April 2006 with over 2,000 fans in attendance at the DeltaPlex Arena. Since as far back as 2009, Grand Raggidy has held its home games at Rivertown Sports, with exceptions in 2013 when the venue was flood-damaged. Four of the league's skaters appeared as themselves in the movie ''

Whip It! ''Whip It'' is a 2009 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Drew Barrymore in her directorial debut and written by Shauna Cross, based on her 2007 novel '' Derby Girl''. The film is co-produced by Barrymore and Barry Mendel. It stars Ellio ...

'': Dot Matrix, Shutter Speed, Tamara Hurtsworse, and Jackie Daniels, who was recruited after skating for the mixed-league "Team Awesome" in Los Angeles. In 2015, Grand Raggidy updated its name from "Roller Girls" to "Roller Derby", as part of its tenth anniversary season and recognizing the contributions of its members.

WFTDA competition

The league qualified for the 2007

WFTDA Eastern Regional Tournament The WFTDA East Region Playoffs or WFTDA Eastern Regional Tournament was one of four annual roller derby regional qualifying tournaments for the WFTDA Championships. The Tournament was organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). ...

; they were seeded eleventh and lost in the first round to

Gotham Girls Roller Derby Gotham Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league based in New York City, New York (state), New York. Founded in late 2003, Gotham is the first flat track roller derby league in the metropolitan New York area and a founding member league of ...

, 206-47. They qualified again the following year, going 1-3 on the weekend and finished in tenth place. In 2009 Grand Raggidy qualified for the newly-created

WFTDA North Central Regional Tournament The WFTDA North Central Regional Tournament or WFTDA North Central Region Playoffs was one of four annual roller derby regional qualifying tournaments for the WFTDA Championships. The Tournament was organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Assoc ...

, seeded seventh, but lost all their bouts to finish tenth. After missing WFTDA Playoffs from 2010–12, Grand Raggdiy qualified for Division 1 Playoffs in 2013, and went 1-2 as the tenth seed in Fort Wayne and finished in ninth place courtesy of a 186-134 victory over Bleeding Heartland. In 2014, Grand Raggidy competed at Division 2 Playoffs in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario as the tenth seed and went winless to finish in tenth. Grand Raggidy missed Playoffs in 2015 but returned to Division 2 in 2016 as the tenth seed in Lansing, Michigan, but again went winless and finished in tenth place.

Rankings

References

{{Michigan Sports Sports in Grand Rapids, Michigan Roller derby leagues established in 2005 Roller derby leagues in Michigan 2005 establishments in Michigan