Kalamazoo Roller Derby (KRD) 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

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. Founded in 2006, the league consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).

History and organization

The league was founded in early 2006 as the Kalamazoo Kamikazes, and played its first bout the following year. By 2008 they had rebranded as the Killmazoo Derby Darlins and moved from the RollerWorld roller rink to

Wings Stadium Wings Event Center (formerly Wings Stadium) is a 5,113-seat multi-purpose arena located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The arena, opened in 1974, is home to the Kalamazoo Wings, an ice hockey team in the ECHL. The stadium changed the name to the Wings ...

where they sold out all 800 advance tickets for a June game. It doubled its membership in 2009, following the release of the movie '' Whip It!''. Killamazoo was accepted into the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice is the program affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In operation from 2009 until early 2019, the Apprentice Program served to onboard new member leagues into the WFTDA. ...

Program in October 2009,Apprentice Leagues
, WFTDA ersion of 16 November 2009/ref> and became a full member of the WFTDA in September 2010.9 Leagues Join WFTDA for Full Membership
", WFTDA, 1 September 2010 The league plays its bouts at the Wings Stadium, and aims in particular to attract families to watch. In January 2018 the league announced a rebrand as Kalamazoo Derby Darlins. In December 2020, the league announced a rebrand as Kalamazoo Roller Derby in a move to embrace diversity and inclusion.

WFTDA competition

In 2013, Killamazoo qualified for WFTDA Playoffs for the first time, participating at the Division 2 tournament they hosted at

. Killamazoo was the third seed and finished the tournament in third place with a 250-219 victory over NEO Roller Derby (Akron, Ohio). In 2014, KDD again qualified for Division 2 Playoffs, and were the fourth seed at Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, and won the third place game 180-162 over

Gold Coast Derby Grrls The Gold Coast Derby Grrls (GCDG) is a roller derby league based in Broward County, Florida. Founded in 2007, the league currently consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues. The league was founded as the Broward Cou ...

of Fort Lauderdale.

References

{{Michigan Sports Sports in Kalamazoo, Michigan Roller derby leagues established in 2006 Roller derby leagues in Michigan 2006 establishments in Michigan