The Oly Rollers are 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
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
European ...
. Founded in February 2006, the Oly Rollers have won both the
WFTDA Championship
The International Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championships ("WFTDA Championships" or "Champs" for short) are the leading competition for roller derby leagues.
The Championships are organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ( ...
and the
USARS
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
National Championship. The Oly Rollers are 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).
Teams
The Oly Rollers league is composed of three teams: the Cosa Nostra Donnas, which is their all-star team for interleague competition; the Dropkick Donnas, formerly known as the Prima Donnas; and the Bella Donnas, consisting of their newer recruits.
Through the end of the 2009 season, the Oly Rollers league was composed of two teams: the Cosa Nostra Donnas and the Prima Donnas, consisting of their newer recruits.
WFTDA competition
The Cosa Nostra Donnas finished first in the 2009
WFTDA Western Regional Tournament
The WFTDA Western Regional Tournament or WFTDA West Region Playoffs was one of four roller derby qualifying tournaments for the WFTDA Championships.
The Tournament was organised by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Full WFTDA memb ...
by going undefeated against
Duke City Derby
Duke City Roller Derby (DCRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 2005, Duke City is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
History
Founded in 2005, Duke City is ...
,
Rat City Rollergirls
Rat City Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2004 as Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, the league has incorporated alternative cultural influences, and has inspired and mentored other leagues. Rat ...
and
Rocky Mountain Rollergirls
Rocky Mountain Roller Derby (RMRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2004, Rocky Mountain is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and has qualified for WFTDA Playoffs every ...
, qualifying them to compete in the 2009 National Tournament.
At the 2009
WFTDA National Championships, the Oly Rollers had first-round bye, and in the second round, defeated
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 ...
136-105, eliminating Gotham from the tournament.
In the third round, Oly beat the
Denver Roller Dolls
Denver Roller Derby (DRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. The league was founded in December 2005. Denver Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), joining in December 2007 as De ...
178-91, advancing to the championship bout and sending Denver to the third-place bout. Finally, the Cosa Nostra Donnas defeated the
Texas Rollergirls
Texas Rollergirls is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Austin, Texas. Founded in early 2003 and widely credited as the league that started the modern roller derby movement, the Texas Rollergirls were the first flat-track league in ...
178-100 to claim the 2009 WFTDA championship at the end of an undefeated season.
In 2010, Oly opened their Western Regional with a 267-19 victory over
Tucson Roller Derby
Tucson Roller Derby (TRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league located in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in late 2003, Tucson Roller Derby is a skater-run non-profit organization and hosts monthly roller derby competitions showcasing bouts invol ...
and a 148-109 win over
Rose City Rollers
The Rose City Rollers is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Portland, Oregon, operating as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Established in 2004, the Ro ...
, but fell to Rocky Mountain 127-86 to finish in second place.
At the 2010 WFTDA Championships, Oly defeated
Nashville Rollergirls
Nashville Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded as Nashville Rollergirls, the league is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
History and structure
The league was f ...
214-53,
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 ...
178-76 and
Philly Roller Girls
Philly Roller Derby (PRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2005, Philly Roller Derby is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
League history
First organ ...
108-81, before falling to Rocky Mountain 147-146 to finish in second place.
Ols skater Sassy was named tournament MVP.
At the 2011 Western Regional, Oly beat
Jet City Rollergirls
Jet City Roller Derby (JCRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Everett, Washington. Founded in 2006, Jet City is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
History
Jet City was founded as Jet City Rollergirl ...
239-55, Rose City 161-132, and ultimately Rocky Mountain 143-106 to finish in first place.
At Championships, Oly defeated Philly 181-95, and beat the
Kansas City Roller Warriors
The Kansas City Roller Warriors (KCRW) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Kansas City, Kansas that was founded in 2004. The members of the league are split into four home teams that play within the league and two travel teams th ...
124-104, before losing the final to Gotham (Oly's only loss of 2011) 140-97.
In 2012, Oly won their third Western Regional title in four years by defeating
Denver Roller Dolls
Denver Roller Derby (DRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. The league was founded in December 2005. Denver Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), joining in December 2007 as De ...
168-161.
At the 2012 Championships, Oly made the final again, but for the second straight year lost the title game to Gotham, 233-130, for their third straight second-place WFTDA Champs finish.
As of 2017, this is Oly's last appearance at WFTDA Playoffs or Championships.
In 2013, Oly elected to not meet their gameplay requirements for WFTDA Playoff eligibility, so even though they were ranked at 3rd overall in that year's
WFTDA rankings, Oly did not qualify for
Division 1 Playoffs. In 2014, Oly met their gameplay requirements (including reaching their required fourth sanctioned game on the final day of June), but when it turned out that the Division 1 Playoff they would be sent to was rescheduled to a weekend when
USARS
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
was holding their national championship, Oly declined their invitation to WFTDA Playoffs, as they couldn't field teams for both tournaments simultaneously, and elected for the USARS tournament, as it allowed for
junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
-aged skaters to play.
The WFTDA confirmed that in spite of the declines, Playoff participation was not a requirement of membership and Oly remained a WFTDA member league in good standing.
While Oly was ranked within Division 1 territory for the 2015 cycle, again they did not meet gameplay requirements and were not eligible for that year's Playoffs. Oly last received a WFTDA ranking in the April 30, 2016 release, at which point they were ranked #61 overall.
Rankings
*''NR'' = did not receive an end of year ranking this year
USARS competition
In 2012, concurrent with their involvement with WFTDA play, Oly began competing at the
USA Roller Sports
USA Roller Sports (USARS), formerly the United States Amateur Confederation of Roller Skating, is the national governing body of competitive roller sports (inline skating and roller skating) in the United States. It is recognized by the Internatio ...
(USARS) National Championship, and has won every championship to date, as of 2017. Oly won the inaugural USARS National Championship by defeating
San Diego Roller Derby 181-35 to claim the first Seltzer Cup. Oly won the USARS Championship again in 2013 by defeating
Port T’Orchard Roller Derby
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
, 2014 by defeating
Antagonist Roller Derby, in 2015 by defeating the Pennsylvania All-Stars, in 2016 (Oly Rollers sent two teams to the tournament, and "Oly I" claimed the title over "Oly II"), and again in 2017 by defeating a team called Mo Money, as announced by USARS on social media.
References
External links
Oly Rollers Official Website
{{Washington Sports
Women's sports in the United States
Sports in Olympia, Washington
Roller derby leagues in Washington (state)
Roller derby leagues established in 2006
2006 establishments in Washington (state)