San Diego Derby United is a

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 ...

organization based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. In 2005, Bonnie D. Stroir founded the program, then named the San Diego Derby Dolls, in a Linda Vista roller rink, Skateworld. The early years of the program were spent learning the game and fundraising for the program's first banked track. San Diego Derby United's two-acre facility in the Encanto neighborhood of San Diego features both banked and flat regulation roller derby tracks.

History

The league was founded by Bonnie D.Stroir, who lived in San Diego, but had been skating with LADD for two years.Nina Garin,
Dolls with wallop
, ''

San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', 2 October 2009 Around late 2006, the Dolls installed a banked track, but also continue to compete on a flat track, becoming the first "hybrid" league. By 2009, the Dolls had about 80 skaters and nearly 1,000 fans. San Diego won the 2009 and 2010 editions of Battle on the Bank, the national banked track roller derby championship and came in 3rd place in the 2011 Battle on the Bank. In 2010, they were ranked 20th in the world in flat-track derby. In March 2011, they took on

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 ( ...

winners the

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 ...

on the Dolls' banked track, losing 100-125 to the flat track league. San Diego was a founding member of the Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues in January 2012. In December 2015, the San Diego Derby Dolls announced they had teamed up with local WFTDA roller derby league SoCal Derby to make the first coalition between a banked and flat track league under one roof in modern roller derby. In 2018, the program went on to expand their offerings, bringing in the MRDA program, the San Diego Aftershocks. In 2019, they brought in the JRDA team, San Diego Tremors.

In media and culture

The San Diego Derby Dolls were the inspiration for the 2013 play ''Derbywise'' by Circle Circle dot dot. In 2015, the San Diego Derby Dolls and General Manager, Isabelle Ringer, were highlighted on Mike Rowe's CNN Program '

Somebody's Gotta Do It ''Somebody's Gotta Do It'' is a program that originally aired on CNN and later aired on TBN with host Mike Rowe. The show premiered on October 8, 2014. On May 13, 2016, Mike Rowe announced on his website MikeRowe.com that he and CNN had agreed ...

' in episode entitled 'Derby Dolls.'

References

{{San Diego Sports Roller derby leagues in California Derby Dolls Roller derby leagues established in 2005 Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues 2005 establishments in California