Victoria roller derby team Belles of the Brawl recently opened their 2018 season with a victory over the Sea to Sky Sirens from Squamish, with a final score of 295-100. But Belles of the Brawl player Toombstone (also known as Kim Toombs), a veteran of the sport, says the game was a lot closer than the score led on.
“I think we really utilized the off-season to work hard and reassert that we’re a good team,” she says. “We came out of that game with a pretty decisive win. Even though the score was quite high on our end, it was a seemingly tougher game than the score indicated.”
Toombstone is expecting her team to do well this year, with the six new players they’ve acquired all showing development and strength.
“We’ve got a lot of new people on our team who are bringing new energy, so I think it’s going to be a really good season,” she says.
The teams change fairly often, says Toombstone, with drafts a couple of times a year.
“People’s circumstances in life change, too. There’s often a lot of changes on the teams,” she says. “Since I’ve been there, there’s a huge turnover of people and there’s also been some consistency as well.”
The consistency is great to have, says Toombstone, adding that part of her job as one of the three team captains is to work with players of all skill levels.
“We do have some very high-level players and we also have some new rookies on the team,” she says, “so we just have to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of both the vets who have been around for a long time and who are meaning to advance their skils, and also making sure that we are insuring that the rookies are getting the development that they need around their skating and their skills.”
As captain, part of Toombstone’s job is mentoring new players; she says it’s good for the veterans to be able to practice mentoring.
“We might know the skills and we might have played quite a bit, but we don’t necessarily know how to explain them or how to teach them, so it can be really good to help build our confidence in the actual knowledge of the game,” says Toombstone.
The Eves of Destruction are bringing the next round of roller derby to town at the Archie Browning Sports Centre on Saturday, May 19. See evesofdestructionrollerderby.com for details.