Bay Area Derby, formerly B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls,[1] is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in the San Francisco Bay Area.[2] Bay Area Derby (BAD) was founded in 2004 and is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).[3] BAD is a skater-owned and -operated 501(c)(3) non-profit league. The league is composed of four teams for intra-league play, and an all-star travel team that competes nationally. As of 2016[update], BAD was ranked in the top 20 overall in WFTDA.[4]
Teams
[edit]Richmond Wrecking Belles vs. San Francisco ShEvil Dead in 2008
Home Teams Compete locally.
Berkeley Resistance (founded 2011)
Oakland Outlaws (founded 2004)
Richmond Wrecking Belles (founded 2005, now defunct)
San Francisco ShEvil Dead (founded 2004)
Travel Team Competes internationally.
All Stars (A team) and Team Gold (B-team)
BAD has a "Swim Team" aka "Free Agent Pool," composed of skaters coming back after a long-term absence, skaters who have not yet been drafted to a home team, and skaters who are in the process of transferring to the league from another league or Reckless Rollers.
BAD formed in August, 2004, and practice was during open skate at Golden Skate Roller Rink in San Ramon, California. BAD later moved to The Bladium in Alameda, California, in early 2005, and Dry Ice Hockey Arena in Oakland, California later in 2005. BAD signed the lease at their current practice space, a warehouse in West Oakland, California, on April 1, 2010.
BAD's first bout, "Thirst for Blood," was held at Dry Ice Hockey Arena on Saturday, October 22, 2005. It featured the Oakland Outlaws vs the San Francisco ShEvil Dead. Final Score: ShEvil Dead 59, Outlaws 50.[5][6]
In January 2016, the league announced it had changed its name from B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls to Bay Area Derby in an effort to better reflect the diversity of its members.[7][8]
The BAD All-Stars were founded in January, 2006 by the BAD coaching committee to represent the league at the 2006 Dust Devil National Flat Track Derby TournamentinTucson, Arizona on February 24–26, 2006. Hosted by Tucson Roller Derby, this tournament was the BAD All-Stars' first inter-league tournament as well as the first WFTDA-sanctioned inter-league roller derby tournament.
Original Roster:
Faster PussyCat $100
Ghoulina 26
Iva Vendetta 1031
Killer Vee 1337
Kitt Turbo 667
Liza Machete 1
mindianapolis500 0
Miss Moxxxie XOXO
Racey Lane 96
Sassy Slayher .30-06
Skatzophrenic 51/50
Stitches Stew 187
Surly Vixen 00
Terra Nüone 1111
BAD came in as a relative unknown to the tournament, but started strong and beat the Windy City Rollers and Dallas Derby Devils, and tied Arizona Roller Derby's Tent City Terrors (eventual 3rd-place finishers) in the tournament's first day round-robin seeding event. BAD moved on to day 2 but fell to the Carolina Rollergirls.[9]
Since the formation of the All Stars team, Bay Area has qualified for WFTDA Playoffs and/or WFTDA Championships every season.
BAD provides an environment for people of all athletic abilities to compete with like-minded women and push themselves to a higher athletic ability. BAD started a recreational league in 2010, Reckless Rollers, which is composed of derby skaters in training, BAD alumni, and league members.[43]
From 2006-09, and 2013 onwards, BAD provides equipment and skating lessons to an economically-disadvantaged grade school in Richmond, CA as the "Skater Tots" program, for 8 weeks out of the school year, essentially, being the "gym class" for a trimester.[44] In 2011, BAD was involved with beer booths at both the San Francisco Pride and Oakland Pride parades, the latter with Mayor Jean Quan. In addition, BAD made appearances at the Piedmont Fourth of July Parade[45] and Beats 4 Boobs[46]
2011 Skater 26, a short documentary on roller derby featured athletes from all four home teams, with Chantilly Mace and Miss Moxxxie as the featured participants.[47][48]
