The East Side Wheelers is a ladies roller derby team made up of ladies from Chestermere, Calgary, Airdrie, Canmore, and other areas. They call the Indus Recreation Centre home and that is where they held their Cars, Coffee and Crunch event on Sunday July 5, 2015.
The day included a show and shine with cars on display from Club Vee-Dub, coffee and donuts, a 50/50 draw and other raffle draw prizes and, of course, the a roller derby game where the East Side Wheelers hosted the Ringleader Roller Girls from Whitewood, Saskatchewan.
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five member’s roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short match ups (jams) in which both teams designate a jammer who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to hinder the opposing jammer while assisting their own jammer–in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously.
While the sport has its origins in the banked-track roller skating marathons of the 1930s, modern roller derby is an international sport dominated by all-female amateur teams, in addition to a growing number of male, co-ed, and junior roller derby teams, and was (as a roller sport) under consideration for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The East Side Wheelers, although not belonging to an official Roller Derby league, have been around for the past two years and are coached by Fred Falcao, who has coached Roller Derby for four years.
If you’d like more information about the East Side Wheelers, please contact them at eswindus@gmail.com
