Several roller derby teams from Saskatchewan and Manitoba competed in a roller derby tournament hosted by the Estevan Junior Coaler Rollers Saturday at the Bienfait Memorial Arena.
The Coaler Rollers were joined by teams from Saskatoon and Kindersley at Levels 1 and 2, while Brandon and Saskatoon were also entered with Estevan at Levels 2 and 3.
Games had two 30-minute halves.
Both teams from Estevan went undefeated in the tournament. The Level 1/2 team defeated Kindersley 285-240 in the tournament’s opening game, which is a close score by roller derby standards, according to Lorelei Lachambre, the coach of the Level 2/3 team. Their other game was a 363-228 win over Saskatoon.
The Level 2/3 team beat Brandon Bruisers 432-132, and then had a close game against Saskatoon, which Estevan won 255-225.
“In five years, we had never beat Saskatoon (at level 2/3), and this was the first time we had ever beat Saskatoon, so we were really pumped about that,” said Lachambre.
Many of the skaters were in their first game.
“They were really excited to actually get into a game and see what roller derby is like,” said Lachambre.
Level 1 is for players who are new to roller derby, while Level 3 is for high school players who have a stronger understanding of the game. Level 2 is an in-between level, and so those players are divided between the two teams, based on game experience and understanding of the sport.
Lachambre said the Coaler Rollers had practised some key plays for the past month, and tried to put them into place this year. She believes they succeeded better than expected.
“Some of the players have obviously grown in size and so they were able to use their size a lot better for this game,” said Lachambre.
It meant they could dish out some good hits, and wear their opponents down.
