WKSU News: Roller derby's rebirth: a race with lip rings and attitude

WKSU

WKSU Home

Listen Online

News

Quick Bites Archive

Exploradio Archive

Classical Music

Folk Alley

HD Radio

Support

Mobile Apps

Social Issues

Thursday, August 23, 2007 Roller derby's rebirth: a race with lip rings and attitude by WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZE	Web Editor M.L. Schultze

Twenty northeast Ohio women are forming the newest flat track derby league -- something most people know as roller derby. They say their sport is not the exaggerated version of the 70s, but acknowledge it has an attitude. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more ...

Click to Listen

Other options:

MP3 Download (6:17)

(Click image for larger view.)

Tracy Phillips, known as Agent Skullie, co-founded NEO Rock 'n Roller Girls last spring.

Workouts Sundays in North Canton and Wednesdays in Springfield begin with donning pads and doing stretches.

April "8-Ball" Reichel is a veterinarian's assistant in her non-derby life, and says roller derby helps her relieve stress.

Elise Koontz goes by the derby name of "The Payback."

Michele Whitmer attended the Women's Flat Track Derby Association regionals in Columbus last weekend, where wedding guests at the convention center came to watch the show.

Susan Freitag hopes at least one of her three daughters follows her into roller derby.

Related Links & Resources

Visit the home of the NEO Rock 'n Roller Girls

Page Options

Print this page

More Your Way Home Stories

Arts: two groups shake up NEO scene

Economics: regionalism begins to pay dividends

Education: regionalism/cooperation still far off

Cuyahoga County elections officials preparing for a new voting system

Folk Alley enters 5th season online

Micro-Breweries hit by poor harvest and increased demand

Ohio Supreme Court weighs in on surrogate parenting contracts

Rock Hall inductions will be in Cleveland

Trying to find a great book for a kid?

Cleveland's E. 4th St. developers see boom in downtown

More: Social Issues

Police-community relations reflected on during MLK Day in Greater Cleveland

Kent activists protest 'the language of hate'

Ohio officials push new federal guidelines on painkillers

Ohio cities improve on LGBT inclusiveness

Ohio has its own approach to the federal nutrition-ed program

Summit developmental disabilities day centers are closing

Ohio homeless group calls for more affordable housing

Ohio House Bill would require welfare recipients to pass drug tests

Ohio county jails get mental illness-addiction grants

Ohio's lieutenant governor backs a new teen-driver safety campaign

More by M.L. Schultze

Portman says federal EPA needs to step in on notifications of lead problems when the state does not

Ohio's Sen. Brown is sponsoring a bill requiring notice of lead problems

Could conserving the land around Akron's reservoirs make the city money?

Could Fulton airport go from an Akron subsidy to a money maker?

Akron looks at assets like the airport, golf courses and reservoirs

Dettelbach says listening is the key to changing police-community relations

A federal judge gets his first look at the plan to reform Cleveland PD

Dettelbach says his office has made words on paper real to Ohioans

NAACP wants Cleveland police union chief to resign from reform commission

Cleveland's police reform takes a crucial next step

Copyright © 2025 WKSU Public Radio, All Rights Reserved.

In Partnership With: