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Roller Derby Girls Helping the Community

    In spite of a strong wind that threatened to carry our check-in tents away, we helped the YWCA staff and volunteers set up the shoe station, where the male participants would be able to choose women’s shoes with the right color, style, and fit for their walk.  From SJSU athletes to San Jose firefighters, policemen and EMTs, these walkers had SVRG girls help them select mules, pumps, and stilettos in their sizes.  We also outfitted them with event tees, in case their flashy heels didn’t give them away as YWCA supporters.

 

    When it came time for the walk to begin, we packed up our skates and moved out to the half-mile point.  Our YWCA coordinators paired us perfectly with our next role: offering water and band-aids to the participants.  After all, who knows more about blisters than rollergirls?  We handed out water to the walkers, some striding and some stumbling, and cheered them on as they passed us.

 

    Once the crowd passed our station, we packed up and followed the high-heeled walkers to the California Theater in downtown San José, where participants and sponsors were rewarded with prizes for fundraising and refreshments.

 

    Overall it was a great afternoon—a fun and lighthearted way to raise community awareness for some very serious issues.  Next year, we hope to cheer on our own SVRG male referees as they complete their first mile in our shoes.

 

    If you missed our event but would still like to make a donation to the YWCA of Silicon Valley or learn more about their programs, please visit their website at:

https://secure.cnchost.com/ywca-sv.org/donateform.php

 

Silicon Valley Roller Girls (SVRG) is an all-female flat track roller derby league established in 2007 and represents what is known as Silicon Valley, California. SVRG aims to bring an additional exciting sport to the communities of Silicon Valley and allows women from all walks of life a chance to show their athleticism, intelligence, individuality, inner beauty and strength by participating in the subculture phenomenon of roller derby. SVRG is entirely skater-owned and run. Its dedicated members represent Silicon Valley’s mothers, professionals and students. SVRG encourages competition between other leagues and strives to represent Silicon Valley with sportsmanship and excitement.

 

About the Author

We aim to empower our skaters to not only build their skating ability through challenging training and teamwork but also to be involved the operation of the league. We also dedicate ourselves and our efforts to reaching out and bettering the Silicon Valley by participating in community service.

2008 marks SVRG's first season of bouting against other leagues. This year, in addition to increasing our numbers and creating 2 or 3 distinct teams of our own, we hope to achieve our accreditation from WFTDA, the women's flat track derby association.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 4:00 pm and is filed under inline skates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.