Natural Approach is Key to Maintaining Balance for Roller Derby’s Gotham Girls

NEW YORK CITY – By day she might be an art curator, college professor, graphic designer, television producer, model maker or even a hard-working stay-at-home mom. But by night she suits up with a crash helmet and knee pads and becomes the daunting Blue Bonnet Plague, Raggedy Animal, Ginger Snap, Murder City Mandy, Beatrix Slaughter, or Evil Iris. So what drives the everyday woman to pick up such a rough and tumble sport like roller derby and how does she maintain her health in spite of her alter ego?

For some on the Gotham City Roller Derby League, they are drawn to the game for the pure love of the sport. Meghan Goldmann, an art curator who goes by the derby name of Blue Bonnet Plague, says it was “love at first site” after seeing a championship game in 2005. “Roller Derby is a relentless, hard game to play but it’s a fantastic game to play since it’s so energetic and lively,” she says.

Architectural Model Maker Zoe Logan aka Beatrix Slaughter of the Bronx Gridlock acquired her passion for “skating and brawling” playing women’s ice hockey in college. She also finds roller derby to be a “punishing game with a guarantee of black and blues as well as a great time.”

For other league players, they are motivated by a childhood dream. Kristin Carney aka Ana Bollocks of the Queens of Pain, who works as a web content manager for a grocery and meal service, says she always loved roller skating and contact sports. When she heard that Gotham Girls were having try outs, she “literally showed up that night to sign up.”

Though they all love the physicality of the sport, this also has its downside. The staged brawling of the 70s is a thing of the past, but serious bumps, bruises and strains are still a very real part of life in the roller derby fast lane.

“It gets pretty rough,” says SherryAnn Danna better known as Manhattan Mayhem’s Sweet Sherry Pie. “You get home feeling very battered.”

For Natily Blair aka Ginger Snap, captain of the Bronx Gridlock, injury came quickly. Shortly after she joined the league, she broke her wrist putting the “snap” into her name. Today she is extra careful in treating her day-to-day injuries which are mostly bruises and “rink rash.”

“Bruises are the most common,” Blair says. “You get mysterious bruises everywhere. It’s sometimes like connect the dots when I come home. I had a split lip one night and a wheel went where it shouldn’t have but that is why we wear protection.”

Carney says, she too, has had some “pretty interesting-looking bruises” and that her friends and family have expressed some concern. “Yes, I have had family members at weddings see that I am wearing splints and then question my motivation,” she says.

A Video and Commercial Producer, Amanda Doss, aka Murder City Mandy with the Bronx Gridlock, says as a “blocker” for the team “that if anyone tries to get past me, I hit them as hard as I can to get them down” and that comes with a price on her body.

“When I fall, my body does get bruised,” Doss says. “We have a lot of padding on which helps but we still get banged up. The work we do in general puts a lot of pressure on your body. You get very sore.”

Because of the sheer physicality of the game, many of league players have turned to natural medicines for relief. “We take pride in our bruises but we don’t want them to slow us down,” says Blair, who like her teammates turns to Boiron’s Arnicare Gel for injury relief.

Unlike many other over-the-counter pain relief gels, Arnicare Gel not only treats muscle aches and stiffness but it also relieves swelling and bruising. The gel contains Arnica montana, one of the most popular homeopathic medicines in the world, so it’s natural and safe to use.

The Gotham Girls say they love that the gel is odorless so there is no bad medicinal smell. To get through her work day, Carney keeps a tube at her desk. “I work for a food-oriented company where we taste food and write about it. I can’t just sit in the middle of my department and put a bunch of strong wintergreen-smelling stuff on. That would be frowned upon. I love that Arnicare Gel is odorless and also works very well to fade my bruises quickly.”

Wendy Martling, a professor of English Composition by day and Raggedy Animal of the Manhattan Mayhem at night, says the gel has come in handy because it allows her to keep her “soreness” and her derby life to herself.

“I am very careful about who I tell that I play roller derby. My students need to see me as an authority figure although playing roller derby you are an authority figure but I need for them to take me seriously,” Martling says. “The minute I get home if I rub Arnicare Gel on my arms, it immediately feels better. By the morning, if I rub on more gel it continues to feel better. It’s either not bruising or if it is bruising, it’s not tender to the touch. The Arnicare Gel makes all the difference in the world.”

Doss also says she wants to treat her injuries more naturally with medicines like Arnicare Gel. “I am very much concerned about what I put into my body and what I put on my body,” Doss says. “I want to be healthy. I am one of the older skaters in the league and I want to keep up with the other girls. That’s really important to me.”

Blair, who works as a graphics designer, says despite her two surgeries and pins from her rookie injury her love of the game has never diminished. “After I broke my wrist I wanted to make it count for something. If I hadn’t gotten back on the track then it would have beaten me.” Spoken like a true roller girl.