Story posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Outfit skaters and Des Plaines residents Kristen "Harley Dangerson" Petik, Chrissy "Stiletto Nightmare" Rose and Christy "Yama" Fell.
Trio Fits Right In On Roller Derby Team
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
Des Plaines members of the Chicago Outfit roller derby team recently laced up at Orbit roller rink in Palatine just two days after ending their season by clobbering a crew from Canada by over 100 points.
This Outfit is not the remnants of Al Capone's organization but a new women's roller derby team that was undefeated this season in only its second year of action.
Des Plaines residents Chrissy Rose (aka "Stiletto Nightmare"), Christy Fell (aka "Yama") and Kristen Petik (aka "Harley Dangerson") are members of the team and regularly work out at the Palatine rink on Monday night along with other derby girls and male referees.
The team recently ended its season in a doubleheader winning both the first match against the State Line Derby Divas (Ill.-Wisc.) 105 to 64 and the CN Power team from Toronto, Canada, 147 to 28.
The team gets just two weeks off before beginning intensive practices again three to four times a week.
"It feels amazing like such a family," said Rose, a Maine West High School graduate who joined the team last January and started skating in matches last November.
When Rose is not blocking skaters on the rink she is cutting hair at a salon in Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg.
Fell, also a Maine West graduate, said she was always into sports but never found the same camaraderie that she found with the Outfit. Fell is working with the team scoring and practicing, but has not yet competed in a match.
"I hope to be the star rookie next year," said Fell.
The veteran skating at Orbit Monday night was Kristen Petik. A small woman, Petik said she often skates as the "jammer", the scoring skater whose job it is to pass blockers on the opposing team to earn points. Jammers earn one point for every opposing team's skater they pass and five points if they pass the opposing team's jammer. Petik was relaxing during a recent practice after suffering a minor shoulder separation in the match against the State Line Derby Divas.
Next season, the Outfit has been accepted as an apprentice member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) league.
For the two years of its existence, the Outfit has faced off against WFTDA teams but has not been allowed to compete in post-season championship play.
There is considerable expense involved in joining the Outfit. Skaters pay dues, take out personal insurance policies, purchase skates and other protective gear and pay some travel expenses.
Team members pay their own travel expenses to get to and from away matches but are put up in hotels by the opposing team.
Members stress bumps and hits on the track are real. During a contest two weeks ago, a member of the CN Power team went down hard and stayed down for about 30 seconds of hushed silence by the crowd before limping off the track.
Some members of the Outfit, including Fell, learned their craft with a group called Derby Light that practices in Oak Park. Derby Light does not compete but appears at community events and charity functions. The Outfit is a non-profit organization that donates a portion of each bout's ticket sales to a different charity at each home match. Charities are usually chosen at the start of each season.
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