Flotorious and Sissy Fit, Buffalo News, 2006
Queen City Roller Girls started in 2006 when two best friends were inspired by the A&E series “Rollergirls.” This reality show chronicled the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls’ alter egos, friendships, triumphs, struggles and of course the riveting bouts. Sissy Fit and Flotorious built the group from the ground up by recruiting like-minded skaters and volunteers by spreading the word online as well as fliers at places like coffee shops and colleges.
Rainbow Rink in North Tonawanda was receptive to their efforts, allowing them to recruit at open skate and eventually hold private practices. Since the beginning, the mission of Queen City Roller Girls was to make a group where women can live out that alter ego, continue playing sports into adulthood (or discover the joys of training and competition for the first time) as well as make lasting friendships and improve the surrounding community.
By January, 2007 the thirty skaters involved had been split into three teams; the Devil Dollies, Nickel City Knockouts and the Suicidal Saucies. Many of those first draftees are still involved today! February 10, 2007 was our first bout: an expo called Slugs n’ Kisses. “SnK” sold over 400 tickets and we were elated! To get started, we relied on support from fundraisers like “Rock ‘n’ Roller Derby” at Mohawk Place and the 80’s prom “Debutante Brawl” as well as support from FWS, Al Cohen’s Rye Bread and Vertasource. Early on, camaraderie was as important as athleticism. If you had dedication and a pair of skates, we would train you.
Year three we added a fourth team, the Alley Kats. Even at that early point we were consistently drawing sell-out crowds of over 1,000 fans. Our success has resulted from the efforts of our all-volunteer organization as well as the love of our fans. Our all star squad then called “Team QCRG” played “travel teams” from notable cities such as Montreal, Hamilton and D.C. We have been covered by almost every major local news source and even had a cover story in Buffalo Spree.
Helping our community has been part of our mission from the start. We volunteer time regularly with such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Brush Up Buffalo, Children’s Hospital, Ride for Roswell, Buffalo Re-Use/Re-Tree and many more. In addition to contributing our time, we give a portion of all ticket sales to a designated charity. We’ve handed “big checks” to many organizations such as the Girls Sports Foundation, Crisis Services and the Food Bank of WNY.
QCRG has grown to over 120 members including competitive skaters, officials and volunteers. It isn’t as easy to become a bouting skater as it used to be, but aspiring rollergirls are joining all the time. We’re fortunate to be supported by Buffalo institutions like Mighty Taco and New Era Cap. Recently QCRG has made a name for Buffalo as the all stars, now the Lake Effect Furies had an 8-1 season in 2010. In September 2010 we were named full-fledged members of WFTDA, an achievement which had been a goal since the beginning.
Now for our fifth season we have our rosters packed, our 2011 home season ready to roll and the Furies are preparing to take the east coast division by storm!
