Welcome back QCRD fans! After a couple year hiatus, we’re bringing back our Featured Skater series to the website. Starting us off this season is a skater with a lot of ambition and the derby skills to be a triple threat on the track. Introducing #44, C-Floor!
C joined Queen City Roller Derby in July 2021. Even though C is a fresher face to the league, they have become a force to be reckoned with on the track, eventually earning them the title of Rookie of the Year while playing on the Rust Belt Riots for our shortened 2022 season, then getting drafted to the Alley Kats for the 2023 season. Outside of derby, they enjoy the occasional video game and still find time to work on various knitting projects.
Where are you from?
I am from a tiny town an hour south of Rochester called Wayland, NY.
What is your day job?
I am a store manager at Eddie Bauer.
How did you get involved in derby?
My sister-in-law (who decided not to play this season) dragged me into it last year, and I’ve been here ever since…the rest is history!
What are some of your hobbies outside of derby?
I like to pick up heavy things and put them down (lift weights/going to the gym). I also like to knit. I feel like everybody my age plays video games so it’s stereotypical, but I do also like to game. I’ll play almost anything and everything: I play Animal Crossing, Portal, Assassins Creed, Destiny…plus I have bought every edition of Skyrim that has existed. I love a little bit of grind in my games.
How did you learn to knit and what kind of projects do you have?
I picked it up in college. One of my mom’s friends always tried to teach me as a kid but I didn’t get any further than casting on. Then one of my friends from college was like “I’m gonna learn to knit” so we dove into it together and I made a scarf that was about three inches wide. I always have way too many things in the works. I make a lot of triangle shawls, I have a hat in progress right now, and then kind of a loose neck kind of a thing, I think the technical term for it is a cowl.
What is the significance of your derby name and number?
There’s not really a whole lot of significance. Most of my online handles have something to do with celery, but then I found out I couldn’t do that for my derby name, so I was trying to figure out something I knew I would respond to so I was like, Oh, my human first initial…and then we have Em Munition so I was like “Okay, C-4? No, C-Floor because I fall down a lot.” My number is less interesting, just half of my birth year.
What is your favorite thing about blocking and jamming?
Blocking is always really satisfying when I get in somebody’s way effectively. The moment of impact is great, they run into me just they just stop. That’s always satisfying. Most of the time that doesn’t happen, they push me forward or I fall down…but it’s great when it works! With jamming, it’s really satisfying to break up a wall. I’m not small and quick, but I can hit and I can make a hole, and sometimes I can get around, and that’s fun for me.
Once some Covid restrictions started getting lifted (per WFTDA and local guidelines at the time), you had the unique experience of starting your derby journey doing socially distanced practices in our Boot Camp. What was that experience like?
I started Boot Camp in July of 2021, so that was when we were still under no contact and mandatory masks at practices. I think it was really beneficial because there were so many practices that were just Footwork! Skills! Footwork! Skills! My plow stops definitely benefited from that!
Who is your favorite skater in the league and why?
Hammer is one of my favorite blockers, she’s also a fabulous human being. Do NOT like jamming against her because she’s so good at getting in the way, she’s always right where I want to be. $pazz is always impressive to me as a jammer. As far as QCRD people that I aspire to get as good as it would probably be Necro. I love Necro!
Do you have any goals for yourself this upcoming season?
I would like to get better at jamming because it’s fun and I always run out of steam a lot faster than is helpful. I also want to find my place in the league: as a skater, as a league member, what are my derby and QCRD strengths, and where can I put myself that’s best to make our team and our league (and the world I guess!) a better place.
Do you have any advice for new skaters?
Falling is learning, don’t be scared of it. Derby is an intimidating sport but once you’re in it, it will all kind of make sense. You watch something happen from the outside and it’s like “Oh my God, what would I do in that situation? I have no idea” and then you wind up in that situation and it’s just instinct, you just do what you need to do.
– Interview by Thrash Bandicoot