November 2011 Featured League: Naptown Roller Girls

The Naptown Roller Girls have already made a name for themselves in their hometown of Indianapolis, and in 2011, they are attracting the attention of the derby world. This month, they are in it to win it at the WFTDA Championship tournament in Broomfield, CO. These skaters are dedicated to the best roller derby possible on the track, and to giving back off the track. Read on to learn more about this proud North Central league…

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Location:
We are based in the awesome city of Indianapolis, IN

Please tell us about your distinctive skull logo
We have an incredible art director who's been on board from day one. He came up with three logos and the skull on it's own and inside our name was the easy favorite.

How does your season run?
We play at home from November to April. (Usually. This year we bleed into May because Indianapolis is hosting the Super Bowl in February.) We build in some travel dates during our home season as well as travel in May/June. We break from mid June to late July, and begin training again in August to prep for Big 5 tournament season.

Are you close to any other WFTDA leagues?
Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls, Cincinnati Roller Girls, and Derby City Rollergirls are the closest.

How many skaters/teams do you have?
We have 3 teams (A, B, C or as we like to call them: A, B+, B-) – Tornado Sirens, Warning Belles, Third Alarm. Our league currently has over 50 active skaters, and 85 total members.

How is your league structured (home teams, travel team, management)?
We only have travel teams and it has worked well for us. Our fans enjoy cheering for the home team. Having 2 home teams play one another doesn't allow that to happen. As for management: we have a 5-member Board of Directors who deal with the tedious things such as lawyers, contracts, and day to day business needs. We have a 5-member skater relations committee. They deal with the more personal needs of our code of conduct, attendance, and make sure we treat one another fairly. And we have a 5-member coaching staff who deal with practice schedule, training, and physical goals.

How many days a week do you practice?
There are 5 practices available each week, broken down between league and each team.

Who is Naptown Roller Girls' biggest rival? And have you had any outstanding, memorable moments against them when you bouted?
Cincinnati Roller Girls is the first team that comes to mind. We are so close to one another and therefore scrimmage each other when we can and try to bout one another once a year. We beat them for the first time this year, on their turf, so that's memorable for us, of course.

A new rivalry is forming with the Windy City Rollers. We've only ever bouted them during playoffs, and both bouts were incredible. Of course the most memorable moment with them was keeping with them or past them during 2011 North Central Region playoffs. We wanted that win but, in the end, it was theirs. Our close score and close proximity to them geographically sets the stage for a perfect battle rematch.

Do you have any sister leagues you’d like to give a shout out to?
Demolition City Roller Derby in Evansville, IN. We've been working with them for years. South Bend Roller Girls is an Apprentice League we've recently been offering advice to as well. The Lafayette Brawlin' Dolls are growing up with our help too.

What are the individual challenges of your city?
Our biggest challenge is also our biggest strength. We are Indianapolis, the amateur sports capital of the world. This means we have a natural fan base of thousands of sports hungry people who just love competition and a good game, whether it's tennis, football, basketball, golf, hurling, badminton, or derby. Okay, maybe not badminton. The challenge is that we have to compete against all of these sports for fan dollars and attendance. Most of the time we've come out on top, or at least have done well getting fans in the seats. And we've found when they come once, they're hooked. Aside from this, our only other true challenge is a lack of public transit in the city. We hope in the future that getting to the bouts and home again will be as simple as stepping on a platform. But for now, we don't have a reliable or expansive bus system or light rail so fans have to rely on getting to our bouts (and everywhere else) by car. We're positive we're not the only sports team pulling for mass transit!

Who are some of your favorite sponsors?
Derby Supply from North Central Region Playoffs. Locally: Sun King, Honest Individuals, and Progressive Design Apparel all love NRG and will do anything for us. Sun King hosts our charity events and PDA creates awesome merchandise for us. Honest Individuals started out as super fans and have taken their love for the sport to a new level with their involvement in sponsorship and their ultimate passion about NRG and roller derby. We love the food at Papa Roux. And we are so thankful to the local businesses that sell our tickets: Indiana State Fairgrounds, Strange Brew Coffee, Indy CD & Vinyl, Homespun Indy, Silver in the City, Vital Skates, Marten House Hotel, Studio 135, IUPUI Jagtag card services office, The Mill Tavern, Motion Cycling & Fitness.

The Naptown Roller Girls seem to have an incredible commitment to "giving back." There are many charities and charity-related events listed on your website for each of your six seasons. Please tell us about this commitment, and how NRG chooses charities to be involved with.
We ask the full league to make suggestions for which causes we should support for our upcoming season, and then pick charities that match what our league wants. We try to cover all bases from year to year by not always picking the same types of charities, but there are some things more near and dear to our hearts. It's important to us to give back to the community because the community gives so much to us.

What are your biggest training challenges?
Keeping a large league with 3 different teams unified in their training, while remaining sensitive to the 3 team's individual needs.

What kind of training/bouting facilities do you have?
We train in our lair, which is a warehouse that is very cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer, and big enough for one track, a work out area, and some lockers. It's not fancy, but it's ours. We bout in the historic Pepsi Coliseum at The Indiana State Fairgrounds. It's a small arena where our largest crowd came in at just under 5000.

Who are the best "behind the scenes" skaters who make your league run?
Our Board of Directors and all committee heads past and present make it happen. Their ability to see things from a skater perspective as well as the perspective that reflects their responsibilities within their committee is a challenge that they all meet with the grace of a seasoned speed skater. We are also lucky to have a killer art director who makes sure that our posters, website, programs, merch, etc. are professional and amazing looking.

Who are some of your star on-track skaters and why?
We don't feel we have any star on-track skaters, which is why Naptown has been so successful in the last two years. Unlike some leagues that rely heavily on certain skaters Naptown takes pride in knowing any hole on the track, roster, or charter can be filled by the next girl. We have lost solid skaters to injuries, retirements, etc. over the past 2 years, yet we continue to excel. Naptown, as a league, is constantly tweaking our training regime so that at any time we need someone a skater is ready to step up.

From what we understand your league will be at the Tattoo Talk at the Indiana Museum of Art on November 5th for a show featuring Lyle Tuttle. Can you tell us how you got involved in this event and what it includes?
Like many leagues, we have quite a few members with sleeves full of tattoos, and many even have our skull permanently etched on their skin. Tattoos also go along with the subculture that is roller derby. Lyle Tuttle is a well-known American tattoo artist and historian of the medium, who has been tattooing since 1949. Called the father of modern tattooing by many, Lyle is still extremely involved in tattooing, and speaking about the history, machinery, and folklore of tattooing. We've worked with the Spirit and Place Festival at IMA before and this seemed to fit well with us, so they asked us once again. We'll be ushering at the event.

What are the benefits and challenges of being in the North Central Region?
A benefit and a challenge is the close parity of leagues. We are all so strong. At any given bout a lower ranked team can take out a higher ranked team. It makes for good derby in our region and keeps everyone on their toes, physically and mentally. No league can be taken for granted in the NC/MidBEST!

The Naptown Roller Girls have been steadily moving up the WFTDA rankings since the second quarter of 2009, moving from 12th all the way to 4th in the second quarter of 2011. To what do you attribute this significant jump in the rankings? Now that you are 3rd in the North Central region, how do you plan to maintain this position?
The significant jump in our rankings can be attributed to the entire league remaining focused on our goal of getting to Championships. Every practice, scrimmage, bout, etc. had this goal in mind and it never left the thoughts of a single league member. This is proof that an entire league unified in its purpose can achieve wonderful things.

Now that we are 3rd in the North Central region we actually have no interest whatsoever in maintaining this position. We mean to move to number 1 next season :-).

The Naptown Roller Girls hosted Monumental Mayhem, the WFTDA North Central Region Playoffs and improved on your initial seeding to come away with third place, and earning a trip to the WFTDA 2011 Championships (Continental Divide & Conquer in Broomfield, CO). Congratulations! How did your league prepare to both host and compete in the Playoffs tournament?
The same way we approach everything we set out to do...we each play our part in accordance with our strengths. For instance, the well organized members of our league planned the tournament, the Board of Directors oversaw it all and put out fires, the charter members focused on training while non charter worked the tournament, and coaches developed a plan A, B, and C like any coach should when training one team to beat 3 teams in one weekend.

What do you feel led to Naptown's win in the close 3rd place game of the North Central Region Playoffs against the Detroit Derby Girls (who entered the tournament in 2nd place)?
We have learned that the bout is never over until time runs out. Each jam is a new jam to win. Being confident in our preparation helped us hold the lead throughout most of the Windy City bout and gave us the reassurance that we can do anything we want as long as we believe in each other and ourselves. Going into the Detroit bout, we knew it was going to be a tough physical battle and we were ready. Despite the up hill battle we had, every single skater dug deep, stayed calm, and played one jam at a time. Staying composed is what helped us climb back in and ultimately take the win.

How are the Naptown Tornado Sirens going to carry the momentum of Monumental Mayhem into the WFTDA 2011 Championships? What are you working on before arriving in Colorado in November?
We spent the first week following playoffs celebrating our achievement and dissecting our game play. The next few weeks will be spent minimizing our weaknesses while maximizing our strengths. All the while we will be keeping our new goal of winning championships in the forefront of our minds.

Your first bout at the WFTDA 2011 Championships will be against the #2 team in the East, Philly Roller Girls; a team the Tornado Sirens have never played. How are you preparing for this first bout? What other teams do you hope to have the opportunity to play against?
We are preparing through strong visualization and even stronger practices and better teamwork. Learning from our mistakes at playoffs is on our agenda as well. We hope to play the Oly Rollers…after wining in the first round, of course! And then wouldn't it be great to have another shot at Windy City or a first chance at the Rose City Rollers after that. We've only ever played 3 of the teams going so hitting the track with any of them would be amazing.

What is the most exciting thing for the Naptown Roller Girls about making it to the WFTDA Championships?
The most exciting thing about making it to championships is that it felt like a lofty yet achievable goal when we set it a year ago. We are a league that enjoys a good challenge and we are all proud to see that we have Championships in our sights and are achieving our goals. We all feel blessed to be among some truly brave and strong women on this journey and it just doesn't get much more exciting than this!

Do you have a special message to your fans?
We love our fans. Every league thinks their fans are the best, and it can't be true for everyone. But our fans really are the best. They are knowledgeable about the game, intolerant of shenanigans, welcoming to newbies, as loud as the ocean, courageous and dedicated in the face of closed roads to come to a bout. We are so lucky to have our fans, and we love them dearly.

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