By Justine Kelsie

New name for the Grande Prairie roller derby team

Apr 8, 2018 | 6:00 AM

The Grande Prairie Roller Derby Association is working on refreshing their image in the community.

Formerly known as “Rage N Fyre”, the GPRDA has renamed the team the RadLeak Rollers.

Insurance Representative Arlana Mowat, also known as Jaded Lillin’, says the team is made up of mostly fresh faces and with that comes some new energy.

“Every time we get a new player, they come in and they are excited. It increases our love of the game and our enjoyment. It ups it another level,” said Mowat. “We get that baby excitement of the new skater and the energy.”

With a new name, the team will be representing the Swan City with a new logo and jerseys when they head to Fort St. John at the end of the month.

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Mowat played with a team in High Level, but that isn’t the only Peace Region location with a derby team. There is also teams in Grimshaw, Whitecourt, and Fort St John.

Right now, the team practices out of the old curling rink in Clairmont.

“Getting into (a facility) in the city is a huge deal to us. It opens up our team to new people that thought they didn’t have time before, but now, they do because they can just drop in.”

The City of Grande Prairie is currently working with the association to find an affordable, safe place for the skaters to practice.

Mowat says the team is involved in the community with volunteerism. Most recently, they helped at a Big Brothers Big Sisters event.

She adds that the organization is a surprising place to meet people you would never come across in every day life.

“A lot of people when they think of roller derby, they think of the big bruiser women and that we are mean and aggressive. That isn’t who we are. Right now, we are women that come from all walks of life. We have people in their early twenties to mid forties that play on the same team,” she said.

Mowat says the team is made up of young professionals to full-time moms to everything in between. According to the team’s president Kerrie Skarberg, the sport isn’t just for females and if men are interested in joining the team, they would consider rolling out a mixed gender squad.

The group practices twice a week and Skarberg invites people to connect with them through Facebook.

On top of recruiting new skaters, the team is looking for non-skating officials and people who are willing to become referees. With more people getting involved, a home game becomes more of a possibility.