Rolling around with South Side Roller Derby’s *Riot*

By: Mimi Malicious

Sara Sellers, 21, of Webster, is a college student that also answers to an affectionate, rebellious scream of “*Riot*”. One of the 1st tasks as a newly recruited skater with South Side Roller Derby is to create a skate name. When I asked Sara how she came up with her skate name, she answered, “My parents used to always tell me, ‘you’re such a riot’ and so it just seemed like the right name”.

Sellers, who has been a skater with South Side Roller Derby since 2007, is the Captain of one of South Side’s newest teams, The Gun Bunnies. In games, *Riot* is usually the jammer – which means she’s a point scorer.

Sara started doing roller derby when her brother’s girl friend asked her to go skate with her. “I stuck with it and she left shortly after”, says Sellers. Participating in a roller derby league is a huge commitment physically and it’s time consuming. South Side team members have league wide practices three times per week and team practices once per week.

Here are a few more questions I asked *Riot*:

What do you love about roller derby? “I love how you can take all of your daily anger and frustration out on these girls and they all LOVE it! These are the coolest chicks I have ever met.”

How do you prepare your team for a game? “Good training, talking strategy… all that good stuff.”

What is your biggest challenge as a team captain? “Line ups! I hate line ups! I love my team so they make it easy for me. Oh, and I also hate drafts.”

What are some of the best qualities you see in your fellow derby girls? “Before derby, I never really had friends that were girls. I hate drama and it seems like we are all very similar girls…They are tough, yet sweet. Hilarious, yet serious at all the right times. I love how protective my girls are of me, and I am of them. Like I said earlier, they are the coolest bunch of chicks I have ever met.”