City of Powell River Council members were introduced to a young skater heading off to the Junior Roller Derby World Cup 2015 in Washington State this month.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, known as “Slam” in roller derby circles, said she was proud to introduce two friends of hers, Emily Lister and Emily’s mother, Nicki.
“Emily tried out for Team Canada junior roller derby this year and was selected to be on the team, so she is off to the first ever world cup of junior roller derby,” Leishman said.
Nicki said Emily went to Chilliwack in February to try out for the national team. There were a number of skaters in attendance competing for a shot at representing Canada. Across the country there were 500-plus youth who tried out for the team.
“A few months later we received an email that she made the top 30,” Nicki said. “They had to whittle it down to the top 20.”
On the May long weekend there was a tryout in Calgary. Another roller derby national team aspirant was from Nanaimo so they travelled together to Alberta.
The Calgary roller derby association hosted the national team tryouts for a week and brought in some skaters from Team USA to help season the Canadians.
Nicki said a number of the youth come from small communities and have to travel to improve as players. A number also play on adult teams, which is what Emily has done in Powell River with the Pow! Town team.
On grad weekend Emily and her Vancouver Island friend travelled to Toronto for final tryouts. Nicki said it is a co-ed team so there were also two boys who made the cut. Within four days of returning from Toronto the Listers received an email indicating that Emily had made the national team. The World Cup is being held Wednesday, July 8, and Thursday, July 9, in Kent, Washington.
“The team is very small but is growing,” Nicki said. “We currently team up with the Comox team and that is how we play our games. It’s looking like next year we may not need them. Our team is growing, which is really exciting.”
Leishman said the national and international exposure is paying dividends because Emily is exposed to top-level coaching and is able to bring back pointers and training ideas she has picked up to pass along to her Powell River team mates. Leishman was Emily’s first roller derby coach.
