Salt City Derby Girls

Name: Brew Haha
Number: 801
Role: President, Media Chair
Teams: Sisters of No Mercy, Shakers All-Stars
Position: Pivot

Her Story: Brew Haha spends every waking momentworking for the derby. The mother of the league, Brewcredits her father – a former member of the HispanicChamber of Commerce – for her business skills. "Hehelped me a lot when I started the league here inUtah. He gave me sound advice and references thatthe league still uses to this day." Running the SaltCity Derby 24/7, Brew maintains a small bookingcompany on the side and does her best to keep anine-to-five schedule, even if she never takes a dayoff. In her spare time Brew plays with two differentbands, providing vocals for XOLOTL and bass for aderby girl band, the Derby Misfits. She also lovesshoes and boasts a collection well over 90 pairs.

SLUG: So when was the league started herein Utah?
BH : Around 2005. I had a friend, Iron Rack,who skated in Kansas City and when she cameback she said, "You know, I really think we needa roller derby league here." And I felt the sameway. I was involved in promotions and stuff, and Ireally like the growing nightlife here in Salt Lake.SCDG took off in 2006 when we started havingbouts. The first public bout we had sold out infour days – a crowd of 500. Even at that timewe really didn’t know it was going to get so big. It’sjust grown so much since its inception. AlthoughI started the league in all the business aspects,everybody who comes in contact with it just keepsit going. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.It’s not like any other sport, I would say—therewere no basic guidelines or rules. So a lotof the people who have had a direct handin this have given it new life, given this industrysomething new that I probably wouldn’t havethought of.

SLUG: They’re calling this a "derby revival." How isthis different from what it used to be?
BH : It totally kills me how everyone thinks it’s a staged thing – it didstart off that way and fighting happened. It wasn’t necessarily staged,but there was a certain strategy to it so you could fuck somebodyup. Some of it was fake, but that’s what the original roller derby was.So when you’re looking at something from that angle, thinking, "let’sdo roller derby," you start realizing what it really was and that it didn’treally work out. So why not make it real? Make it better? You have tojust go with the times.

SLUG: What’s this about a derby convention in Las Vegas?
BH : Yeah, Roller Con! My god, it’s crazy. It’s a hugeconvention in Las Vegas all about roller derby – nothingbut roller derby from every aspect. It will be amazing:thousands of derby girls from all over the world allcoming to Las Vegas for an entire weekend ofseminars, scrimmages and a lot of drinking.

SLUG: With the derby suddenly getting more andmore attention, where do you expect it to gofrom here?
BH : I think the best way to really understand isby looking at what’s going on nationally. You’vegot the WFTD A (Women’s Flat Track DerbyAssociation) working with the other leagues,and that really is made up of all the girls in2003 who started this whole foundation. Theydid it themselves, on their own, with all theirdifferent educations and backgrounds. Tothink about what it’s becoming today – we’vegot leagues from all over the nation, poppingup in other parts of the world: England’s gota league, Canada, New Zealand, and so on.That to me demonstrates how big this thing really is.Yeah you can come to a home game here in SaltLake and think, "Wow, there are a lot of peoplehere," but there’s somebody in Germany rightnow. She’s strapping on skates, going out thereand kicking somebody’s ass.

SLUG: It’s gone international?
BH : Yeah, as we’re talking about the goal andthe future for derby? I mean, I don’t know. Thequestion what is the WFTDA going to do aboutit? I mean, it’s no longer just the "United States"– it’s world-wide. Right now we’re at the pointwhere all these leagues are trying to turn thissport into something legitimate, it’s creating awhole new breed of athlete: all these women whowould normally never be in sports are suddenly on ateam. Roller derby is something that if you really want to do it, youcan. That’s what this whole sport has been based on: if you reallywant to do this, you can and you will.

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Comments on this article

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Heather

Derby Girls Rock!!!!!!!!

 

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