Skater: Jester #1-2-3
League/Team: Coach, Cherry Bomb Brawlers, Spokane, WA and skater, Spokannibals
Age: 20 – Junior at Eastern Washington University
Favorite Candy: It’s a secret
Favorite Music: It's underground
Favorite Book: Only time for school books and training manuals now!
Making time to play roller derby is hard enough, especially if you’re in college. Coaching a roller derby team takes even more time, considering the training and drill preparation, uniforms, game scheduling and all around mentoring responsibility. This month we are profiling a past junior star who has dedicated her time and energy to help new young roller derby talent evolve--going from junior player to senior skater and junior coach.
After playing roller derby as a junior skater for two years, Jester found herself helping with coaching when her coach had family obligations pop up. That’s when she found her true passion for the sport. Jester went on to coach a local junior roller derby team, the Lilac City Pixies, with her Mom, Smartass, for a time before starting a junior league on her own.
Playing and coaching roller derby is hard enough, but starting league is even that much more difficult. Yet today Jester coaches 25 skaters on the Cherry Bomb Brawlers, while also attending college full time and skating for the Spokannibals, a senior league. Jester says that even though it’s a lot of work, she can’t imagine doing anything differently. Every minute is worth it.
Before Jester started playing roller derby she was shy and her confidence was a little low. She was concerned about what others thought of her. Once she started playing roller derby it took away her inhibitions and replaced them with confidence and a sense of purpose. She considers herself to be more athletic and sure of who she is on the inside. She says derby is the best thing that ever happened to her.
She sees the changes her own skaters have gone through as well. Skaters who joined her league with attitude and confidence issues today are more compassionate, have more focus, and demonstrate what it means to be part of a team, both on the track and in school. A co-ed league, she saw one of the biggest changes in one of her male skaters, Weeble K’Nevil. Once so shy and quiet, today she says he laughs constantly and laughs it up at practice on a regular basis.
Jester says becoming a junior roller derby coach, no matter how hard it is as a busy college student, is probably the best decision she’s ever made. That’s because every day she gets to see her skaters, and her day becomes absolutely perfect.