Tampa Roller Derby

History and league organization

Tampa Roller Derby was founded in 2005 as the Tampa Bay Derby Darlins by Angela "Dee Bauchery" Kroslak, and by later in the year a relationship began with the United Skates of America. The league was divided into 4 teams in 2006, the Black Widows, Cigar City Mafia, Switchblade Sisters, and Vicegrip Vixens. In May 2006 and all four teams participated in the first two bouts in TRD history, an event nicknamed "Project Mayhem". The first season culminated with the Black Widows winning the DD Championship Cup, by way of a completely undefeated season.

In 2007 Tampa Roller Derby became the first Florida league to be accepted into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In April 2008, Tampa played its first WFTDA-sanctioned bout, a 91-58 loss to the Atlanta Rollergirls. In 2009, the league was recognized by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce for the Florida State Championship 1st-place victory at the annual Sunshine Skate Championship. In 2010, TRD partnered with The Tampa Bay Sports Commission (TBSC) to host the first annual Frank Panky tournament. League member Little A was a member of Team USA at the 2011 Roller Derby World Cup.

Tampa Bay Derby Darlins officially became Tampa Roller Derby in 2012.

Tampa Roller Derby has a four team home league comprising the Black Widows, Cigar City Mafia, Switch Blade Sisters and the Vicegrip Vixens, the latter of which was disbanded in the second season but revived for the 2015 season. Tampa Roller Derby also has three travel teams, including the all-star Tampa Tantrums. The Bruise Crew is the league's B-level travel team and plays other teams throughout Florida, as do the Sea Sirens, the league's C team. Tampa Roller Derby also has a junior roller derby counterpart, Tampa Junior Derby, for girls ages 8–17.

Home events draw hundreds of fans and are held at Downtown Skate in Temple Terrace.

WFTDA competition

Tampa Roller Derby is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), joining in August 2007, and announced by the WFTDA in December 2007.

The Tampa Tantrums first qualified for WFTDA Playoffs in 2009, entering the WFTDA South Central Regional Tournament as the seventh seed and finishing in seventh place with a 127-110 victory over the No Coast Derby Girls of Lincoln, Nebraska. At the 2010 South Central Regional in Lincoln, Tampa was seeded sixth and finished in sixth, this time losing to No Coast 148-123. Tampa was again seeded sixth for the 2011 tournament, but slid down to a ninth place finish, defeating Omaha Rollergirls 176-73 in their final game of the weekend. 2012 delivered Tampa's best result at South Central Regionals as they finished in fourth place, losing the third place game 209-168 to Kansas City Roller Warriors.

In 2013, the WFTDA moved to a top-40 Division system for Playoffs, and Tampa qualified at the Division 1 level for the tournament in Richmond, Virginia, where they entered as the seventh seed and finished in ninth place with a 283-133 victory over old rival No Coast. At the 2014 D1 tournament in Sacramento, Tampa was the seventh seed and clawed their way up to a fifth place finish, beating Terminal City Roller Girls 181-156. Tampa held pace in 2015, entering the Jacksonville D1 tournament as the fifth seed and leaving in fifth, with a 220-80 win over Detroit. At Madison for Division 1 Playoffs in 2016, Tampa came their closest yet to a WFTDA Championships appearance, narrowly losing the third place game 149-131 to Arch Rival Roller Derby of St. Louis to finish in fourth place.

In the community

Tampa Roller Derby perform community involvement activities, and has worked closely with organizations including The Springs Domestic Violence Center, Lowry Park Zoo, Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Arthritis Florida Foundation, and others. In October 2009, Tampa skaters provided the "bulls" for Runs With Bulls Tampa Bay, with proceeds going to Alpha House, which provides safe housing for pregnant women and their children.

On July 19, 2008 Tampa entered a large, flying skate in the Tampa Bay Red Bull Flugtag competition, and won the People's Choice Award at the event, scoring a third of the Red Bull Flugtag record 30,000 SMS votes.

TRD was contacted by producers of the movie Whip It, in order to gain permission for the use of the Black Widows team name for one of the Austin roller derby teams in the movie.

Then-TRD league president, Jessica Cameron (aka Anne Tagonize), was a finalist for Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2010 Business Woman of the Year Awards. In September 2010, the Tampa Tantrums were featured in a music video for the Tampa punk band, Neglected Superhero. The song, "Derby Darlins," was written about and inspired by the Tampa Tantrums.