The Hudson Valley Horrors Ready to Roll
Do gooders. Bruise makers. Real skaters. No fakers. The Hudson Valley Horrors Roller Derby League is rebuilt and ready to win.
Founded in 2006 after President Rxy Ramalotte watched Rollergirls, a reality show following the women of the Austin, Texas, Lonestar Rollergirls League, and attended a Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout, the Horrors are the first non-urban, flat-truck women’s roller derby league in the world. The team has since come a long way from its first practice.
“At our first practice we had 11 girls all learning to skate,” said Ramalotte. “The best skater was our ‘coach.’ We had no idea how big of a business it really was.”
Today, the league has four adult teams, the Horrors, the zomBsquad, the DracuLadies and the ApcoLips, as well as a junior team, the Frightmares. In addition to their work on the track, the Horrors also play a large role in the community through participation in charity events and are currently in the process of becoming a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization.
Heading into the second half of the 2017 season, the Horrors are looking forward to skating well together as a team and to empowering each other as strong women athletes.
MEET THE HORRORS
Still skating for the Horrors at the age of 54 years old, S. Scar Go is the oldest member in the league now and forever. From Lagrange, Scar was first exposed to the sport while watching TV on Saturday mornings in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, she really wanted to try roller derby, but it was beginning to fade out. It was not until eight years ago that her curiosity for the sport was rekindled when her niece made a Facebook post about her own roller derby team. Throughout her seven years as a Horror, Scar has suffered her fair share of injuries, but her gnarliest injury to date was last year’s concussion.
“It was the last jam of the bout and I was hit by my own teammate,” Scar said. “She plowed into me and lifted me up. It was total dead silence from the time I was lifted into the air until I slammed my head on the floor. Everybody was yelling at me to stay down, but I got up and skated over to the wall and just slid down it. I remembering thinking to myself, ‘That’s gonna leave a mark!’”
Despite a rocky first year in the league, Tuffy Summers could not be happier to be a member of the Horrors as it has changed her life for the better. As a 25-year-old special needs teacher from Brewster, Tuffy was inspired by her cousin to try roller derby. Although her first experience was way tougher than she thought it would be and she has since suffered an ankle sprain which set back her training from two months, Tuffy is determined to pass her tests needed to graduate to Tender Meat and to start scrimmaging and bouting.
“Being a part of the Horrors means that I get to spend a lot of time with strong woman with positive influences,” Tuffy said. “It’s another family. A safe space for women who don’t feel like they will fit in anywhere else.”
The 31-year-old mastermind behind the Horrors, Rxy Ramalotte chose her name because of a weird bar story about not wanting vowels in her name. Originally wanting to be named Rxy LaRumble but unable to gain approval from another skater with the same name, she settled for Ramalotte and the number 666 because she is a beast. From Kingston, Rxy has grown the Horrors from the ground up having been through the campy recruitment stage and now working to build recognition for the players are real athletes. Although Rxy is an aggressive player, hitting everything with her face, and generally playing defensive blocker, she still loves to jam.
“I jam like a freight train,” Rxy said. “I love to jam, more now than used to, but I’m a freight train.”
A cancer researcher by day and a newly ranked Vet by night, Poutine Riot was first introduced to roller derby ten years ago when a group of good friends was looking for non-skating officials to help out at their bout. Although she was supposed to be working security, Poutine was fascinated by the sport and spent the next eight years thinking about it but convincing herself she could not do it. It was not until the New Paltz residents and loyal Ottawa visitor was about to turn 40-years-old that she decided she had to join the team or it would never happen. It was during her first couple of months when she could not skate for beans that Poutine realized the most important thing in roller derby is passion not skill. Now having skated for the Horrors for two years, Poutine is excited for the Fresh Meat coming in and looks forward to winning more bouts.
“It is family. It’s chosen family,” Poutine said. “I showed up the first time and had friend requests on Facebook from a dozen of people I just met. It’s impossible to not have a close tight relationship.”
When she’s not working as a Solution Architect, leading her Girl Scout troop through badges or caring for her two children, Daemon Mistress is studying the rules of the game as referee, team member and coach of the Horrors. Having been around skating since age 4, Daemon grew up participating in artistic roller dance and working at the local roller rink through high school and college before following in her sister’s footsteps and joining a roller derby team. Daemon had first heard of the Horrors 10 years ago when she was pregnant with her daughter, but she did not join the team until three years later when her son was a 1-year-old. The reason: She had to get in shape in order to keep up with two toddlers.
“It is just a part of my life,” Daemon said. “It’s my kids, my job and skating. It never felt like work. It is just a joy and the best exercise high you will ever experience.”
Trying out for the team to please her friend’s parents and owners of the rink, Hitz & Glamour never imagined playing roller derby. Starting out in a group of 52 potential Fresh Meats and having never skated on quads before, Hitz was scared. Known by those closest to her as the biggest girly girl who cries when getting a paper cut, Hitz continues to prove many people wrong eight years later. When asked what the Horrors mean to her, she simplified it to one word, “Strength.”
“I was the biggest baby,” Hitz said. “For me to be able to come out and hit people it is all thanks to strength, for sure.”
The Horrors will host their last home bout of the year on Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Hyde Park Roller Magic roller skating rink. Doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 or at the door for $15.
