YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Early in her roller derby career, Madeline Hornyak shattered her wrist requiring surgery and a weekslong recovery that sidelined her from the sport.
But that didn’t scare her away.
“And if I was wearing wrist guards, that wouldn’t have happened,” said Hornyak, whose derby name is Pack Pixie.
She started in 2022 and quickly became a devotee.
“I can’t even put it into words all the things that it has done for me and I can’t imagine not doing it,” Hornyak says.
She does it for her mental health and because it’s a good way to exercise and move your body.
“And I don’t know, it just really works for me,” the Southington resident added. “I really enjoy it. And the friends that I’ve made here, even if I didn’t want to play, I guarantee one of them would have something to say to make me change my mind about it.”
The roughly 20 members of the Youngstown Area Roller Derby practice each Sunday at the Calvin Center of the Arts on Mahoning Avenue. Sessions begin with strength and endurance training before moving on to skills drills.
Roller derby is played on a flat, oval track with two teams each of four blockers and a jammer. Blockers form a pack to keep out the jammer from the opposing team who’s trying to score by passing through them. Each game includes two 30-minute halves with two-minute jams.
Each player picks their derby name, and their professions run from dog groomer to bartender to technical writer.
Their slight builds aside, YARD jammers muscle in with their hips, elbows and knees, trying to break through the pack. Blockers huddle together, linking arms and holding firm to keep the jammer out. And they do it all wearing quad roller skates.
“It is a full contact sport,” said Brooklyn “Shreddie Mercury” Dennison, another YARD member.
But rules prioritize player safety, she added. Kicking and swinging forearms into another player, for example, is prohibited and results in penalties. Players take safety seriously, donning helmets and knee, wrist and elbow guards.
Dennison of Austintown started in junior roller derby in middle school, took a break in high school and joined the Youngstown group about four years ago. She points to the community of the team as what she most enjoys.
Prospective team members attend a practice to try something new and find a new part of themselves, Dennison said. Team members support each other.
“I also like that there’s a lot of different people that play roller derby,” she explained. “Some sports favor a certain body type or a certain athleticism. But in roller derby, there’s something for everybody.”
A big, strong person would make a great blocker while someone who’s smaller and more nimble makes an ideal jammer.
And it’s fun, Dennison added.
“I like to have a lot of fun. And I like to be silly on the track, because there is a little bit of like, theatricality to it,” she said. “You know, we dress up and wear makeup and fun shorts and all of that.”
Although they practice weekly at the Calvin Center, that venue doesn’t work for games. For that they travel. Akron, Erie, Pa., and Morgantown, W.Va. are among the game and tournament sites.
Skaters are able to join year round and may message YARD’s Facebook page for information.
The team started in 2008 as the Little Steel Derby Girls, an ode to the region’s industrial history. The pandemic prompted a 2023 rebrand which also encourages gender inclusivity.
Jamie Battles, aka Thorn, of Ravenna saw a YARD Facebook post a couple of years ago advertising that anyone could join who wanted to learn.
“And I went, and I loved it, and I just kept going back,” she said.
Battles likes the community of roller derby and the practices and games got her in great shape. But it’s fun and doesn’t feel like exercise, she added.
“I’m a lot stronger than I was before I started,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of friends here. Pretty much all of my friends are from roller derby.”
Pictured at top: Front row left to right: Kasey Walter, Madeline Hornyak, Amber Spadford Elena Block, Jess Swonger. Back row: River Glaeichsner, Amanda Stark, Emily Lockard, Jamie Battles, Brooklyn Dennison, Jerilynn Irgang, Taylor Deprofio, Tawnya Bier.