rolotrio [EDITOR'S NOTE: It was early Wednesday afternoon that GreaterLongBeach.com reporter Manny Diaz broke the startling news of Long Beach Roller Derby's debt crisis---the $20,000 it owes on the very cool banked track that was purchased  before this second season and which must be paid off soon or there won't be a season three. Nearly every minute since has been filled with reflection on the collection of athletic upstarts, entreprenurial spirits, cultural revivalists and sex appeal on wheels that were collaborating on one of the most-unlikely success stories in Long Beach history ... you know ... until now, when it suddenly looks like Long Beach Roller Derby might not make it. And when we went looking for this story by former District Weeklyeditor Ellen Griley, and saw that she wrote it on June 23, 2010, and realized that this was only three months since that weekly paper (our own most-unlikely dream) had died, and then realized that GreaterLongBeach.com had been launched like a first-and-last, do or die, longshot-in-the-dark, freekin' signal flare of freekin' hope only one week before ... well, we felt this really good feeling ... and personally, we think it might have been ... well ... hopefulness. You?]

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ON THE SIDELINES OF THE FIRST-EVER BOUTof the Long Beach Roller Derby—the Retro Rollers versus the Terminal Island Tootsies (a.k.a., “TITs”)—league founder and Retro Rollers coach Michelle “Estro Jen” Steilen was like a Pop Warner coach gone Mike Ditka: part it’s-how-you-play-the-game cheerleader, part you’ll-eat-my-knuckles-for-dinner fire-breather. But she was all admiration for her quarterback princess on skates, team captain and jammer, Sarah “Blanche Deathereaux” Scanlon. Everyone was.

Blanche was a mystifying dervish, out-skating and out-bumping and generally out-performing the 10 women from two teams that were circling the center of Queen Mary Dome―once known as the Spruce Goose Dome, eventually to be roloposter known as the Rollerdome, if the city has any smarts. Imagine Kobe Bryant—or Cristiano Ronaldo or Reggie Bush or Lance Armstrong—on eight wheels. Even from 100 or so feet away, Blanche was mesmerizing a packed house. 

I’d come to the bout to cheer for the Retro Rollers (Steilen, who owns Fourth Street boutique Moxi Roller Skates, is a good friend), but no matter my allegiance, it would have been impossible not to cheer for Blanche. She’s just that good. 

Blanche and the rest of the Retro Rollers aren’t competing in Long Beach Roller Derby’s next bout on June 25―the event pits the TITs against a brand-new team, the Bixby Rollerettes―but that doesn’t mean she’s taken her skates off. 

“I’d rather skate than drive my car,” she says. “If I can, I skate to dinner!” 

I caught up with Blanche recently at House of Hayden—a roller derby favorite—to discuss the launching of Long Beach Roller Derby, tackling girls and the inspiration for her name, Miss Blanche Deathereaux. 

Did you play roller derby before Long Beach Roller Derby? I’d never played roller derby. I’d skated my whole life―when I was younger, you know―and then probably five years ago I found some vintage skates and thought, “I should use these! They’re great!” Then I met Estro Jen when she opened Moxi and I started doing her [monthly street skate] roll-outs. She tried to talk me into going out for ACDG [Angel City Derby Girls]. I was like, “No, no”―my mentality was that I didn’t have to play roller derby to be a roller skater. I wanted to roller-skate for fun. I didn’t need to play roller derby just because I roller-skate. But then [Estro] started Long Beach Roller Derby in August. I went to one of the first meetings, and they said, “Tomorrow we’re going to have our first practice.” And there were probably about 20 girls at that meeting. The next day we had practice, and it’s been going ever since.  roloallblanche400507

What changed? Did you get out there and start to understand the dynamics of roller derby? Yeah, I think what drew me to it in the first place was that we were all learning. It was new for all of us, so it was a little less intimidating than an established league. That was kind of a draw―being part of something that’s brand new and we’re starting it ourselves. I had maybe gone to two games before I’d started those practices, so I kind of knew the game, but not really. I’d watched it and kind of figured it out, but it wasn’t until we started practicing and I started learning some of the strategies and rules that I really started to get into it. I played water polo in high school―that was my only team sport, I was always an individual athlete―and I kinda compare some of the physical and aggressive parts of that sport to roller derby. It’s completely worlds apart in terms of contact, of course―in roller derby, you have to be capable of certain things. Some people just can’t go up to someone they don’t know and hit them or flip on top of them. That’s what got me excited once we actually started looking like roller derby players. 

What was it like playing the first bout? Oh, my god. It was the best night of my life. It was so fun―I’ve never experienced anything like that. I’ve never been in front of that many people doing anything, ever. I could hear people screaming my name in the crowd as I would go by when I was jamming―it was just really incredible. [Getting to that night] had been a lot of work―the whole production was tons of work. I’ve been part of the league since it started, I’m the captain of my team and I’m also on the oversight committee―we’re the ones who are planning everything and delegating everything. Everyone is asking us all the questions. It was a lot of work that we put into the game―all the photo shoots, uniforms―so I think it was a huge payoff. And I’m just really excited because I know it’s only going to get better, you know? We’re setting dates for two more games at the Dome and we’re going to be able to make the event better than the first one. 

rolosummerofslam I have to ask: Do you have any background in theater at all? Not at all! 

When you were out there—I mean, I was 10 rows back―I could barely see you. But you were DEFINITELY the one to watch. And at one point I think you were just casually waving to the crowd WHILE you were jamming. It was hilarious. You were performing! [Laughing] I think I got that from other games I’ve watched. I’ve seen Estro get the crowd― 

All you have to do is raise your hand and the crowd goes crazy! Yes! See, for the first half of the game, I didn’t know where my mom was. I had no idea where she was sitting. I saw her before the game, but she didn’t tell me where she was sitting. At half time, I’d found her―she was right on the straightaway directly across from our bench―and so during the first jam of the second half I got through the pack and I pointed, right there, to where she was with my cousins and uncles and everyone. And I heard everyone go crazy! That first one was for my mom. [But off the track] I’m usually reserved. I have a lot of friends, and I’m outgoing, but [get me] in front of a crowd . . . you know, I never did karaoke before I started playing roller derby, but now I’ve done it twice. And that’s huge for me. I would never, ever do karaoke, but now I do karaoke with roller derby girls! 

Have you found that roller derby has given you a whole new group of friends? Yes! Before I started playing roller derby, all my friends were either people I had met through my boyfriend, who has lived here his whole life, and also people I met at work. I didn’t have a lot of friends from college. But I started meeting some girls during the roll-outs―and once we started practicing, it’s kind of a joke with us: You can’t have any friends outside roller derby. You have to be with another derby girl at every event you go to, or otherwise, people are like, “What are you doing? What’s up?” 

Is it just that it takes up so much time? Yeah, and we’re really passionate about it. It’s cool to share that passion with people who are totally into the same thing you are. Like, I love skating. And these girls love to skate. And I remember coming to that realization, like, “These girls feel the same way about this that I do. All I want to do is practice. All I want to do is skate when there is no practice.” And it’s cool to be around that. I’ve never really been around something like that before―I don’t think a lot of people have been around something like that. Even if you do have another outside hobby or recreation, it’s pretty structured for you. If you wanted to play beach volleyball, they tell you when and where your practices are, the T-shirts you wear at your games and that’s it. For us, we’re all trying to make this thing huge for ourselves, we’re not getting help from [anybody else]. You have to be passionate about it. You have to want it. And to have that many girls who want it―as bad as you do―it’s incredible. It really is. 

Do you feel there is anything in particular about Long Beach that suits a roller derby league? Totally! It’s kind of hard to describe the culture or the demographics that are attracted to roller derby―it’s obviously a younger crowd, but it’s also an all-ages thing. You get the very old-school people who remember the original roller derby―“Oh I used to watch that all the time on television!”―and then we have people who are our age who know about this thing going on, this moment, and then there’s younger kids―there’s a whole junior league where they’re under the age of 18. I think it can touch a lot of different age groups, but it’s also―I don’t know how to describe the culture aspect of it, but it’s obviously something that can be very Long Beach-specific. I don’t think it could have a better fit than to be here. 

How long did it take you to come up with your name? I just came up with it. I was one of the last girls. I was probably the last girl on my team without a name. I kept trying out different names—“Sarahcuda” was one—but one day right before practice, Vice Versa, who plays for the TITs was at my house getting ready for practice and Golden Girls was on TV Land. And they said something about Blanche and the TV audience started laughing and it hit: “BLANCHE!” I was like, “Call me Blanche tonight at practice; I want to feel that out.” And she did and told everybody at practice that night. And it just fit. 

Did you even know the last name? The second half of it? Not even! That night at practice I was like, “‘Blanche,’ I’m feeling it.” I sat on it for a few days and then I asked people for some feedback, because I just wanted to be “Blanche.” It’s just a fun name. It’s fun to say. When I first thought of it, I just thought it sounded like fun-lady-who-wants-to-drink-all-day. It sounds like a nickname, real sassy. I asked some of my teammates, “Do you think I should just be Blanche? Or should I do a play off of Blanche Devereaux?” And they were like, “Death-row . . . Deathereaux, Yes!’ I did some research, I spelled it out like five different ways―I was like, “It has an X in it! This is a great name!” There’s already two other Blanches out there [on the International Rollergirls’ Master Roster, where names can't be duplicated: http://www.twoevils.org/rollergirls]―a “Blanche Devereauxxx” and a “Blanche Deckaho”―but if I can’t be “Blanche Deathereaux,” I’ll just be Blanche. It took me six months to come up with it. It was stressing me out so much―it was all I could think about. 

Was it stressful to not have a name? You’re feeling bad, because there are other girls who have been there two months that have a name! And you’re there when Dawna becomes “Vice Versa,” but I’m still “Sarah.” 

Did you feel an extra kick in your skating after you became Blanche? Totally! I felt it inside of me. One thing about the whole name thing is that sometimes it takes you a while to call someone something else. Like you’ve known someone as [one name] for so long, and now you have to start calling them another name. And it’s hard to get used to it. [With roller derby], some people . . . it just fits. Other people, it takes a while. But those first few weeks, you’d think I’d have to get used to being “Blanche” and not “Sarah,” but it took on. That was another reason that I liked it so much: people just naturally started calling me that. 

For a quick primer on roller derby go to http://speed-skating.suite101.com/article.cfm/roller_derby_easily_explained 

[WRITTEN IN LOVING MEMORY OF PETE TOULIOS]