By JENNIFER K. BAUER inland360.com
LEWISTON — Two years ago, Rebecca Lehman was walking across the Clarkston Walmart parking lot when she was recruited into the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley’s newborn roller derby team, the Hells Canyon Honeys.
Lehman, a mother of three, couldn’t skate. In fact, she fell anytime someone looked at her on wheels, but something about the full-contact, high-speed sport hooked her. The 30-year-old Lewiston woman is now the president of the team making its public debut with back-to-back weekend scrimmages in Lewiston starting Saturday.
“There’s a quote, ‘We ruin our bodies to save our souls, and for some reason that makes perfect sense,’ ” says Lehman, who skates under the name Renegade. “Roller derby entered my life at a pretty hard time in my life. I needed these girls. I needed the sisterhood, the bonding, someone to believe in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Roller derby has been called one of the fastest-growing sports in America with women across the country forming teams from scratch. The Hells Canyon Honeys fit that bill. The region’s first derby team, Moscow-Pullman’s Rolling Hills Derby Dames, formed in 2010 and some Lewiston-Clarkston Valley women commuted to play. In 2011, they founded the Hells Canyon Honeys. It’s taken years of practice, training and fundraising to get the team to its first public event. On Saturday the Honeys will scrimmage against the Derby Dames at the LC Ice Arena in Lewiston, an event that is shaping up to be standing-room only. On June 28, they will face off at the arena against the Columbia Basin Roller Derby of Moses Lake, Wash.
The Honeys are 18 skaters strong, ranging in age from 20 to 36, hailing from Lewiston, Clarkston, Lapwai and Uniontown. Skating under pseudonyms like Glitz’n Vixen, Cell-Block and Honey Badger, they include nurses, insurance agents, military members, mothers, teachers and bartenders.
“We’re big, small, old, young, fat, skinny; we have everything,” says Lehman, who is studying social work and addiction studies at Lewis-Clark State College.
Roller derby isn’t cheap. Costs include heaps of gear, insurance and dues. The Honeys recruited sponsors. They trolled second-hand stores for helmets and guards, held a car wash to purchase jerseys and had a yard sale to buy mouth guards where they only made enough money for two.
“Funny, sad, but true,” Lehman says.
Last summer the team suffered what Lehman calls a “brutal blow.” It was discovered that a member, no longer with the group, was misappropriating funds. The team fell apart, leaving only three people. Lehman and Vice President Cara Hartley, aka DaffoKill, spent months recruiting new members and the nonprofit team flowered.
“From that we learned, we really have to be careful,” says Hartley, 28, a stay-at-home Lewiston mother of three and self-described “rink rat” who grew up skating at the Rollaway. She took up roller derby to “lose weight, get healthy and get away from the kids” but the team became family.
Sometimes they might drive you crazy, she says, “but you still love them and at the end you genuinely care about each other. We’ve all changed so much.”
Since forming, the Rolling Hills Derby Dames have created a junior league for youth, the Rolling Hills Wheat Whackers, who will perform at halftime Saturday. The Honeys hope to start their own junior league this summer. Another adult team recently formed in Pullman, the Palouse River Rollers, who will hold a Summer Jam bout at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center in Pullman.
While the Honeys’ future looks bright team members worry about the future of the LC Ice Arena where they practice and play in the summer months. The Port of Lewiston is considering not renewing the arena’s lease in order to make room for a manufacturing tenant. A decision will be made at 7 a.m. July 9 at the port’s next meeting. If the lease is not renewed Lehman says the Honeys will have to cancel an August bout and return to skating at city parks, parking lots and the Uniontown Community Building.
Women interested in skating with the Honeys are invited to a Fresh Meat night from 6 to 8 p.m. July 3 at the LC Ice Arena. No experience is necessary. Extra gear will be available. More information is available on the group’s Facebook page.
if you go WHAT: Hells Canyon Honeys vs. Rolling Hills Derby Dames WHEN: Saturday, June 21, doors open at 5:30 p.m., scrimmage at 6:30 WHERE: LC Ice Arena, 1521 Sixth Ave., North Lewiston OF NOTE: There will be a beer garden, concessions and merchandise tables. —————— WHAT: Hells Canyon Honeys vs. Columbia Basin Roller Derby of Moses Lake, Wash. WHEN: June 28, doors open at 3 p.m., scrimmage at 4. WHERE: LC Ice Arena, 1521 Sixth Ave., North Lewiston OF NOTE: There will be a live band, beer garden, concessions and merchandise tables. —————— COST: Tickets for each event: $5 in advance, $7 at the door or $4 with cat or dog food donation for the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter. Children 5 and younger are admitted free. Advance tickets are available at Voodoo Tattoo & Artworx in Clarkston or from skaters.
Bauer may be contacted at jkbauer@inland360.com or (208) 848-2263.
