POCATELLO—Among the many different local activities and sports that took a pause because of COVID-19, the Portneuf Valley Bruisers roller derby team’s absence left a hole in many hearts.

However, the Bruisers are excited to get back in the rink again this year, beginning by hosting a skate camp earlier this week with a record-breaking number of participants.

“We’ve never had 35 people sign up for skate camps, so it’s incredibly exciting,” said Lee Ann Waldron, a member of the Bruisers for nearly a decade.

With this many participants, the Bruisers are struggling to gather enough safety gear and skates for everyone who wants to join the team.

“We require helmets, knee pads, wrist guards, elbow pads, mouth guards, and skates of course,” Waldron said. “We wear speed-style quad skates as opposed to high-top boots. With that said, Deleta has been great and they have some used skates for sale that we may end up using.”

Before the pandemic, the Bruisers were members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which allowed the team to collaborate with other leagues internationally.

“COVID caused many problems with (being associated with the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association) because we weren’t traveling to games and we weren’t hosting games. So at this moment, we’re not members of (the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association). Since we had been for many years though, it will be easier if we wanted to go back to them,” said Waldron.

The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association was praised for its return-to-play policy at the beginning of the pandemic, and many other sports leagues structured their COVID-19 policies around the association’s. However, as a sport requiring very close contact with other individuals, hosting even roller derby practices grew increasingly difficult and eventually ceased in 2020.

“As we continued to play, it was so restrictive that it was almost impossible to host practices. We went from a big group and three different teams to about five or six of us that kept coming back whenever we were able to, but that’s not enough to have a team,” said Waldron.

Upholding policies similar to the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the Bruisers aim for equality and inclusivity.

“(The association) has been so inclusive and improvements to inclusivity and equity are being made all the time. So even though we’re officially not (an association) member now, we still strive to be as inclusive and equitable on our teams,” Waldron said. “There’s a place for anyone and everyone, whether it’s actually on the team or as a volunteer.... There are men, women, and folks that identify otherwise. It’s all-inclusive, which I think is a lot different than other sports leagues.”

The Bruisers once practiced twice a week but will begin this year with just once a week at H&R Inline Hockey on Pole Line Road.

“H&R Inline Hockey has been our home for the 12 years that we have been a team, and they are wonderful,” Waldron said. “It’s a little different than Deleta where they don’t normally have open skate for anybody. It’s typically used for our roller derby league or there is a junior roller derby league here in town and then a roller hockey league as well.”

Waldron shared what inspired her to join the roller derby team.

“I always skated my whole life and I didn’t know that you could do anything other than just skate,” she said. “When we moved to Pocatello, we signed my son up for roller hockey. When I took him to practice, they were having roller derby practice right after his roller hockey practice. Then this funny girl saw me and she just said, ‘Are you here to skate with us?’ And I said no, so she said, ‘So you’ll be back on Tuesday then?’ It was just kind of goofy. I was watching them practice and then when I went to watch one of their games, I was totally hooked. The funny thing is, just because you can roller skate does not mean you can play roller derby. I didn’t know any of the rules, and I didn’t know I would get knocked on my butt so much. So there was a little bit of a humbling process that took place, but it’s been awesome.”

Waldron shared what makes roller derby a unique sport and expressed her appreciation for her “derby sisters,” as she calls her teammates.

“It’s such a different feel being on a roller derby team than any other team,” she said. “Everybody is close, even between teams. No other sport I’ve ever seen is where the teams go out, kick each other’s butt, and then go out and party together afterward and hang out as friends. They watch each other’s kids and everybody has each other’s back. I think that’s different than any other type of sports league.”

The Portneuf Valley Bruisers are now beginning their practices and will start playing games sometime between March and April of this year. To learn more about the team, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pvbrollerderby.