Santa Cruz Rollergirls is the first all-female, full-contact, flat-track roller derby league in Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

.

Santa Cruz Rollergirls League History

Santa Cruz Rollergirls was founded in April 2007 by Robin Hoff, aka "Robin Yo Life", a former roller derby

Roller derby

Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...

 skater for the Rat City Rollergirls

Rat City Rollergirls

The Rat City Rollergirls are a flat-track roller derby league in Seattle, Washington. The league is composed of four member teams for intra-league play, an all-star travel team that competes with other leagues, and another travel team that plays in exhibition games with other leagues...

 from 2004-2007.

Approximately one year after the inception of Santa Cruz Rollergirls, the organization began its inaugural season which consisted of approximately 8 monthly games held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

.

Member Teams

The Lost Girls (vampire theme, purple and black colors)
Beach Flat Betties (Rosie the riveter/tough girl theme, black and pink colors)
Fistful of Dollies (wild west theme, red and black colors)
The All-Star Team (made up of Santa Cruz Rollergirls top skaters from all three teams, red and blue colors with star motif)
Referee Squad, The Roll Patrol

Non-Skating Members

The Ghostrider Program was created to allow league membership to applicants. Like skating members, Ghostriders typically hold committee seats, assist with administrative duties, event planning and production.

The First Season

The SCRG league engaged in their first season beginning on March 15, 2008 with their debut bout hosting the Silicon Valley Roller Girls at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Santa Cruz Rollergirls were victorious, garnering a 66 point game over the 56 points for Silicon Valley.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel featured an article about the debut bout on the front page of the Sunday edition on March 16, 2008.

Community involvement

Santa Cruz Rollergirls joined forces with local organizations to provide volunteer support and help strengthen the bond with the Santa Cruz community. Included in recent activities are: fundraisers for the Santa Cruz Aids Project

Santa Cruz AIDS Project

Santa Cruz AIDS Project is a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz California which offers free client services for those who are HIV positive, as well as a variety of services for HIV prevention, including education, needle exchange and HIV testing.SCAP also has created some programs around...

, and a local women's shelter , teen activity center, and various other charitable organizations.

Business Structure

As a business enterprise, the league is registered as a limited liability corporation, Santa Cruz Rollergirls, LLC . Although stakeholders in the enterprise, the skaters are not paid for their participation.