South Shore players seek adventure, friendship in league that still brings out crowds

The names San Francisco Bay Bombers and Los Angeles Thunderbirds awaken fond memories among fans of classic roller derby and roller games.

Those teams may be long gone, but roller derby is alive and well in Northwest Indiana. The South Shore Roller Derby plays before enthusiastic crowds in such venues as Bulldog Park in Crown Point, the William E. Urschel Pavilion in Valparaiso and the Hammond Civic Center, where the team dishes out some serious jamming and blocking.

The nonprofit’s mission is to empower women and athleticism, said Ellen Kapitan, president of the South Shore Roller Derby board of directors.

Kapitan, who lives in Valparaiso, said the organization is community driven. This year it established a partnership with Meals on Wheels, with proceeds from events going to the charity. A handful of members also do meal delivery — although Kapitan said they do not deliver on skates. Last year, the derby partnered with Habitat for Humanity and did some volunteer work building one of their houses.

The classic skaters of roller games and roller derby adopted colorful nicknames, and their Northwest Indiana counterparts have followed suit — Kapitan skates under the moniker El Kapitan.

Valparaiso resident Cassidee Jacobsen goes by the name Casanova Crush.

The name stems from her non-derby life in the aerospace industry. Jacobsen, who has an engineering degree, is a national account manager for Rexnord Aerospace in the Chicago area. The company specializes in aerospace solutions for commercial and defense aircraft.

“I have always been into space, and Casanova kind of reminds me of that,” she said.

Jacobsen is also a coach. She serves as a mentor for derby newbies who don’t know how to skate or play the game, and she coordinates all bouts.

There are significant differences between the South Shore Roller Derby and the old school derby. They skate on a flat, rather than a banked, track. Also, this is a team of women, unlike the old co-ed derby teams. Theatrics are at a minimum, and there are strict rules regarding violence, so throwing elbows, punches and chairs is not allowed. Otherwise, you have the same elements: jammers, blockers and the pack.

Kapitan said she became involved in skating in Nevada shortly after she graduated from Purdue University. She wanted to meet new people. She had seen the movie “Whip It” and also watched the derby in West Lafayette.

In her off-track life, Kapitan is a government employee, working for Porter County Recycling and Waste Reduction.

She said she is glad she joined the derby because “I met so many people that I would have never met otherwise.”

Heather Lakich, of Lansing, Illinois, otherwise known as H. Face Killa, a nod to the rapper Ghostface Killah, has been skating in the derby for 14 years. A seasoned veteran, she is the head coach of the South Shore Roller Derby.

In her day job, Lakich is an IT professional who works in downtown Chicago. And in her spare time, she likes mountain biking and gardening.

She said she has not only skated on the flat track, but also on the classic banked track in Arizona. The difference with the latter, she said, is “centrifugal force.”

“On the banked track, you go really fast,” she said. “And you kind of use that oval to get a lot of speed. When you’re skating on a flat track, it’s pulling you to the outside of the track. And with the flat track, there is no railing. That railing around the banked track is killer. That will give you a torn shoulder so fast.”

Every team needs medical attention, and Bre Leaman, also known as Kung POW Kitten, provides a one-stop shop. Not only does the Michigan City resident skate, but she is also the team nurse.

“I kind of joined on a whim,” she said. In her profession, she had worked with women in Denver and in Austin who had skated on a banked track and became fascinated.

As she approached 40, she said, she had her home life and work — she is a nurse at an internal medicine clinic — and wanted to do something that was just hers. The 12 weeks of training was long but worth it. She said she broke her tailbone during her first practice, but soon got the hang of the sport.

In addition to her uniform and skates, Leaman, who functions mainly as a blocker, carries around a medical bag.

“They didn’t even care that I don’t do broken bones,” she said. “They were like, ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re a nurse.’”

Read more stories from the current issue of Northwest Indiana Business Magazine.