Vixens to make debut at Dolls’ last home bout

PALMER — Vishous Kitty will finally get a chance to jam.

That’s because Kitty (aka 9-year-old Mekenna Bills) and a host of other Valley Vixens will make their roller derby debut Saturday. The Pioneer Peak Elementary School fourth-grader is one of a couple dozen youths who make up the Valley Vixens, a junior team of girls ages 7 to 17 affiliated with the Denali Destroyer Dolls.

That the Vixens, who have been practicing since last September, will finally get to strut their stuff for the public is exciting for them and the Dolls, many of whom are parents and coaches for the team, said Erika Bills (aka Dolla Billz).

“That’s the best part of Saturday night,” Bill said, explaining that the youth roller derby “is based on skill, not age. For instance, my daughter’s 9 and she’s been playing for three years, but she plays with older girls because she has the skating ability.”

Saturday’s Destroyer Dolls bout, the last home action of the season for the Valley-based team, will see the Vixens perform for 20 minutes during intermission of the bout.

“This will be their first time in front of a crowd,” Bills said, adding that “it’ll be awesome” to watch her daughter play. “It makes me want to cry and it’s very motivating. We do a lot together (with the Vixens). Most of the coaching staff are players with the Denali Destroyer Dolls.”

The local squad enters Saturday’s finale with a 5-2 record, and the sport provides an adrenaline rush and camaraderie that goes beyond just showing up to skate with each other, Bills said.

“The best part about roller derby is that it doesn’t matter what shape, size, color you are, there’s a place for you in roller derby,” she said. “There are lots of different things, and it’s very family oriented and very family focused.”

That’s why the Vixens debut is so exciting, Bills said. In the future, she hopes the youth team will see action as a lead-in to Destroyer Dolls bouts. For example, she said teams in Anchorage and Fairbanks also have youth squads that play before home games.

This is the third year the Denali Destroyer Dolls have been competing, but the first full season, she said.

“We came about in July 2010, and when we started back in September, this has been our first full season. And derby is growing by leaps and bounds in the Valley, and the state as well. There are close to 13 leagues in the state of Alaska.”

Contrary to some of the stereotypes surrounding the sport, roller derby is not violent, Bills said.

“It is not violent. It is athletic and very strategic,” she said. “Once you go to the penalty box seven times, you’re thrown out of the game. That’s not a lot. I had a game recently where I was up to six.”

Unlike hockey, penalties “can be assessed for anything,” Bills said. “You can be assessed a penalty for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can go for elbows, for tripping. We try to play a clean game.”

Tickets for the Dolls’ final home bout can be purchased online at denalidestroyers.org or at the door at the MTA Events Center in Palmer. The