Kimberly Valerio has lived in Orlando her whole life. For the past 36 years, she’s worked at the Hard Rock Café in Orlando. Valerio grew up on roller skates, but by her late teens, she had put her skates away to focus on work and family. With the support of friends, she joined a roller derby team in DeLand. In 2010, after years of commuting more than an hour for practices and meets, Valerio decided to start a club closer to home.
Valerio described her vision “for a league that I wanted to create and that we accept everybody – race, gender, you could skate or not skate – we’ll teach you. And I wanted it to be a safe place for people, and uplift women." Orlando Roller Derby now has more than 90 members and competes both nationally and internationally.
The club features six teams – the Ozone Slayers and Sun Blockers are the travels teams, a rec team – The Sol Crushers – and three home teams: The Heatwave Hellcats, Manatee Mayhem and Snowbird Bombers. They practice and compete at the Barnett Park Gymnasium in Pine Hills and skaters of all skill levels and experienced are welcome to join. Orlando Roller Derby includes a development team for beginners.
On Saturday, May 16, Orlando Roller Derby went head-to-head with the Rocket City Rollers of Huntsville, Alabama. The two matches were split with the Orlando Sun Blockers falling to Rocket City. An inter-squad game followed with the Orlando Hellcats defeating the Snowbird Bombers.
More than one hundred spectators were in attendance, including Orlando resident Joshua Hogan, who attend Orlando Roller Derby matches for more than the hits, “The community has been great, we have made so many new friends. We meet outside of roller derby events to hang out.”
