Celebrating 20 Years of Tampa Roller Derby
It was a full house at Skate World of Tampa on May 25 as we welcomed our special guests of the night - TRD alumni!
For this special 20th anniversary bout, the Black Widows took on the Switchblades.
The night began with a pregame tailgate hosted by veteran skater Rojo Grande in the rink parking lot, allowing league members and fans old and new to come together.
Inside, we honored our past skaters, officials, and volunteers with reserved seating and honorary alumni sashes to wear for the evening.
League merch from throughout our history was on display bringing back old memories and showing changes from over the years – including our new logo unveiled this year!
A lot has changed in 20 years! Founded as Derby Darlins in 2005 with our first members, the league evolved and became Tampa Roller Derby in 2012, adopted Frank the Flamingo as our mascot, and today is home to more than 100 league members and growing with four travel teams and three home teams. Tampa Roller Derby is also home to Tampa Bay Junior Derby for ages 8-18.
At half-time, the band Sahe kept the energy going with a killer half-time show.
The game ended with a final score of Switchblades 195 and Widows 154. Congrats to the Switchblades!
After the game, the teams kept with tradition and did champagne "jams" in the parking lot.
The fun then continued with an after party downtown at The Hub, just like the old days (the Hub was our original after party spot and one of our first sponsors).
Thank you to all our volunteers, officials, skaters, alumni, and fans for making it a night to remember!
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