New era to begin at Knight Center: Rubber City Rollergirls to hold ...

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New era to begin at Knight Center: Rubber City Rollergirls to holdhome season at site better known for speeches, conventions

Bill LilleyThe Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Released : Monday, November 03, 2008 3:00 AM
Nov. 3--Officials of the John S. Knight Center are proud to rattleoff the roll call of dignitaries who have passed through its doorssince it opened in 1994.
President George H.W. Bush. President Bill Clinton. Sen. BarackObama. Gen. Colin Powell. Countless CEOs of Fortune 500 companiesand presidents of universities.
Thousands have attended the local home and garden show, annualHoliday Tree Festival and, recently, a financial fair.
Now, management is interested in more diversification -- to therough-and-tumble sport of roller derby.
Eighty-SixHer, Amy Animal, Barbonic Plague, Agent Skullie and the11 other Rubber City Rollergirls will be calling the conventionhall home for their first season in a new league that ultimatelywill be sanctioned by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.
"This will be different, very different, for us," said DirkBreiding, vice president of sales at the Knight Center. "We're amulti-functional building and we've had athletic events --cheerleading and gymnastics -- here before, but nothing like rollerderby."
He said the Saturday-evening event, which lasts two to three hours,could be good for
downtown.
The Rubber City Rollergirls already are convinced that playing inthe Knight Center will be great.
The architecture and stately nature of the building turned theskaters on immediately.
"It's a beautiful place, it's simply gorgeous," said Field HighSchool graduate Amy Mullens, (aka Amy Animal) a human resourcesspecialist for Kmart.
And the location is perfect.
"We needed to find a facility that was big enough to put in thetrack," said Kenmore High School graduate Tracy Soulsby, CPA byday, Eighty-SixHer in skates by night. "There just aren't that manyplaces around that we can do this in.
"And we were determined to find that place in downtown Akron. Wewanted to be centrally located in Akron because we are the RubberCity Rollergirls and we need to be downtown."
Exhibit Hall 1 in the Knight Center provided the necessary room.The hall has 14,400 square feet of open space, and 14,240 moresquare feet of space are readily available if needed.
It can easily handle the track, which is 108 feet long by 73 feetwide. The track is not the banked, wooden oval track of previousgenerations. It is a flat track that will have taped-down rope tocreate the lanes the women skate within.
The women will be skating directly on the polished concrete floorof the Knight Center.
"Obviously, it won't give as much as a sportcourt floor does whenyou fall," said Northwest High School graduate Tracy Phillips, anursing assistant at Aultman Hospital who lives in Massillon. "Butroller derby is supposed to be a tough sport and it's a small priceto pay to play in an unbelievable place like this."
There will be one match on a Saturday night in April, May, June,July and August.
Breiding said about 500 seats can be installed in Exhibit Hall 1.And, if the need arises, the doors to Exhibit Hall 2 can be openedfor more seating.
Soulsby, who serves as public relations director for the fledglinggroup, is optimistic that Akron will embrace the Rubber CityRollergirls.
She said they will start with a setup of 500 seats, which willinclude a VIP area and a special suicide seating zone directly onthe floor, inside the required 10-foot safety zone for those whoprefer a direct feel of the competition. The team has not setprices for tickets.
"There won't be any tickets above $15 and we'll have specialpricing for children," Soulsby said. "We're a true sport, honestcompetition. It's not like the roller derby people watched on TV 30to 40 years ago. I'm confident people are going to love what we'redoing."
"We wanted to bring new blood downtown," Phillips said. "And that'sin a literal sense as well because although we're a serious sport,it does get rough out there at times and it's always high energy,kind of rock 'n' roll on skates."
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 orblilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
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