After searching for teams in Lansing, she took her mom’s skates out of her closet and went to the team’s first open recruitment of the season.
“I had an whole new family all of a sudden,” she said. “The camaraderie and the people you meet are my favorite part, and not even just on the Lansing team. It’s a really big community, and everyone takes care of each other.”
Her team, the Lansing Mitten Mavens, is part of the Lansing Capital Roller Derby League. They faced off against the Flint City Derby Girls for the “Bashaversary” bout at the Court One Training Center in Haslett on Saturday in celebration of the league’s fourth anniversary.
Each match, East Lansing resident Lauren Kusler shoves her way through masses of limbs and skates that form walls on the rink in front of her. Known as “Clawed Monet” to her roller derby teammates, the star on her helmet signifies it’s her job to break through.
Kusler’s job as a jammer is to skate past the opposing team’s four blockers to score points. While the blockers form walls to hold Kusler back, she must swiftly skate around them to avoid being knocked to the ground or pushed out of bounds.
The sport is fast-paced and doesn’t stop — except for the few seconds when team members switch positions during jams.
Five members of each team are on the court, one jammer and four blockers. The jammer, known by the star on their helmet, is locked in a race with the opposing team’s jammer to pass as many blockers as possible. The more blockers they pass during the jam period, the more points they score for their team.
While the Lansing Mitten Mavens held the lead for the first half of the hour-long bout, the Flint City Derby Girls made a comeback during the second half. At the end of the bout, the Flint City Derby Girls won, 189-181.
But there was no resentment when the final scores were announced — team members high-fived and hugged each member of the team that MSU alumna and team captain Ali Jahr said is their “best friend team.”
“Roller derby is a big family,” Kusler said. “It’s a bunch of girls who may or may not have played sports in high school. They have a lot of camaraderie and love to skate together and have fun.”
The Bashaversary celebrated the Lansing Mitten Mavens’s fourth year as a roller derby team. Anyone 18 and older can join the team, and their season is set to continue until October.
