Jess Tartaglia is ready to lace up her roller skates and get the sport of roller derby going in Cochrane.
A recent transplant to this area, Tartaglia has played since 2018 in Toronto and Oshawa, under the name Zuul, Destroyer of Shins.
She says roller derby is a very different sport than what we watched on TV in the 1970s and 80s.
“There’s a lot more kind of rules and it’s more kind of like strategic. It’s more based on strategy and planning and that kind of thing,” she remarks, “rather than just hitting one another.”
Five players per team – four blockers and a jammer – skate around the track. You get a point for every opposing blocker your jammer passes.
Tartaglia has a Facebook group called Cochrane Ontario Roller Derby if you want to know more.
“There was also a league in Timmins prior to Covid,” she says, “so hoping to pull people who were previously a part of that league as well and even from the surrounding area like Iroquois Falls, Smooth Rock Falls, anyone in the Cochrane District.”
Audio of our complete interview is right here.
