Charlottesville Derby Dames (CDD) is a women's flat-track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

league based in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

. Founded in 2007, CDD is a member of the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby. It sets the international standards for rankings, rules, and competition in the sport, and provides guidance and ...

(WFTDA).

History and organization

Following a social media post by Shannon "Hoytie Toytie" Hoyt, the league was founded in 2007 by Jessika Daver and Anna "Phenol Barbie Doll" Perron, and held its first practices late that year. CDD played its first home bout in October 2009, against the Northside Stranglers. In August 2012, the league hosted a state roller derby championship, "Virginia is for Shovers". The league was accepted into the

(WFTDA) Apprentice Program in January 2012, and graduated to full membership of the WFTDA in December 2012.WFTDA Welcomes 14 New Members
, 3 December 2012 In January 2013, they were declared Charlottesville's "official roller derby team", by the city's mayor. , Charlottesville has two travel teams, the All Stars and the Belmont Bruisers. The league's mission is "to promote sportsmanship and community by providing an alternative form of fitness and entertainment to the women and men of Charlottesville and surrounding counties". The league has also run a

junior roller derby Junior roller derby is the sport of roller derby, modified for children and adolescents up to 18 years of age. The sport is played in both modified-contact, known as "positional blocking," and full-contact approaches, to facilitate safety across m ...

team since April 2014, Charlottesville Junior Roller Derby, who are members of JRDA. In March 2025, the Charlottesville Derby Dames announced on

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that they were changing their name to Charlottesville Roller Derby and released a new logo to re-iterate their commitment to inclusiveness.

WFTDA competition

Charlottesville qualified for WFTDA Playoffs for the first time in 2015, entering the Division 1 Playoff in Jacksonville as the tenth seed. After an opening round upset over

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Charlottesville fell to

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and

Steel City The Steel City is a common nickname for many cities that were once known for their production of large amounts of steel. With industrial production also in developing countries, like those in Eastern Europe and Asia, most of these cities do n ...

(Pittsburgh) to finish in eighth place. In 2016, Charlottesville entered the Division 2 Playoff in Lansing, Michigan as the seventh seed, and defeated #10 Grand Raggidy Roller Girls (Grand Rapids, MI), #2 Sac City Rollers (Sacramento) and #3 Wasatch Roller Derby (Salt Lake City) before falling 189-165 to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

to finish in second place, albeit with a berth in the Division 2 bracket of

WFTDA Championships The International Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championships ("WFTDA Championships" or "Champs" for short) are the leading competition for roller derby leagues. The Championships are organized by the Women's Flat Track Derby Associatio ...

. At Championships, a narrow 205-200 loss to Brandywine Roller Derby (Downingtown, PA) led to a rematch against Calgary in the third place game, a 252-197 Calgary victory, which gave Charlottesville a fourth-place finish. Charlottesville returned to Division 1 Playoffs in 2017 at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

as the twelfth seed, but lost both their games to

Montreal Roller Derby Montreal Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal Roller Derby became the first non-U.S. Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) member league in January 2009. In 2019, Montreal Roller De ...

(486-144) and Jacksonville RollerGirls (318-161) to finish outside of the medal round. In 2018, Charlottesville for the WFTDA North American East Continental Cup held in

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

as the third seed, and finished in second place, losing the gold medal game to Boston Roller Derby 206-169. Charlottesville skater River Styx Phoenix was named tournament MVP.

Rankings

* ''CR = consolation round''

References

External links

Charlottesville Derby Dames Game History

Charlottesville Derby Dames on Flattrack Stats
{{Authority control 2007 establishments in Virginia Roller derby leagues established in 2007 Roller derby leagues in Virginia Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 1 Sports in Charlottesville, Virginia