Kalamazoo Roller Derby (KRD) 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

Kalamazoo, Michigan 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 ...

. Founded in 2006, the league consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and 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

The league was founded in early 2006 as the Kalamazoo Kamikazes, and played its first bout the following year. By 2008 they had rebranded as the Killmazoo Derby Darlins and moved from the RollerWorld roller rink to Wings Stadium where they sold out all 800 advance tickets for a June game. It doubled its membership in 2009, following the release of the movie ''

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''. Killamazoo was accepted into the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice was the program affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In operation from 2009 until early 2019, the Apprentice Program served to onboard new member leagues into the WFTDA ...

Program in October 2009,Apprentice Leagues
, WFTDA ersion of 16 November 2009/ref> and became a full member of the WFTDA in September 2010.9 Leagues Join WFTDA for Full Membership
", WFTDA, 1 September 2010 The league plays its bouts at the Wings Stadium, and aims in particular to attract families to watch. In January 2018 the league announced a rebrand as Kalamazoo Derby Darlins. In December 2020, the league announced a rebrand as Kalamazoo Roller Derby in a move to embrace diversity and inclusion.

WFTDA competition

In 2013, Killamazoo qualified for WFTDA Playoffs for the first time, participating at the Division 2 tournament they hosted at Wings Stadium. Killamazoo was the third seed and finished the tournament in third place with a 250-219 victory over NEO Roller Derby (Akron, Ohio). In 2014, KDD again qualified for Division 2 Playoffs, and were the fourth seed at Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, and won the third place game 180-162 over

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of Fort Lauderdale.

References

{{Michigan Sports Sports in Kalamazoo, Michigan Roller derby leagues established in 2006 Roller derby leagues in Michigan 2006 establishments in Michigan