Interview with a Derby Girl

By Nick Wagner
Staff Writer

Athena Funk laps other skaters at Fargo’s Skateland with ease. But she probably could skate right through them: “I’m the girl that other skater’s family members come up to and ask me to go easy.” At the Fargo Moorhead Derby Girl’s meet and greet she settles for skating with her league mates and other adults- minus knocking people over.

Tonight is social, unlike the previous night’s practice where she and her teammates had to emulate a bout. Training is really intense, she says, especially when practices run 2 hours long and consist of doing 100 laps in 2 minute intervals. “We do a lot of endurance training, we do a lot of contact training and we practice 3-4 nights a week.”

Athena grew up in Grand Forks, and then went to college in Minneapolis, where she started competing in roller derby in 2004. She was on one of the first teams to start in the country. And two years ago she brought roller derby to the Fargo area.

Athena admits that she had previously been in a band, and that it wasn’t as extreme as roller derby. “After band practice I went to a bar. The bartender handed me a recruiting postcard and she said, ‘You should try this you’d be good at it.’ So I went and the rest is history.”

Now that she’s in Fargo, Athena skates for Battlescar Galactica, competing against national and local teams. The Fargo Moorhead Derby Girls consists of Battlescar and three other teams: The Fighting Suzies, The Haute Dishes, and The Monkey Wenches.

FMDG has 1-2 matches a month from October through April, which are usually held at the downtown Civic Center. There are away games too, where they travel to other states, even Canada.

Outside of competitive skating Athena is an artist at Dead Rockstar, and does all of the artwork and printing for FMDG. Her artwork was also used in Drew Barrymore’s “Whip It. However, there is no common background for derby girls. “It’s for anyone who has a lot of energy and wants to get it out,” she laughs. “I think actually most of the women on our league are moms.”

Finding a healthy way to release pent up steam, from cleaning up after messy kids and husbands, is good. “It’s like a sports team that you can join and do for fun; it’s kind of like a softball league or something like that,” she says. “However, if you want to take it to a competitive level, you’ll have the means to do that as well.”

On the other hand, injuries caused by roller collisions are bad. But that doesn’t seem to slow Athena and the other derby girl’s momentum. “I’ve had lots of injuries, anything you can think of really. But my worst is when I broke my leg in 4 places.”

For Christmas Athena would like her two front teeth and to win the Rockets game this weekend at the Civic Center in downtown Fargo. “They are going to be really tough, they are nationally ranked skaters, and some of them are the best in the country,” Athena pauses in thought. “We’re just going to have to fight as hard as we can!”

On Saturday, at Fargo Civic Center, doors open at 6:30pm and the bout starts at 7. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center.

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If You Go

What: F-M Derby Girls vs. MN Roller Girls Rockits
Where: Fargo Civic Center
When: Sat, Dec 18, 6:30pm
Info: 701.241.1480