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Show PARK RECORD O SECTION Thursday, April 7, 1988 Page B1 Meet a feigning roller derby king and queen Athletic briefs by TERI GOMES Record editor Wallyball tournament v: Hey, all you whacky funsters! Your event is coming up, so don't : dilly-dally! It's a wallyball tournament, tour-nament, and the action is guaranteed to be wild, wooly, weird, wet, world class, and other various words which begin with W. I The tourney is being put on by those clowns (stop, you're killing me) at the Park City Recreation Department and is set for April 23. Starting times will depend on how many teams enroll. The recreational tournament will cost $25 per team. Four-person Four-person teams will consist of two men and two women, or four eunichs. Call Tim Vetter, Mr. Recreation, at 649-8080 for more whacky info. ' Have lycra, will instruct So, you want to get up in front of the crowd in that skin tight lycra stuff, hopping and bebopp-ing bebopp-ing to the music, eh? s Well, now's your chance. The recreation department is having an aerobics instructors meeting on April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Park City Racquet Club. ' The meeting will be, in effect, a seminar on teaching aerobics. Recreation department staff manuals will be handed out detailing some necessary items. From there, instructors will be required to pass certain tests, take a few classes, and then begin teaching on a limited basis. Train future, big leaguers Now that it is legitimately spr-Tfngtime,:it spr-Tfngtime,:it has to be the time for whapping baseballs through the warm air. And, with that, it is time for coaches. The recreation department needs coaches for little lit-tle league programs. Towards that goal, the Youth Baseball Coaches Clinic will be held April 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the City Park Recreation Building. Various aspects of coaching will be covered at the meeting, .preparing you for little league coaching, which will then progress pro-gress to the big leagues. Youth baseball agenda They may not make $1 million a year, but they play the game with a verve you won't see on television. televi-sion. Yes, the youth of Park City and the rest of Summit County will hit the diamond soon. This year's program has three different playing areas, North and South Summit, and Park City. Ci-ty. Registration has begun, with play opening April 20. Advanced Babe Ruth baseball will start off the slate of programs pro-grams on April 20. It is" for ages 16-18. Babe Ruth baseball, ages 13-15, will start a week later on the 27th. WBBA baseball will be ' next on May 4. It is for ages 8-12. T-ball, baseball school will open May 11 and Is for ages 5-7. Final- ; ly, both slow and fast pitch soft- i ball will open May 11. Slow pitch I is for ages 8-12, while fast pitch is for ages 13-18. i At this time playing sites are not set in Park City, but a call to : Mr. Recreation, Tim Vetter, may be able to ascertain those sites by , i the time this paper is out. Boating survival skills l Beginning April 9, 1988, the Utah Division of Parks and I Recreation will be offering Basic Boating Survival Skills Seminars. Five seminars will be j taught in different locations throughout Utah. ; Classes will be taught in two-iday two-iday sessions and are generally' ? for the inexperienced boater. The I first day will be classroom in- struction. Optional hands-on in-: in-: struction will be given at local t reservoirs the next day. f Seminars are free to the public. ! Call 538-7221 for dates and more . information. "You don't look much like a roller derby queen," I say to the shapely Lady Clairol-blonde-aspiring actress-type in the black mini skirt and three-inch black patent pa-tent pumps. She looks me over and responds, "You don't look much like a reporter." The broad is tough. I order a margarita. She orders a virgin Pina Colada. She says she is late to the interview because she has been watching a Disney movie up in her hotel room. This is a roller derby queen? What happened to the cement mixer mix-er mommas of the glory days of the sportart form? Darleen Langlois De La Chapelle who has been skating for the L.A. T-Birds for five years, says skaters today are more in tune with their bodies. "It is a reflection of how society is more concerned with aerobics and all. Women who skate professionally these days are, for the most part, in pretty good shape." In the age of the Yuppification of such formerly passe sports as ' wrestling, it should come as little surprise roller derby is gaining popularity as the ultimate "high touch" sport in an increasingly "high tech" world. But one doesn't grow up dreaming dream-ing of being a roller queen, do they? "No" Darleen says with a laugh."I brought my skates to a movie location (she has appeared in films from Perfect to television shows like T.J. Hooker) I was on and someone suggested I check out the T-Birds. I thought maybe I could skate with them a year, become a star and quit. But I've been with them five years now and mmmmmmimmmmmmmm7-r i, iifii .11 m 31. m, wim-u "ii ! - . . . ' A r IV . ' " rJ( :r.-yJ. - - - i i,t. Jf ' ' ' ' ;Hn'" ' ' ,.im.,n ; Darleen Langlois De La Chapelle hardly looks the part of a rough tough roller derby queen. L.U -Av;. .-WwiM ,4 , . t ! I i .V.' Action like this will entertain roller derby fans Friday and Saturday night at the Salt , Palace as the Los Angeles Thunderbirds meet the Detroit Devils. i ,,-K ' t 1 Roller derby has changed its I love it. We just skate on weekends during the season and the money is good (reportedly more than $30,000 a year). Between that and my acting ac-ting I have a pretty good life." And except for the part where A 5 . .. . if t: Ten Gomes image, as this attractive group she tells me about breaking her collarbone, col-larbone, I believe her. Darleen says the team flys first class, stays in nice hotels, and are fed good meals. They have played in Canada, Japan and Australia. The season lasts from January to August and they play an average of three games a month. "We're really like one big family," fami-ly," she says. "And the girls on the team are like sisters. We go through what feels like life and death situations each weekend and that can form some pretty tight bonds. We have slumber parties in ' the hotel rooms and do we each other's hair and stuff." But surely, like real sisters, they must fight? "Oh yeah, girl stuff mostly. There are a lot of bruised egos in this business. Women can be pretty vicious, you know." I do. "So, you have to be tough out on the rink. You have to psyche yourself up against the verbal abuse. That's really the worst part. The rest I just view like a bunch women at a sale in some bargain basement. The shoving and the pushing and all are just part of the sport." Does this mild-mannered non-drinking non-drinking pretty lady resort to that sort of behavior? "You bet. I change about 180 degrees when I'm out there skating. I'll sit in people's laps and just act outrageous. It's fun. I don't think of myself as much of blocker. I really like to jam and pick up the points. "Kids especially like to come watch us," she said." There are heros and villians. It's like watching wat-ching a real live cartoon." The L.A. T-Birds will play the Detroit Devils this Friday and Saturday night at the Salt Palace at 7:30 both nights. Ticket prices are fg, $10 and $12 with a number of limited track side seats available at $15. 1 1 1 w . 1 - of T-Birds illustrates. r Ralphie Valladares is coach Birds. The name by TERI GOMES Record editor You expect the short, stocky man with the big gold rings one on each pinkie, one on each ring finger to have a name like Ralphie. Well, he does. Ralphie Valladares has been skating professionally since 1954. In 1960, when the Los Angeles Thunderbirds were formed, he was signed as the first coach. He has been skating and coaching for 30 consecutive seasons and he is expected to hang up his skates at the end of this season. "I encourage showmanship," Ralphie says honestly. "Most people in sports have a bit of ham in them whether we're talking about baseball, football or hockey. Roller derby is no different. dif-ferent. What we do is entertain people, I hope. I think people leave with a good feeling." Ralphie coaches both men and women and says he prefers coaching the men. The 12 member team consists of 6 men and 6 women. "And I never would say a swearword in front of the women's team," says Ralphie the gentlemen. "The men are a different dif-ferent story." Owner of the T-Birds, Bill Griffiths, Grif-fiths, talks about Ralphie's unique uni-que contractual arrangement. "We're not like rock stars demanding all kinds of strange v 13 M fit I. V Ten Gomes and skater for the T- is Ralphie perks and food and drinks," says Griffiths. "We stipulate there will be 30 towels in the dressing room, 30 soft drinks at intermission and after the game, 30 soft drinks and 3 beers. The three beers are all for Ralphie." (He drinks Coors.) Once, says Griffiths, Ralphie got out of the showers and there were just two beers waiting for him. "We conducted an investigation in-vestigation to discover who drank the other beer. I can only tell you that person is no longer skating with us. Ralphie is serious about his aftergame beer." Ralphie is such a strong coach that he doesn't look for the best skaters they look for people with the right attitude to blend' with the team. , "I can teach anybody to skate. But I can't teach people how to get along with other people. They either have it or they don't." Besides coaching illustrious up and coming actresses, Ralphie says one of the more interesting roller derby team members he coaches is Valerie Vega. When she's not skating Ms. Vega is the deputy district attorney of Las Vegas. Are the team members, coach and owner ready for the big match-up this weekend? "We ain't going to take no crap from nobody," , owner Griffiths retorts. y Ralphie and Darleen both nod. The. Detroit Devils have been warned. |