Eighteen is no longer the minimum age for joining the Women’s Roller Derby team inAuburn. The “Auburn Gold Digger Roller Derby team” has made it official for kids 18 and under to join the program. Organizers of the program have been skating since they were young teens, and saw the joy their own children found in watching their mothers skate. So, instead of sitting back and having their children wait until they are eighteen to participate, they got to work and set up the junior team for various ages.

Not only do the Women of the Roller Derby team make the sport enjoyable for participants, but they also take it very seriously. They practice every Wednesday from 6:30-8:30p.m at thePlacerHallBuildingat the Gold Country fairgrounds. The team hopes that if the sport becomes Olympic material they will have a skater competing in the event.

“It empowers young woman to be the best they can be,” said Big Boss Linda Habay, co-founder ofAuburn’s Roller Derby Team.

The women on the team portray great confidence, and are hoping that the junior team will be taught to do the same. They try to inspire and teach younger girls and to skate with passion and dedication as they do.

We will also try to teach The Gold Diggers good sportsmanship and friendship of roller derby,” stated Habay.

The crew still needs to gather some more girls interested in skating for the junior team. The team will be up and running by January 2013 once practices are scheduled The Gold Diggers would be thrilled to have some Placer Hillgals bring their Green and Gold spunk to the rink. However, the team does not have many other teams to compete with, so the junior girls will compete against each other. They will also have competition with girls in their league if the Women’s Team they are competing against has a junior team as well. The fee for playing in these roller derby leagues is forty-five dollars for insurance in case an accident bout is to occur in practice or in a game.

“It looks like it would be a lot of fun, especially if you could be aggressive,” stated freshman Michelle Hill.

Overall, the Roller Derby Team of Auburn works hard to roll over the competition. They saw love in many children’s eyes for the sport, and allowed ages off all kind to be a part of the team. Now younger children interested in the sport have something to look forward to, just as the woman who had to wait until they were eighteen had to.

For those interested in The Gold Diggers Roller Derby team contact Big Boss Linda Habay at 845-5956 or email at [email protected]