Spike has been following roller derby since its renaissance in Minnesota in 2004. In 2005 he joined the ranks of the striped shirt wearers managing the Minnesota RollerGirls penalty box. As his skating skills progressed he joined the ranks as a pack referee and left his glorious penalty box managing days behind him. In 2007 spike became the MNRG Head Referee.

He has helped manage the MNRG all-stars as well as officiated dozens of bouts both intraleague and interleague. He's travelled thousands of miles to watch roller derby, including both Dust Devil tournaments, Bumberbout, 2007 WFTDA Nationals and others.

He helps represent his league as a WFTDA Referee Rep and facilitated the first WFTDA referee conference at the 2007 New Orleans WFTDA Conference.
He loves flat track roller derby and his rollergirls, and sometimes feels like a big brother to 80+ women.

Like everyone else, he has opinions about how derby should go, but his views don't necessarily reflect the opinions of MNRG or WFTDA.

tell me about yourself in a few sentences.
did that already

who are you?
some doofus.

how and when did you get involved in derby and with MNRG?
see above

what do you love about RD?
the skating, the fact that i get great exercise out of something fun and most definitely the great people involved in my league.

i've seen that infamous photo of the RWA on the net. what is it like to ref in st paul in front of 2000+ people compared to any other place?
its a trip. we've all gotten used to it so its actually more strange to not have that constant noise during a bout.

what kind of gear do you use?
crappy protec elbow pads, way old but loved salomon wrist guards, EVS knee pads (LUV EM!), ProTec helmet, Riedell 265 boots with Laser Plates and Bones Reds bearings and Devil Ray wheels

where do you see RD in 5 years?
not much different. 5 years is too short of a time for RD to completely take off, but in 5 we'll be starting to either die off or have gotten some serious media footholds.

best advice you can give the derby community in 5 words or less?
dont take it seriously. seriously.

Labels: MNRG, refs, Spike