Donna Hollingsworth, better known as Hot Slice, is fairly new to roller derby. However, she’s no roller skating rookie. Slice (as her teammates call her) started skating about 20 years ago and found roller derby after a friend called her saying, “You need to check out this roller derby, because if you go, you’re going to want to do it.”
Hollingsworth attended the next game, emailed [email protected] and tried out two weeks later. Since then, Hot Slice has been a prominent figure in the Silent Lambs lineup, skating as both a jammer and blocker. She also won Silent Lambs MVP, Best Silent Lambs Jammer and Rookie of the Year in CRG’s 2011 Wheelie Awards.
Slice’s first game was CRG’s 2011 season opener, which broke all previous attendance records. The day also happened to be her wedding anniversary. For Slice, the most intimidating part wasn’t the idea of skating on a team for the first time, but appearing in front of more than 4,000 fans.
“It was just a ‘wow’ moment. I don’t even know how to put it into words,” Slice said. Once she made it through her intro unscathed, Slice went on to jam during the game. She said that once the game started, the fans fell away, and she was able to focus on skating.
It took Slice six months to settle on her name. She wanted it to be something unique that she didn’t mind being called or hearing over a loudspeaker. The final decision, Hot Slice, came from a character in the television show “Burn Notice.”
Making the roster for the first time was also a major accomplishment for Slice. She said she found out two weeks prior to the season-opener. In Slice’s opinion, making the roster is the ultimate goal for every girl on the team. It is the culmination of all of the hard work the women put into practices, tryouts, scrimmages and more.
Slice said that when she first joined CRG, some of the most difficult aspects were adjusting to the grueling practices and getting used to the physical intensity of the game. It also took her months to master the “plow stop,” where skaters spread their legs in a wide “V” to slow down.
After all of her dedication and work in the sport, Hot Slice said that Lambs’ last game, against the Detroit Derby Girls’ Motor City Disassembly Line, was the highlight of the season.
“It’s hard for me to pick one, because there were so many firsts,” she said. “My most memorable (moment) was by far the end of the last game – I feel humbled. Even though I did score the winning points, I can’t get through if I don’t have my people blocking for me. For the most part, 95 percent of the time, it’s my blockers…when I come through a pack and it’s easy, I consider it them.”
Slice wasn’t meant to return to the game as she had sprained her MCL in a previous jam, but knowing that teammate Hop Devil was hurt as well pushed her to return, with obviously successful results.
According to Slice, the most important thing to remember if you’re a rookie who’s interested in the sport is to not let your learning speed discourage you. Just because you attend a boot camp with other girls doesn’t mean that you’ll all accelerate at the same pace – and that’s OK.
“Just to do it,” she said. “It can be very intimidating. It’s one of those things that you just have to do – you have to commit to, so to speak. Come to a boot camp, come a tryout and see if it’s something you want to do.”
For players like Slice, there are rewards for being a member of CRG that aren’t always seen from the outside.
“The best thing about roller derby is the sense of self it’s given me and the bond I now have with my teammates,” she said. “It really for me is like a family. It’s kind of cliché when people say that, but those for me are the best things.”
-Karli Wood