Our Purpose and Mission
Founded in 2005, Grand Raggidy Roller Derby (GRRD) is proud to be one of only 30 founding member leagues of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). WFTDA has since grown to be the international governing body for the sport with over 400 member and apprentice leagues globally. As a member of WFTDA, it is GRRD’s collective goal to create a strong organization that propels us to support roller derby, our community, and be competitive with the top leagues in the world.
GRRD currently consists of two teams, GRRD All Stars (A-level) and GRRD Attack (B-level). The All Stars travel and compete for rankings internationally, while both All Stars and Attack compete with teams throughout Michigan and neighboring states.
Our mission is to provide an inclusive environment for league members to push themselves towards excellence both on and off the track, create a diverse team, and extend those ideas through community outreach and engagement. Our focus is on hard work, acceptance, initiative, integrity, and team spirit.
OUR Background
In April 2005, a high school buddy (the now-retired Ratt Scallion from Providence Roller Derby) sent GRRD’s Shutter Speed a link to her roller derby team’s website. Shutter Speed didn’t have to watch much bout footage before she was instantly hooked! Shutter and her roommate, The Vindicator, spent that spring recruiting individuals to form Grand Rapids’ first and only women’s flat track roller derby league: The Grand Raggidy Roller Girls!
On April 1st, 2006, The Grand Raggidy Roller Girls held their inaugural bout at the Delta Plex in front of over 2,000 spectators. Since then, various Grand Raggidy teams have represented their hometown in over a hundred games, traveling as far as Las Vegas and bringing home victory after victory at their home venue located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Land Acknowledgement
Grand Raggidy Roller Derby acknowledges that the land on which we live, work, and skate is the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary land of the Anishinaabe people, the People of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi. We recognize we benefit from access to this land and the resources it provides. In offering this land acknowledgment, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, bear witness to the historical and ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples, commit to educating ourselves, and stand in solidarity against the profound and lasting impacts of genocide, forced relocation, and colonization—particularly violence toward Indigenous women and transgender and Two-Spirit persons. We urge everyone to learn and to take action: to celebrate and support Indigenous businesses, arts, and events, to donate their time and resources to Indigenous-led organizations, to advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, and to preserve, restore, and give back that which has been stolen.
Resources
Cultural Awareness: Native History in Michigan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28yLabfGO-0
Uniting Three Fires Against Violence - https://unitingthreefiresagainstviolence.org/
Anishinabek Nation - https://www.anishinabek.ca/
Ojibwe.net - https://ojibwe.net/about-us/
Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians - https://www.grandriverbands.com/about/ and https://www.grandriverbands.com/federal-recognition/
Team Indigenous Rising - https://www.teamindigenous.org/
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center - https://www.niwrc.org/
Native Land Conservancy - https://www.nativelandconservancy.org/
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act - https://www.bia.gov/service/nagpra and https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/index.htm
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition - https://boardingschoolhealing.org/