Despite the injury, Bouaphakeo claims that this is the best year of her life thus far with the Dames coming into their own, her personal life and her career as a headhunter for Paragon IT. At the very least the last couple of years have been a whirlwind for her. After suffering a second degree sprain in her Medial Collateral Ligament in her right leg in June 2009 and stopped competing with the Mid Iowa Rollers. It was from there that the idea from the Des Moines Derby Dames began to take shape.
Initially the idea for a second derby team in Des Moines involved Bouaphakeo and two other people. The other two later bailed and she was the one woman left standing. Far from being disheartened, she intensified her focus on bringing her vision to life. Bouaphakeo described the preparation as similar to that of launching a small business including things like public relations, getting a plan together, going after sponsors and recruiting. “We stuck out neck out to far to say that we are going to start another derby team and just quit,” she said. “And I am not a quitter. I’m not going to not follow through.”
Perhaps Bouaphakeo’s first major coup on the recruiting front was Brunnette, which occurred through an online conversation. Brunnette said she was one of the first people who signed up for the Des Moines Derby Dames Twitter account. Soon she got a private message from Bouaphakeo asking her if she ever thought about trying roller derby. Brunnette said she began watching Derby videos on YouTube while at the same time talking with Bouaphakeo.
The D3 mastermind drove a good bargain, apparently. Within three hours of initial contact, Brunnette had a pair of roller skates ordered and went to a skate shop to pick up pads and other assorted equipment needed to play derby. She attended practices religiously during those days that she described the Dames as merely a “wing and a hope,” with lots of open skate nights and only five girls, none of whom were guaranteed to show up at a practice.
Yet she stayed with Bouaphakeo, who refers to Brunnette as her Renee Zellweger to her Tom Cruise, ala Jerry Maguire. The vision and love for derby obviously transmitted from the founder to the devoted recruit.
“It’s everything a girl wants. You have the femininity. You have the athleticism. You have the fans. You have the lights the music,” Brunnette said. “It’s the perfect sport and it’s a fringe sport so the people who do it are so fun because you’re all doing something special together. She didn’t really need to convince me much but she’s an interesting character.”
Yet those days of open skate nights and uncertainty were very short lived for the Dames. She began training the team in November 2009 on an ambitious schedule that defied the expectations of everyone, who claimed that it would be at least a year before the Dames first bout, including members of the Dames sister team, the Omaha Rollergirls. The Dames made their first bout on April 3 in Iowa City. The next week, on April 10 the team made its home debut at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines. Bouaphakeo described the opening bout, which was a sell-out, as being ironic with her not being able to skate. Yet at the same time she focused her energy on bout preparation during the day and coaching during the actual bout, which resulted in a 223-88 win over the Wisconsin River Valley Roller Girls.
“It was very difficult because I started the whole team,” she said. “This is my dream. This is my mission and that was exactly what I was hoping for our first bout and not being able to skate in what I created was very, very difficult but, you know, I do it for the girls. I do it for what we are trying to accomplish and it’s not the end of the world that I don’t skate. That means I take on another role. I coach and I lead the girls from the bench. So was it difficult not to play? Yeah, Absolutely. Was I happy just to be there? You bet, you know, because with all the hard work, I didn’t know what it was going to be, you know? I got to take it in a lot more.”
Bouaphakeo takes a great deal of pride in the rapid development of her team, taking a mere five months from the start of training to the first bout. She claimed that the Dames are in a spot where no first year derby team should ever be. But then she changed her mind. “They should be actually,” Bouaphakeo said. “”They should be that way because if you put enough time and enough effort to it and you train people properly, you can absolutely do it.”
Not only does she credit her teammates, the fans, the referees, the emcees, the volunteers and the sponsors for the success of the team, she also credits the Des Moines community at large. Bouaphakeo insists that Des Moines was made for roller derby, citing the fact that the largest city in Iowa is a young community that has a desire to see and try new things. Bouaphakeo claimed evidence of this can be found in D3 being able to secure sponsors even before the team hit the oval, which, she added, was also a testament to the soundness of the business plan.
Perhaps a bit of serendipity can be credited with the initial success of her vision. Bouaphakeo pointed out that she has always worn the number 10 throughout the course of her athletic career, from her days at Storm Lake High School to Drake University to the Dames. D3 had its first bout this year, 2010, and had its first bout on April 10. She claims she did not plan any of this on purpose.
Dixon said Bouaphakeo is looking forward to donning skates on Saturday. “She’s pretty damn excited,” Dixon said. “I think she’s a little nervous, but she wouldn’t admit that. I know the girls are excited because she’s a force when she gets out there on the track. She’s an awesome communicator. She knows the strategies. She’s a fabulous leader and so having her on the track is just a huge asset for everyone.”
But more than that, Dixon said, because after three bouts to experience Derby, she believes D3 has a far better grasp of the sport and has been able to piece it together so now they will not look like “a deer in headlights” as they did in the first game.
Brunnette said that while the intensity is definitely up for the rematch against Old Capital City, it is a good natured since many of the players on D3 are friends with them. She added that Bouaphakeo can be expected to skate with her usual intensity and fire on Saturday.
“She’s an Aries sign which means she has a lot of fire,” Brunnette said. “Obviously she wouldn’t come back if she didn’t think she could handle it and she is a very physically and mentally strong person. You know there’s always a risk with Derby but she’s well aware of those risks and she’s prepared.”
As for Thompson, who is fiercely devoted to Bouaphakeo, she too is anticipating the return of the Show Stopper to the oval.
“When she says ‘Come on! Get up here’ I can follow her and I would follow that woman into a burning building with a gasoline jacket because if she says I can do it, I can do it,” Thompson said. “There is no doubt in my mind that if she says ‘Come on, MOAB, let’s do this,’ we can get it done.”
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