Auroraadvocate.com - Females don skates, mix it up in pair of sports

by Holly Schoenstein

Reporter

Aurora -- While her husband is at work and her three children are at school, Maria Blatnick crafts and does other "girlie" things.

But at night, she sheds her daytime uniform, hits the rink and becomes "Mad Chatter," a roller derby chick who has a tendency to talk a lot.

"I like that derby gets me to express all the sides of my personality," Blatnick, 39, said. "During the day, I'm a housewife who goes around Aurora doing errands at Heinen's in my Gap and J. Crew clothes, and at night I throw my hair into a ponytail and put on fishnets and let out some aggression."

Oh yeah, and she wears a tutu, too.

But Blatnick isn't the only one breaking the stereotype of what females are supposed to do.

Tracy Rausch, homemaker and mother of five -- including Aurora High School junior Courtney -- isn't afraid to rock the ice while playing hockey.

Tracy plays on the Gilmour Momsters team -- a play on the Lake Erie Monsters' name -- and Courtney is the only girl on the Aurora High School varsity hockey team.

After hearing parents comment about how their sons were playing during ice hockey games, Tracy and some of the other mothers got together to experience what it's like to play, and formed a team.

THE GILMOUR Momsters aren't part of a league but play teams associated with the Northeast Ohio Women's Hockey Organization.

The team is practicing for the winter season now, and games played at the ice arena at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills are open to the public.

"I'm doing it because it's fun. I'm not doing it as part of a competitive league," Tracy Rausch said, adding that it's difficult to get into a "boy's mentality" and abandon her Ps and Qs of politeness.

But Courtney, who played youth hockey for five years before joining the high school team, takes a more competitive approach.

She says that playing with the guys makes her a better athlete.

"My brothers played before me because they're older, and I liked watching them. It looked fun and cool," Courtney said, who describes herself as a tomboy when she was younger.

"She's a smart player," her mom said of Courtney. "She knows where to be and what to do. And because she doesn't have the size and strength of the boys, it makes her a good player."

The high school's ice hockey season ended last month [February] and will start up again in November. Tickets are sold at the door for home games played at the Pond in Auburn Township.

Blatnick became interested in roller derby after reading an article last spring.

"That weekend, I bought $500 in skates and equipment, but I hadn't skated regularly since junior high school," she said. She could skate forward, but didn't know any fancy tricks.

"I'VE NEVER had more fun in my entire life," she said. "It's kind of like an intense exercise program. There are drills, and you learn the basics.

"It's not like it was in the 70s. It isn't like wrestling with set moves that are fake."

She searched the Internet for roller derby leagues in the region and found the Burning River Roller Girls. She tried out and was drafted for The Rolling Pin-Ups team.

The Burning River Roller Girls is operated and promoted by women.

The Rolling Pin-Ups' first bout of the season will be March 13 at 6 p.m. at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster or by calling the Wolstein Center box office at 216-687-9292.

Blatnick's passion for the sport got her husband, Chris, interested. He now works as a referee for the league, and their 12-year-old daughter plays in a junior roller derby.

"What I like about it really is that she's found something that excites her. Before this, she's never really been part of a sport," Chris said.

But her teenage children think she's weird, she explained.

Courtney Rausch offers females this advice: "Don't be afraid to do what you love. If you like a sport mainly done by guys, do it."

E-mail: hschoenstein@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3152