SCAR Derby to Host 16th Birthday Bash Doubleheader

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

STATE COLLEGE — For some 16th birthdays, there’s a car or other lavish gifts; for State College Area Roller Derby, it’ll be its yearly bash with a little more to celebrate. 

SCAR is set to host its annual birthday bash on Sunday, Oct. 11 at C3 Sports Complex, joining alums and current skaters for a pair of Halloween-themed games. The first at 3 p.m. is set to be all alums of SCAR, while the second game at 5 p.m. will be the Nittany Nightmares and the Happy Valley Hellbenders. 

“The birthday bash is generally a time when all of our alumni come back; we skate together. We just kind of celebrate the time that SCAR was founded 16 years ago,” SCAR Derby Game Coordinator Tiffani Doane said. “So it’s just something we do every year as just a fun thing to celebrate, our league being a thing still, because a lot of leagues have not survived this long.”

Roller derby has seen some hits over the years, including COVID-19, which crippled many leagues. SCAR has remained strong in the community. The organization routinely participates in outreach with local nonprofits and companies, including a partnership with Centre LGBT+ earlier this year. 

While that event was designed to support externally, the birthday bash is to celebrate within. 

“We’ve been able to be very creative; we’ve been able to outreach to other nonprofits in our community and work together and collab with people to make sure that we are financially secure and able to make sure that all of our new skaters have gear,” Doane said. “Make sure that we have a safe venue for our people to come to, make sure that we have a good space for our spectators to come to.”

SCAR has also recently made efforts to support new skaters in the form of its yearly launched ‘Fresh Cuts’ program, which is designed to help assist new participants in the sport and provide adequate resources to maintain safety. 

With the new program, SCAR also has an upcoming pivotal event soon on Nov. 15 when it heads to Pittsburgh to participate in the Men’s Roller Derby Association’s Killer B Tournament. That moment, and many others, is what makes the Oct. 11 birthday bash so special: the long journey SCAR has taken, and the new path it has began to chart through adversity. 

“I’m just really looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time. Some people who are coming back, I haven’t seen in a year; some of them I haven’t seen in many years. So it always gets really exciting and kind of nostalgic to be able to see the people who, when I started skating, were like the people I looked up to, or the people who I want to be when I grow up in roller derby,” Doane said. “I really look forward to this time of year and being able to get back together with those people who I grew up in derby with.”

The doubleheader birthday bash at C3 Sports Complex is only $10 for spectators, free for kids and will also include a canned food drive in support of the local community.