Cincinnati Rollergirls

The league was founded by Paula Estes and Christa Zielke in April 2005, wanting a new way to exercise.[2] By the following year, they had enough skaters to form four teams: the Bloody Sundaes, Cincinnati Riots, Dames of Destruction and Full Metal Corsets.[3] They played their first public bout in September 2006, selling out the 700-seat venue.[4] By the following year, the league rationalized to two teams,[5] and from 2008 it focused entirely on bouts against teams from other leagues.[6]

The league affiliated with the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) in 2007,[7][8] and reached fourth place in its North Central Region by 2009.[9]

After playing its home games at the Cincinnati Gardens since 2006, where a 2011 high-water mark for attendance was 4100 fans,[10] the league was forced to look for a new home when the Gardens was announced in 2016 to be slated for demolition.[11] In February 2017 it was announced that the league was moving to the Schmidt Memorial Field House at Xavier University in time for its 2017 season.[12]

Cincinnati Rollergirls is a limited liability corporation with two teams; the Black Sheep is the league's A team, and its B team is the Violent Lambs.[13]

For their first season as a WFTDA member in 2008, Cincinnati was placed in the East Region, and competed at that year's Eastern Regional Tournament as the 11th seed, and went 2-2 with victories against Grand Raggidy Roller Girls and Minnesota Rollergirls and losses against Boston and Charm City Roller Girls to finish in ninth place.[14] In 2009, now part of the North Central Region, Cincinnati was the fourth seed at the North Central Regional Tournament, and finished in fourth place with a 126-62 loss to Detroit.[15]

The league started 2010 strongly, winning their first seven bouts against WFTDA opposition, leading to them being seeded fourth for the 2010 North Central Region Playoff,[16] where they again finished in fourth place, losing 164-143 to Mad Rollin' Dolls.[17] In the 2011 Playoffs, Cincinnati were seeded fifth, but ultimately took eighth place, after a 157-99 loss to Brewcity Bruisers.[18] As the seventh seed at the 2012 North Centrals, Cincinnati lost their first two games but recovered to defeat Chicago Outfit 180-166 to claim ninth place.[19]

In 2013, the WFTDA changed their playoff structure, and Cincinnati qualified for the WFTDA Division 1 International Playoff tournament in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the eighth seed, finishing in eighth with a 275-95 loss to Wasatch Roller Derby.[20] After missing Playoffs in 2014 and 2015, Cincinnati returned to Playoffs at the WFTDA Division 2 level in 2016 as the fourth seed in Lansing, Michigan, where they went 1-3 and ultimately finished in eighth place after a 220-174 loss to the Sac City Rollers.[21]

Rankings

pre-2016 league logo

Season	Final ranking[22]	Playoffs	Championship
2007	NR[23]	N/A	N/A
2008	3 NC[24]	9 E[14]	DNQ
2009	4 NC[25]	4 NC[15]	DNQ
2010	5 NC[26]	4 NC[17]	DNQ
2011	8 NC[27]	8 NC[18]	DNQ
2012	9 NC[28]	9 NC[19]	DNQ
2013	38 WFTDA[29]	8 D1[20]	DNQ
2014	98 WFTDA[30]	DNQ	DNQ
2015	70 WFTDA[31]	DNQ	DNQ
2016	61 WFTDA[32]	7 D2[21]	DNQ
2017	NR WFTDA[33]	DNQ	DNQ

• NR = no end-of-year ranking supplied