‘It’s something I never thought would happen’: Two Calgary junior derby athletes are chosen to represent Canada on the world stage

Two Calgary teens are getting ready to lace them up for an opportunity of a lifetime in France. 

Talulah Nance-Armstrong and Davis Gerein, known as Tenacious T and Bette Davis Eyes, respectively, have been selected to the 35-member team representing Canada at the Junior Roller Derby World Cup in Valance, France, from July 28 to 30. 

Nance-Armstrong has been playing roller derby for the last seven years and this will be their first time competing with Team Canada. 

The 14-year-old was intrigued when their mom showed them a video of a team practicing. 

“I was like ‘That looks cool, I want to try roller skating,’” Nance-Armstrong says, adding they chose her competitive derby name as Tenacious T, but their tenacity is not what motivated them to join the sport. 

“Kris Myass is my hero. She was on Team Canada and was an all-star. She made me want to try out and now I’m on Team Canada, and I’m so happy.” 

A little help from their friend 

Nance-Armstrong will be joined by their roller derby friend, 17-year-old Gerein.  

“It’s something that I never thought would happen, but I’m so glad it did. And I am going to be going to the World Cup with one of my derby besties,” Gerein says.

Gerein has been playing roller derby since 2017 and was first inspired by her dad to pursue the sport. 

“My dad told me about derby and, not knowing what it was, I googled it and found out we had a junior league starting up in Calgary,” she says. 

“And then I said, ‘I love this, I have to do it right now.’ So, he bought me a pair of rollerskates, I went to my first practice, and I’ve just gone ever since.” 

A Junior Roller Derby World Cup first 

It’s the first time the competition will be held outside of North America and the young athletes will compete against more than seven other nations.

To qualify for the junior world cup, the athletes had to be level three roller derby players between the ages of 12 and 18.

“The tryouts themselves were a set of skills not shown to the athletes beforehand, but skills that we expect them to be able to accomplish,” Team Canada’s head coach Caroline Reimer explains.  

Junior athletes joining Team Canada were chosen from cities across the country, and the group will only meet twice in Canada before the competition. 

“The kids will learn how to work with a team that they might not have had the opportunity to skate with,” Reimer says.  

Given the limited practice time, Team France will also be coming to Canada in April for an exhibition game.

“It’ll be a great weekend where we get to work with each other and see where we’re at and really hone in on the skills to be as strong as we can.” 

Drawing from her own experience 

Reimer began playing roller derby 12 years ago and started to coach only a few years later.

“To be sitting here talking about it now and being a head coach, it’s very humbling and gives me an immense amount of pride,” Reimer says. 

“It isn’t about how good I am. It’s about how great my team is. To be able to represent Canada and represent these kids, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.” 

Team Canada will consist of a female-only team and an all-genders team in France. 

“We accept every body, and that’s two words. We don’t turn someone away because they might not fit the cookie-cutter version of what an athlete might look like,” Reimer says. 

“We accept everyone. We accept every gender. And we train them to become the best athlete that they can be.” 

More than just winning 

While coming home with medals is always a great feeling, both the head coach and the athletes have different goals. 

“My coaching philosophy doesn’t put winning at the top. I’m a strong believer in controlling the controllables. Putting forward the best game that we can is what my expectations are,” Reimer says. 

“I always want kids to play smart, to play safe, and to have fun because you can only win if you do those three things.” 

Reimer, along with other coaches from across Canada who have prepared the athletes for the World Cup, have instilled a similar mindset into the athletes. 

“I hope that we can win, obviously. But most importantly, I hope to be a good teammate and to play well as a team with the rest of Team Canada.,” Reimer says. 

Team Canada has a GoFundMe campaign and is actively looking for sponsorships to help send the coaches and junior athletes to France to represent the nation. Anyone who wants to help can also email [email protected].