What’s the significance of your derby name and number?
[SC] – My name is a non-subtle spoof of the actor Chevy Chase; I celebrate the man’s entire catalog. However, my name was specifically inspired by three things: his Weekend Updates on Saturday Night Live with the sign-off, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not,” and two of my family’s favorite movies, Fletch and Fletch Lives. When I started playing roller derby I was a newspaper reporter, and chose the number -30- because in the old days of journalism when stories were sent by telegraph, writers would include a -30- at the end of a news report so dispatchers didn’t accidentally cut off the end of their prose. So -30- essentially means “the end.”
Do you have any bout-day rituals, habits, or superstitions? If so, what are they?
[SC] – I used to be way more ritualistic on bout day, but after five seasons I just enjoy the adrenaline ride of preparing to play at Key Arena. I try to sleep in and drink a ton of water. I have a solid brunch with my roommates Mona Agony, Sara Problem, and Raven Mad (my favorite is a feta omelet and bacon) during which we listen to Air Supply. One of my favorite moments, after the mad rush of packing and preparing, is emerging from the tunnel into the completely empty arena and thinking, “You’re one damn lucky person to be here, Shovey Chase.”
What was the last thing you ate?
[SC] – Sparkling water (a former Diet Cokehead, it is my methadone) and a Honeycrisp Apple! Might as well cancel Christmas — my holiday season is when the Honeycrisp Apples arrive.
What is your favorite thing about Roller Derby?
[SC] – At this point, what isn’t my favorite thing about roller derby? I consider myself a pretty regular person, yet I am fortunate enough to be starting my sixth season with Rat City in January. That’s five solid years of spending almost every day with the most incredible, hilarious, hard-working leaguemates in the solar system, and also getting to skate that whole time with the ridiculously talented, silly, and close-knit Sockit Wenches. I’ve traveled the country with a helmet. I’ve landed hits that made the crowd roar. I’ve met people who have utterly redefined my sense of loyalty, friends, and family.
When I’m an old woman, I am pretty sure I will look back at my derby years as the tallest, steepest, fastest drop on the roller coaster of my life. Sure, there will be other gleeful loop-de-loops, other thrilling hills and twists and turns that inspire adrenaline and cause a sharp intake of breath, but this right here? This has to be the hands-up, hair-flying crescendo.
What is your favorite off-skates workout?
[SC] – I love sports — I play on a summer softball team (hi Scissors!), and I wish I could get back into basketball and volleyball as well. Otherwise, if I’m not skating I’m probably biking, hiking, swimming, or making up interpretive dance routines to explain league policy to people who don’t like to read long passages of text.
At noon, a train leaves Seattle for Portland while another train leaves Portland for Seattle. It takes one train 4 hours and the other 7 hours to make the trip. Both maintain constant speeds and travel along parallel tracks. If you were on one of those trains, what kind of refreshing beverage would you be drinking in the dining car?
[SC] – I’m not driving — I’ll take a Hendricks and soda, please. Extra lime.