Roller Derby Rachael

Rachael Trader has mixed feelings about the 31 girls trying out for the 25 available spots in the Kansas City Roller Warriors league. Trader is a top player for the Dreadnought Dorothys, one of the four teams that make up the league. She said when she started roller derby in 2006, it was a closer, and more tight knit community. Now, the league is bigger, and with more girls, comes more drama, Trader said. She shows no negativity towards the new girls though, and gives only words of encouragement as they struggle to keep from falling. She understands any nervousness they may be feeling about try-outs, and is thankful she joined the league before it was big enough to hold try-outs.
"I think if I had to try out, it would have scared me away from joining just because of how my personality was back then," Trader said.
Who Rachael was back then is a very different person from who Rachael, in her high socks, short-shorts and every piece of protective gear available, is now. Born Nov. 4, 1986, in Olathe, she enjoyed a happy childhood there with her parents and older sister. She went to KU in 2005 and lived with Overland Park senior, Carly Halvorson, whom she had known since the first grade. Halvorson remembered her reaction to Rachael's announcement that she was going to do roller derby.
"I was pretty surprised because Rachael is a really quite, really sweet person, and not aggressive or angry in any sort of way," Halvorson said.
Anita Trader, Rachael's mother, was equally surprised about her daughter's decision to pursue roller derby.
"Rachael is more of a peer to peer person. This was a sport you have to go down there and knock somebody out of the way. But it turned out to be one of the best things she's ever done," Anita Trader said.

Between 2005 and 2006, Rachael experienced the death of her grandfather, her parents' separation, the end of a four -year relationship with her boyfriend, and the loss of friends that comes with going away to college. And those were just some of the things that went wrong, she said. The series of unfortunate events triggered a period of depression in Trader's life, which she said left her ill equipped to handle college.
"I basically locked myself inside my dorm room and didn't do anything. Or I went out and did other things that were counter-productive. I couldn't focus on any work and it really made me ashamed of myself. And that's where derby came in," Trader said.
Anita Trader remembered the night of Rachael's first game. Most of the names on the back of the girls' shirts were similar in nature to teammate Traci Feuerbach's name, Toto Basketcase. When she found Rachael among the 10 girls on the track though, she read the name Archie Lee and number 59. After seeing the tribute on the back of her daughter's jersey, Anita couldn't help but tear up. Rachael picked the name for her grandfather, Archie Lee Dowdell, and the number for the year her parents were born, 1959.
After joining the Kansas City Roller Warriors, Trader's life began to turn around. She was rookie of the year in 2007, and even placed on the traveling team. The traveling team, which consists of the top 20 players in the league, gave her the opportunity to compete in Chicago, Houston and Austin. While in Austin, she helped her league win the first-ever national championship for roller derby. Feuerbach, who lives in Overland Park, joined the league two months after Trader did. She said Trader's roller derby accomplishments helped put her in a better place.
"It just brought her a lot of happiness, which she needed. It gave her something to be excited to be a part of it," Feuerbach said.
With two jobs, studying for an Organismal Biology degree, and an hour drive to Kansas City four times a week for Dreadnought Dorothy practice, Trader was soon overextended and exhausted. She decided to quit school and move to Overland Park to concentrate on her passion; roller derby. Trader's family and friends supported the decision.
"Roller derby was the thing that she really looked forward to and really enjoyed doing," Halvorson said. "It made sense for me that she didn't go anymore."
Now working at Sprint, Trader still resembles the same sweet, blonde haired, blue-eyed, pre-roller derby Rachael. Pre-roller derby Rachael though, her mother said, needed help from something to realize her full potential. That something just ended up being a little unconventional.
"When she went derby it totally changed her character. She just blossomed," Anita Trader said.
Thankful roller derby is in off-season, Rachael said she wasn't sure how long she would continue playing for the Kansas City Roller Warriors. She has decided to wait one more season though, and then reevaluate. Most careers in the sport last three to four years, and with two seasons under her belt and the prospect of an even bigger team of girls, leaving would make sense. But Trader is not looking for sense.
"I am waiting for a sign," Trader said.
As Rachael watches the 31 new girls awkwardly skating backwards across the rink, she might have found the sign she's looking for. She helps up a player though, and gives them sound advice on proper stopping technique. It appears the sign will have to wait another season.