Santa Cruz Derby Groms’ Gromshells is an all-female junior roller derby team based out of Scotts Valley. In the past few years, this gritty team of rough-and-tumble athletes have proven their excellence many times over, and this year is shaping up to be no exception.
The Gromshells are heading to the playoffs in Ventura on June 21-22 in their quest to qualify for the 2025 Junior Roller Derby National Championships held in Loveland, Colo., in July. If this scrappy team wins their playoff tournament, they will advance to the champs for the ninth consecutive time since 2015.
“Our team is undefeated so far this season (16-0) and we are on a mission to keep it that way as we pursue our third consecutive national championship and fourth overall (having won in 2018, 2023 and 2024,” said Chris Kerr, who goes by the moniker Coach Neo.
While Kerr and Santa Cruz Derby Groms President Shana Kerr (Coach Ima Hotmess) help train the pack for their upcoming duels, it’s the determination within the players that make them a winning team.
Shelby McConner is known at the rink as Curl Crusher #719 (aka Curl). This blocker, team co-captain and star athlete has invested her time and talent into the Gromshells and is preparing to leave her teammates as she ages out of the league.
“Everything we do to lead us to success and being undefeated is done as a team. No matter how much playtime the skater gets or how old or new they are, we wouldn’t be able to be successful like we are if everyone wasn’t showing up, skating together, playing together and most importantly, laughing together,” said McConner, who points out the challenges of the current season. “The hardest part has been rebuilding after last year’s age-outs left. The team lost five amazing skaters and I lost my co-captain and best friend, but despite that I couldn’t be more in love with this version of the team and I’m so proud of my co-captain Skully, and my other captains, Ozzy and Claire. This season I’ve learned to live in the present, I cherish every moment I have on the track and with my teammates, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this experience and the opportunities that it’s given me.”
Presley Jimenez-Staretorp goes by the moniker Skull Crusher #666 (aka Skully). Like McConner, Jimenez-Staretorp is a blocker and team co-captain, and says that focusing on common goals has been key to their success as a team.
“Our success stems from the important bonds and relationships that we all form with one another. Additionally, we all have the same passion and desire to do better and be the best because we all know that one person doesn’t define the whole team. It takes everyone’s collective effort at practice to develop our skills and set us apart from everyone else,” Jimenez-Staretorp said. “Hard work truly pays off during the games, and that practice is a waste unless you are proving yourself during a game by winning. Just showing up to practice isn’t enough if you aren’t putting in all of your effort to improve, which will be reflected on the scoreboard.”
“Awesome Sauce” is the team name for Katherine Brandon, who wears #781, goes by the name of Ozzy and is a blocker and team lead for the Gromshells. She sees longevity as the key to the team’s success.
“We are close friends, we work well together, we stay focused, and everyone wants to find the same level of success,” Brandon said. “Most of our team has known each other since we were 7 years old and we have a deep history of only skating together. What this creates is a trusting bond where we anticipate each other’s moves and that allows us to contain the jammer from scoring any points. We know that each of our roles on the team is important and we each strive to hold down these roles.”
The Gromshells have also faced challenges as a team.
“Some teams will not compete with us due to the large margin in points that we beat them in each bout. Many players do not appreciate this aspect of the game,” Brandon said. “Another challenge is that our high level of focus is not always shared by other teams in the league and they misinterpret our competitive attitude and end up taking away a false perception of our team. The biggest lessons I have learned are how to be a team player, a team leader, how to communicate, and how to take care of others (my teammates). Derby has also offered me the opportunity to be a mentor to younger skaters and give back to the community.”
Jammer and team lead Claire Pozzi is positively Clairismatic (#1234, aka Claire), and says that one of the team’s best qualities is that they are all really close.
“We can all joke around with each other because of the bonds we have built,” Pozzi said. “The most challenging part of this season has been balancing school work and practices. I just graduated high school so I had to focus on getting good grades and applying to colleges during the season, which was tricky at times, but I’ve learned that to be successful you need to rely on other people. You can’t successfully win a game alone, it takes the whole team.”
Coach Ima is ready to send her graduating players onto bigger and better things, and she’s instilled values in them that will be useful no matter where their skates take them.
“It is our goal to use the roller derby track to help instill lessons in our players that will help them in life beyond the game,” she said.
These values include:
- Follow Through — Say what you mean, mean what you say;
- Keep Moving Forward — Build on success, learn from failure;
- Be Confidently Humble — Respect the abilities of every opponent, but fear nothing;
- Have Self Respect — Stomp out self doubt; and
- Know The Plan — Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Coach Neo agreed with Ima’s points and added a few of his own.
“One key element to our team’s success is that we have built trust in each other. Everyone takes accountability for their performance on the track and ultimately the success of the team—this translates into each team member putting in their best effort at practice, working on continuous improvement as individual players and as a team, even when it’s difficult,” he said. “Second, we have an emphasis on fundamental foundation skating skills, putting in the reps necessary for each motion to become fluid and natural, enabling each skater to be effective independently and also work together strategically moving as a team. Third, we work on keeping it simple. From team strategies, communication, how we organize our game day squads to the way we run our bench, we try to minimize complexity enabling us to stay focused.”
That focus is going to be a critical piece of the Gromshells’ trajectory toward the championship as the coaches and players give up their summer in pursuit of adding another trophy to their case. For more information on the Gromshells and to follow their journey to the win, visit santacruzderbygroms.com.
