Slayer Mars takes lead jammer during the bout against the Traverse City Toxic Cherries Saturday, June 28, at the Calumet Colosseum. (Kent Kraft/For the Gazette)

Stories have long been a source of inspiration, something young people can latch onto and use as a focal lens to see where their life might go. Movies give a more visceral quality to those stories as the action unfolds before your eyes and your imagination is now only in charge of seeing you in that role. For many viewers, the movie “Whip It” (2009) showed not just the action of roller derby, but what that world potentially held for them.

For Slayer Mars, that movie piqued her interest in roller derby, but it wasn’t initially enough to get her out to try the sport. That motivation came from her roommate’s mother who happened to know someone on Keweenaw Roller Derby (KRD).

There was a meet-and-greet event coming up, and, “she kind of pressured me a little bit to go,” remembers Slayer Mars. From there, “Thimbleberry Slam was essential in pushing me to be a part of the league.”

One of the original team members for KRD, Thimbleberry Slam is a name that has come up in most of the origin stories for long-time KRD skaters.

Starting with KRD back in 2014, Slayer Mars skated for a year, then had to take some time away from the sport. When she returned, it was with Chippewa Valley Roller Derby for two-and-a-half years. After another hiatus, Slayer Mars returned to KRD and, after some non-skating related injuries, is back again for the 2025 season.

While KRD is her favorite derby community from her experiences so far, what keeps her coming back to roller derby in general is the inclusivity. Slayer Mars, who was putting on her gear before a practice during this interview, paused and looked out at the other skaters around her. “It’s a sport that’s inclusive to all body types and it’s very queer friendly,” she said. “It doesn’t really matter what your skill level before you start is, the league will help build you up.”

While she enjoys the competitive nature of the sport, the community of people on her team and around the sport keep her coming back.

For those with a long KRD memory, Slayer Mars may not be the name you remember for this skater. Her derby name “started as ‘Apocalypso Affliction’ which,” she recalls, “was shortened to AA which I didn’t enjoy.” Most derby names are long, so among the team, they commonly have shorter names they use for one another. Because of the dislike for her shortened name, it was back to the drawing board.

“I switched [my derby name] to ‘Slayer Moon’ after that,” she went on, a name she said was inspired from her enjoyment of the anime series “Sailor Moon.” However, that name wasn’t to last long either.

“I found out a higher level skater was skating under that name, so I switched it to ‘Slayer Mars,'” she said.

This final change was to keep the spirit of her previous one, but change it to her astrological sign since she is an Ares.

When asked about the reason behind her choice of 42 as her jersey number, she gave the answer anyone who has read Douglas Adams would expect: “It’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything!”

She went on to say, “I love when I get to meet fellow 42s as well. It’s a quick way to bond with skaters I’ve never met before.”

Thus far in her career, she has two favorite memories. Her first one goes back to when KRD was skating at the Dee Stadium in Houghton when unfavorable conditions left the floor sweating badly.

“It kind of felt like skating on an ice rink… with the ice still on it,” she said.

That was the year when the Solar System Smackdown, KRD’s invitational bout, didn’t happen, but the experience of why was quite memorable.

“Not many people in roller derby have a story of the rink being flooded,” she said with a laugh.

Slayer Mars’ other favorite memory was another mixer where four skaters showed up with the jersey number 42.

“Two people had to slap a number on their jersey and chose a 0, just to make them different,” she said. “Anytime any penalty got called on a 42, all four of us would skate off the track if we were out there.”

The pandemonium of this was amusing to the skaters and frustrating for the refs in the moment, but something they all chuckled about after the bout.

If there are people out there interested in trying out roller derby, Slayer Mars encourages them to come join the ranks of KRD.

“People can psyche themselves out of something they’re fully capable of doing,” she said. “[Roller derby], like any sport, has a large mental component. If you tell yourself you can’t do something or won’t ever be able to do something, you can’t. But, if you figure out the level you can start at or where you are currently, there is a space in this league for you. It’s a wonderful community.”

She also mentioned not to let experience get in the way of your desire.

“I had done a little bit of roller blading and ice skating as a kid, but never got super good at it,” she said. “So, I’m one of the people that learned how to skate and how to play roller derby kinda simultaneously.”

The lack of prior experience was no hinderance to Slayer Mars who even skated as a jammer in the bout against the Traverse City Toxic Cherries on June 28.

“I really enjoyed being a jammer in that bout,” she said, “and was surprised I even got lead too!”

With that, Slayer Mars deftly stood up on her skates, gave a quick pirouette, and skated off to join the KRD squad in practice.

Come cheer on Slayer Mars and her KRD teammates in their final home bout of the season, Sept. 6, at the Calumet Colosseum, when they take on the Rockford Rage. Tickets are $8 online before 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5, or $10 at the window on bout day, and kids 10 and under with an adult are always free. Doors will open at 5 p.m., with the first whistle at 6 p.m.