Keweenaw Roller Derby’s Kim Kong, in black, darts for an opening in the Mid-State Roller Derby defense on July 14. (Kent Kraft/For the Gazette)

Keweenaw Roller Derby (KRD) has skaters on the roster from all walks of life and who arrived to the team with wildly different amounts of knowledge about derby. Some, like Starbuck, come to see what derby is all about without ever having seen a bout before.

Others have seen KRD in action and decide derby looks like something worth trying. Still others come with expectations of the sport based on what they’ve seen in various popular culture mediums.

Readers of a certain age might remember a time when Saturday afternoon television sets across the country could tune in to taped roller derby bouts. Popularity of the shows ebbed and flowed over the years, but people who could attend in person often led to passionate fan bases, keeping roller derby going regardless of television viewer ship.

In 2009, Drew Barrymore directed (and had a role in) a movie, “Whip It,” which was based on a roller derby group in Texas. While parts of the storyline feel familiar, using the medium of roller derby propelled the sport’s popularity once again.

Scores of people saw Bliss Cavendar, a petite person who went hip-to-hip against throngs of derby players, and felt inspired. They felt it could be them.

Kim Kong wasn’t always known by that pseudonym. She was a regular kid, going to the movies with friends, and making plans for potential futures. Seeing the characters on track skating circles around their competitors, something clicked. Daydreams between friends of running away to Texas and joining a roller derby team were created.

As often happens, those dreams faded away when improbability weighed them down; faded, but not forgotten. Soon after KRD was established, word reached Kim Kong that there was now a local roller derby team. Attending a bout, she thought there was no reason she shouldn’t do this.

Bolstered by their confidence and realizing there were people on the team she already knew, there was no question what their future held. After attending a gear try-on, they were instantly hooked and started the new skater program. Sometimes things can’t live up to the dreams we’ve built up, but in this instance, she found reality to be far more satisfying.

How did she become Kim Kong though? During the new skater program, she knew a derby name was necessary but was drawing a blank. Despite having an eclectic mix of hobbies including hiking, dancing, reading, and crafting, no connections to a derby name were coming to mind.

Their co-workers at the time were enamored with the idea she was joining roller derby and lent a helping hand to figure out a name. E-mail chains were started and the creation of their derby persona became a community effort.

Despite several entertaining proposals, Kim Kong swatted the others away, metaphorically speaking, like the little biplanes annoying the eponymous character. A number is also required, and Kim Kong chose 731. This number was chosen in honor of their mother’s birthday.

As eager as she was to join KRD, she is equally as eager to stay, year after year. Without hestitation, she said the people are the reason she comes back to roller derby year after year. Though she knew teammates already, she quickly made more friends along the way. This is a group of people around whom she can be absolutely who she is, no reservations at all.

She knows there will be love and support from the KRD community and she wouldn’t ever think of walking away from them or the sport.

Due to the camaraderie of the group, she finds it impossible to choose a favorite memory from the years she’s been with the team. In listening to their answer, it seemed their best memory of roller derby is actually that roller derby is always a good memory. Every bout is a good time regardless of the outcome because of the people she is playing with.

As she has been a spectator of KRD bouts, someone who has gone through the new skater program and is now a veteran of many KRD bouts, she is a veritable font of KRD knowledge.

If you’re a person who hasn’t been to a KRD bout before, she gets that. In fact, she still has several friends who haven’t come to see a bout despite years of working on them to attend. In the end, their advice is simply, “Get your butt to the bout!”

For those who are thinking about trying out roller derby but still have some hesitations, she gets that too. Roller derby can be scary. Players can get injured. They’re a group of people who seem quite intimidating when they’re padded up and on their skates, hitting one another with all their force.

What she wants you to know is that the members of KRD are the goofiest, most caring group of people she’s been around. While they look like they could hurt you in their gear, they’re, in Kim Kong’s words, “all marshmallows, in actuality.”

For them, roller derby is flexible enough to be whatever people want to make it. It’s a challenge, but one that easily adapts to what you want it to be. She enjoys the athletic challenge of the sport and it helps keep their body strong. However, she also loves the performance aspect of the sport and loves being on track with the wild makeup and having fun.

She urges people to come talk about roller derby, whether it’s at a bout or even if you recognize players outside of the colosseum. Stop by a practice, try on gear, get to know both the sport and the players better and then you’ll know if this is something you’re interested in. Derby is, she warns, something where you have to step outside of your comfort zone but, she promises, it’s really worth it.

You can cheer on Kim Kong and the rest of KRD at the last home bout against the Kingsford Krush on Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. in the Calumet Colosseum, with doors opening at 5 p.m.

If you want to know more about supporting Kim Kong and the team, including learning how you can be a part of the action by volunteering, you can visit the KRD website at https://keweenawrollerderby.com/.

One final note: Hollywood and reality are pretty far apart when you compare the fictionalized Hurl Scouts to KRD. In the movie, they skate on banked tracks and play is brutal in every bout.

In reality, KRD skates on a flat track and the rules of roller derby are far more civil (though still intense) than what appears in the movie.

Interestingly, much of “Whip It” was filmed in Michigan and featured real life roller derby players selected from teams in the state including Grand Raggidy, the team KRD played (and trounced) back on June 22.