On Tuesday, November 29, the Whistler Roller Girls Society roller derby league hosted our first ever fundraiser at Creekbread restaurant.

Thanks to an overwhelming turnout from this community, we were able to raise more than $1,000 to put towards training, equipment and uniforms. Our friends, family and colleagues in the Whistler community have been amazing, showing a tremendous amount of interest and support to help foster the sport of roller derby in this town.

We would especially like to thank Creekbread for hosting our benefit, as well as our sponsors for jumping on board: Nesters Market, Nagomi Sushi, Big Sky Golf Course, Hempire, and Pique Newsmagazine. We would also like to thank our musicians Susan Holden and fatymagee for volunteering their time to the cause.

Above all, we’d like to thank the Sea to Sky Community for the incredible show of solidarity. In addition to the amazing support we received last Tuesday, the Squamish Sirens roller derby team and coach have donated their time and venue to help us get on our feet. The Old Pemberton Community Centre has embraced our team, allowing us to train in their gym. We’d also like to send a special thank you to our new coach, Pemberton’s own Bill Sirota (Coach Kill Bill), who has dedicated many hours to helping us hone our skills.

Thanks to the help of Coach, our training facility and the community, our next goal is to pass our skills assessment test in the New Year. From there, we’ll be fine-tuning our game skills, and booking our first official team – the Black Diamond Betties – into our first competitive bout in the spring or summer of 2012.

We look forward to sharing this journey with you. To stay up to date on our future events, please visit whistlerrollergirls.com, “Like” us on Facebook at facebook/blackdiamondbetties or “follow” us on Twitter @DiamondBetties.