Three years ago, the Angel City Derby Girls were at the bottom of the barrel in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association rankings.

“We couldn’t win a single game,” says team captain Jane Wilkins.

As of Sept. 30, the squad is ranked sixth of 166 teams spread over three divisions.

Roughly a year ago, Angel City started incorporating CrossFit into its training.

It began with one of the team’s jammers, who goes by the name Mickispeedia. The jammer’s job is is to pass the opposing team’s blockers to earn points. After transferring to the more competitive team a little more than a year ago, Mickispeedia says she realized she needed to step up her training to guarantee her spot on the roster.

“That’s when I started doing CrossFit. Just within a couple of months, I mean I could feel it helping me play. I was stronger, I was faster, I was way more confident,” she says. “It’s completely changed my game.”

Fellow team member Laci Knight says training with CrossFit has unified the Angel City Derby Girls.

“It brings in this element of positivity and competitiveness that I don’t think we had before,” she explains. “It just makes it so that we’re all on the same page.”

Video by Taylor Filasky.

5min 9sec

HD file size: 95 MB
SD mov file size: 36 MB

Please note: For smoother viewing of HD videos, please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).

Additional reading: CrossFit and GPP by Tony Leyland, published Sept. 13, 2012.

Three years ago, the Angel City Derby Girls were at the bottom of the barrel in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association rankings.

“We couldn’t win a single game,” says team captain Jane Wilkins.

As of Sept. 30, the squad is ranked sixth of 166 teams spread over three divisions.

Roughly a year ago, Angel City started incorporating CrossFit into its training.

It began with one of the team’s jammers, who goes by the name Mickispeedia. The jammer’s job is is to pass the opposing team’s blockers to earn points. After transferring to the more competitive team a little more than a year ago, Mickispeedia says she realized she needed to step up her training to guarantee her spot on the roster.

“That’s when I started doing CrossFit. Just within a couple of months, I mean I could feel it helping me play. I was stronger, I was faster, I was way more confident,” she says. “It’s completely changed my game.”

Fellow team member Laci Knight says training with CrossFit has unified the Angel City Derby Girls.

“It brings in this element of positivity and competitiveness that I don’t think we had before,” she explains. “It just makes it so that we’re all on the same page.”

Video by Taylor Filasky.

5min 9sec

HD file size: 95 MB
SD mov file size: 36 MB

Please note: For smoother viewing of HD videos, please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).

Additional reading: CrossFit and GPP by Tony Leyland, published Sept. 13, 2012.