Kitchener roller-derby team ready to bring the thunder to regional championships

Members of a Kitchener, Ont.-based roller-derby team will be showing their skills off in the U.S. later this month. 

Tri-City Roller Derby Thunder has qualified for the Women's Flat Track Derby Association's regional championship in Pennsylvania from May 17 to 19. 

This is the first year head coach Dave Evans has led the team. He said he's happy all their hard work has paid off. 

"I wasn't really sure what to expect from this year. I came in and met a group of awesome athletes who are super dedicated to winning," Evans told CBC News. "We had a couple rough moments throughout the year, but it was learning from those and coming back. Using that as motivation really helped get us where we are now."

The Thunder is ranked 12 out of 136 teams in the North America Northeast division with only one other Canadian team competing.

Maggie Middleton, a skater who has been involved in the sport since 2011, said she's overcome with pride when thinking about the team's accomplishments. 

"If you were to ask a person on the street which cities in Canada are making it on a global scale … They're going to say Toronto or some of those bigger metropolitan areas. So it's really great to be able to represent Kitchener-Waterloo on this global scale." 

The squad kicks off the tournament with two bouts on Friday. 

"The big focus for the last couple months has been just refining things, not adding anything new, just tightening up what we're already doing," Evans said.

"We're basically bringing the best team we can to try and upset some people and come out at least a couple places higher than we're going in."

Top three finishers at the regional tournament will compete at the world championships later this year in Oregon. 

"Based on lofty goals of this tournament, there's actually a pretty good chance we could be playing for that third spot, potentially for top two if things go our way," Evans said.