When the Windy City Rollers All-Stars compete Nov. 8-10 in Milwaukee for The Hydra Trophy, the top prize awarded at the annual Championships of the women's flat track roller derby league, the Chicago crew will have a minor home track advantage, thanks to Sarah Knippel, the real-life Moby Nipps.
Knippel, 30, lives in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood and works in the financial industry. She moved to Chicago about a year ago and started playing with the Windy City Rollers All-Stars immediately, and even played in the 2012 World Championships.
Moby Nipps started her roller-derby career in Nashville in early 2007 and moved to Milwaukee at the end of that same year. She played in Milwaukee from December 2007 until August, 2012.
"I am beyond excited to play Championships in Milwaukee," Knippel said. "So many of my friends and former teammates will be there cheering me on, and it will be so nice to have an arena full of supportive people."
Moby Nipps is, admittedly, a "tenacious, brutal, and funny" player on the track. "I play best when I'm having fun," she said. Moby Nipps also skates for one of Windy City Rollers four home teams, The Fury, which went undefeated and claimed the Ivy King Cup this past June.
"Our [2013 home] season has had a lot of ups and downs, with some incredible victories, as well as a few disappointing losses," she said. "I think WCR has worked hard to prove to the world that we deserve a top spot at the world championships and we will train as hard as possible to get there."
Knippel skates against her real-life partner, Carlie Lusk, 28, an educator, who doubles as Baberaham Lincoln of the Hell's Belles and the Third Coast on WCR. The two have been together for six years, and married three years as of Sept. 24.
"I only skated with WCR for tournament season last year, and it was incredible," Moby Nipps said. "Although we didn't perform as well as I know we are capable at Championships last year, I know we will bring it this year."
Most of WCR's skaters are at least 30, working by day in countless professionsfrom bartenders to lawyers to educators to accountants. Some live blocks away from the club's practice facility, while others live in the suburbs and drive an hour-plus each way for practices. One of WCR's All-Stars even lives in Milwaukee.
The top 40 teams in the world, based on WFTDA.com rankings, were separated into four Division I playoffs, which were held in September. The top three teams from each playoff qualified to compete in the Championships in Milwaukee. WCR competed in the playoffs in Asheville, N.C., and snagged a third-place title after a defeating the Minnesota Rollergirls.
"Championships is the most important tournament of the year. This is the culmination of all of our hard work and our biggest chance to show how strong we are," Moby Nipps said.
The WCR All-Stars open play at the championships with a bout against Philadelphia, a team that defeated WCR this past June.
"We are a stronger team now than we were then," Moby Nipps said. "In order to take first-place, we will have to win four games in one weekend, and we have been training non-stop to do exactly this. Championships is an elimination-[style] tournament, but we are planning to play no fewer than four games that weekend."
The championships draw 12 teams from across the U.S., including the Gothan Girls Roller Derby club that has claimed first-place at Championships for the past two years, and has gone undefeated in sanctioned play for about two years.
"I feel pretty confident that 2013 is our year," Moby Nipps said.