Lake Stevens woman helps U.S. roller derby win World Cup

Prior to getting involved in roller derby 12 years ago, the extent of Lacey Ramon’s experience with roller skating consisted of attending her fifth-grade roller skating party.

Little could Ramon have known that her roller derby adventure would take her around the world and turn her into an international gold medalist.

The Lake Stevens resident recently returned from Manchester, United Kingdom, where she was a member of the gold medal-winning United States team at the 2018 Roller Derby World Cup. But winning medals is only a portion of what’s been a wild ride for Ramon.

“It was such an awesome opportunity to get to go,” Ramon said about traveling to the World Cup. “It’s just such a cool experience to go and see all the people from around the world who are as passionate about the sport as I am. That in itself was exciting, the gold medal was just icing on the cake.”

Ramon, the 35-year-old owner of the Snohomish Fitness Center, skates with Shoreline-based Rat City Roller Derby and is known around the rink as “Carmen Getsome.” She was one of 25 members — and the only Washingtonian — of the U.S. team that raced past the competition at the World Cup, which took place Feb. 1-4. The U.S. scored big victories over France, Spain, Wales and Argentina in opening-round bouts. The U.S. then defeated Finland 309-34 in the quarterfinals, Canada 274-62 in the semifinals, and claimed the gold medal by beating Australia 187-146 for the championship.

“The tournament itself was amazing,” said Ramon, who played as a pivot for the U.S., meaning she had responsibilities both as a jammer (who scores points) and a blocker (who prevents the opposition from scoring points). “There were 38 countries there and we had the opportunity to play seven of the teams over the course of four days. It was really an incredible experience to take the track with people from so many different places.

“We played a couple tough competitors throughout the weekend,” added Ramon, who also won a gold with the U.S. in 2014 when the World Cup took place in Dallas. “Argentina was feisty and fast, Finland was aggressive and not afraid of contact. We played Canada in the semifinals and the Canadians are in general just a real tough bunch that loves contact and enjoys playing intelligent derby with good strategy. The final game against Australia was super fun to play, they push the boundaries in the sport as far as strategy goes, which was exciting.”

But being an international roller derby star wasn’t always part of the plan for Ramon.

Twelve years ago Ramon was working as an exercise specialist when her physical therapy office had a patient who suffered her injury while competing in roller derby. The patient invited the office’s staff to come watch a roller derby bout. Ramon, who was a soccer player and gymnast while growing up, was transfixed by the rugged sport.

“Everyone else thought it looked insane,” Ramon said. “I wanted to find out when tryouts were.”

Though Ramon had no prior roller skating experience, her background as an athlete combined with her college major allowed her to learn quickly.

“I think having prior athletic experiences was key for me,” Ramon said. “I also have my degree in exercise science, so I was able to break the sport down to pieces I could understand. But there’s a lot of people at the World Cup who had no prior athletic background, so it’s possible to have no experience and work your way up to the World Cup, which I think is unique to the sport.”

Then there was the matter of coming up with a name. It’s standard practice for roller derby competitors to come up with intimidating or colorful stage names, but that didn’t go according to script, either.

“After making the team they asked me to come up with a name,” Ramon said. “I said a name out loud in the room and the captain said, ‘That’s the stupidest name I ever heard. How about Carmen Getsome?’”

So instead of “Malibu Scarbie,” Ramon is known as “Carmen Getsome.”

Ramon’s affinity for the sport has also led to coaching opportunities, which in turn led to a chance to see the world. In 2008 a camp was being held in New Zealand that was oversold, meaning it grew too big for the two instructors scheduled to run it. A desperation call was put out to Ramon, who accepted.

Since then Ramon has coached across the world, including in Australia, Japan, Belgium, Ireland and the UK. She said one of her favorite aspects about competing at this year’s World Cup was the chance to watch players she’s coached over the years compete for other nations, particularly those playing for Japan and Romania.

Indeed, roller derby has become Ramon’s passion.

“I love being competitive and I love that the sport is still in its growth phase,” Ramon said about why she’s drawn to roller derby. “It’s changing all the time, there’s always new strategies and developments. In other sports the changes are more subtle. But if you watched a top game this year it’s completely different from two or three years ago, which keeps it fresh and exciting.

“I had no idea that was what it was going to be,” Ramon added. “I couldn’t be more ecstatic.”

If you have an idea for a community sports story, e-mail Nick Patterson at npatterson@heraldnet.com.