Story by Tom Braid – NPAC.ca

By day, Jenna Hauck is a level-headed, quiet-spoken, thoroughly professional B.C. newspaper photographer. But give her an outfit that involves frilly red underwear worn as outer wear, let her lace up a pair of classic roller skates, and she transforms into Hydro Jenna Bomb, a roller derby queen who loves the excitement and physical demands of a sport that’s making a huge comeback as a fun recreational pursuit, especially among women.

Hydro Jenna Bomb, Aka Chilliwack Progress staff photographer Jenna Hauck smiles while on the bench during a match at Sherwood Park, Alberta on May 10, 2008.  This Jenna’s first-ever full contact Roller Derby match, her team won.  Photo by Tom Braid/Edmonton Sun

And that’s not to mention the fashion statements the women get to make as they rev up the crowd with sexy little outfits, great makeup touches, and outrageous handles.

But before you can roll ‘em, you have to have something on which to roll.

“I did not know you could still buy the four-wheeled roller skates anymore,” says Hauck, a nine-year veteran photographer at the Chilliwack Progress who rediscovered her childhood passion while she was laying out pages one night  about two years ago.

Hydro Jenna Bomb landed hard more than once during the match, she never gave up and her team won the battle at the end of the night.  Photo by Tom Braid/Edmonton Sun

One of the stories she was handling was about a local woman who was trying to build a local roller derby team. “I was shocked to see a roller-skater in the paper,” says Hauck. “I thought it was gone. I could not believe that (there was) someone so passionate about it. I knew I had to join.”

The 30-year-old had loved roller skating as a kid, but never warmed to inline skating after it delivered a death blow to the traditional wheeled skates. “I have never tried inline skating, never wanted to try, found it to be a cheesy take-off on roller skating,” she says.

Once she finished her shift that fateful night of rediscovery, Hauck went home and immediately e-mailed the woman who was trying to organize the roller derby team.

Hydro Jenna Bomb cheers on her teammates from the bench during a match where she was a guest skater for The Oil City Derby Girls and is seen flying around the rink towards her first win. Photo by Tom Braid/Edmonton Sun

Though she’d never played at anything more competitive than gymnastics as a little girl, Hauck tried out for and made the squad, known at first as the Fraser Valley Roller Girls.
Hauck quickly learned  that there are three things that make for a good roller derby girl: “Number one, you have to have the skill and ability as well as being athletic. Number two, you have to have a unique name. And number three, you have to have the outfit.”

Her own handle came courtesy of her boyfriend. She considered using The Incredible Hauck, but discarded that because most people don’t know how to pronounce her name properly, she says.  “Some people do not like to use their real name in their roller derby name but I wanted to.”

Hauck’s boyfriend, Rob Lachlan, came to the rescue. “It is special to me that Rob helped me with my derby name. He has always been very supportive of my photography, my volunteer work, everything. The name, Hydrogen Bomb, came up one night, (and that led to) Hydro Jenna Bomb.” That was it, the keeper to roll by.

Hauck is checked and tripped by an aggressive opponent during Jenna’s first ever full contact match she landed hard, spun around and without missing a beat was back on her wheels and back into the match.  Photo by Tom Braid/Edmonton Sun

The women held fund-raisers at local pubs to outfit and train the team, and a year later, changed their name to the Reaper Valley Rollers. “It was a tougher, scarier name, and we had a logo done for it as well,” says Hauck.

Up to that point, the women hadn’t really seen any authentic roller derby action, but a growing Facebook community of avid rollers put them in touch with Edmonton’s Oil City Derby Girls, a team that was short a few players for a pending match and was looking for help.

The Reapers  took up the challenge, packed into a car, and rolled their way straight through from Chilliwack, B.C. to Sherwood Park, Alberta for the May 2008 bout.

This was Hauck’s first-ever full contact and competitive roller derby match.  Her alter ego Hydro Jenna Bomb and her flaming red underwear were a crowd favourite, even if she did spend a lot of time in the penalty box or on her butt during the rock-em’ sock-em’ match.

The match was an eye-opener for Hauck. “I’m still learning, not thinking about the rules all the time, but with more practise you get better. There are a lot of good skaters out there; you rely on the other skaters to make you better.”

It was also a great workout, she says. “We skated for two 30-minute periods. . .You work your ass off, your legs burn, it is exhausting. This physical, full contact sport is a great stress reliever. You get to hit people, then they hit you back. Yes it can hurt, but you hug after the match or practice. . . I have not had that much fun in a long-time. All I could do was smile.”

And the red underwear? Hauck giggles: “They said I needed something red with my outfit, and all I had were those cute red underwear, so I wore them on the outside.” They were a crowd pleaser, especially at one point during the match when she was tripped-up at full speed on a corner and was sent sliding out of control with her flaming red butt in the air, stopping just short of the packed stands. The crowd was cheering and laughing all at the same time.

Now that she’s had a taste of league play, Hauck is eager to join a new team, the Reign Valley Vixens, which was formed in October, 2007 by a breakaway group from the Reaper Valley Rollers. Frilly red underwear or not, Hydro Jenna Bomb can’t wait to keep on rolling.

Jenna Hauck, 1999 Loyalist photojournalism grad and is now full time photographer and writer with the Chilliwack Progress in Chilliwack, B.C. for the past nine years.

Websites;  The Progress, Old City Derby Girls