The honey badger is known throughout the animal kingdom as the most fearless animal on the planet.
It attacks anything in its path, intimidates much larger animals and leaves a path of destruction in its wake.
Squamish’s Honey Badger is all of the above, plus, to most people’s way of thinking, she’s much easier on the eyes.
Geneveive “Honey Badger” Medrano has matured into one of the top players on the Sea to Sky Sirens roller derby squad but before joining the Sirens the team captain had never donned a pair of roller skates.
Medrano first learned about the Sirens from her friend Melissa “Spunky Monkey” Tull and got in touch with Sirens founder Shannon “Mala Justed” Handley to hook up with the team in its first year.
“I played a bunch of sports back in high school and really missed the team atmosphere,” she said. “Spunky was on the team and Mala had just started promoting the team at the Farmers’ Market but I didn’t know what derby was and didn’t know how to roller skate. Then I looked it up and saw that they wear these cute little outfits and I decided to give it a try.”
She said it was a steep learning curve and the early days of the Sirens saw the team practice in locations like local tennis courts or the Wal-Mart parking lot — to many confused reactions from Squamish residents.
“When we first started practicing, people would honk at us and just wonder what the hell we were doing,” she said, laughing. “And it’s such a hard game to understand, but we were so lucky that we had a good leader in Mala to guide us.”
She admitted that it took a while to get comfortable on her skates.
“When I first started, I was just hitting girls and didn’t really know the rules,” she said. “I was pretty aggressive but I wasn’t very good on my skates. I would practice in parking lots and my boyfriend helped me a lot with balance and he even videotaped me so I could work on my form.”
Medrano continued to improve after her debut on the track in 2011 and became one of the Sirens’ top players before an injury slowed her down last year.
“I was getting better after my second year but then I got injured, which sucked,” she said. “I tore my PCL from roller derby and couldn’t do anything, but it was a blessing in disguise because I joined our training committee and learned more strategy and helped out with coaching.”
She watched from the bench for a year but returned to action on May 24 and helped the Sirens defeat the Sunshine Coast Roller Girls at Brennan Park Arena.
As for her nickname, she said her boyfriend’s mother deserves credit for having suggested it.
“It took me a year to get a name because all the ones I picked kept on getting rejected,” she said, noting that each derby name has to be approved by derby authorities and must be unique. “She suggested honey badger and told me how it’s the most vicious animal in the animal kingdom and I looked it up and thought, ‘Ewww, this animal is gross. I don’t want to look like that.’”
But then a video with amusing commentary featuring footage of the animal in the wild went viral and she scooped up the name. Medrano said she's been contacted by other derby players to borrow the name, but she wants it for herself.
“Every time I tell people my name, they talk about the video and yell [just like the video] that honey badger doesn’t give a s---,” she said, laughing.
Medrano said one of her favourite memories on the Sirens was the team’s debut bout back in 2011 when Brennan Park Arena was packed with more than 800 fans. She hopes to bring that kind of rowdiness back this year.
“We hope to bring that back and have a lot more people come watch us,” she said. “We’ve heard from refs and other teams that Squamish has the best crowd and we want to put on exciting bouts for the fans.”
Medrano and the Sirens return to Brennan Park on Saturday (June 7) when they take on the Doomsday Bunnies. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the first whistle blows at 7:30 p.m.
For more information on the team, visit them on Facebook by searching Squamish Women’s Roller Derby.
