2009

Santa Cruz Derby Groms was founded as an 8-week skills and drills summer camp, run by the Santa Cruz Derby Girls and led by Kiki Clash. These 22 junior skaters chose the team names Bumper Scars and Sugar Skulls and held their first exhibition bout on August 22, 2009. Based on the success of the summer program, plans were made to expand to a full junior derby season in 2010.

2010

2010 was the Groms first full season of home team games, first games against other leagues in the local region, and first full bout at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium with league growth to 28 skaters.

2011

The Groms continued the momentum of the first two years growing the league to 40 skaters, forming a full contact travel team, hosting full contact games against other local area teams, and adding a junior referee program. Groms committee leadership shifted to Mildred Fierce for 2011.

2012

The Gromshells and Saltwater Sassies teams were established in 2012. The Gromshells attended their first out of state tournament travel competing at Wild West Showdown in Bremerton, WA. They also hosted the Seattle Derby Brats in Santa Cruz for our first ever match-up of many to come. Their inaugural competitive season record was 1-5. The Groms were led by Cinzilla during this time period. 

2013

The Gromshells had their first winning season in 2013 going 4-2, winning games against Bakersfield, Silicon Valley, and Sacramento. Losing two games against San Fernando Valley. With the league's west side practice facility no longer available to rent the Santa Cruz Derby Girls and Groms found a new home Scotts Valley, where the Groms practice and play to this day. 

2014

The Gromshells had their first two tournament season competing at Battle for the Coast in Ventura, CA and Big O in Eugene, OR. They faced the Rose City Rosebuds for the first time and finished the season 3-1. The Groms hosted the first annual Hogwarts Derby Cup tournament drawing skaters from surrounding cities and states to compete in this super fun wizard themed event. The Groms were led by Chonji in 2014.

2015

The Gromshells first season competing within the JRDA, becoming ranked in the female division, and playing at JRDA Championships for the first time. They lost both games at champs, having bouted against I-5 Rollergirls and Tampa Bay Junior Derby. In the rankings, they achieved a season high rankings position of 8th, but ended the season ranked 12th. League leadership transferred to Coach Ima, the newly elected Director of the Groms committee at the end of 2015. 

2016

The league shifted to a year-round program and began operational improvements, including an overhauled skater registration process and Groms specific accounting. Coaches Ima and Neo began coaching the Gromshells together in 2016 and they completed their first 10+ game season ending the season 7-6. They exceeded expectations at JRDA championships winning 3 of 4 games, including games against higher ranked teams, falling only to the reigning national champion Seattle Derby Brats by a crushing 170 points. They ended their season ranked 3rd in the female division which was their first time cracking the top three in the rankings.

2017

With average league membership of about 25 skaters in 2017, Coach Ima saw the potential for league growth by offering the ability for new skaters to join the league year round. This vision led to the creation of the Grommets training program which enables onboarding of new league members at the beginning of each month. Our first Grommets class brought in 21 new skaters, several of which moved on to become championship winning Gromshells in the years ahead. By the end of 2017 our league had more than doubled in size to over 50 skaters. The Gromshells also had their best season ever, finishing the season 8-1, and defeating the long time undefeated Seattle Derby Brats at JRDA NW regionals. They also advanced to the championship game at JRDA champs for the first time, falling to the Seattle Derby Brats, and bringing home silver medals. Based on the results of their strongest season to date, the Gromshells achieved the top JRDA ranking spot for the first time. 

2018

Throughout 2018 our Grommets coaches continued the hard work of onboarding and training new league members and successfully helped the league grow to a new high of 75 skaters. By the end of 2018, having tripled our size, the leadership of Santa Cruz Derby Girls and Groms agreed that the Groms program had outgrown committee status and should separate into its own independent league. This relieved Santa Cruz Derby Girls of what was seen as "a drain on resources" and enabled us to become an independent non-profit focused specifically on youth roller derby. This is also the year that the Gromshells won their first championship, earning the rematch against Seattle Derby Brats that they were working toward, winning the championship title and bringing home gold medals for the first time in Groms history!

2019

The Groms formed their own leadership structure and received independent 501c3 non-profit status in 2019. The leadership team worked hard to establish all of the systems necessary to run a self sufficient and efficient roller derby league. Membership growth continued and the league celebrated achievement of adding our 100th skater league member! The Gromshells welcomed their first two team members to the team who's derby journey had started with the Grommet training program. They had an 8-1 season, advancing to the championship game at JRDA champs, but fell short of defending their title and brought home silver. 

2020

The Groms had bigs plans for 2020, co-signing a new five year lease on our practice space splitting the rent with the Santa Cruz Derby Girls, establishing our loaner gear library, kicking off the year with our very first Try Derby Day recruiting event, and establishing our age-division home team structure with two brand new teams, Double Shots and The Lost Girls. The pandemic derailed our season and limited what we could offer to our league members, but league leadership and coaching staff did absolutely everything they could to keep the league connected and engaged while keeping strength and skills up through off-skates workouts and a ton of non-contact drills resulting in retention of 85% of our league membership through this difficult period.

2021

The first half of 2021 was heavily focused on non-contact skills training to keep our skaters sharp and renovation of our practice space, performing over 60 repairs and improvements, cleaning up the space and working to make it a welcoming space that's efficiently utilized. The Groms returned to derby in the second half of the year, began onboarding new skaters again enabling us to grow to a new high of over 130 skaters, and were very excited to host the JRDA summer invitational event with Los Anarchists and Cherry City.

2022

2022 kicked off with the formation of a second JRDA travel team, the Freak Fridays which compete in the open division, and Your Favorite Derby Team competing in USARS. The Grommets program was back in full swing helping to bring league skater membership up to 150 skaters. The league resumed JRDA competitive play, advancing both the Gromshells and the Freaky Fridays to the post-season. The Gromshells finished the season 12-2, competing at JRDA champs and advancing to the championship game, but ultimately falling to the Rose City Rosebuds bringing home silver.

2023

Improvements of our practice continued iteratively and this year we celebrated the addition of a brand new Stilmat skate floor. The Groms also assumed full responsibility of the practice space through a lease assignment due to financial difficulties of our co-lessee. Thanks to the hard work of our coaches to foster new talent through the Grommets training program, our home teams and travel teams, our league membership surpassed 165 skater league members. Our Gromshells team had an incredible season accomplishing their first undefeated season going 15-0, winning JRDA playoffs and the JRDA championship title bringing gold back to Santa Cruz!

2024

​In 2024 we expanded our league's offerings through the formation of a WFTDA competitive team for Groms alumni, Groms Legacy. Legacy swept their very first tournament 4-0, resulting in a 6th place rankings position with the NA West Region. The Gromshells had another amazing season, going 18-1, and successfully defending their national championship title winning gold at JRDA champs!

2025

The Groms coaching staff continued their focus on skater development growing the league to over 180 skaters, leading the Freaky Fridays to their first winning season going 10-5, Legacy built upon their season to end the year with a 8-2 record, and Gromshells had their hugest season yet, going undefeated 20-0 and defending their JRDA national championship title for a three peat! 

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