Chicago Litigator Is Roller Derby’s ‘Ying O’Fire’
Molly Wretzky, aka Ying O’Fire.
Photo by Thia Penta.
Updated: A Chicago-area litigator switches business attire for roller skates in the evening when she competes in the roller derby as a member of the Windy City Rollers.
Jennifer “Molly” Wretzky, whose derby name is “Ying O’Fire,” joined the team in 2005 as she was finishing her law degree, reports the Herald-Palladium of Southwest Michigan. Her team placed second in a national competition in November.
“Mainly, I joined because it sounded like fun, although I wasn’t 100 percent sure what roller derby was,” she told the publication. The first season was “more of a spectacle,” Wretzky said. “We had fake fights and silly penalties.”
But after competing in its first national championship, the team saw that its competitors were engaged in a serious athletic competition, according to the story. The Windy City Rollers also decided to go that route, Wretzky said. The article notes that Wretzky’s sister, Darcy Wretzky, has her own claim to fame as the former bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins.
Wretzky, a graduate of Chicago-Kent law school, works for a former solo practitioner in Rosemont, Ill., handling employment and commercial law matters. She usually is able to juggle her law practice and roller derby work, but law takes precedence when conflicts arise. She says her boss “is supportive of my derby antics” and gives her time off to play in national tournaments.
“I think that roller derby complements my practice of law,” she told the ABA Journal in an e-mail. “I need to have an outlet to expend as much physical energy as I do mental energy. Not only is the sport of roller derby a perfect way to do this, it also has granted me a large social network that goes significantly beyond the boundaries of other groups of people I’ve known. … This has enhanced both my personal and professional life.”
So far, Wretzky hasn’t had any major injuries, but she wonders how long she will be able to continue the sport. “It is very hard on the body,” she told the Herald-Palladium. “But, as my father says, ‘Old age and treachery will always win out over youth and skill.’ “
Updated on Feb. 4 to include comments from Wretzky.
