This weekend I finally got around to doing something I’ve been meaning to do for years: I attended a roller derby bout.
I think I first became aware of modern roller derby when I saw an article about a staff member at my workplace who was on a team. Then I became familiar with the Minnesota Roller Girls, who showed up at CONvergence [I’ll use this opportunity to link shamelessly to my book on CONvergence]. The league also volunteered to cheer on participants in HeroSearch‘s first Cookie Fun 5K.
You may be aware of roller derby from the past. It started in the 1930s when body contact at a roller skating event got the most reaction from spectators. From there it grew and became increasingly theatrical, and some time after the ’70s it began to die out. It revived in the early 2000s, becoming primarily an amateur women’s sport.
Most roller derby is on flat tracks. The rules are fairly simple. I walked into last weekend’s North Star Roller Girls bout completely ignorant of the sport, but it didn’t take me too long to figure out the basics. When I left, I still had questions about some of the finer points, but for the most part, I understood what I was seeing on the track. That said, I don’t recommend most people go to their first bout as ignorant as I was. The North Star Roller Girls make things clear on their Derby 101 page.
Part of the fun of roller derby is the atmosphere. Teams, players, officials, even bouts often have playful names. The bout I attended was called Purple Pain. It was actually two bouts between all four North Star Roller Girls teams: first between Delta Delta Di and the Kilmore Girls, then between the Violent Femmes and the Banger Sisters. It featured players with names like Maul Bunyan, Pop Roxie, KiLLRoy, and Salty Maude. (Were I to participate in roller derby — and given the fact that I don’t feel comfortable on skates, that’s not happening — I have decided I would be ObliterKate.)
If it had merely been an evening featuring women with amusing names skating around a track, I wouldn’t be writing about it right now. When the first bout started, given both my ignorance of the sport and the effectiveness of the blockers on the two teams, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. It just seemed like two groups of women blocking a couple of other women. When things really got going and the jammers from the teams broke through the pack, I began to see the point to the sport. The last bout got really exciting. At first the Banger Sisters scored several points, leaving the Violent Femmes far behind. Before the end of the first half, the Violent Femmes made a huge comeback, and the second half was a nail biter, with the two teams staying pretty close in terms of points. My mom, my daughter, and I began rooting for the Violent Femmes, in part because we liked a couple of the players: The Fawkes was doing a great job as jammer, and Pop Roxie was an outstanding pivot. The Banger Sisters won, but I had a great time.
There are banked track teams, but such tracks are hard to come by, so your best bet for seeing roller derby is on a flat track. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has hundreds of leagues around the world, so you may very well be able to see roller derby where you are. There are also at least some men’s teams for people who are interested in seeing or participating in men’s roller derby.
The roller derby season is practically over for the year, so check now to see if you can get to a bout in your area. And if you have local teams but can’t make it to a bout this season, mark your calendars for the 2017-18 season. If you like what you see, maybe you’ll even consider trying out for a team!