Ask the rollergirl

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Whip It, the new Drew Barrymore-directed roller derby movie premiered last weekend. There’s a fair bit of roller buzz, and people I know IRL are asking a lot of questions about how real roller derby relates to what was depicted in the movie.

Joining my local roller derby league is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s great exercise, a huge stress reliever, and more fun than I ever could have imagined. Our league is suffering from under-exposure, and though I know that few of you, if any, live in my area, I’d like to get the word out 'net wide!

Anyone have any questions?

I’ll start off - Yes, it’s real. No, it’s not scripted. Yes, we get hurt.

2

I should be a roller girl, huh?

Okay, this really isn’t a question; I’m just here commenting. It’s one of those things where I say to myself, “Hey, you should do that,” and then later say, “Well… what are you waiting on?” The response is, “Meh, haven’t gotten around to it.” I don’t know what the hold up is. I’m not afraid of getting hurt.

My old man has suggested it would be a good idea for me several times. In his words, “You’re competitive. But most importantly, you’re hot and you’re mean.” I think that’s a compliment. :dubious:

3

Here I clicked on this thread thinking it had something to do with Boogie Nights…

4

Well, I haven’t seen the movie but has the OP?

If so, what did you like/dislike? What elements were conveyed authentically and which took dramatic liberties from the real thing?

5

How painful are the falls? And what is “your area”?

6

What is your roller girl name? How did you come up with it?

7

…Well… I’ll throw in to help.

I’m a referee.

8

Mean Old Lady - Yes, you should. I’m just like you in that there are a lot of things that I think “I should . . .” and never do. With derby, I just sort of snuck up on myself, and made the commitment before I could talk myself out of it. The way you describe yourself, especially “not afraid of getting hurt” would be a huge asset. Meanness helps, too. Not that we ever want to hurt each other, but I’m such a nice girl - it was REALLY hard for me to knock someone down on purpose. If you really are interested, and have any questions, feel free to ask here or PM me.

Ninja - Sorry. Any way I can make it up to you?

Archive Guy - I saw it before it came out, at a sneak preview. Honestly, I never would have gone to see that type of “awkward, pretty teen finds a place she can fit in” movie, but it’s cute, and not sickly so. I liked that it really played up the sisterhood and sense of belonging that I feel with my league. I’m kind of a dork, and don’t have a lot of girl friends - so that’s a big aspect of it. It also accurately portrayed some of the sacrifices you have to make, as with anything, to be the best you can be at it.

The movie portrayed banked-track derby, and I skate flat-track, so I’m sure there are some differences with rules, but there was way more overt violence on the track than we ever see. If you deliberately elbowed someone in the face like Drew Barrymore does in the movie, you’d likely get thrown off your team. But, it made for an entertaining movie. Also, before the main character’s first bout, the team gives her her “very own” mouthguard. The idea that she was ever even allowed to practice without a mouthguard is a bit scary.

Shibb0leth - The very first thing they do is teach you how to fall without injury, and you practice over and over and over until it becomes muscle memory. I have to be careful when it gets icy in the winter, because when I start to stumble, even not on skates, I automatically go to my knees. Falling, and getting hit, for me, rarely hurts. The day after a bout, or a particularly hard practice, I’ll be kind of achy, and might have a bruise or two. I’ve played for almost two years now, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve fallen or been hit and thought OW!!

My area is Lexington, Kentucky. I skate with the Rollergirls of Central Kentucky (ROCK).

Jelly Roll (which would be an awesome derby name, BTW) - it is REALLY hard, and stressful to come up with a name. There is an international Master Roster, and believe me, anything you think of, has already been thought of. That’s why I’m not Black Sunshine. I had one before that I didn’t really like, and eventually switched it to Sugar Shock. I’m kind of an 80’s hair metal fan, and one night at practice, the rink was playing “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The part where he says, “Do you take Sugar? ONE LUMP OR TWO?” I thought, that would be an excellent number, and set myself to finding a name to fit.

Keep 'em coming!

9

There is a roller derby here in Chicago that I keep meaning to go watch, but keep forgetting about. Of the people I’ve met that have said they were rollergirls or into the sport as a spectator, a large percentage of them are gay. Do you find this to be true in your league?

10

How exactly do you play? I know that it involves skating around - and I think you’re supposed to stay ahead of the other team, hence the hitting/falling? Maybe an explanation of the sport would bring forth more questions?

11

There are signifigant rules differences between Flat Track and Bank Track due to the nature of having a banked track but a blatant elbow to the face is an elbow to the face and would get the player possibly ejected.

12

skeptic - ah, good call. It is a bit complicated. Basically, you have a circular track. Play is divided into two-minute periods (as many as you can fit in a bout, generally 60 minutes long) called “jams.” In each jam, there are five girls (men can play roller derby, too, though) from each team on the track. One girl from each team is what’s called the jammer. She is identified by a cover with a star on it, on her helmet. The jammer is the only one who can score points, and she does so by skating past the girls on the other team. The first time she skates past a girl it doesn’t count, but she starts racking up points on her second pass. Both jammers are going at the same time, so the other players, the blockers, are simultaneously trying to stop the other team’s jammer, while helping their own jammer through by getting in the way of the other team’s blockers. Yes, it get pretty wild.
Ninja - there are a few lesbians on my team, as well as a few girls who are bisexual. I’m not sure the percentage of women overall who identify themselves as such, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say only slightly above average, if at all. We all joke about it a lot, so to an observer, it’s probably really hard to tell who is sleeping with whom.

ETA: Chicago has some excellent roller derby teams. You really should go watch them sometimes!

**
Push You Down** - Thanks for joining in! Who do you skate with?

13

I’m with the Derby Dolls in Los Angeles.

14

Does the same woman skate as jammer throughout the evening, or do you trade off? Have you ever been the jammer? Is it more fun, stressful, challenging, etc., than being a regular skater?

15

Players do tend to specialize. A team will try to cultivate between 3 or 4 main jammers and then rotate them throughout the bout. Anyone can rotate into the different positions; Jammer, Blocker or Pivot (the pivot acts as a sort of lead blocker who tries to set the pace of the pack).

16

We usually have a rotation of about four or so girls who jam. I am primarily a jammer, because I’m faster than I am strong. I’m trying to learn to be a better blocker, though. There is quite a bit of pressure as a jammer, in that the eyes are on you, and if you screw up, that’s points that your team could be scoring. But, I really, really enjoy blocking, too. Very satisfying to knock the snot out of people. I think jamming is harder stamina-wise. After I jam once, I usually need to take a break, but I can be in as a blocker for a few jams in a row before I get worn out.

Awesome, Push. How’s their season? And, I have a ref-question. When you’re reffing, how hard is it not to be biased for “your” team? All of the refs I’ve ever experienced have been amazingly fair, but I feel like I’d have a really hard time. Also, how do you keep track of which girls the jammer has passed and which ones she hasn’t? So many times when I’m jamming, I’ll pass a girl, then fall or something, and I can’t ever remember who I’ve gotten by and who I haven’t.

I think I’m showing more of my own deficiencies here than I intended.

17

She was five foot six and two fifteen
A bleached-blonde mama
With a streak of mean
She knew how to knuckle
And she knew how to scuffle and fight–Jim Croce “Roller Derby Queen”.

So, the modern product is a shoot, now? Interesting. IIRC, the earlier versions were worked, same as pro wrestling. Are you in a recreational or pro league? If pro, how do you get paid? What about health insurance–any provided for players, or are you on your own?

Is your team all girl, or is there a men’s team involved as well? I think the last version of the product I saw featured the men skating in periods 1 and 3, with the women skating for the second period…

18

Our season is almost over. We have two more regular bouts before championsips in December, although I believe that the two teams are locked in for champs due to point spread and W/L records. We have 5 league teams and our season runs from Feb to Dec with a short 6 week hiatus during the summer. We do a bout at least every month. We’re trying to get it down to one every three weeks.

In the old days (meaning, like 3 or 4 years ago) a ref almost certainly had a relationship with someone in the league (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband etc), so bias whether real or imagined was always an issue. As derby has matured, you are starting to see Refs who are refs because they 1) love the sport and 2) want to make the sport better.
Someone coming in as a fan may have a favorite team but either THAT or THEY won’t last long if they want to be a good ref.

I’m seen obvious bias in refs I’ve worked with elsewhere, luckily that’s not been a problem in our league since I’ve been involved. I’ve travelled, woked several flat track bouts and tournaments and there’s definitely been some raised eye-brow moments. Derby’s a small world and a ref that is that blatant with bias won’t get asked to ref events and will end up with a bad reputation.

Jam reffing is incredibly hard but in someways it’s just counting.
“Okay, passed #7… passed #.308…#00 Arms minor… passed #69…passed #7 again- no point…and she calls off the jam. Okay 3 points!”

19

How physically exhausting is the sport? I ask because I am a woman who is built for it (sort of tall, tons of muscle, low center of gravity, thighs like trees, karate student not afraid of being hurt) but I am also overweight and a smoker, so I do tire easily when it comes to running around. I had hopes to spar in tournament with karate, but by the time I left I couldn’t keep up the pace for 2 minutes.

I think this is something I might be interested in - and realize that I would become more healthy as I practiced more - but I wouldn’t want to be that slow/tired bitch that drags the team down.

What do you think?

20

Are y’all part of the WFTDA? Our local league - Capital Punishment out of Tallahassee, FL - I guess just became part of is last year. I’m a fan.