Roller Derby

Roller Derby

By: Keaton Butler

When my fellow hooper, Sara, and I opened up the door to the convention center, hoops in hand, we felt a rush of cool air, carrying the tune of a Saxophone blasting out the last few notes of our national anthem. We came clad in fishnets and other outlandish pink and black costumery, to match the rest of the eccentric marching band, in support of Lexington’s Rock team. We were late, this meant we would have to awkwardly crouch while running in front of the bleachers of spectators (as is the unspoken punishment for arriving after everyone is seated) to get to the area where the marching band was warming-up. The announcer’s mic was turned up too loud as he announced our Rock team’s players. “Number 7, Murderface Monroe, number 9, Catcher in the Eye…”The crowd roared with applause. A referee took over the mic and did a quick overview of the rules of the game for new attendees. As he explained what a jammer was, and what different calls meant, both teams rolled around the rink in synchronicity, making different strokes and going different directions at the sound of a whistle. At the last whistle, the teams circled up around their coaches to hear the game plan. In the meantime, a guy with a painted chest and a megaphone got the crowd to perform the wave and get pumped up to cheer on our home team.

The teams start to disassemble and skate with determination to their spot on the track. The pivots, which are the 2 front blockers in the pack, are lined up first. Then, behind them, the blockers fill in. 20 feet behind the pack, the jammer, with their star helmets line up, one from each team.  A whistle blows and the pack is off. A few seconds later is another whistle and the jammers sprint to catch up with the pack. They either approach the task of maneuvering through the pack with pushing and shoving or with sneakiness and stealth, or so I had heard. In this situation, however, both jammers chose the aggressive route, and I soon discovered why. The jammer from the rock team busted through the front of the pack, in the process, knocking an opposing blocker into the “suicide seating” area. The crowd roared with excitement. The lead jammer sprinted around the track to find herself at the back of the pack again, looking for a way through. The jammer from the other team had gotten through the pack, and was making her way around the track to get through the blockers a second time and end the jam, so the lead jammer had to move fast. The track became a Safari, she was a lion, crouching behind a pack of elephants, looking for a way to get in, to find prey, but time was running out and then she sees a glimmer of hope, between the bottoms of two elephants and it might be her only chance. She pounces through the gap, clawing and ripping her way through the pack. The last challenge stands in front of her, she must get past the opposing pivot. Luckily, the pivot from her team sees her trouble and leans on the opposing blocker, creating a nice free space on the inside of the track for the jammer to get through. And success! The Rock team won a jam!

                At half time, we got out our hoops of fury, and strutted out onto the rink, followed by the band, playing “Seven Nation Army”, crescendo-ing into “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads. We hooped for the crowd, backed by the band and flag core (which is made up of women, and a man in a morph suit, who carry hoops and make up choreography to the band’s songs). Hooping for 15 minutes straight is really tiring, and we walked off the track at the end of half time covered in sweat, but smiling never the less. The bout continued, after a quick warm-up for the roller girls. Rock took and kept the lead for the rest of the night, winning the bout, but I didn’t even notice, because just watching the sport was so enthralling.

Before attending this event, the extent of my understanding of roller derbies went as far as what I had seen in the movie “Whip It.” All I knew to expect was a bunch of girls dressed in hot pants, knee pads, fishnets and roller skates zooming with aggression and determination around a concrete track. When I arrived at the rink that night, I realized that the movie portrayed to sport accurately. Besides my anticipation that all the girls would be huge and muscular, my expectations were pretty close to what I actually saw. I also expected the rink to be curved, instead of flat. This atmosphere was unlike any I had ever experienced. Roller derby is different than any other sport I have ever seen. It is beautiful, yet powerful and destructive, and much more badass than any sport other than cliff diving. What was really interesting to me was the accepting and kind nature of the people. Everyone was very willing to see new things, and learn about other cultures, and communities. There was a lot of variety of style, body shape and attitude, even within each team, but everyone got along great off the track and several players even came up to me afterwards to ask about hooping and tell us that we did a great job. It was a very fun atmosphere, and it was even more fun than I anticipated.