Roller derby leagues explode in popularity
Elizabeth Taggart
On a circular track 40 feet by 20 feet, teams of women don uniforms and battle on roller-skates in the growing phenomenon know as roller derby.The Arizona Derby Dames have become the biggest roller derby league in the nation and is just one of the three leagues in this state.
Five teams comprise the Derby Dames: the Schoolyard Scrappers, the Coffin Draggers, the Brutal Beauties, the Runaway Brides, and the Bombshells, each dressing in a manner representing their team name.
During a head to head match, five players from each team skate during a 90 second jam.
The pivot acts as a captain and tries to control the pace of the pack to her team’s advantage.
The jammer scores points by passing members of the other team, and three blockers, who try to prevent the other team’s jammer from scoring by trying to knock her off her skates and to the ground any way they can.
Roller derby has accrued such a large following that as many as 400 fans have been turned away at a time from the 1,000-seat Castle Sports complex, where the Dames finished their last season on Oct. 11.
The Dames will move to their new 15,000 seat home at Veterans Stadium when their new season opens on Jan. 31, 2009.
Rowdy Roulette, the captain of the Schoolyard Scrappers, said the move is monumental accomplishment.
“We used to run kids out of skate parks just to have practice,” she said.
Roulette, who’s been with the Dames since they split from Arizona Roller Derby in 2005, explained that in the beginning they weren’t sure the league would make it.
“It becomes a part of you,” she explained, “I could never give it up.”
Women of all ages and from all walks of life skate with the Dames, from single moms to attorneys, Roulette said.
“You have to be 18 to join but our oldest skater is 43 and she could whoop the 18-year-old,” she added.
Roulette said she originally joined roller derby for exercise and friends but that now she has become obsessed.
Roulette’s favorite aspect of the sport is the roughness and the chance it gives her to get her aggression out and said that the same is true of a lot of the players.
“You go up against your best friend and beat her ass,” she joked.
Miss Inga Skate said that in addition to team practice, skaters have league practice every Thursday.
“Practice brings everyone together. Its very competitive but you leave everything on the rink,” she said.
The skaters not only sacrifice their time and dues for the sake of their sport; injuries range from broken arms and legs to torn ACLs and dislocated kneecaps.
Injury is so prevalent that the league tries to hold “fresh meat” tryouts every three months so that teams aren’t skating short.
Although skating ability isn’t necessarily a factor in deciding who will be chosen, skaters are put through a skills test when trying out.
Roulette admitted that when she first started she couldn’t even stand up in skates.
Miss Inga Skate, who recently finished the fresh meat process, said that roller derby allows her to be someone else when she puts on her fishnets and skates.
“At work, I sit at my desk terrified to talk to people but here it’s different. I can be loud and crazy,” she said.
“There’s something about going in circles that just makes us all insane,” Roulette added.
The next tryouts will be held in December and information about the Dames can be found at www.azderbydames.com.
