This Saturday night I had my first experience with roller derby. I knew next to nothing about this sport prior to Saturday night, other than it involves roller skates and not roller blades, and that it’s all female. My intro in to this sport was vague memories of RollerGames on tv in the 80s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RollerGames). That incarnation of the sport was co-ed I think, and more like Pro Wrestling with scripted events rather than a sport.
So roller derby the sport consists of two teams skating around an oval track. The teams that are on the track consist of five players; four blockers and one jammer. Points are scored when the jammer breaks through the other teams blockers and skates ahead to rejoin the other blockers. The jammer then attempts to break through the opposing blockers again, when and if she does, points are gained by each opponent she passes. All the while the other team has their jammer doing the same thing.
These rounds are very fast and furious, the jammer has one minute to score and the game has two halves, each in twelve minute periods. You can learn more here http://derbydolls.com/la/
All in all, I was able to learn about something I never knew about before and I had a lot of fun. The venue/arena is very well organized and I recommend you checking it out the next time you’re in Los Angeles. Check out a previous entry here http://wu-e.com/2011/11/08/comikaze-interview-with-stefcon-1-from-the-los-angeles-derby-dolls/
Here are some photos from my camera phone, the ladies were skating by pretty fast.
