There is something to be said for being able to hit other people on four-wheeled roller skates, and then blaming it on your alter ego. In roller derby, that is exactly what happens.
Roller derby has been emerging as a more mainstream sport the past few years.
Roller derby is a (traditionally) women-only contact sport that started off for women, said Melanie MacGuigan, the director of administration at Ottawa Roller Derby.
“I think the appeal of roller derby is the aggressive nature that isn’t offered in more traditional sports for women,” MacGuigan said.
There are two teams composed of five members on each. Of the five team members, there are four blockers and one jammer. The jammer is the person getting points for her team by lapping the rink as often as she can. She gets a point for every girl on the opposite team she passes. This is called a jam and lasts two minutes, MacGuigan explained.
A match in roller derby is called a bout, which can be anywhere from two twenty-minute halves to two thirty-minute halves, depending on the league. The first half is broken down into a series of jams.
There is also a lead jammer position, which carries with it more strategy, she said.
“One girl has to break through the pack on the first time around. The first time she breaks through the pack , she doesn’t get any points, she’s just establishing the lead jammer status. That lead jammer can call of the jam whenever she wants. It’s a strategy position really. So you really want to get that lead jam,” MacGuigan said.
One thing people don’t know about roller derby is that it is a very intense sport, according to MacGuigan.
“Everyone was first attracted to it for its badass girl in fishnets and cool-sounding tough name, but first of all it’s a sport. We work out really hard. We have to skate for a long time, we have to skate and get hit by other girls for a long time, so it’s a great cardio sport that way,” she said.
In order to protect themselves, players wear knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, a helmet and mouthguard.
Each player also gets to choose a nickname to skate under. These “roller derby names” help players build an alter ego, which is especially important for women who aren’t as enthused about the aggressiveness of the sport, MacGuigan said.
“By creating this alter ago for themselves, they can say ‘Well it’s not me being aggressive, it’s my alter ego being aggressive’,” MacGuigan said.
She said that players are encouraged to have fun with their names. “A lot of names are nicknames that friends have given them, and some come up with something that’s incredibly creative. Half of the fun is coming up with your roller derby name,” she said. In her case, she said she started with her first name, Melanie.
“I was thinking Melrose, like Melrose Place. I turned it into Hell, I thought Hellrose sounded tougher than Melrose. I turned it into a doulble ententdre, a pretty flower from hell or the syntax of hell rising up, hell rose,” MacGuigan said.
For people who want to get into roller derby, or for those who are just starting, the first thing MacGuigan said they need to know is that everybody falls while skating.
“One thing we always try to tell our girls is don’t be afraid of falling. If you fall, all we ask is you get back up,” MacGuigan said.
“I had never been on wheels before in my life the first time I went and the next morning, I was so black and blue and sore I could barely walk,” said Carleton student Paige Mueller, who has been playing roller derby for two years.
“But I didn’t give up and now, I realize that sticking with it was very worth,” she said.
Everybody has a reason they like to play. MacGuigan said she got started with Roller Derby while looking for a “different” sport to play, she said. She was looking for a sport that had contact and wasn’t something everyone else already did.
Mueller said that the best part of the sport for her are her fellow derby girls.
“A bunch of normal everyday women transform into their badass alter-egos a couple nights a week and get together to kick each others asses and cheer each other on on the track. It’s amazing the team work and camaraderie that this sport fosters,” Mueller said.
