Roller Derby Excitement - or Not

The Bombers practicing the tripod block.

It's official -- roller derby is not for me. I was kind of excited when I read about the Bradentucky Bombers' season opener. It sounded like a fun outing, so I grabbed a couple friends and headed to the Brandenton Ice and Sports Complex to check it out. 

It seemed promising at the outset. Libbie and Rene had gotten front row seats on the track just behind the "danger zone" sign on the floor. Why not? Would they really allow spectators to sit there if it was actually dangerous?  As the skaters warmed up, circling the track and chatting, I enjoyed checking out their roller derby names. Some of my favorites were Furiosa, Bottle Rocket and 666. The referees had derby names as well -- Necessary Evil and SMAC Daddy. (As a bit of an aside, Libbie told me her roller name is Dailey Cutter, explaining that it is a type of fuse used to maximinze bomb blast damage on the surface of a target. Somehow I neglected to follow up not only on why she chose that name but also where she came across that information. It's the quiet ones you have to look out for....)

Rene and Libbie with friendly ref

And that was pretty much where the excitement ended. Libbie and Rene had given me a short primer on the game from their Kentucky days. I now knew that each team would have five players on the track at a time -- the jammer and four blockers. The jammer wears a star on her helmet (which is actually some kind of shower cap thing traded among the players). While not really relevant, one of the jammers from the Orlando team had a Joker smile (a la Batman) painted on her face to create some extra intimidation. The Bombers didn't seem to notice it, but I kept wondering how she was going to get that mess off her face. Each time the jammer passes a member of the other team, they score a point. The job of the blockers is to make sure that doesn't happen. You now know as much as I do.

In addition to providing a warning to spectators close to the action,
the "danger zone" is an homage to Danger, a referee who passed away.

I had envisioned a lot of fast skating by the blockers as a unit, with a bit of pushing and shoving when the jammer tried to pass. Nope. Instead, the ten players would gather in a scrum with the jammers trying to break out. Sometimes this would happen and sometimes all the "action" took place basically where they started. Perhaps the skaters never got moving because there was a foul of some sort that we didn't see? Either way, it seemed less than a minute before a referee would blow the whistle and new squads would substitute in for the skaters and they'd gather again in their circle. The 20 minute half took ages to end. 

At this point you might be thinking, "That would be SO boring to watch. What happened to the fast skating and the elbowing and the hip checking?" That's the way it was in "Kansas City Bomber" with Raquel Welch and "Whip It!" with Drew Barrymore (or so I've been told). We think part of the issue might have been the flat track. At some rinks, the track is banked, which might lead to more action. It definitely results in higher costs since the track is limited in its use. But it's also possible the sport has just evolved over the years. 

The introductions to the team members had the most actual skating.

And it has been years -- in fact almost a century -- since the first roller derby premiered. In 1935, event promoter Leo Seltzer introduced Depression-era audiences to the predecessor to today's roller derby. It was more like a super marathon, with two person teams competing to skate the equivalent of traveling from New York to San Diego. Yes, that's 2,700 miles and required 57,000 laps around the track. It makes me dizzy to think about it. The event took three weeks to complete, and it was a hit with the public. More than 20,000 people came out to watch the Transcontinental Derby. This astonishing level of interest came as no surprise to Seltzer. After all, more than ninety percent of Americans had roller skated at least once in their lives. 

Since the beginning, roller derby has been a sport that welcomed female participants. The Transcontinental Derby included one woman and one man on each team. In 1937 the roller derby transitioned from just skating in circles to the sport it is today. Teams were co-ed so women players were part of the equation. So was the violence -- whether actual or faked. Sportswriter Damon Runyon is credited with suggesting to Seltzer that rough play would bring in more spectators. He was right. I guess we live in kinder, gentler times now (???) since we saw nary a headlock or fist fight. One of the Bombers' jammers did get injured early on with what looked to be a sprained ankle. Everyone on the track -- skaters and referees alike -- took a knee while the situation was sorted out.  

And so concludes my roller derby experience. It's definitely a "one and done" outing for me. But the rink was filled with people who were clearly long time fans, so there must be some appeal that escaped us. For more on the history of roller derby, click here and here. The images capture more of the type of action we were expecting. And to learn more about the Bradenton Bombers (and to see them teach a morning show host some of their moves), click here. 

Stay open to new experiences!