(Not really sure which board to post this under)

Since I've moved to this new city I've been hearing a lot about roller derby. There's 3 or 4 different leagues around here and they do a lot of competitions and seem to have a lot of fun. Most of the teams seem to be made up of Marine wives so I'm guessing it's an outlet for military frustrations.

Has anyone ever done this or seen it played in person? It seems really fun but I bet I could get so beat up if I wasn't careful. I'm not the most graceful on the 4-wheeled skates so that will take some more practice before joining. I got invited to a practice tonight so I'm thinking about going if my husband gets home in time (oh the joys of only having one car!).

A video with the basic rules:
www.youtube.com . . .

Thanks!

It used to be on TV in the 50's and occasionally thereafter. It was a pro "sport" and attracted a following not unlike one that follows wrestling or hockey (I say that as a hockey fan, though I've never seen roller derby live.) There were at least two motion pictures made about it. One, the long-forgotten "Fireball" in ca. 1951 (I saw it as a kid), with Mickey Rooney; and the other "The Kansas City Bomber" (or some such),probably from the late 60's/70's with Raquel Welch which I have not seen.
At the pro level, I recall that the teams were co-ed but the men and women skated separately in shifts. I can't say that I ever saw enough of it to figure out how it was scored...something to do with passing other skaters including being whipped forward by teammates to overtake an opposing skater.

If you do a YouTube search on "roller derby", there are quite a few videos showing some action and at least one explaining the sport.

It is a fast sport, rather rough at the pro level. The pros skate(d) on a banked wooden track. I have never heard of it being done on a non-pro "fun" basis, but obviously even the pros had to start somewhere. I've only seen it being done with four wheel skates aligned like auto tires, not in-line. It certainly would be good exercise. You'd probably get some bruises as well. I have a girl cousin, my contemporary, who lost her "baby fat" (her term)as a teen when she regularly did roller skating and some racing, though not roller derby. I think that is the least of your problems.

It might be fun to try it, a way to meet people in your new community. I'd like to hear how it is done on this level. Softball may be safer though, LOL

Jon

I have a friend from high school who joined a league a while back, and I know she absolutely loves it and feels that it has done great things for her fitness level. She has a "stage name" and posts pics of herself on Facebook wearing all these cute roller girl outfits. It looks like she's having a ton of fun. She did say that at first she fell down all the time, but obviously somewhere along the way she got the hang of it. No idea what her level of experience with roller skating was before she started though. Also, although I know what Jon is talking about with the banked track, the league in our city is a flat-track league, and I'm guessing that might be more the norm these days.

Here is the website for the league in my hometown, just so you can get more of an idea of what a typical roller derby league might be like: www.naptownrollergirls.com

I actually have a roller derby name even though I never participated. A friend of mine from CrossFit was doing it and as we were trying to come up with her name, we figured out one for me ("Em-ron", I'm taking you down with me). She seemed to really enjoy it. I don't know if she ever officially made the team, but she always had great stories.

Some girls I went to school with, play. One just got her cast off after nearly a year - broke her ankle plus her leg in two places. Some of the bruise pictures they post are amazing! They all keep going back though (broken leg-girl has been itching to get back even), so people obviously get very passionate about it! I do wonder how they pronounce it though, because obviously it's an American sport/game/thing so you'd say derby, but we pronounce derby darby, so do they say derby or darby?!

^I'm pretty sure we say dErby...at least I hope so because otherwise I've been saying it wrong.

Thanks for all the info, guys! All this talk of an official "name" has got me thinking to what mine could potentially be...I'm clueless.

Husband didn't get home from work on time but there is practice tomorrow too so I'm hoping it works out!

I don't think "I'm Clueless" would be the greatest name for you

Jon

Good point, Jon. However, maybe it would distract the other players because they wouldn't expect me to be a good player...

I'm getting ahead of myself now!

I was just talking to a girl the other day about roller derby. Apparently, it's making quite a comeback. There is a league in the town next to me. And this girl is a member of a team. She is not skating right now because she is injured. She tore some ligaments in her leg/knee/ankle or something and was in a boot. But as soon as she heals, she's planning on getting right back in action.

She was describing it all to us and invited us out to watch her and her team. It sounds, uh... rough, to put it mildly. I remember watching it in the 70's. Yeah, not for me. But they seem to have fun!

kk~