Saturday Adventures - Roller Derby Fun!

(Yes if you follow me over here you already have read this, but I enjoyed myself and wanted to make sure you ALL get to hear about it)

This weekend we went to a Roller Derby…I had never been and had no clue what to expect!  Seriously, I think once I had heard the term roller derby associated with crazy girls who slam into each other, but other than that, I had no clue what to expect.

I can say that it was truly a worthwhile experience and I enjoyed every minute of it!

We went because one of my husband’s coworkers is on the team and so we went to support her.  We also went because it really sounds like something we would enjoy.

Here’s the team:  Renegade Roller girls San Diego

Have you ever been to a roller derby?  Let me tell you, this is a fast paced, very busy game.  When it first started I had no clue what was going on…

I just saw groups of girls rolling around, some girls with pink or white covers on their helmets (some stars, some stripes) and a lot of girls slide, pushing, and pulling to get others to fall down.

After the first part, they handed out the programs that had the rules on it.  Once I got the rule, it all became very clear what was going on.  I kind of had an idea, but it wasn’t exactly the same as I had heard before so having the program really made it clear.

So, here’s the thing: there are two teams (last night was Renegade Roller girls San Diego and SoCal), each “round” is 1 minute and you have as many rounds in a 15 minute period as you can get, between each round helmet covers get changed and so the faster they get set up the more rounds they can make, there are 3 15 minute periods with 15 or 20 minutes between each one.

So, the helmet covers.  There are 2 types in each color.  There’s one with a stripe down the middle, these go on the pacers.  They are at the front of the pack and pretty much keep the pace going.  Then there are the covers with a star on them…those are the jammers.  They start about 15 feet behind the group and their job is to jam through the group.

Then there are three more from each team skating behind the pacers.  Their job is to stop the jammers from getting through…ANY WAY THEY CAN! 

There is body slamming, sliding, pulling, shoving, and, yes, some brawling.  It’s a tough game!

The first time the jammer gets through the group there is no points given…they now have the opportunity to make more points.

Once they get through once, every time following that in the one minute that they get through the group they earn 3 point.

They MUST make it through the group before the whistle is blown to get points AND their feet must be ON THE GROUND…that’s why the sliding and body slamming.

It’s rough!  Very rough!

The roller girls are all given or choose a name for themselves.  There are some crazy names.  The girl we were there rooting for is named Retrophilia.  Some of the other girls on her team are named Kat A. Strophic, Lil’ D, Porn Scar, and a bunch more I can’t remember (I should’ve taken notes).

  My husband joked that I should join a roller derby team.  The funny part is that if I wasn’t so busy every other night of the week and didn’t NEED time at home, I might just do it.

I LOVE roller-skating and, in reality, though it was rough and tumble and active, it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t handle it.

I spend my entire childhood on roller skates and I’m guessing that I would pick it up again pretty quickly.  Plus, HUGE workout!  I’m just saying!

Then I joked that if I had my BFF out here with me that I would TOTALLY join with her.  We would be a kick *ss team!

Alas, I just have too much to do and I would probably be a bit afraid of the injuries.  Oh, I wouldn’t mind them, I just go back to the thought of, “Oh the cost and the insurance and blah it’s not worth it.”

Although it did look like a whole bunch of fun!

We had a blast and even got a picture with the “star”.  Yes, we made signs…we’re crazy like that!

So, have you ever been to a roller derby?  Would you do it?