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Ron Kantowski
Today's roller girls skating into mainstream
It must have been two or three summers ago when I was first exposed to this latest incarnation of roller derby -- downtown, on Fremont Street, of all places. There were women, mostly young, a lot looking like the pugnacious musician Joan Jett, skating on a "flat track" consisting of nothing more than strips of blue masking tape -- the kind used to protect the walls when you are painting the baseboards -- arranged in a shape approximating that of an oval. This was in front of the stage where washed-up bands such as The Grass Roots and Steppenwolf perform free concerts.
These women skated the way Bambi walked on ice. Legs going in every direction. Only the legs of the roller derby players were encased in fishnet stockings. They wore tiny, tiny skirts. Many sported body piercings. Many more sported tattoos.
They skated under alter egos based on deviant acts of mayhem, both sexual and physical: Ivanna S. Pankin, Ace Bondage, Alexis of Evil, Wham Bam Shank You Ma'am, Violet Moodswings, Suzy Homewrecker, Wolf Blitzher, Whip Me Houston, Zsa Zsa More Gore.
The teams, I recall, were called the "T's" and "A's." Lots of men, for some reason, had gathered to watch.
And yet, I remember thinking, this will never catch on.
The next day I wrote something to the effect that this wasn't your old man's roller derby. It was more like Billy Idol's roller derby.
I was wrong. This new breed of roller girls is no longer dancing with, or by, itself.
In 2001, there was one flat-track roller derby league. Now, according to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, there are 470, representing 41 states and Canadian provinces (including the Fabulous Sin City Rollergirls of Las Vegas, comprising four teams of wannabe Kansas City Bombers.)
Flat-track roller derby, once the domain of iconoclasts and nonconformists, is going mainstream, having spawned a full-length movie ("Whip It," starring Drew Barrymore) a reality series ("Roller Girls" on the A&E Network) and a convention of sorts, called RollerCon, held last weekend at the Sport Center of Las Vegas.
Based on the roller girls I spoke to, flat track is sort of like Kate Gosselin or Kevin Federline or the Eiffel Tower, which, like Federline, once was thought of as an eyesore --- somehow it became popular, although nobody can quite pinpoint why.
"It's like a secluded island of misfit toys ... with an aggression problem," said Emerald City, Seattle, delegate Grace Sears (roller girl name: LivThruDis), lowering her shorts and lifting her top ("Whoa, roller girl, cut off the jam!") to reveal a sunset-colored bruise roughly the shape and size of Africa.
For Tammi Chaddock (roller girl name: Fun2PlayWith) of Porterville, Calif., it's an outlet for a 41-year-old grandmother to recapture youth and regenerate muscle. "I do takedowns," she says of her position as a pivot/blocker for the SinCal Derby Vixens and her soon-to-be job in the mental ward of a State of California hospital.
Chaddock's team skates in the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Bakersfield, Calif., where, she says, she has yet to encounter the Riddler and his henchmen plotting a diabolical takeover of Gotham City. But it's proof you can choose up sides and play almost anywhere, which might explain why flat track is blooming, and traditional, banked-tracked roller derby is withering away in TV archives.
Another difference between flat track, according to recently engaged Jillian Pearse (roller girl name: Cee Cee Sickness) of Edmonton, Alberta, and the TV archetype ("If you're still available, Randi Whitman, call me") is that when you see Pearse flying through the infield on her keister, it's not theatrically enhanced. Those are real knees and real elbows, taking divots out of real shins and real ribs. The scoring is legit, not contrived.
Pearse, who had just finished getting kneed and elbowed up and down Fremont Street, toward where that Carl Ferris guy plays the saxophone, watched with me as a referee removed the masking tape "track" with one hand while holding a giant 24-ounce can of Modelo beer in the other.
"That's why I left my ring at home," she said.
"You mean the beer and the parties?" I said.
No, she said. The knees and the elbows.
"I didn't want to break it."
Pearse, 28, said this was her second RollerCon, but after coming to last year's to learn, she planned this year to play.
And yet, when I poked my head into a seminar the next day during which a Wrigley Field beer vendor calling herself Val Capone and Jerry Setzer, son of Leo Setzer, the original old school roller derby promoter, were telling a captive audience of roller girls that if they lose the fishnets and the deviant monikers and maybe a third of the tattoos, the best of their lot could evolve into family-oriented sport worthy of a television contract, there was Pearse, front-row center, scribbling furiously in the margins of her notebook.
Billy Idol, as far as I could tell, had left the building.
Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.
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As a male referee (in training) for Royal Windsor Roller Girls I admire all of the effort that the girls put into this fabulous sport.
When involved with the sport it is quite easy to see why it is quickly growing in popularity. Its a fantastic way to build up your fitness and a to work out your frustrations for the day. The Roller Derby League can provide a fantastic support network for team mates and a great way for people to meet and make friends.
Mr Kantowski if you research Roller Derby a little deeper it would be quite easy to see why this amazing sport is gaining popularity so quickly. From the audience perspective flat track roller derby is fast paced, agressive, and full of action. Nothing is staged which of course the audience appreciate.
I do encourage Mr Kantowski to perhaps spend some time with a local league and get involved to perhaps understand better why this sport is growing so quickly so he can stop asking questions and start giving informed answers.
Trigger Snappy #77 RWRG, UK
Mr. Kantowski comes so close to tackling an interesting question: why is this particular sport bringing in so many non-athletes at such a rate that it's the fastest growing women's sport out there? To me that is more interesting than focusing on how many tattoos these skaters have.
In an age where some people think Title IX is obsolete, where many other women's sports don't get a lot of attention...there's modern roller derby. In one's face and attracting an audience that previously may not have been drawn to sports. Is it the fact that it's a grass-roots phenomenon? That the women involved aren't the usual "jock" type? That big-time sponsors aren't making a bland product that the masses are rejecting? Or is it because it's one of the few full-contact sports where women rule the roost?
There's so much that's fascinating here other than the looks.
"...somehow it [flat track] became popular, although nobody can quite pinpoint why."
Flat track derby doesn't require a large, costly, cumbersome, specialized play surface. A flat derby track can be set up in 15 minutes anywhere there's enough space for a basketball court. You can save for years for a banked track and a place to keep it, or you can play flat track this afternoon. What's to understand?
Well Said Mr. Seltzer, well said! Thank you!
We may be skating into the mainstream, but it's because this is our passion, yet, most of the mainstream world is still too chicken to actually play! We're also bringing BANKED TRACK BACK. We do this because we weren't aloud to join the football team. Now, my guy friends who did play football, are too scared to join roller derby! This is a rough sport, and it takes a lot of endurance, speed and stamina to do it. We're working up to the Olympics, or at the very least, The X-Games (bikes and skateboards... wooo... how about an actual SPORT?!) WFTDA is fantastic, but OSDA is starting to grow. Co-ed derby action!!
I must say I agree with Mr Seltzer here, more focus on the actual sort and how fast it is growing would have been beneficial to the article. After having read it twice it seems to be a mix of notes from previous encounters with roller derby and a few quotes from skaters at this years' Rollercon. Says nothing about the actual sport - more about the author?
Kit
London Rockin' Rollers, UK
Ron, I know these are just "girls" but what they have gone through to become skaters is a lesson for other athletes.....they formed their leagues on their own (there are now 570 leagues in 17 countries, go to derbyroster.com) and they pay to belong and receive no money for skating. And yet the sport is growing at an unbelievable rate, with some 30,000 women estimated to be competing worldwide, with 31 affiliated men's leagues, and 40 junior leagues. These women work to raise money for causes in addition to their jobs and raising children. Are they succeeding? Almost 7000 attend the Seattle leagues home games at Key Arena, 4000 in Chicago, 4500 in Phoenix and Toronto and Denver, and 5000 in Brisbane Australia to name a few.
It is so easy to attack what they are doing, but why not acknowledge that 2500 were just in Las Vegas helping your faltering economy and helping their own lives.