Meet Maully Baddison from the 575 Roller Babes

I’m a huge fan of Drew Barrymore, with that being said you can expect that I made it a must to watch the film “Whip It” that she played in. After seeing this movie I must admit that I was totally in awe by the diversity of women that are attracted to this 1940's originated contact sport.  Of course I know that this was a fictional film, but it really couldn't stop my curiosity of what exactly it is that draws these women into this high endurance and physically demanding sport.  I’m going to be honest here, before my interview with Maully Baddison from the 575 Roller Babes, I really thought roller derby was a predominantly eclectic and Gothic contact sport, a subculture completely restricted to the likes of me. This interview was not only enticed me to watch more games, but also made me think of creating my own roller derby name and getting out there in the rink… but then again roller skates and I are like oil and water, and of course after witnessing my not so fierce skating tactics my kids assured me I am better off with a camera and pen in hand. While I may not have made it in the rink, I did get the honor of interviewing the president of the 575 Roller Babes, Maully Baddison. 

JJSS:  Roller derby came about in the 1940’s and is predominantly an all women’s organized sport, why do you think this is so? 

Maully Baddison:  It’s such a physical sport you would think that more men would be involved, though there are more and more men’s roller derby teams popping up these days.  For me roller derby is empowering, you get to be a different person on the track, that could be a reason why more and more women gravitate towards roller derby. 

JSS: How did you get into roller derby?

Maully Baddison: One of my friends told me that someone was starting a team in here in town, I saw the movie “Whipit” with Drew Barrymore and I thought if there was a team anywhere near here I would totally be into it! My parents always let me go skating on Friday and Saturday nights growing up. I knew that I loved to skate so when I found out they were creating a team here I was there.  Unfortunately that team was not doing anything as far as putting on events here in town so that is when I decided to start 575 roller babes.  We are in our third season right now and we have been very successful.  It’s been a really awesome adventure.

JJSS:  What is one thing you think people would be surprised to learn about roller derby?

Maully Baddison: I think a lot of people tend to think that we are just a bunch of loud and crazy girls that are running a much and getting into bar fights. It’s the stigma of it that people still have.  Roller derby is a legitimate sport; we practice very hard, twice a week two hours at a time. There is tons of strategy that we have to learn, and the rules are constantly changing. What people don't realize is that it is an actual sport, it is very entertaining to watch.  For the players there is a lot of hard work that goes into it. It is not for the faint of heart, there is a lot of commitment and it’s especially benefiting to be involved in this sport. It makes you feel good to be out there doing something. I am 34 years old, I was in sports growing up but roller derby is just something that I latched on to and that I love, this is my thing now.

JJSS:  In roller derby is it really a lot of elbows to the face and crazy roller derby skating antics? 

Maully Baddison:  Well there are rules, we can only hit with certain body parts, mainly your shoulders and your hips. Although there are rules in place it doesn’t always mean you won’t get hit, I played the other night and got hit in the face three times.  But it’s expected, bodies are flying around you everywhere and it’s going to happen. You will get put into the penalty box if you are there throwing elbows and deliberately hurting others. 

JJSS:   What type of training do you do to prepare for games?

Maully Baddison:  Practice requires a lot of skating, seven laps around the rink in less than five minutes, it takes a lot of physical endurance. We also practice footwork, crossing over, turning around, opposite directions. There is a lot of strategy too; we block together in a wall, stuff like that.  We practice the way we play. A lot of skating,  falls and blocking is basically what we do at every practice, the more you practice the better you become.

JJSS:  What position do you play on the team? 

Maully Baddison:  Im a blocker, the beautiful thing about roller derby is you play offense and defense. You are trying to stop the other jammer from getting past you and then you are trying to help your team’s jammer get through the pack.  The pack is essentially the blockers that are on the track.  So what you are doing is working with your teammates to make sure that this other jammer doesn’t get past you and score points.  We get into positional blocking, trying to get in front of the jammer to prevent her from passing while another one from our team tries to knock her down so she can’t pass.  Basically you have four blockers from each team on the track, you have two jammers one from each team. The blockers are trying to keep the other teams blockers from hitting our Jammer.  Jammers have to get through the pack of blockers, once they do they make a lap around the track and get though the pack again, she gets a point for each opposing blocker. That is like four points. If the other jammer is still stuck in the pack and can’t get through she gets a point for that. 

JJSS:  Did you choose your derby name or did your team choose your name for you? 

Maully Baddison:  Usually you choose your name yourself, sometimes they make it a play from their given name, or they pick something that appeals and suits them. We have a girl on our team who is a baker and she chose the name Red Velvet.

JJSS:  Do you have any pregame rituals? 

Maully Baddison:  Actually the night before the game our coach requires that we sit in an ice bath, its torture; it’s only about fifteen minutes I know it sounds horrible but it really works! When we are traveling together we always like to have a meal together before or after the game.

JJSS:  What for you is the most appealing thing about roller derby?

Maully Baddison:  To me, how I am constantly learning, this is a sport that hardly any of us grew up playing; it’s not like softball or basketball.  The rules in roller derby are constantly changing so when you walk in the door you really don’t have the experience or knowledge of the game.  The girls on my team are like my family, we are a tight knit group of girls, and we are there for each other on and off the track. If somebody is going through a difficult time we know that we can count on each other to be there.  I love that aspect of roller derby too.

JJSS:  During your roller derby time what is the worst injury you have sustained?

Maully Baddison:  I strained my PCO in my knee. That was really minor; I had to sit out of practice for a month to give it time to heal. I have been very lucky that I have not had many injuries, just bumps and bruises but it goes with the game.  We had a co-ed game last month and one of the teams other guys ended up breaking his leg, you never know; anything can happen.

JJSS:  When your team travels, are you sponsored or is it strictly volunteer play? 

Maully Baddison:   For our home games we have sponsors that help us put on our local game events, we do have a team account so that we can help each other out with hotel rooms during travel times.  If we have the money in our account we help with gas, food and lodging. This is a really expensive hobby, they girls put a good amount of money and vacation time into being able to play roller derby.  If we have the funds we definitely help each other out.  It would be great if we could get sponsors for our team, I think people have a misconception that as roller derby players we get paid to play this sport, the fact is that we put a great deal of our hard earned money into our roller derby hobby.  We also try to do fund raisers such as car washes to help keep money in the team account.

JJSS:  Do you think that the girls are as mean off the court as they appear to be on the court?

Maully Baddison:  I’m a really nice person, probably one of the nicest persons you could hope to meet, but when I get on that track I’m a totally different person.  The adrenaline is going, the game face goes on. Its funny about roller derby we go out there and basically rough each other up and then off the track we go out and buy each other beers and just have a good time hanging out with each other.  You may really dislike this girl on the track but off the track you are really good friends.  Like I said earlier, that’s the beauty of roller derby; you get to be someone totally different on the track than you are on the street.

JJSS:  What do you do outside of roller derby?

Maully Baddison:  I work for an electrical supply company, I do their accounting.  I have a normal day job and then in the evening I have roller derby, it’s really awesome.  I am the president of our league. It’s a lot of work but worth every minute I put into it.

JJSS:  You have seen the movie whip it, do you think that is a realistic view of what roller derby is about?

Maully Baddison:  They added some theatrics to it; it tends to be more for entertainment, in the movie it’s more geared towards the entertainment value.  The aggression in the movie like punching people in the face doesn’t really happen in real time derby. The commodore is on point, the girls are all really close. 

JJSS:  What advice could you give our readers on joining a roller derby team?

Maully Baddison:  You can always search on FaceBook for your local roller derby teams and ask about how to join their league. 

Maully, I want to thank you for interviewing with the Jingo Jango Sports Show, I cant wait to watch one of your games and wish you all the best for a spectacular season!