A tale of two from the West Texas Roller Dollz

Roller Derby, what comes to mind when I hear those two words together is the movie “Whipit” starring Drew Barrymore. Just like many of the passions we sports enthusiasts  covet, Roller Derby is incredibly entertaining, a bit ruthless and an extremely competitive sport that has somehow managed to ride under the radar. There are so many people who think of roller derby as being the toughest, most ruthless and aggressive contact sport for women. Now just add the stereotypical persona of piercings, tattoos, and fishnet stockings finished off by a pair of off the wall or vintage roller skates and you have the sport of roller derby.  The ladies who choose roller derby as a sport are ordinary everyday people; they are nurses, hair dressers, social workers, mothers and even grandmothers.  I was lucky enough to get to interview two awesome ladies who not only love this sport but give it everything they have when in the rink. 

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?

Scary-Go-Round:  I think the fact that it was originally a woman’s sport probably has a lot to do with that. When derby started it just naturally went that direction, but there are a lot of men now who are involved in roller derby. There are actually men’s roller derby leagues springing up, it’s becoming more and more popular. They also have co-ed roller derby as well.

Photo by Allison Terry. I am jumping the apex. If you look hard you can see the marking of the inside corner of the track. I am jumping over my teammate to get by her on the inside. This is referred to as jumping the apex.

JJSS: How did you get into roller derby?

Dream-E.RaceHer: I actually was not interested in roller derby at first; I thought it was too violent. I saw the movie “WHIP IT”, and I really wasn’t all that interested even after, but then I had a friend who played and wanted me to come watch and help out at the door, after I saw it for myself with my own two eyes I immediately became obsessed with roller derby and began to play.

Scary-go-round: A lady moved to town that was from Oregon, she started a league and she did a random search on MYSPACE for girls in the area, she messaged me and asked me if I was interested and I said yes of course so she set up a meeting. At the first meeting there was about ten of us and we started playing and I have been hooked ever since.

That's me (scary-go-round) in the black and white striped tights. I am doing offensive blocking which means that I am helping my jammer get through the pack, in this case by opening up a lane for her on the outside and by blocking blockers on the other team to keep them off of her.

I am jamming and Dream E is doing a very effective job of offensive blocking for me. Photo by Sam Gaitan

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

Dream-E.RaceHer:   There are a lot of rules in roller derby, elbowing is actually against the rules. You can hit another skater but it has to be with the shoulder or hips or back. There is no shoving, no punching; modern roller derby is different than it was back in the forties.

In almost all derby photos our faces end up looking ridiculous and sometimes hilarious, as you will see. In the photo I am booty blocking a blocker from the opposing team to slow her down and keep her with my teammates so that we have the legal definition of the pack which we wanted for strategic purposes.

Scary-Go-Round: Back then it was choreographed and now it “Real” it is an incredibly athletic game. You do catch elbows occasionally but it is not intentional. The thing is that if you are intentionally out there fouling people you’re going to spend a lot of time in the penalty box which is devastating to your team mates. Honestly, roller derby is really misunderstood so many people think it’s a violent game but it isn’t, it’s a very athletic endeavor.

Photo by Pixel This Photography. We are blocking the opposing jammer at the Mayday Mayhem tournament in CO.

Dream-E.RaceHer:  And too, a lot of people don’t understand the game, there is no ball in roller derby. It’s an athletically demanding game. What people are always amazed at is that it’s a sport for people of all shapes, sizes and an incredibly large age range. We have girls that are like 18 to 55 years old. We even have a grandmother; she is a total bad ass in the arena!

Photo by Pixel This Photography at the Mayday Mayhem tournament in CO. Again, with the hilarity. That boob grabbing pervert is me, lol. I didn't mean to grab her boobs, or even know that I was until I saw this picture. But sometimes, in the heat of moment weird (although effective) things happen.

Dream-E.RaceHer:  people also have an idea about derby that it’s like bratty kids with bad attitudes. This isn’t so, we are very positive and athletic we are from all different walks of life.  We each have normal jobs, some of us do hair, social workers and some are nurses and even stay at home moms.

All of these are from Mayday Mayhem and by Pixel This Photography. The 1st one I am in the solid black tights and I am booty blocking the jammer and holding on to my teammates so that they can help me slow her down. I'm doing the same thing in the 2nd one, that's me in the purple and black striped tights. 3rd I'm in the purple and black tights and I am pushing my blocker (Ms. Zero) to help her get to the inside line in time to stop the jammer.

Scary-Go-Round:  Our team members get along with each other very well, it’s like a family. We are there for each other and respect each other; it’s a close bond with every member on our team. That is crucial to being in the environment that you enjoy being in, they are our second family.

This was before one of our games at Mayhem. Our coach was fixing my skates and I was fixing Bam Bam's skates. By Randi Adams

JJSS:  Do you practice every day?

Scary-Go-Round:  go round: We practice a minimum of twice a week, our A team is required to practice three times a week. People like me and dreamy work out about five to seven times a week, roller derby is definitely my motivating factor. I want to do whatever I can to be the best I can be at game time.

Many leagues practice four to five times a week, unfortunately at this time we don’t have the resources available for us to do that.

Jammer takeout. The progression of one of my hits. By Kirby Carter. We were in Oklahoma City playing Tornado Alley Roller Girls.

Dream-E.RaceHer:  You need to know how to skate; we teach our players how to fall properly to reduce the risk of injury and how to hit properly. You aren’t allowed to play this sport unless you can do these things safely. We can’t have someone on the track playing who is too new and doesn’t know how to skate, that could be a huge disaster for other players and would result in getting players hurt.

JJSS:  How long would someone have to practice?

Dream-E.RaceHer: It depends on the skater and their work ethics; I would go to the rink and practice my skating and my falls. I was completely dedicated to make this team quickly and I may the team quicker because I worked on these things outside of practice.

Scary-Go-Round: Derby is definitely one of those sports that you get out of what you put in. If you only come to practice twice a week and you don’t give it 100% you’re not going to be a good player. The big thing too is that you have to work on your cardio, roller derby is a very demanding sport, and if you aren’t in shape you aren’t going to do well. It can really take up to six months to a year to get where skating is like second nature. That’s really where you need to be. It takes a lot of dedication, sometimes it feels like a second job but I love it so much that I don’t mind.

JJSS:  What is your position?

Dream-E.RaceHer:  I am a jammer; I am the skater with a star on my helmet. Jammers are the ones who actually scores points for their team. Basically, you skate around and each time you pass the other team’s jammer or blocker you get one point for each one. SO then the other team tries to hold you back and knock you over, it definitely a lot of strategy trying to gain points.

1st one I am booty blocking the jammer out of bounds photo by Lubbock Music Scene. The second one we had just finished a2 hour practice in a facility with no AC and my teammates dogpiled me for my birthday. And the third one our team was doing "Twerk It Tuesday", that's me upside down in the middle. The 4th one is our 2014 league photo, by Sunil Satheesachandran. And in the 5th one, we were on our way to the Mayday mayhem Tournament and in order to fight dead legs every time we stopped we would do some sort of exercise and in this particular photo I caught Dream E doing a jump squat and I love it because it looks like she is being abducted by aliens.

Scary-Go-Round:  I primarily block.  That is the position that I am strongest at and where my team needs me. My job is to stop the opposing jammer and help my jammer get through the pack. I also communicate constantly with my other blockers, when I am in the pack with other blockers. I let them know when other jammers or blockers are coming and where to block. Team work is crucial to the way the game is played today.  If you aren’t working as team the jammer is going to blow right by you and score points.

At the skate park. By Allison Terry.

JJSS: How would you recommend someone signing up for a local derby team?

Scary-Go-Round:  I would recommend that they email or send a FB message to their local roller derby league. You then audition with a potential team and fill out paperwork. New skaters are referred to as “Fresh Meat” skaters, these skaters practice separately from the veteran skaters.

Both of these are by Caitlin Welborn in our game against the Bombshell Betties out of Odessa. I'm in the black and white tights and in the 1st one I am hitting the jammer and in the second one Randi Reckless and I are using team work on the jammer.

JJSS:  What is each of your Skate names and did you pick them yourself or were they picked for you by someone else?                                                                                Dream-E.RaceHer: My name is Dream-E.RaceHer but everyone calls me Dreamy. I don’t really know how I came about choosing my name, I went through so many.We usually choose our own names.

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Scary-Go-Round:  My Derby name is Scary-Go-Round, everyone usually calls me Scary or ScaeBear.  My mom actually chose my name for me. When I joined Derby there was actually a website called “Two Evils” where you would have to register your name nationally so that no one else would be able to use your derby name. Roller derby has grown so much in the past few years that that is not in effect anymore. I thought of all different names, I couldn’t think of anything and then my mom asked me about Scary-Go-Round and I loved it!

JJSS:  Do you have any Pre-game rituals?

Dream-E.RaceHer:  I usually watch a movie or listen to some music to get me pumped for he game. I am pretty good at mentally coaching myself with positive reinforcement that helps me more than anything.

Scare: My pre game rituals I don’t do anything crazy like jog two miles, I rely on visualization and I set goals for myself.  I do it in a positive way such as “I will not foul anyone” or “I will play cleanly”.

JJSS:  What is the most appealing part of the game to you?

Dream-E.RaceHer:  I really enjoy the sport, I love the challenge and you can always work towards becoming better and better at it. The rules of roller derby change constantly so you have to be able to adapt. I tend to be very quiet, but with my team I can be myself. In derby you don’t have to have tattoos, piercings or weigh a certain amount to fit in, you just have to have a love for the game.

Scary-Go-Round:  For me it’s pure love of the game! It isn’t that you get to wear fishnets, it’s not the tough girl persona, I just love the sport of roller derby, and I really love the game more than anything that I have done in my entire life.

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

Scary-Go-Round: I have been playing for seven seasons, this last season I dislocated my thumb, I didn’t even fall down to do it! I had my hand on the blocker beside me and a jammer hit me with her body and it ended up jamming my thumb.  Luckily we had an orthopedic surgeon at the game that day and she was able to pop my thumb back into place. I was actually able to fini

Dream-E.RaceHer: I have never been injured seriously while in roller derby, I did sustain an injury during the season from another sport that I had played. I was out for an entire year from roller derby; I couldn’t stop playing and got right back into the game.

JJSS:  Do you have sponsors for your team or do each of your members help pay for traveling?

Dream-E.RaceHer:  We do have sponsors but each member pays dues to help us with traveling expenses. We don’t get paid to play derby, we have to pay for our traveling.  It’s hard because we don’t live in a huge city where you have people wanting to sponsor you like you would in Austin and Dallas.

JJSS:  Are the girls as mean out of the arena as they are in the arena? 

Scary-Go-Round:  You play an aggressive sport so you are labeled mean or violent. That’s not true, we play aggressively but we are not violent. It’s totally a part of the sport.

Dream-E.RaceHer:  I think that roller derby makes me more level headed. If I have had a rough day I can go practice and it helps me focus on something besides my frustrations of the day. 

JJSS: There still may be a few people out there that may think Roller Derby isn't a real sport, these two ladies depicted a sport that requires a great deal of athleticism and technique.  There are strict rules that are ever changing and penalties. These players show a great deal of dedication to the game, not just in the physical aspect but also mental. Its a challenging game that requires quick thinking and precise strategy and skating skills.  I can only say that I am truly impressed with the amount of enthusiasm and devotion each of these ladies have for not just the game but for their team mates. Thank you both for giving us the opportunity to share your story.