Roller Derby and Skate Culture

Are you ready for the intensity of Roller Derby?

The sport that took off in the 50’s and since seen a modern revival has swept through skate culture with an increasing popularity, recently being considered for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Once thought to be a full contact sport for only women the sport has branched off into men’s leagues as well.

So, what is Roller Derby?

Roller derby is a full contact, point scoring game. Two teams play each other fielding 5 skaters each 4 blockers that skate in a pack and a jammer who tries to sprint around the track. The blockers job is to stop the other teams’ jammer from passing them, and to help their teams jammer break through pack. The jammers start to make points the second time they lap the pack, scoring a point for each opposing skater they pass, including the other teams’ jammer.

That is a very basic run down of a seriously complex sport, that has as much to do with athletic skill and strength and strategy and play making. It is one of the few sports where you can find a team playing both offensively and defensively at the same time, which can be confusing the first time you see it. And although some leagues play by varying rule sets the basics are consistent.

Where can I find Roller Derby?

There is a roller derby team in every major city in the United States, and there are even teams in smaller towns across the nation. You can find them easily as a football team, roller derby is everywhere!

The sport is so big now that almost all major international cities have a roller derby team. The best advice is wherever you are Google that cities roller derby team and just see how close they are.

Who’s who of Roller Derby

There are different variations of the sport of roller most common variations have to do with the playing surface, one plays on a flat track (floor level), and the other on a banked track (raised up on the outside and sloped down towards the inside). The most pervasive version on the sport is flat track.

The World Champions of flat track roller derby right now are the Rose City Rollers. This team has dominated for the last two seasons of Roller Derby Champs with their athletic prowess. This tournament comes from the largest international roller derby organization Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). This organization is composed of over 450 leagues on 6 continents.

The reigning banked track national champions are the L.A. Riettes. The banked track organization is much smaller totaling 9 competing adult teams. The sport of banked track roller derby takes after roller derby’s earliest forms with the track being lifted and tilted.

So much more

Roller derby has a strong skate culture itself, and the sport is one that cannot be easily described in one small blog post, but it is a force to be seen in skate culture. Skaters everywhere should be excited and supporting of this intense sports future!