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For the Rat City Rollergirls, roller skating rinks are not for holding hands with their sweetheart and not for dancing the Hokey Poky. To them, the rink represents an arena for kicking major ass. As soon as they lace up their skates, there’s no nice, no sorry and no crying either, however, body-slamming, tattoos and bad attitudes are allowed.
“We’re very competitive,” co-founder Hurricane Lilly explained. “We want to win. There’s things we’ll do on the rink to win but all the niceties that everyone had at the beginning are gone. People used to say sorry—there’s no sorry in roller derby.”
This month marks the one-year anniversary for the Rollergirls and since their start the Rollergirls have exploded from a small idea between the three co-founders, to a full-blown, self-sufficient, not-for-profit business.
“We basically created a business from absolutely nothing,” events and promotions director JoanJetta said. “This year has completely changed our lives.”
As the rollergirls prepare to begin their first official “bouting” season, with their inaugural kick-off in March, they have received press from FOX News, Evening Magazine, KIRO, Andy Savage and Bob Rivers. Their growing popularity proves that roller derbies are rising from their roots and are no longer considered a dying sport.
“There’s definitely a resurgence going on right now,” Hurricane Lilly said, “[But] we can’t forget the old school derby either. When they were doing it it was huge and a very unladylike sport to be involved with.”
Roller derbies began during the Depression and grew to their rise in popularity in the '80s. A roller derby competition is called a bout and consists of four teams with two jammers, six blockers and two pivots for each team. The jammers score points for every person they pass after lapping the pack. Pivots set the pace for the pack and along with the blockers act as defense to prevent jammers from scoring. The teams compete in two-minute jams during four 14-minute periods.
“[Jams are] high paced action and physical,” JoanJetta said. “You’re basically body slamming people. You learn how to give and take hits. Sometimes they are even going to be sandwiching you. Basically there is a lot of strategy involved, a lot of plays and a lot of training.”
The Rat City Rollergirls are among 20 other leagues across the country who’s members train and compete in derbies including the Rose City Rollers in Portland and other teams in Texas, California and New York. Currently the leagues are trying to form a United Leagues Committee to help standardize rules, track dimensions and create interstate bouting. However, as the teams revolutionize the old days of derby, the skirts remain the same, but the attitudes have changed.
“[Roller derbies] definitely attract a certain type of woman,” Hurricane Lilly said. “We have tattoos or are in a band. A lot of us have not been involved in sports before so [derbies] are the punk girls’ team sport.”
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