Roller Derbies: Rock and Roll is Alive in Ohio

The phrase “Rock and Roll” was coined in Cleveland, but Akron area women have taken it to a whole new level.

Take that phrase, add in fishnet stockings, zany costumes, fast-paced action, creative naming conventions, and a truckload of toughness and desire, and plop all those things into a pair of roller skates,  and you come up with the Rock 'n' Roller Girls, an all-female roller derby league. 

The Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls will hit the big-time beginning May 10, 2008. Following a year of planning, paperwork and practice, they performed their first home bout at the Pinnacle Sports Arena in Medina Ohio, just west of the 77-Route 18 exit in Fairlawn, Ohio.

If you think this might be a ton of fun to attend, you are absolutely correct. It was fun just attending a practice!

For only $10 presale, or $13 at the door, you’ll be treated to three twenty minute periods of non-stop pushing and shoving as the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls try to jam home a win against their northern inter-league counterpart, the Flint City Derby Girls of Michigan.  For advance sales tickets, visit www.NRRGirls.com   Doors open at 5:00.  The bout begins at 6:00 PM.

While this is their first official home contest, the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls have already made their presence known within the community, staging an exhibition bout and raising over $2,300 for “Until the Violence Stops,” a program put on by the Women’s Network.

Running down the slate of names, we have Chrissie B. Hynde, Teeny Houdini, Eighty-SixHer, Suicide Blonde, Amber Vendetta, Alexa Clipper, DisGraced Kelly, Agent Skullie, B.F. Goodbytch, Taking Names, Amy Animal, blackhalo, Sweet Demise, Scarlet GoDancin’, and the list rolls on an on (no skating pun intended).

You might recall watching Roller Derby on TV when you were a kid (assuming of course you aren’t a kid now).

Back then, it was co-ed and the track was banked, much like a Nascar oval.  There were also rails the contestants might fly over.  The Northeast Ohio Rock N Roller girls are flat track skaters, so no banked track, and no rails; additionally no men.

The sports resurgence found its roots in Texas back in 2001 and its popularity is extending across the land.  Currently Ohio has teams in Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron.

What is Roller Derby, you might ask?  The rules, seemingly complex, are actually quite simple. 

There are three positions in Roller Derby, the Pivot, three Blockers, and the Jammer.  That’s a total of five players participating per session, or "Jam" for a team   Two teams play against one another, so ten girls are on the track at any given time.

The two opposing teams' Pivots, denoted by a stripe on their helmets, lead the pack, defining the speed and organizing the action.

The two Jammers, marked with a star on their helmets, start in the back of the pack twenty feet behind the actual pack, and try to make their way through the blockers to the front.

The blockers make up the rest of pack. The first jammer to successfully navigate through the pack and break out in front is called the “Lead Jammer.”

So far, no points have been scored by either team.

The Jammers skate faster than the pack, eventually arriving at the back of the pack once again.  On this second and any subsequent trips through the pack each opposing player the Jammer passes is worth a point.

Officials keep track of points.  If you lap another teams’ Jammer, you get an additional point.  Each “Session” is two minutes long, unless called early by the lead Jammer. Then everything starts all over again.

The team accumulating the most points after sixty minutes is the winner.  In case of a tie, a sudden death session is played until one team comes out ahead at the end of a session and is declared the winner.

While there are such things as penalties and out of bounds, these are the basic rules to Roller Derby. 

Why would you want to see a Roller Derby Event?

As far as fans of the Northeast Ohio Rock N Roller Girls go, there is special seating called “Suicide” seating, which is much like the Shamu splash zone at Sea World.  In the suicide zone, you aren’t splashed with water, but you might get fallen upon by skaters pushed out of bounds during a jam.  Much like the Shamu splash zone, you may or may not enjoy getting squished.

Other fun is bestowed upon the crowd in the form of a prize wheel.

The atmosphere is family-friendly, and if you like it and end up being interested in joining the league as a skater or volunteer, there is that type of information on the website as well.  The league also tends to be very charity friendly.

These women do not make money playing the sport of Roller Derby.  They pay dues in the form of money and bruises to participate in something they love doing.   It shows in their level of commitment during the matches.

Remember May 10 is the first bout, and the calendar of the future monthly bouts is available on their website.  The season runs from May through September.