Spanky
Freakishly Normal
Took the family and some friends out to the Minnesota Rollergirls Roller Derby Night this past weekend. Met a few of the ladies practicing at the Metrodome (Rollerdome) a few months back, checked it out online and thought it might be fun.....Watched roller derby on boring Saturday afternoons as a kid on UHF stations (dating myself..) and thought the sport was dead.
I was really surprised not only by the true competition but that everyone enjoyed it. The women range in ages from 21 to mid 40s. The reason posting it here in the Main Forum is how size accepting it is. The fact is women of different sizes are competing in the same sport doing different tasks. Kind of like a running back in football not being the same build as an offensive lineman.
The women are of all sizes, shapes, heights. The sport is a checking sport like hockey with modest protection. These girls hit and hit hard. It requires stamina, blocking technique, very good skating skills, balance, aggression, strength and the ability to get hit (checked) fall and get back up.
It is not the staged set design as in the late 70s when the "sport" devolved into "spectacle". It was described on the website as PG 13 and from where we were sitting, it was G. Even the crowd, while vocal, was great. Ratio of the sexes was easily 50:50 to 60:40 to the women. My boys liked the speed, maneuvering and the checking. In the end, we knew the rules, really appreciated and understood the standout skaters and checkers, the scoring and defense. I think my boys got an example of women competing in a type of aggressive sport in which most think only men can partake. Since there are no men's leagues in the country, women own the show. They don't have to take a back seat.
Though we joked about it, one blocker took down a very good jammer as she passed her. Literally she grabbed her and tackled her right on the track. The two got up and were sent into the "penalty box". Lights were shown on them and the announcer made a few comments. OMG, then they hugged............Like no crying in baseball, there should be no hugging in the penalty box, no, not ever. Never.
And for anyone thinking it is in any way exploitive, the women are volunteers in MN, they have assigned duties in helping run the league, AND every bout has a selected charity or charities to which a portion of the proceeds are donated. I believe several animal shelters were selected last month. This month's selected charities were for local women's health education.
Link for some more info. Almost all major cities have leagues now. Good clean fun.
www.mnrollergirls.com
I was really surprised not only by the true competition but that everyone enjoyed it. The women range in ages from 21 to mid 40s. The reason posting it here in the Main Forum is how size accepting it is. The fact is women of different sizes are competing in the same sport doing different tasks. Kind of like a running back in football not being the same build as an offensive lineman.
The women are of all sizes, shapes, heights. The sport is a checking sport like hockey with modest protection. These girls hit and hit hard. It requires stamina, blocking technique, very good skating skills, balance, aggression, strength and the ability to get hit (checked) fall and get back up.
It is not the staged set design as in the late 70s when the "sport" devolved into "spectacle". It was described on the website as PG 13 and from where we were sitting, it was G. Even the crowd, while vocal, was great. Ratio of the sexes was easily 50:50 to 60:40 to the women. My boys liked the speed, maneuvering and the checking. In the end, we knew the rules, really appreciated and understood the standout skaters and checkers, the scoring and defense. I think my boys got an example of women competing in a type of aggressive sport in which most think only men can partake. Since there are no men's leagues in the country, women own the show. They don't have to take a back seat.
Though we joked about it, one blocker took down a very good jammer as she passed her. Literally she grabbed her and tackled her right on the track. The two got up and were sent into the "penalty box". Lights were shown on them and the announcer made a few comments. OMG, then they hugged............Like no crying in baseball, there should be no hugging in the penalty box, no, not ever. Never.
And for anyone thinking it is in any way exploitive, the women are volunteers in MN, they have assigned duties in helping run the league, AND every bout has a selected charity or charities to which a portion of the proceeds are donated. I believe several animal shelters were selected last month. This month's selected charities were for local women's health education.
Link for some more info. Almost all major cities have leagues now. Good clean fun.
www.mnrollergirls.com
