Arizona Roller Derby has a new fan in The ScubaJedi. The amateur league is called Arizona Derby Dames and the championships were held at the Castle Sports Club in Phoenix on Saturday night, October 11. It was a flat track bout for who would become the reigning Roller Derby champs, the defenders, The Brutal Beauties, or the challengers, The Runaway Brides.

We arrived to wait in line outside the popular event. There was no shortage on multi-pierced, tattooed, spiked hair fans, and I have never seen so many ripped up fishnet stockings and striped socks in my life. I felt like an old square nerd in my University of Notre Dame sweatshirt. The deep blue sea is where the Scuba Jedi reigns supreme in slick black neoprene bodysuits with an air cylinder strapped on. But it was definitely the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd all about that evening.

Back in the olden days of the 1970’s Roller Derby was popular as a professional full contact sport. The players would wear uniforms and roll on a sloped track with railings where they would get slung over and go flying into the audience at times. Saturday night was amateur flat track and Willy, Yapper and I decided we would sit on the floor right on the track. We were risking getting wiped out but that was the chance we took to be in on the action. The players sported their own expressions of uniforms, wearing the team colors but with costumes as unique as their names, such as Sharon Fists (pictured bleow), Vanessa Velocity, and Phyllis Killer.
It took me a while and reading the program to figure out how to play once again. Not having watched Roller Derby in 30 years, I had forgotten how the game was played. What happens is there is a pack. They start at a given starting line on one of the long parts of the track. Two players from opposing teams are at the front of the pack and they are called the Pivots. Then they are followed by the blockers within the pack. At the rear are the Jammers. The Jammers are the players allowed to score and they score by getting though the pack once, catching up and going through the pack a second time scoring a point by passing an opponent. Getting through the pack is problematic as the other players, various Blockers and Pivots from opposing teams are trying to knock the Jammer down. Therefore helmets, knee, elbow and sometimes mouthguards are worn. The Pivots wear a cover on their helmet with a stripe and the Jammers wear a cover with a star.

The Brutal Beauties were in the lead all evening, wearing their signature hot pink and black colors. They were bigger and more brutal than the Brides, but the Brides came up in the second half leveraging their smaller statures for speed and strategy to overcome and win triumphant over the Beauties.

There was only one real fight causing a couple of spectators to be ejected form the venue, and I thought, how low do you get in life to be kicked out of the Roller Derby?

The evening ended with a raffle and we didn’t stay. Peter, who didn’t even know what a Roller Derby was being a simple farm boy from Cork, Ireland, stayed for the raffle as he had purchased a ticket. I know don’t if he won.

The season is over and we must wait until January to see if the Runaway Brides will defend their title as Arizona Roller Derby Dame Champions.

For more information on this exciting sport, go to:
http://www.azderbydames.com/

Until next time
The ScubaJedi