Cooler but still well above normal this week

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

They wear lipstick, tattoos and roller
skates and go by tough names like "Kim Jong Kill," "Shiv & Let
Die" and "Mary Tyler Roar." They race around in circles crashing
into each other while the crowd cheers.

      Women's roller derby - a TV fixture in the 1960s and '70s - is
back. Leagues such as the Minnesota RollerGirls have sprouted up
around the country. Also, opening nationwide on Friday is the movie
"Whip It," that's directed by Drew Barrymore and stars Ellen Page
("Juno") as a Texas teen who takes up the rough-and-tumble sport.


      But this is not your mom's roller derby. Instead of the
theatrics of old-school roller derby, which could resemble pro
wrestling, the new skaters bring a tough, yet feminine attitude of
pride and independence.

      "I can wear bright red lipstick and go out and play because I
want to look good while I'm hitting somebody or while I'm taking
somebody out," said Lyndsay Trader, an education administrator who
skates for the RollerGirls under the name "Mitzi Massacre."

      Trader, who wore blue eye shadow and her red hair in pigtails
for a bout in the Brawl of America, a division championship, said
this new edition of roller derby appeals to her because "you can
be tough and still feminine."


      The Minnesota RollerGirls started in 2004 at a roller rink in
suburban Minneapolis before moving a year later to Roy Wilkins
Auditorium in downtown St. Paul. Tryouts are in the summer and the
season starts in the fall. The RollerGirls averaged just over 3,000
fans a bout last season, RollerGirls spokeswoman (and skater)
Lyndsey Lyford said.


      Another Twin Cities roller derby league, the North Star Roller
Girls, skates at the Minneapolis Convention Center and both leagues
are part of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which
has 78 leagues in the U.S. and Canada. There are about 400 roller
derby leagues worldwide.


      Skaters have to be at least 21 to join the Minnesota
RollerGirls, who practice three times a week and play about once a
month.

      Unlike the derby star Raquel Welch portrayed in 1972's "Kansas
City Bomber," today's skaters race on a flat track instead of a
sloped one, are not paid and are not professionals.

      The modern leagues are skater-owned and operated and many are
nonprofit, as is the WFTDA.

      But many rules are the same as the old-school game. Each team
has a pack of five skaters on the track, including a "jammer"
wearing a star on her helmet who laps the other skaters to score
points. The players still zip around on four-wheel skates instead
of modern inline skates. Although there are penalties for illegal
hits, it gets physical.

      "Crowds love big hits. They absolutely love them," said
RollerGirl Hanna Belle Lector. Her real name is Jennifer Plum, a
29-year-old mental health counselor from Minneapolis.

      "There's nothing like going and hitting somebody, having them
hit the ground," Plum said, slapping her hand for emphasis,
"watching people stand up and scream. It's fantastic."

      Crowds also get close to the action. At September's Brawl of
America, fans sat on the floor next to the track as the skaters
whizzed by to the sounds of the Jackson 5's "ABC" and Wilson
Pickett's "Land of 1,000 Dances."


      "The crowd does get a jammer or skater in their lap from time
to time," Trader said.

      Trader, 27, has been a figure skater since she was 4, and a
member of the Minnesota RollerGirls for about 4½ years. She said
she's "really not an aggressive person" but enjoys the
athleticism of roller derby.

      "There's not a lot of contact sport out there for women, and
suddenly there is with roller derby," she said.

      Erin Lusti, a RollerGirls captain and jammer who skates as Suzie
Smashbox, grew up playing hockey - good training for a new sport
that has given the 29-year-old a fractured spine, a broken foot and
pulled and torn muscles.


      "It's real like any other sport would be, that you would get a
lot of injuries in. It's tough," Lusti said.

      And while she likes the aggression of roller derby, Lusti takes
pride in the team's charity work. Since their beginning, the
Minnesota RollerGirls have donated close to $38,000 some of which
came from leftover sales.

      "We don't get paid to do what we do. We do it because we love
it," Lusti said.


      With its freewheeling style, modern roller derby gives women a
different way to express themselves, said Bob Jarvis, professor of
law and popular culture at Nova Southeastern University in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.

      "They're doing it because it's fun," Jarvis said, "it builds
camaraderie, it's a way to work off stress, but it's very niche."

Gallery

Sports

Minnesota News

Twin Cities News

Jeff Baenen, Associated Press

Author

They wear lipstick, tattoos and roller
skates and go by tough names like "Kim Jong Kill," "Shiv & Let
Die" and "Mary Tyler Roar." They race around in circles crashing
into each other while the crowd cheers.


Rouge and Tumble: Women's roller derby is back

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox