Hello there.
Now I know not all of us have seen Whip It, but hey I thought y'all should know about the hottest women's sport right now.
It's called Roller Derby.
A friend from my Sociology class invited me to a bout (match) on Thursday so I went. It turned out to be a blast! And I learned a TON about what makes this contact sport so B.A.
So for those of you who don't know what roller derby is, I'll lay it down easy for you.
Basically you have two teams of five girls each on roller skates going counter clockwise around a track. Each team has a "jammer" identified by the star on her helmet. The other teammates are "blockers." The object of the game is to get as many points as possible. The fun part? You get points for each opposing teammate that your jammer laps. The hard part? You have to make sure the blockers from the other team don't knock out your jammer while trying to cut off the other team's jammer too.
It was fun to watch because it's loud. People are screaming, the players are being knocked down right and left, and with no less than four referees waving and blowing their whistles, it's pandemonium at the least. Not to mention the players themselves are yelling at each other to do formations and strategies against the other team. There is a plethora of rules (how to body check, where to go in on the track if you get knocked out, how long to wait in "the box" if you get a penalty, etc). Luckily my friend explained most of it to me as we sat on blankets right on the concrete floor next to the outer ring.
However, there are risks of injury. Just watching (and hearing) some of the girls fall smack on the cement flooring was enough to see that. My friend showed me a big bruise on her shin from the last game she had. You could see right where the roller skate's wheels had made contact.
All in all, I just might have fallen in love. Next set of practices starts January 2nd and you can bet I'll be there on the track, ready to play.
Here are some more pictures to get the full effect:
Now I know not all of us have seen Whip It, but hey I thought y'all should know about the hottest women's sport right now.
It's called Roller Derby.
A friend from my Sociology class invited me to a bout (match) on Thursday so I went. It turned out to be a blast! And I learned a TON about what makes this contact sport so B.A.
So for those of you who don't know what roller derby is, I'll lay it down easy for you.
Basically you have two teams of five girls each on roller skates going counter clockwise around a track. Each team has a "jammer" identified by the star on her helmet. The other teammates are "blockers." The object of the game is to get as many points as possible. The fun part? You get points for each opposing teammate that your jammer laps. The hard part? You have to make sure the blockers from the other team don't knock out your jammer while trying to cut off the other team's jammer too.
It was fun to watch because it's loud. People are screaming, the players are being knocked down right and left, and with no less than four referees waving and blowing their whistles, it's pandemonium at the least. Not to mention the players themselves are yelling at each other to do formations and strategies against the other team. There is a plethora of rules (how to body check, where to go in on the track if you get knocked out, how long to wait in "the box" if you get a penalty, etc). Luckily my friend explained most of it to me as we sat on blankets right on the concrete floor next to the outer ring.
Watching with joy
All in all, I just might have fallen in love. Next set of practices starts January 2nd and you can bet I'll be there on the track, ready to play.
Here are some more pictures to get the full effect:
Formations formulating...
After the bout