My parents and my sister at her roller derby debut. Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

can you explain roller derby? a new USAen phenomenon? i want to be the first in katherine to know for when it hits here in 2026....

Catalin said...

I don't think I can adequately "explain" it. It's sort of a race around a track by two teams on roller skates (not roller blades). One player on each team(the jammmer) tries to get past all players while her teammates try to block the other team's jammer and simultaneously make room for their own jammer to get ahead. Skating is all in one direction. Agression is definitely encouraged and most players are abloom in bruises by the end.

There's a hugely campy element too, similar to professional wrestling: everyone has a derby name (often a reference to their violence or agressiveness)and costume there's a lot of posturing. The audience helps out with booing and cheering above the loud punk rock.

Check out http://www.baycitybombers.com/turbos/ and http://www.bayareaderbygirls.com

(Sorry, I don't know how to make those links within the comment.)