Some foothills women are throwing caution to the wind — and maybe the odd body slam — as they roll around a gym floor at a High River school.
Approximately 25 women were practicing with the Foothills Roller Derby Association at Joe Clark School in High River on Jan. 29.
“The main difference from what you saw in the 1970s roller derby and what you see here is it is a flat track and not banked,” said Aldersyde resident Sara Mayne, president of the Foothills Roller Derby Association. “And it’s not scripted like it was in the 1970s. The game unfolds as an actual sport.”
Roller derby rules have teams of five women each rolling in an oval around the gym and each team has a jammer.
The jammer wears a yellow jersey and she is the one who scores the points. The other four skaters are defenders. The jammer starts at the back of the pack and a point is scored for every opposition defender she passes.
The result is a wave of rolling bodies hitting and blocking trying to stop the jammer from passing through the pack.
It may look like a chaos of bodies, but there is a strategy though.
“It can get pretty complicated with all the rules and the scoring — there are seven referees in a match,” Mayne said.
The Foothills Roller Derby Association is presently scrimmaging on Sundays. It hopes to eventually play games in the summer, with the goal of joining a league in Calgary.
Breanna Grassl of Okotoks has been with Foothills roller derby since September.
“It was something new and something fun — and maybe a little dangerous,” Grassl said. “I thought it would be cool to be part of something that was just starting… I like going fast and hitting.”
She displays a small bruise which she calls a “a medal of honour.”
However, safety is paramount with the Foothills Roller Derby Association.
All the players must meet a required skating level before being allowed to scrimmage. All players are required to wear helmets, knee and elbow pads as well as wrist protectors. Also extensive warm-up is done before the scrimmage.
The popularity of the sport is growing. The association has players ranging from 19 years of age to 47. It will take anyone who is interested in the sport.
“We train people to skate from scratch so previous derby experience is not required,” Mayne said.
Mayne said they are looking for more players from the Okotoks area in order to get into a league eventually.
So far the Foothills Roller Derby Association doesn’t have a name for its future team.
They are asking the community to vote for a team name by going to its web site at www.foothillsrollerderby.com.
