The roller derby we are NOT talking about here
For those of us on the older side, we grew up watching the old roller derby on TV. This spectacle was along the line of professional wrestling with the rehearsed sideshow drama both on and off the track. The Michi remembers her childhood watching the Los Angeles T-Birds and the likes of characters like Mizz Georgia Hase. In those shows, there were multiple periods, alternating between male and female skaters. We do admit, at the time, it was entertaining, but in today’s standards, it was not REAL derby.
And no, it’s also not about that monstrosity that came out in the late 80s that featured the alligators.
Times have changed very much since then.
Modern roller derby is different, REAL different
Today’s modern roller derby started around 2003 with leagues like Arizona Roller Derby, Texas Roller Derby in Austin and the Los Angeles Derby Dolls; all of which, still exist to this day.
Today’s roller derby is an amateur sport. It is played mostly as a flat track game while some do play it on a banked track.’
Today’s roller derby is amateur. No one gets paid. If anything, skaters usually have to pay to play.
Modern roller derby’s roots are mainly in female leagues and teams and was seen as a form of women’s empowerment. However, in this day and age, men’s roller derby as well as co-ed (open division) is being played at many leagues. The nation’s largest association for roller derby has very welcoming policies where it comes to gender diverse participants.
In 2007, Michi-chan started to produce videos and write articles about the flat track roller derby scene in the Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona metropolitan areas.
It would only be obvious that modern roller derby would have a home on the new Michi-chan Sports, and it will.
Because there are hundreds of roller derby leagues and teams across the country, it would be difficult to keep track of them all.
Michi-chan Sports coverage of roller derby may be limited to major tournaments and other events, but we will still try to keep our eye on the local activities in Arizona. We only owe it to the Valley of the Sun and The Old Pueblo to keep a shining ray of derby love in their direction.
The basic rules of modern roller derby
While some of the rules, especially around penalties as well as strategies used on the track have substantially evolved over the years of the modern movement, the basic structure has pretty much remained.
Games are divided into two timed periods. Within each period there are multiple attempts, called jams.
Each team sends 5 skaters to the track. The jammer, who has a star on their helmet; the pivot, who has a stripe on their helmet on three additional skaters called blockers. The pivots and the blockers from each team constitute the pack.
The jammer is the one who will be scoring for each team.
For each jam, the two jammers are lined up at the jammer line on the track. The pack skaters are in front of them. The referee will sound a whistle to indicate the start of the jam. In most rulesets, the jam time is 120 seconds. All of the skaters will start at that time. The first objective is for the jammers to be able to pass by all of the opposing team’s pack skaters. If the jammer can cleanly do it without any penalties and they are ahead of the other jammer, they are declared the lead jammer.
Once a jammer breaks away from the pack, they need to skate around and then approach the back of the pack who will be trying to block them. For each opposing skater the jammer passes, a point is earned. This will continue until either the jam time runs out or the skater declared as the lead jammer calls off the jam. Both teams can earn points during a jam.
There are many other rules that we did not mention here and there may be some variations for the different associations as well as for international competition (through USARS). For more information on this sport, you can first check out the various major associations for roller derby:
Women’s Flat Track Derby Association - WFTDA.com
Men’s Roller Derby Association - MRDA.org
USA Roller Sports-Roller Derby (USARS) - www.usarollersports.org/roller-derby
Most modern roller derby played in the United States does follow the rules maintained by WFTDA.
The Michi-chan legacy started in Arizona
Though we have strayed, we have also not fully lost touch with our original Arizona Derby Family. They are still in the Michi’s heart. If you are in Arizona, please support your local derby leagues:
Arizona Roller Derby - arizonarollerderby.com (WFTDA)
Arizona Derby Dames - azderbydames.com (banked track)
Phoenix Roller Derby (formerly Desert Dolls Roller Derby) -phxrollerderby.com (USARS)
Tucson Roller Derby - tucsonrollerderby.com (WFTDA)
Arizona Roller Girls - azrollergirls.com
High Altitude Roller Derby - hardderby.com
Michi-chan Sports embargo policy
Unless specifically requested by the leadership of a subject roller derby league, Michi-chan Roller Sports poses no embargos on the release of news in regards to flat and banked track modern roller derby.
Michi-chan Sports reporting on roller derby, including the use of elements of the presentation constitutes journalistic illustrative fair use, pursuant to US copyright laws. The Michichan.com Substack is not monetized and we do not currently offer paid subscriptions. The Michi considers roller derby to be a “tier 3” sport as it continues to maintain a niche interest and while the sport has attracted “external fans” (those who are beyond family and friends of those involved in the game), it still to this day does have a way to go to attract more external fans, but at the same time, these are amateur associations and they have very limited budgets and narrow sponsorships, mainly local businesses and skate related vendors.