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Speaker 1: From how Stuff Works dot Com? Hey there, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the podcast. Is this Kristen and Mrs Molly Molly Um.
Speaker 1: As you know, there is a little roller derby fan
Speaker 1: club here at how Stuff Works. UM. We're based in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Atlanta has an awesome roller roller derby league called the
Speaker 1: Atlanta roller Girls, and last fall a group of us
Speaker 1: went to see some matches and it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of fun. I gotta say I
Speaker 1: was very I was very impressed. So I thought maybe
Speaker 1: maybe I was cut out to be a roller girl.
Speaker 1: You know, it's pretty, it's pretty exciting, it's fast paced.
Speaker 1: You get to pick out really fun team name for yourself.
Speaker 1: So I decided to uh to test out my roller
Speaker 1: skating ski because they skate on roller skates, not roller blades.
Speaker 1: So I went to It's really Fantastic roller Skating rank. Um,
Speaker 1: put on my skates, got out there and quickly remembered
Speaker 1: that I am terrible at roller skating. It would probably
Speaker 1: die if I ever tried to play roller derby, So
Speaker 1: umstad to say, I chickened out. That's too bad, because
Speaker 1: it seems like it would be a really fun, empowering
Speaker 1: thing to do. Yeah, I could get out a lot
Speaker 1: of aggression, you know, maybe knock some people over. Although
Speaker 1: I remember when I told my mother we were going
Speaker 1: to the roller derby matches, she had this very seventies
Speaker 1: stereotype of it that I was going to see the
Speaker 1: equivalent of a professional wrestling match. I was gonna go
Speaker 1: watch girls have cat fights pull each other hair. And
Speaker 1: she was like, why do you want to watch that? Well,
Speaker 1: she'd have told mom, it's exciting, it's exciting, but it's
Speaker 1: also not like that that's very much um sort of
Speaker 1: a stereotype about it. So let's look at what roller
Speaker 1: derby really is this very um almost quintessential female sport,
Speaker 1: and why people might be more distracted by the cat
Speaker 1: fights of falling down of it all. I mean, is
Speaker 1: it sports or spectacle? Kristen, very good question. Well, one
Speaker 1: of thost interesting things that I found out about roller
Speaker 1: derby was, uh, it actually started in nineteen thirty five
Speaker 1: as an endurance sport during the Great Depression. I know,
Speaker 1: I was reading this and it's kind of insane. The goal,
Speaker 1: it was set up by the sports promotor to be
Speaker 1: a roller skating endurance race, and the goal was to
Speaker 1: do fifty seven thousand laps around the rink. And do
Speaker 1: you know how much that equaled out? To tell me
Speaker 1: the distance across the continental United States. That was the
Speaker 1: race to do as much skating as it would take
Speaker 1: two roller skate across the United States. Well, these these uh,
Speaker 1: these endurance races started in nineteen thirty five, like we said,
Speaker 1: and then around nineteen thirty seven the sports writer noticed
Speaker 1: that the best moments during these fifties seven thousand attempted
Speaker 1: laps around a rink where when people would fall and
Speaker 1: maybe some skaters would collide. And that's when this, uh,
Speaker 1: this rougher side of roller derby emerged. I guess we
Speaker 1: like to see, I don't know, people fail and fall down.
Speaker 1: That's kind of a sad comment on human nature. But
Speaker 1: it changed from sort of a endurance event to defense
Speaker 1: and offense. Who can get around the thing without falling down?
Speaker 1: Who can you make fall down? And it really it
Speaker 1: started out as a as a co ed sport and
Speaker 1: now it's pretty much a women's only only sport, and
Speaker 1: it it's kind of kitchy. It's sort of a throwback,
Speaker 1: like you said to to these nineteen seventies teams. UM.
Speaker 1: And it was around the nineteen seventies when the economy
Speaker 1: started slowing down and fuel costs started rising that the
Speaker 1: sport just kind of pittled out right. But it never
Speaker 1: completely disappeared. It was sort of an underground thing, and
Speaker 1: then UM league started forming in these major cities to
Speaker 1: focus on this women only sport. The roller derry revival
Speaker 1: really started in two thousand one with the Lone Star
Speaker 1: League in in Texas, and now there are roller derby
Speaker 1: leagues all around the country. They're just they're tons of them,
Speaker 1: and uh, they're they're mostly skater From what I understand,
Speaker 1: you don't get paid for doing roller derby. You do
Speaker 1: it because you love it. You buy all your own equipment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, so let's talk a little bit about like
Speaker 1: what exactly the object of roller derby is. I mean,
Speaker 1: we all know that it's you know, it's girls dressed
Speaker 1: in some pretty rad costumes skating in a circle, knocking
Speaker 1: each other down. But but the point of the game
Speaker 1: is to score points to win bouts. So let's go
Speaker 1: over the rules, and I have to say my first
Speaker 1: roller derby about even though I knew these rules, it
Speaker 1: didn't really make sense to me at first because it's
Speaker 1: so fast paced, it's so energetic that you may not
Speaker 1: even notice how the women are scoring points. But it
Speaker 1: is based on a point system, right. Um. Each team
Speaker 1: has three different positions on on the rink, and they have,
Speaker 1: um a single jammer who's the person the skater who
Speaker 1: can actually score the points. And there are three blockers
Speaker 1: who try to block the jammers while while the jammers
Speaker 1: skating around the circle. And then there is a pivot
Speaker 1: on each team that sort of sets the pace for
Speaker 1: for how fast are skating around the rink. So basically
Speaker 1: there's five people from each team on the track at
Speaker 1: one time, and at the go sign, all those blockers
Speaker 1: and pivots set off and then a few seconds later
Speaker 1: the jammers go right. And in order for a jammer
Speaker 1: to score, she has to skate past um the other team,
Speaker 1: and that is easier said than done, only because these
Speaker 1: blockers can move and maneuver around on roller skates like
Speaker 1: nothing I've ever seen, right, and blocking is encouraged. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh it gets yeah, people get knocked down there are
Speaker 1: many trips to the penalty box because it's a very narrow.
Speaker 1: It's a narrow rink for for ten girls to be
Speaker 1: to be skating right right, and you have to be
Speaker 1: imbalanced to score points. And you score score points once
Speaker 1: you make that first lap around and then you start
Speaker 1: lapping other people. That's when you start to score points.
Speaker 1: And um each each bout is broken up into two
Speaker 1: minute jams, and those are the individual periods when the
Speaker 1: jammer tries to to score all the points and then
Speaker 1: it starts all over again, so that in a nutshells
Speaker 1: roller derby, it won't make sense the first time you
Speaker 1: see it, I have to say, because like we said,
Speaker 1: it's very fast, and I'm kind of surprised that you
Speaker 1: thought you couldn't do it. Kristin. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: want to put you down, but well, Molly, I mean,
Speaker 1: give me a little more credit. Well actually, if you'd
Speaker 1: see me on the skating rink, he probably would not
Speaker 1: give me any more credit. But for an insider's view
Speaker 1: at roller derby, because it's it's so fast and so
Speaker 1: high paced, we really wanted to, uh to find out
Speaker 1: what it's like in the rank, and I obviously failed
Speaker 1: at that so we decided to call up Tania Hide,
Speaker 1: who was the founder and president of the Atlantic roller Girls,
Speaker 1: to get a little more insight from her on how
Speaker 1: they go about recruiting girls and the process of becoming
Speaker 1: a roller girl. So I think our first clip from
Speaker 1: Tanya is what Kristin would have endured had she pursued
Speaker 1: her dream of being a roller girl. We show you
Speaker 1: everything from you know, weaving to how to effectively cross over.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're going around the corners, you want
Speaker 1: to be able to cross your feet over UM. And
Speaker 1: we teach the newbies how to fall different ways that
Speaker 1: we fall UM, so that we avoid injury as much
Speaker 1: as possible UM, and start to get those kind of
Speaker 1: skills built up in in you know, we really want
Speaker 1: to build balance and being comfortable in your skates. UM.
Speaker 1: From there you learn you know, more in depth type
Speaker 1: skills like blocking and more agility skills. But but mainly
Speaker 1: when you come in especial meat, we would you be
Speaker 1: able to be comfortable in your skates and and skate around.
Speaker 1: We do have some speed requirements UM, but again if
Speaker 1: you just you know, go skate one once or twice
Speaker 1: a week, you know, generally after about a month or
Speaker 1: two months, you know, skaters will pick it up simally.
Speaker 1: As I learned from Tanya, becoming a roller girl is
Speaker 1: a It's a pretty intensive process, especially for someone like
Speaker 1: me who can barely skate in a straight line, much
Speaker 1: less fall and dodge and jump. Don't they jump with
Speaker 1: roller skates on? Still amazes me. But she did say
Speaker 1: that the most important thing to know going into roller
Speaker 1: Derby training is that you need to know how to
Speaker 1: skate with your knees bent, because if you're skating with
Speaker 1: your knees locked and you get knocked over, it is
Speaker 1: going to be bad news. Bad news bears. Now I'm
Speaker 1: wondering Kristen if she gave you any tips about maybe
Speaker 1: like the attitude in person you should adopt, because roller
Speaker 1: Derby is sort of known for having these very flamboyant personalities.
Speaker 1: They've got very um provocate of names that are often
Speaker 1: you know, um, double entendres for certain things. You know. Um.
Speaker 1: I'd like to think that my name would be something like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Molotov cocktail. Oh that's good, I got
Speaker 1: it from the roller Derby database. See you can't use it.
Speaker 1: I can't use it. You learned about how girls get
Speaker 1: their names right right after they go at least with
Speaker 1: the Atlanta roller Girls, after they go through their training
Speaker 1: process and are are accepted onto the team, that's when
Speaker 1: they can pick they're awesome stage names such as Molotov Cocktail.
Speaker 1: But uh, there's sort of a unspoken rule that you
Speaker 1: can't take someone else's name. And that's why all these
Speaker 1: roller Derby leagues have a website that you can go
Speaker 1: on where you register your name and and if you
Speaker 1: go on there and you would check up Molotov Cocktail
Speaker 1: and if someone already had it, Molly, you just you
Speaker 1: have to do the right thing, pick something else, I know.
Speaker 1: And it's hard because there are already so many good
Speaker 1: names taken. Like just on the Atlanta team, we've got
Speaker 1: Susan b Agony, pretty good one. Yeah, hot Legs, Hooligan.
Speaker 1: I mean these are it's pretty fun, but it's hard
Speaker 1: for me to imagine you out there with a saucy name. Well, Molly,
Speaker 1: the thing is roller Derby tracts all different kinds of
Speaker 1: of women. As as a house stuff works writer, I
Speaker 1: think that I could, you know, I could possibly fit
Speaker 1: the mold because the fact that there is there really
Speaker 1: isn't a mold. UM. Tanya Hude was telling me that
Speaker 1: they have anyone from teachers to lawyers and archaeologists, UM,
Speaker 1: someone who does stunt work, all kinds of women who
Speaker 1: joined these roller derby teams and come out on the
Speaker 1: on the rinks and are just fierce competitive women no
Speaker 1: matter what their background is. So let's hear more from
Speaker 1: Tanya about what kind of woman is attracted to roller derby.
Speaker 1: I was one of these girls, and you find a
Speaker 1: lot of the same kind of women throughout roller Derby
Speaker 1: that were you know, that just didn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of girlfriends. It was really difficult for me to make
Speaker 1: friends with the girls. I didn't have the same sort
Speaker 1: of you know, stereotypical interests as girl. After the game,
Speaker 1: we all go to the after party and we all
Speaker 1: buy each other drinks and we all danced together and
Speaker 1: enjoy each other's company. UM, and it's pretty awesome. Also,
Speaker 1: we've built into our league the ability for UM to
Speaker 1: request people from other teams to play with your home team.
Speaker 1: So just this past weekend, I had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: go to Florida with the Toxic Shocks. They went down
Speaker 1: to play Broward County Derby girls and they needed an
Speaker 1: extra body and I wanted to play, so I went
Speaker 1: down and played with them, and they could ask they
Speaker 1: could ask me, They could ask anyone from any of
Speaker 1: the other three home teams as well. So it's sort
Speaker 1: of UM feeds that, you know, that belief that we're
Speaker 1: all on the one team together. So that sounds like
Speaker 1: really empowering and that's I think where it gets sort
Speaker 1: of this UM reputation is a really great window for women.
Speaker 1: Right Tanya gave some really great examples of how the
Speaker 1: confidence that you build on the roller Derby rink can
Speaker 1: translate to life outside of the rink. Um. So let's
Speaker 1: hear a couple of those right now. We had a
Speaker 1: woman who was in an abusive relationship and without through Derby,
Speaker 1: she was able to find the strength in herself with
Speaker 1: the support of other people, to get out of that relationship.
Speaker 1: I think that's amazing, um. And I mean, I know
Speaker 1: for myself, when I started in Derby, I was sort
Speaker 1: of in a job where, you know, I love the
Speaker 1: people I work with, but the job just wasn't really fulfilling.
Speaker 1: And you know, um, I I got the confidence that
Speaker 1: I needed to make the switch. You know, to find
Speaker 1: a new job. Um, I find myself speaking up in
Speaker 1: meetings where before I would have kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: just sheepishly agreed or you know, could sounds good, you know,
Speaker 1: And now I'm like, wait a second, let's think this through,
Speaker 1: you know, or or I have another idea. I find
Speaker 1: myself just more more confident in myself, and I think
Speaker 1: it helps a lot of people in that way. But Kristen,
Speaker 1: another thing I know about you is that you know,
Speaker 1: like most people, you don't want to get hurt. No, Molly,
Speaker 1: I bruised like a peach. Oh my, I really do.
Speaker 1: And I just imagine myself out there um in tryouts,
Speaker 1: falling and somehow ending up in the ambulance that they
Speaker 1: keep outside of the the awesome building where they do
Speaker 1: it in Atlanta, um and just being whisked away with
Speaker 1: my roller derby career crushed before even playing in a
Speaker 1: single game. So there's some pretty intense injuries here. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean we've got like broken legs, eggs, broken arms
Speaker 1: from tail though, lots of knee injuries from just falling
Speaker 1: on your knees. That's that's the one that that that
Speaker 1: Tanya actually had happened to her after a while. So
Speaker 1: my main question, I mean hold back with with Triumph
Speaker 1: roller derby was whether or not I would just just
Speaker 1: get injured, just get pummeled. So I asked tended to
Speaker 1: explain a little bit what a girl's odds are for
Speaker 1: getting injured if she does go out to roller derby.
Speaker 1: So let's hear a little bit about that for the
Speaker 1: Atlanta roller girls, and I know for most leagues across
Speaker 1: the country, um, and I assume across the world, safety
Speaker 1: is like the primary concern. You don't want people to
Speaker 1: get hurt because when you lose, you lose people, you
Speaker 1: lose your teammates, they go away for a while, and
Speaker 1: you don't want that to happen. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think there have been different kinds of injuries that seemed
Speaker 1: like there was in the beginning, there was a sort
Speaker 1: of wave of shoulder injuries that we had and now
Speaker 1: it's kind of moved to knee injury. So that's what
Speaker 1: I had. Um. Sometimes they're brutal injuries and require surgery. Um,
Speaker 1: a lot of times they're just injuries that need rest,
Speaker 1: all right, So that's a little reassuring that you know,
Speaker 1: maybe you can survive a little longer than normal without
Speaker 1: an injury. Ye tenue it four years without one. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know if either you or I
Speaker 1: would have that much luck. Um, so what we've let's
Speaker 1: review what we've had so far. We've had the flamboyant
Speaker 1: nature of it, the athletic nature of it. It's very tough, Um,
Speaker 1: it's fast paced, it's all women. So are people going
Speaker 1: for the spectacle or the sport? Kristen, Well, according to Tania,
Speaker 1: and I would tend to agree, just from seeing the
Speaker 1: range of fans that were at the roller derby bouts,
Speaker 1: I would say that it's both. Let's hear her say
Speaker 1: that very same thing, all right. I think it is
Speaker 1: the mix of spectacle in sport. I think, um, you know,
Speaker 1: if you just have a sport, you're just gonna get
Speaker 1: sports fans. Um, if you just have you know, entertainment,
Speaker 1: then you're just going to get people looking for entertainment.
Speaker 1: And we've got a whole shebang. We answered our question. Kristen,
Speaker 1: is roller Derby sports spectacle? It is both? And I
Speaker 1: think that's pretty awesome about roller derby because it's gotta
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun to go out there, get
Speaker 1: dressed up, you can take on these whole different entertaining
Speaker 1: personas that you might not have off the rank, and
Speaker 1: then at the same time performed this incredible athletic feat
Speaker 1: of skating around and around and dodging very strong athletic women. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys should see the look in Kristen's eyes. I
Speaker 1: think she's getting that gleam that might lead her to
Speaker 1: be a roller girl. Like Daniel Hyde was really convincing
Speaker 1: when I was interviewing her. She was she she she
Speaker 1: kind of convinced me that I should go out for it.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, Molly, I might be busy skating
Speaker 1: this summer. I'll afford to that. Maybe I'll do it.
Speaker 1: Start skating to work. I should. Well. If you want
Speaker 1: to learn more about roller derby, you can check out
Speaker 1: an article on how stuff works dot Com called how
Speaker 1: roller Derby Works by tra c V. Wilson. And we
Speaker 1: want to thank Tania Hide of the Atlanta roller Girls
Speaker 1: for taking the time out to talk to us about
Speaker 1: roller derby. Yeah, if you guys are anywhere in the
Speaker 1: Atlanta area and be sure to come see the roller Girls.
Speaker 1: This season is on, so check it out. And if
Speaker 1: you want to send me your Molly a comment or question,
Speaker 1: feel free to send us an email at mom Stuff
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. For more on this
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.
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