Erase all your stereotypes about women's roller derby. It is not a mass of women rolling around a track, slugging it out, flipping out of the ring and bloody injuries. It's actually a fun family event played with real rules with great group of enthusiastic women who love the sport.
The Denver Roller Dolls is a league of three teams: Shotgun Betties, Green Barrettes and Bad Apples. Sunday was the leagues first game (called "bouts") of the season was held in the newly dedicated First Bank Event Center in Broomfield.
The play is more like football, rather than a boxing event. Only body blocking and mild pushing is allowed. No tripping, elbowing, or grabbing is permitted. There is one offensive player on each team who compete to take the lead of the pack. The rest of the team is primarily defense, trying to block the other team's lead and open the ring for their lead. This format does create many entanglements and occasional crashes that add to the action.
The first line of attraction is the entertainment quality. This is where uniforms and naming comes into play. Each woman creates a sport name for herself, reflecting the toughness of her on-ring style. Catchy names like, Rockscar, Shannon Ball and Anne Slam are advertised in bold letters on the backs of their garments. The uniforms are snappy, sharp, colorful and sexy without being rude. Shotgun Betties had a western cowgirl theme; Green Barrettes a military look and the bad apples with a bold red and black skirt outfit. Each woman also exerts her own creative to her image. Decorated helmets, sparkly make-up, or a strategically placed tattoo.
Beyond the visual image, the women show incredible enthusiasm that radiates to the crowd. The play the game seriously, with serious fun. They play to win, but after the bouts are over, you can see that there are great friends between the teams as evidenced by hugs of congratulations.
Comments
Thanks for the write-up!
Pushes actually are only allowed within a team: I can push my own players to help them along, but I can't push anyone from the opposing team. It's all full body hits or blocks.
In addition to the three home teams you saw, we also have two travel teams who play against teams from across the country. These teams are made up of skaters from all three home teams. Our All-Star team, the Mile High Club, placed 3rd in the National Tournament in November. They'll be hosting the All-Stars from the 2nd ranked league, the Texas Rollergirls, in May.
Thanks for coming and checking us out!
Kendra Blood
Green Barrettes Co-Captain
Denver Roller Dolls
Thanks Kendra, for the additional information and clarification on the rules.
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