Roller Derby Today

Roller derby is a contact sport played on quad skates around an oval track during a bout. 

Each bout is comprised of two 30 minute halves that are further broken down into periods of time called jams that can last up to 2 minutes each. 

During a jam, the two teams each field 5 players: 4 blockers and 1 jammer. The jammer is the only player that can score points. The jammer wears a helmet cover with a star on it while on the track. The blockers from each team form the pack when they are within 10 feet of each other. Their job is to help their own jammer make it through the pack while also preventing the opposing jammer from doing the same. Blockers are only allowed to hit or assist within 20 feet of the pack: the area defined as the engagement zone.

All skaters can only make contact using legal hitting zones on the body, generally between the shoulders and knees, and excluding the back, elbows, and forearms. 

After making an initial pass through the pack, the jammer scores a point for each blocker on the opposing team that they lap on each additional pass. 

Check out the video on the left from the WFTDA for more info.

Derby Yesterday

Roller derby has its origins in endurance races that were held as early as the mid-1880s. Roller skating was growing in popularity and these races, often organized multi-day events, were held for cash prizes on both flat and banked tracks. So how do you go from endurance marathons to full contact 2 minute jams?

Spectators enjoyed watching the falls, trips, and tumbles. When Leo Seltzer created the Transcontinental Roller Derby in the mid-1930s, a touring road race between two-skater teams, the increase in contact during races made it extremely popular. By the end of the 1930s, sportswriter Damon Runyon persuaded him to change the rules so that contact would be further increased. In 1939 Seltzer arrived at a version that was five-vs-five with contact and players scoring points by successfully lapping members of the opposing team. Then the start of World War II shifted focus from sports towards the war effort roller derby's popularity declined.

After the war, roller derby resumed in televised broadcasts before television viewership was particularly widespread. Spectator turnouts for the bouts increased as well. The 1949-50 inaugural season of the Leo Seltzer’s National Roller Derby League held its season playoffs at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Over the next two decades, roller derby was broadcast over more networks, though public interest waned. The decline of the sport continued despite changes made by Jerry Seltzer, Leo’s son and the commissioner of the league, to make the sport more exciting for spectators and more appealing for television viewers. The changes included scripted storylines and some of the fake fighting theatrics that are now confused for the sport. In the end, the changes weren’t enough and the sport was mostly abandoned with the Roller Derby League ending in 1973.

In the early 2000s, derby resurfaced through an underground revival in Austin, Texas. This iteration was initially all-women organized, run, and played on the amateur level locally. By mid-2006 there were more than 135 similar leagues across the US and the sport began spreading internationally. The increase in leagues, league sizes, and popularity allowed for more opportunities to travel. 

Today, roller derby is played in over 1000 leagues across the world and in as many variations as suits the needs of the skating population in each area. There are now women’s, men’s, and all-gender leagues. Flat-track derby is far more widespread, but banked track leagues exist as well. There are even junior roller derby leagues for kids and teenagers!

Derby in Charlottesville

The Charlottesville Derby Dames are Charlottesville’s first and only skater-run, flat track roller derby league. Jessika Daver and Phenol Barbie Doll kickstarted our league with the help of Blue Moon Diner and the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLAW).

The Charlottesville Derby Dames skate according to the rules of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, and we are proud to have been members of the WFTDA since December 2012. We love being a part of the history of this amazing sport and we look forward to continuing to make history with our amazing fans supporting us along the way!