I spent the evening with a bunch of pushy women. . . .

On Saturday October 11 my wife and I went to the Kirby Sports Center at Lafayette College to see an adult amateur flat-track roller derby league event. The Blast Furnace Betties were hosting the Rage Parade in a Leigh Valley league match.

Alice, wearing No. 127, is the pivot.

We were with great friends, Will and Wendy, who were willing to learn about and see a new sport. It was a battle on roller skates, which has surfaced in our area. This was not our usual basketball. We went outside of our comfort zone for this event.

First, we went out to dinner at a great little restaurant in Easton. The street was alive with activity in an area that does not seem like it has physically changed as much as Flemington has, and is changing, since I was a young boy. I spent some of my summertime when young at a small family farm above Milford, about midway between Easton and Flemington. When more than a few things were needed that were beyond the stores in Milford or Frenchtown, we went to Easton or Flemington.

I had first seen roller derby, when I was a kid, on a 10-inch black and white FADA television in my basement,. It was then played on a banked tract. I did a little research to learn what we were in for in watching the Betties, and to check on what I remembered. I learned Roller Derby was born in Chicago during the Depression. It didn’t achieve national prominence until the advent of television in the late 1940s. In 1949, the National Roller Derby League was formed, and the playoffs for that season sold out New York’s Madison Square Gardens for the entire week.

The super basics of roller derby today is you have a basketball facility on which there is a taped outline of an oval, about 88 ft long and 53 ft wide. Five skaters, 1 Jammer, 1 Pivot, and 3 Blockers from each team are on the court. There are two 30-minute halves broken up into Jams. Jams are at most 2 minutes each. Penalties are served for 30 seconds. Points are scored by the Jammer passing opposing blockers.

You can find the banked tract roller derby of old on YouTube. It was an activity that could be produced with the technology of the day for television. It was fast. It was violent. People really slammed into each other with purpose. Players got hurt. Flat-track roller derby is different. You can find some current matches on YouTube too.

Skaters wear helmets, usually mouth guards, knee pads and other padding. The helmet of the Jamer is covered with a star, the Pivot with a stripe, while the Blockers have no markings. It is not as violent as days of old, but the players do push each other and there are piles of bodies on the floor. The mouth guards and knee pads are a good idea. Although when we left the Kirby Sports Center, we were in an elevator with a young woman who had a cast on her leg who said it happened during a practice session.

Roller derby today is full contact but regulated. Research tells me a skater can target shoulders, torso, hips, and upper thighs. There is a penalty if a skater targets the head, back, knees, feet, or below mid-thigh. A skater can block the shoulders, torso, hips, and upper arms, but not the elbows, forearms, hands, and head. No kicking is allowed.

The strategy seems to be the blockers form “packs” to block the opposing jammer while helping their own jammer break through. The pivot can receive the jammer’s star cover (a “star pass”) and become the new jammer. Communication, teamwork, and pack control are crucial. I have seen it described as “speed chess on skates.”