Roller Derby 101

Most of us have seen the movie 'Whip It' starring Drew Barrymore. The Definition of roller derby seems synonymous with crazed violent woman knocking each other around. The modern roller derby, however, is a true sport governed by rules and regulations. It's a game that involves skill, speed and agility. While most sport teams have camaraderie, these roller derby woman have also built a community in this female dominated sport. In addition to immensely toned legs and buttocks; team members use the following words to describe this fast-paced game of athletics: confidence, empowerment, self-esteem, strength and a place 'to be yourself'.  Roller derby woman come from all walks of life. I met with two such woman in preparation for this blog, 'Brawlyanna' and 'Octopus Prime', a waitress at a five star restaurant and a Jr. High School Science teacher respectively. Their team mates includes a Military Veteran, a Nurse, a Policewoman, a Detective, a Stay-at-Home Mom, a Jewelry Appraiser, a Legal Assistant, a construction foreman, a Pet Sitter and a Full-time Student.

Now that I've painted the picture of extremely successful, capable woman, I'll focus on getting down to the basics of the game and what local roller derby teams mean to Kitsap County.

Roller derby actually first started in the late 1800's as a test of endurance staged over a grueling 100 miles. It's colorful history at the turn of the 20th century evolved into a game of strategy as it remains today. Although it's popularity seemed to die out after its first peak in the 70's, this sport has continued to evolve and expand to what it is today. To read more about roller derby's colorful history, check out what wikipedia has to offer at this link.

The game of women's roller derby is governed by multiple organizations with rule sets- sometimes a roller league may adhere to more than one set of rules. The two rule sets I'll talk about today are the ones used around here- The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) and USA Roller Sports (USARS). WFTDA was organized originally in 2004 as the United Leagues Coalition but was renamed the Women's Flat Track Derby Association a short time later. USARS is the national governing body of all competitive roller sports and has been around since 1972. Both organizations focus on roller derby as a legitimate sport and put safety of the players in the forefront. (Side note about the term 'flat track'- flat track refers, as you may have imagined to a flat track vs a bank track that we often see in movies. A flat track can be set up anywhere vs the bank track has an intricate set up of under braces and generally cannot be moved once set up).
Modern day roller derby is made up of two, 30 minute periods. These two half hours are divided up by 'Jams'. The 'Jam Clock' goes for a minute and a half to two minutes (depending on the set of rules being followed) in which time 5 players from each team protect their 'Jammer'. It's the Jammers responsibility to score points- actually the Jammer is the only team member that can score points. When the clock starts the Jammer from each team start behind the pack and must work their way up forward to score points. The players of each Jam are rotated in and out of the game. (This is the nutshell of the game- to really get an idea of the skill and strategy involved, you'll have to watch a game).
Kitsap County has five Derby Leagues, four of which are governed by WFTDA and one, Port Orchard's own team, Port T'orchard is governed by USARS. The Port T'orchard team recently took third place in a Regional Tournament and are now eligible to compete in the USARS National Championships in Oklahoma in October. This local team doesn't have much time to raise the $7,000 to fund the trip and they need the Port Orchard Community's help!
You can help support these amazing woman athletes by pitching in a few bucks- here's the link.

For the Good of the People

I'm blessed to be able to do many things in life that I feel passionate about. Yesterday I was very honored to speak at the South Kitsap Rotary groups lunch on a subject I have accidentally neglected to write about here in my Blog. Not for lack of enthusiasm- just for lack of time.

A few months back I met with Jennifer Hardison, Executive Director of the South Kitsap Helpline Food Bank and pitched an idea I had called 'Pick and Pass'. The idea is to collect the fruit that would otherwise go to waste from fruit trees. Last summer I started to notice all the fruit on the ground around Kitsap County and it broke my heart when I know the food bank is working so hard to feed people of the community that need some help. It seemed so simple- Pick the fruit and pass it along to the Food Bank. I was (and still am) in love with this idea. I couldn't make it happen last year, but this year, after an approval from the Helpline's Board of Directors, the program is up and running. To date, we've collected just shy of 100 lbs of plums and 85 lbs of apples- and more fruit is in the works to be picked!

I do think of myself as a 'do good-er' but the Pick and Pass idea comes out of something much deeper than just trying to be a creative and worthy person in my community. Back in the 1980's when I was about 15 years old, my family fell on hard times. I can clearly remember getting up early on Saturday mornings, getting in our family's GMC Suburban and driving an hour to the closest food bank with my 3 sisters, brother and Dad. The six of us volunteered for 8 hours each Saturday for what seemed like years (although I think it was just about 6 months). We would help accept food donations as they were dropped off, organize it on the shelves and do just about anything to earn the food we would come home with at the end of the day. I can remember walking through the door at home with boxes of food and the excitement we all shared for the food that would feed us for the next week. It wasn't embarrassing, it wasn't humbling, it was hard work that gave us an essential part of life.

Then I got older and society got to me. Any hard times I experienced without food became embarrassing and accepting food from the food bank was a humbling experience. I can accept the humble feeling because I think that shows appreciation and we need more of that in this world. What I can't accept is the feeling of embarrassment. Having food, to me, is the right of every human being. It saddens me to think that so many people struggle on a monthly basis to make ends meet and feed their family. It's my hope that through awareness society will one day understand that good people need help from time to time. Hard working people. Young people. Old people. Everyone needs help sometime, right?! Why should the need for food be embarrassing? In Kitsap County 80,000 people struggle to put food on their tables.

Pick and Pass isn't just about about picking fruit and donating it. It's about spreading the word, that we, as a society need to be mindful that we should all do what we can to help others without judgements or preconceived notions. I'll let the karma get the people screwing the system and I'll just keep spending my time doing what feels right in my heart.