by Jennifer Dodd In 10 days, athletes from four teams will be competing in a doubleheader game at Powell River Recreation Complex Hap Parker Arena, and this time they will be lacing up a skate of a different kind.
During the winter, parents and fans visit the complex to watch action on the ice. Once the ice is gone for the season, it is time for the roller skates to take over.
Ten months during the year, our skaters of Pow! Town Roller Derby gather at Oceanview Education Centre to train two to three times a week on skates and prepare for their bouting season. Our training is centred on skating skills, endurance, agility drills, contact drills and game strategy and play, and we skate four to six hours a week. The skaters in our recreational non-contact program absorb basic skating skills, and learn about the game so they can referee on or off skates during our season.
This year our older juniors, the Pow! Town Thunder, will have their inaugural bout as a team. The girls, who are 12 and older, have been training and skating with the adults during this winter season, to prepare most of them for what will be their first contact game.
Contrary to what is remembered of 1970s’ Roller Derby, the modern sport is founded not on a spectacle of World Wrestling Entertainment variety, but on athletic speed, skill and agility needed to play a fast, complex, contact sport. The contact allowed is similar to that of a hockey game, and anything that would send you to the penalty box in hockey, will also send you to the bin in Roller Derby.
The sport of Roller Derby revolves around points. The more times your Jammer (the player with the star) passes a member of the opposite team, the more points your team puts on the board. The longer your Blockers can hold back the Jammer from the opposing team, the less points the other Jammer will score against you. The game is played in two 30-minute periods, lines are rotated after every jam, and players are sent to the bin for infractions.
Over the past three years, we have heard many preconceived notions about the sport from family and friends, and know all the reasons why women are hesitant to come out and try skating. Almost all of our skaters needed to learn to skate from basic skating skills, and many had never played a team sport before. We are a team made up of mothers, fathers, professionals, business owners, community activists and volunteers. We are working in Powell River to change the image of Roller Derby as a sport, and would love nothing more than the chance to introduce the city to our league on Saturday, May 24.
More information on the sport of Roller Derby is available online.
Jennifer Dodd is the coach of Pow! Town Roller Derby and is excited to lace up to play her first game May 24 at the complex. Doors open at 6 pm and the Pow! Town Thunder Junior Bout begins at 6:30 pm.
