Kicking Ass: A Reason to Skate

Fargo, N.D. -- The Fargo Civic Center was only half full, and the entertainment was going in circles. Skaters with matching jerseys wore patterned tights and shorts or leggings and a belt, anything to make their look their own. The Fargo Moorhead Derby Girls skated on the cement floor, warming up as the fans purchased glazed almonds, nachos and beer and settled into the red stadium seating. It was a family-friendly event, and a member of the Battlescar Gallactica team tossed silver Mardi Gras beads into the stands. An older man wearing a “Call me Big Papa” Smurf shirt waited to show his granddaughter a bout, the derby name for a match that comes from boxing terminology. A middle-aged man sat a few rows back with a beer, watching the scene. Some kids caught the beads and put them around their necks—Battlescar fans.

The FMDG skates to raise money for local non-profit organizations, but it currently needs the community’s support to make its practice space safe. They have donated funds to the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo Moorhead, The Giving Tree, Lake Agassiz Habitat for Humanity and Moorhead State University—Moorhead’s “Fight the Frost: Go Pink” awareness drive to support the Roger Maris Cancer Center in Faro, according to FMDG president Donna Donley, skater Bruz-her.

If possible, the Derby Girls also participate in a service activity related to the bout’s designated charity, such as building a shed with Habitat for Humanity and filling backpacks for a school drive, she said. Within the league, however, roller derby has transformed lives as well. Riah Roe, skater Buffy Bastinada, knows women who were hooked on drugs or in abusive relationships when they started roller derby, but FMDG has provided them with a supportive community and changed their lives.

“There’s a lot of solidarity in an all-girls league,” she said.

The use of derby names is an important part of the individuality in the culture, and no two Derby Girls in the nation have the same name. Girls check their names against a national registry to ensure there are no duplicates, and the names are often edgy puns, such as Bruz-her, Bolt Action and Buffy Bastinada.

“It’s kind of like an alter identity,” Roe said. “I get to take on what I like about her, and it becomes me.”

Mary Beth Shaffer, skater Rollz4Damage, began derby without knowing how to skate, but she was hooked. The Fresh Meat program teaches potential recruits everything they needed to know about skating and falling, and Shaffer was addicted to the empowering culture.

“It’s finally nice to have a female sport that portrays women as strong and sexy,” she said.

Roller derby is a unique, rugby-esque sport, according to Jen Hurd, a Concordia senior who experience derby for the first time this season. She heard about FMDG through her sociology professor, Natalie Peluso, who skates.

“It sounded so cool with being so aggressive, pushing people around while on quad skates,” she said. “Seeing your prof outside of class is one thing, but this is just so different.”

The Haute Dishes jammer (pink, far right) tries to
pass "the pack" and become eligible to gain points.

In roller derby, one designated skater from each team of five tries to be the first to break through the pack, the remaining four of both teams’ skaters. The first skater to do so becomes the lead jammer and can stop the jam, the 2-minute round, at any point. Both jammers score points by passing members of the opposite team, so the lead jammer will often continue the jam if she is far enough in front of the other team’s jammer to gain points without the other jammer immediately gaining points as well. She will usually call off the jam if they are close together and the brouhaha necessary to get through the pack wouldn’t create a gap in the two teams’ scores.

Hurd sat in the “suicide seats,” those located on the floor of the Civic Center. To sit in chairs on the floor instead of in the higher permanent seating, Hurd simply signed a waiver and arrived ten minutes early. She went to the bout with a Concordia friend also curious about the off-campus event.

“It’s a fun way to get out of the Concordia bubble,” she said, “and if you’re 21, you can drink.”

Although Hurd had no experience with derby, the bout was easy to understand. Before each event begins, the announcers read the rules and end with the most important one:

“Don’t spill your beer!”

After the rules are read, the teams skate out from under the stands, like football players running into a stadium of cheering fans. They circle the track as each derby girl is introduced.

FMDG operates as a non-profit though it is still in the process of transitioning to a non-profit in the eyes of the federal government, according Donley. Because the skaters pay to be in FMDG, any shortage is paid by the Girls, she said. In fact, FMDG has been so busy helping women that the organization hasn’t been helping itself. The current financial need is too great.

“We could get $10,000 for the warehouse and not even spend it on the rent,” she said. “There’s so much to be done.”

The smaller costs are consistent, such as tape to keep the rope in place, rope that outlines the track and other supplies for the warehouse. But, the padding that currently keeps skaters from hitting metal posts if they fly off the track is old mattresses that need to be replaced, preferably with actual padding. Also, FMDG is hoping to add a new key card system to the warehouse is more secure and accessible, Donley said. The padding costs about $3,000, but FMDG hopes to also install the security system, which would be a great way to practice more, Donley said.

Flat track derby began in 2001 and currently accounts for over 98 percent of current derby leagues due to the financial appeal of tape and rope to construct the track over the costlier construction of a banked track, according to the Derby News Network. Flat-track derby can be just as physical as banked tracks, but it occurs at a slightly slower pace.

Those interested in sponsoring a skater or donating to the Skate-a-Thon on Saturday, February 25 can find more information at the FMDG website, http://fmderbygirls.com, or their Facebook group, www.facebook.com/fmderbygirls.

The point of the FM Derby Girls is to empower women, regardless of whether or not the women are on the teams or recipients of the money raised at bouts. As Alex Vruno, skater Nutmeg, said:

“[It] gives us a reason to be here—other than kicking ass.”