MN RollerGirls

Saturday night Joe and I braved the cold and headed over to Todd and Anna's for dinner and then the four of us headed downtown St. Paul to watch the MN RollerGirls.

Yes, there is a huge underground following of roller derby lovers that gather once a month at Roy Wilkins in Saint Paul to watch these lovely ladies duke it out.

Ok, so it wasn't as violent as I thought but I'm sure some of them woke up very bruised Sunday morning.

What is it?
Just like in the 70's, the gals put on some skates and skate around a track trying to score points for their team. The MN RollerGirls are made up of 4 teams - Dagger Dolls, Garda Belts, Atomic Bombshells and Rockits.

How does it work?
Once a month there is a bout which start at 7:30. From 7:30 - 8, 2 teams face off (in this case Garda Belts vs the Dagger Dolls) and then from 8 - 8:30 the next two face off (Atomic Bombshells vs Rockits). There is a 30 minute intermission and then the second half begins. These 30 minutes sessions - now I think they may be 20 minutes - consist of as many 2 minutes jams as possible.

What's a jam?
Each team has 5 girls on the track which make up the pack. Behind the pack is one girl from each team who are the jammers. The jammers have to make it through the pack first to become the lead jammer. Once they initially make it through the pack, the jammers start to get points for each member of the pack they successfully pass.

The lead jammer has the power to let the jam continue for the full two minutes or to call it off before if she wishes.

Rules
Yes, there are rules - no throwing elbows, no using your butt, no hair pulling, etc. If you fall and cause another player to fall, you go to the penalty area.

Why did we go?
A friend of Todd and Anna's, Yingfah (aka Chinese Take-out as she is known on the derby circuit), is on the Atomic Bombshells and we went to cheer her on.

Thoughts
We had a blast and can't wait to go back. Hats off to these girls - they ROCK!