It’s a chilly Sunday evening and the ladies have traveled two-and-a-half hours through the Blue Ridge Mountains for their last roller derby match of the season. As the sun slowly dips behind a peak, the ladies huddle around their carpool and wait outside of Christiansburg, Va.’s Adventure World, a dimly lit roller rink, to compete against the NRV Rollergirls. Some of the ladies are already dressed in their derby attire fishnets, hot pants and knee-highs with their team jerseys, a vintage pin-up model on their black T-shirts. Their faces are bare and innocent, awaiting the war paint of heavy eyeliner and rouge. Skates in hand, smiles on faces, these ladies the Derby Dames anxiously await the rink’s doors to unlock and the night’s bout to kick off.
The ladies who make up the Derby Dames, a Charlottesville, Va.-based roller derby team, are women who joined the team with the intention of making friends, finding an extracurricular and getting exercise, but didn’t know they were getting themselves involved in much, much more. Their underground hobby has become a lifestyle, an ultimate time commitment and a sisterhood of women who seem to have unconditional love and support for one another.
Modern women’s flat track roller derby started back in 2001 with the Texas Rollergirls out of Austin, Texas, after the sport was revived from the roller skating races in the early 1920s. Over the course of the past decade, the alternative sport has exploded in popularity to nearly 600 leagues throughout the country and about 1,000 leagues worldwide and is still growing, according to Roller Derby Worldwide, which keeps a roster of the leagues.
In 2007, a handful Charlottesville ladies got wind of this up-and-coming sport and met to talk about forming a league. Since their initial meeting, the Derby Dames have overcome their share of obstacles from their first practice where a majority of the ladies showed up in the wrong clothes and didn’t know how to skate, to their first bout a year and a half later where they had to borrow players from the opposing team. They certainly have come a long way, but are still struggling to find a permanent roller rink in Charlottesville.
The Derby Dames now boast more than 80 players and bring in as many as 1,000 fans for their bouts. Indeed, they’ve come a long way after five years. With their star jammer B-one Bomber’s quick-reflex offense, Bruta Liza’s and Mad Mountin’ Mama’s destructive defense and newbie Lil Bad Wolf’s optimism and overall zeal, these ladies have the stuff that makes them winners and an inspiration.
What are the rules? (click to expand)
The “bout” (competition) is two 30-minute halves that are broken up into a series of two-minute playing segments, called “jams.”
Fourteen ladies on the roster and two alternates from each team
There are five skaters on the rink: one pivot, three blockers and one jammer
The initial whistle blown by the referee releases the blockers, and once they pass the pivot line the ref blows two short whistles to release the jammers. And, the jam has begun.
The two jammers are competing against one another to legally (without committing fouls) get through the pack of blockers to become Lead Jammer. Whichever jammer legally gets through the pack of blockers first takes name as Lead Jammer and then skates as fast as she can, making a full lap around the rink. As she comes around, she scores points by passing opposing skaters. Each skater counts as one point.
The jam lasts up to two minutes, but the Lead Jammer can call off the jam (by touching her hips as many times as it takes for the ref to see her) whenever she wants. Her timing in calling off the jam is strategy-based. If the opposing team’s jammer passes and she is worried the other team is going to score points, then she can call off the jam.
Fouls include purposeful and accidental elbow throwing, forearm hits, back blocking (rear-ending someone), and track cutting (stepping in front of an opposing teammate after being knocked out of bounds), etc.
After the two 30-minute halves are finished, whichever team has the most points wins.
B-one Bomber joined the Derby Dames in June 2008, about six months after the derby initiative. After reading an article about roller derby in a copy of Reader’s Digest that was laying around her parent’s house, she decided to show up to a practice to see what was behind the unusual sport.
“I had never really even heard of it and they were just starting it here,” she says. “It was kind of the blind meeting the blind.
“I didn’t really have any expectations because I didn’t know anything about roller derby. I didn’t know how to roller skate or anything. I showed up on my first day in my running clothes,” she says and laughs.
B-one is now one of Derby Dames’ star jammers, but she started out like the rest of the Dames, without any experience or coordination. She reminisces back to her first few practices and describes herself as a “disaster on skates” and says her teammates dubbed her “giraffe on ice,” because she was so awkward and wobbly.
What is a Jammer? (click to expand)
The jammer wears a helmet with a star on it and scores points. The jammer is lined up behind the blockers at a second starting line.
The jammer’s goal is to pass the opposing team’s blockers and break through the pack as quickly as possible. The jammer who emerges first without committing penalties is dubbed Lead Jammer, which gives her the ability to call off the jam before the two minutes are up.
Jammers must have speed and agility and be able to psych out or “juke” the blockers. They have to be able to anticipate the blockers’ movements so they can move around them to score.
The jammer does twice as much work as the pack because they have to lap the pack to score points.
“I would kick people in the shins and they would say, ‘I have bruises from you.’ I didn’t realize I was doing it. My feet would just kick out to the sides. It was really bad. I haven’t really taken a break since then. I have been at it for 3 ½ years and practiced hard and dedicated myself to something I love.”
B-one grew up playing soccer and field hockey, and says coming from an athletic background definitely helped her with her skating, but says a lot of the ladies on the team had never played a team sport before in their lives.
B-one has been around from the get-go, and she’s seen herself grow along with the team. As she was awkwardly finding her balance as a skater, so were the Derby Dames, making it up as they went along.
“I came in when nobody knew anything. They knew a tiny bit, but no one was really that polished on the rules,” B-one says. “It has grown so much. It’s pretty inspiring and makes me really happy people are getting into it and are so dedicated.”
What is a blocker?
The pivot wears a striped helmet and strategizes and gives orders to Blocker One, Blocker Two and Blocker Three. The three blockers from the team line up behind the pivot line (start line) and play offense and defense.
Blockers can switch between offense and defense. They try to stop the opposing team’s blockers from taking out their jammer, while attempting to stop the opposing team’s jammer from scoring points.
Blockers need to be good at stopping the jammer, hitting them, slowing them down and getting in front of them.
The positional blocker gets in front of jammer and puts their butt on the jammer, which makes it harder for the jammer to get around them to score.
B-one’s love for the Dames and adrenaline keeps her coming back. She says not every practice is fun; it’s a lot of soreness, bruising and work, but she has never thought about quitting the team. Being a Derby Dame is a huge commitment from serving on derby committees, participating in community service, coaching fresh meat (the newbies) to showing up to the practices from week to week. But, Dames such as B-one, who are truly in love with the sport, can’t help but live up to the rigorous commitments of being on the team.
“I’ve grown more and more in love with the sport the longer I do it,” she says. “I have never done a sport like that. It comes from more inside rather than being just a sport. I just love it.
“I can tell you on a day-to-day basis, I can be having the worst day and be in the worst mood and I’ll come to practice and every single time I’ll be in the best mood when I leave. It never fails,” she says. “You are with great people, you are getting exercise, you are pushing yourself. It’s kind of like a drug, but it’s so healthy. It makes me happy, so that’s the main reason why I do it. It keeps me in shape. It’s social. It’s such a great network of people. It’s been one of the best decisions of my life.”
Mad Mountin’ Mama is a Derby Dame veteran. She has been here since day one. With no derby experience, Mama started coaching at the second practice, and admits she didn’t know what she was doing.
“We just made it up as we went along,” she says. “I was a personal trainer and that’s why I was qualified to coach the team. We were doing trial-by-error, and I was looking up drills online. It was really slow going.”
The Derby Dames lacked key resources that other leagues had a rink and experienced coaches and players which is why it took them a year and a half to start competing against other teams.
“We had a lot of limitations going into it, but we made the most of it,” she says.
The Derby Dames started skating with other teams throughout Virginia to learn how to work as a pack, try different drills and learn the strategy behind the game. They improved their skating by bringing in experienced coaches from other teams in the area. The Richmond, Va. derby team even drove down with gear and pads and taught the Dames drills. The Derby Dames spent their first year and a half polishing their skills up until their first bout, and when reminiscing about it, they can’t help but laugh.
“Our first game was a disaster somewhat,” Mama recalls. She pauses and shakes her head with a smile on her face. “We got to the parking lot to carpool and this is for a bout five hours away and several people didn’t show up. We already had a light roster. We only had seven skaters. Driving across the state, we started calling everyone we knew asking if we could borrow skaters. We played with seven of our skaters; we borrowed the coach and skaters from the Harrisonburg team. We borrowed skaters from Roanoke and one from the team we were playing. It was embarrassing and we lost like incredibly. It was a completely different team than what we are now.”
After their first bout, the Dames got a trainer and practice space at a warehouse, fine-tuned their skills and started acquiring a pack skating mentality. At their first home game, they lost by a lot, Mama says, but still felt empowered.
The Dames went from not being able to fill a roster, practicing only once per week and homeless, to now boasting a team of 80-plus women from ages 19 to mid-40s, who also run the gamut in personalities and professions.
The Dames and the city of Charlottesville are missing one key component for roller derby though a permanent roller rink where they can practice and bout other teams. Flat track derby is convenient because it’s easy to set up the track by marking boundaries on the ground, but over the years, the ladies have lacked a permanent practice and bout space, saying it’s been hard for them to find a facility in the Charlottesville area that is big enough to set up their track.
“Since our inception, we have moved from undersized warehouse track to undersized warehouse track,” B-one says. “By ‘undersized,’ I mean that the space is not big enough to lay down a regulation-size track. It is a disadvantage to us to practice on such a small track and then skate on a regular-sized track during the bouts. It affects our endurance in a bad way. In addition to affecting endurance, practicing on too small of a track can affect movements and plays.”
What is it like to be fresh meat? (click to expand)
One of the Derby Dames’ newest members, Lil Bad Wolf, recently became “bout eligible,” meaning she is able to compete against other teams. When the Dames kick off their season and start competing in February, she hopes to get some time in the limelight.
Although she now says she is in love with the sport, she wasn’t so sure when she showed up for “fresh meat” practice last May. After watching the roller derby movie “Whip It,” Lil Bad Wolf was walking in downtown Charlottesville and saw a poster for the Derby Dames’ tryouts. She joked around with her girlfriends about trying out for the team and then got up the gumption to show up to the first fresh meat practice.
“It wasn’t love at first sight. I was really intimidated,” she says. “I wasn’t that into it and I couldn’t skate that well. It was pretty new for me, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back or not.”
Lil Bad Wolf says around 20 ladies ranging in age from 20s to mid-40s showed up for fresh meat and then slowly they started dropping off, leaving only four ladies vying for spots as Dames.
“It was a lot more intense than I thought it would be. Fresh meat was very welcoming. All the girls were very nice and it was very easy going and go at your own pace,” she says. “I felt that after once or two times I just wanted to go for it and go all the time, but you have to take time to progress.”
The first day of fresh meat involves roller derby basics: a safety review, proper skating stance and stride, crossovers, as well as basic falls and stops.
After day one, the girls practice once per week for eight weeks and then get tested to become a “level one” skater. They are tested on general skating, crossovers, gliding on one foot, stops, etc. After becoming a “level one,” they get to attend more practices and get their USARS insurance (basic skate insurance for $45, which is required for them to skate in a venue).
The ladies then get tested to become a “level two” skater, which is when they become “bout eligible,” meaning they can compete. They are tested on the rules of the game and their skating skills.
Throughout fresh meat, Lil Bad Wolf was champing at the bit to bout, and is ready to start competing this season after perfecting her moves in what she refers to as “big girl practice” with the more experienced Dames.
Lil Bad Wolf sees roller derby becoming a large part of her life and says she is involved in something derby-related every day. Her identity is quirky like the rest of the ladies, but she also stands out in the crowd. She wears a purple romper as she flies around the track and hops around doing footwork drills.
“People don’t really expect it because my life outside of derby is very different,” she says. “When you go out and you tell people you are on the Derby Dames you kind of feel like a rock star. I feel pretty cool.”
Currently, the Dames use the Augusta Expoland, which is 40 minutes out of town, for bouts during the winter. During the summer though, the team gets to bout downtown at the Main Street Arena, where anywhere from 500 to 700 fans show up to cheer them on. At one bout last summer, about 1,000 fans showed up.
“Our fans are amazing compared to other teams,” Mama says. “Other teams don’t have the turnout that we have, the excitement we have.”
Mama says once the Dames started playing downtown it was less appealing for fans to start driving 40 minutes out of town to the Expoland in Fishersville, Va., because everyone would prefer the easy access of downtown.
The Expoland is a great venue though, with an easy track setup and bleachers to seat a large crowd, but the team still longs for the day when the Charlottesville community will welcome a roller rink where the Dames can practice and bout.
“When we founded the Dames, we had a dream of having a community skating rink for everyone especially kids who are excited about roller skating,” says Bruta Liza, one of the Dames’ main blockers and veteran skaters. “It would be lovely if we could get a roller rink back in Charlottesville.”
At the end of November, the Dames made some progress space-wise. They started practicing at a previously abandoned warehouse in town that they fixed up. The space is large enough for a regulation-sized track, but the hunt is still on for a permanent bouting venue.
“It definitely takes a lot of effort to keep derby going in this town with the constant hunt for practice and bouting space, but the team is extremely dedicated and we want it badly,” B-one says. “We also have some extremely loyal fans among them are lots of loyal derby parents who come to watch us and help us whenever they can. Our biggest dream is that someone will build us a roller rink.”
An accessible and permanent roller rink would give the Dames the opportunity to practice more often and better their skating skills; more experienced teams practice as often as four times per week, Bruta Liza says. “For some people, this is the biggest or most important thing in their lives right now,” Bruta Liza says. “It would be nice for that to work out and to have a space to follow their dreams in.”
Bruta Liza is loyal to the Dames, saying they helped her make friends and coax her out of her shy shell when she was new in town. Now, derby has swallowed her life and she has friends who just do derby and talk derby. She knows if she ever left Charlottesville for a new city, it would need to have to a roller derby team, because derby is a part of her identity. The adrenaline, the sisterhood, the game it’s ingrained in her, much like it is with the rest of the 80-plus Dames.
“I have never been in anything that made me feel this empowered, confident, strong and fulfilled. I have not found anything that does this,” she says. “I’m proud of it. When people know that I do this, I’m not ashamed or afraid if they think it’s stupid or degrading or whatever they may think. I’m proud of what we have made together.”
The ladies who make up the Derby Dames, a Charlottesville, Va.-based roller derby team, are women who joined the team with the intention of making friends, finding an extracurricular and getting exercise, but didn’t know they were getting themselves involved in much, much more. Their underground hobby has become a lifestyle, an ultimate time commitment and a sisterhood of women who seem to have unconditional love and support for one another.
Modern women’s flat track roller derby started back in 2001 with the Texas Rollergirls out of Austin, Texas, after the sport was revived from the roller skating races in the early 1920s. Over the course of the past decade, the alternative sport has exploded in popularity to nearly 600 leagues throughout the country and about 1,000 leagues worldwide and is still growing, according to Roller Derby Worldwide, which keeps a roster of the leagues.
In 2007, a handful Charlottesville ladies got wind of this up-and-coming sport and met to talk about forming a league. Since their initial meeting, the Derby Dames have overcome their share of obstacles from their first practice where a majority of the ladies showed up in the wrong clothes and didn’t know how to skate, to their first bout a year and a half later where they had to borrow players from the opposing team. They certainly have come a long way, but are still struggling to find a permanent roller rink in Charlottesville.
The Derby Dames now boast more than 80 players and bring in as many as 1,000 fans for their bouts. Indeed, they’ve come a long way after five years. With their star jammer B-one Bomber’s quick-reflex offense, Bruta Liza’s and Mad Mountin’ Mama’s destructive defense and newbie Lil Bad Wolf’s optimism and overall zeal, these ladies have the stuff that makes them winners and an inspiration.
What are the rules? (click to expand)The “bout” (competition) is two 30-minute halves that are broken up into a series of two-minute playing segments, called “jams.”
Fourteen ladies on the roster and two alternates from each team
There are five skaters on the rink: one pivot, three blockers and one jammer
The initial whistle blown by the referee releases the blockers, and once they pass the pivot line the ref blows two short whistles to release the jammers. And, the jam has begun.
The two jammers are competing against one another to legally (without committing fouls) get through the pack of blockers to become Lead Jammer. Whichever jammer legally gets through the pack of blockers first takes name as Lead Jammer and then skates as fast as she can, making a full lap around the rink. As she comes around, she scores points by passing opposing skaters. Each skater counts as one point.
The jam lasts up to two minutes, but the Lead Jammer can call off the jam (by touching her hips as many times as it takes for the ref to see her) whenever she wants. Her timing in calling off the jam is strategy-based. If the opposing team’s jammer passes and she is worried the other team is going to score points, then she can call off the jam.
Fouls include purposeful and accidental elbow throwing, forearm hits, back blocking (rear-ending someone), and track cutting (stepping in front of an opposing teammate after being knocked out of bounds), etc.
After the two 30-minute halves are finished, whichever team has the most points wins.
B-one Bomber joined the Derby Dames in June 2008, about six months after the derby initiative. After reading an article about roller derby in a copy of Reader’s Digest that was laying around her parent’s house, she decided to show up to a practice to see what was behind the unusual sport.
“I had never really even heard of it and they were just starting it here,” she says. “It was kind of the blind meeting the blind.
“I didn’t really have any expectations because I didn’t know anything about roller derby. I didn’t know how to roller skate or anything. I showed up on my first day in my running clothes,” she says and laughs.
B-one is now one of Derby Dames’ star jammers, but she started out like the rest of the Dames, without any experience or coordination. She reminisces back to her first few practices and describes herself as a “disaster on skates” and says her teammates dubbed her “giraffe on ice,” because she was so awkward and wobbly.
What is a Jammer? (click to expand)The jammer wears a helmet with a star on it and scores points. The jammer is lined up behind the blockers at a second starting line.
The jammer’s goal is to pass the opposing team’s blockers and break through the pack as quickly as possible. The jammer who emerges first without committing penalties is dubbed Lead Jammer, which gives her the ability to call off the jam before the two minutes are up.
Jammers must have speed and agility and be able to psych out or “juke” the blockers. They have to be able to anticipate the blockers’ movements so they can move around them to score.
The jammer does twice as much work as the pack because they have to lap the pack to score points.
“I would kick people in the shins and they would say, ‘I have bruises from you.’ I didn’t realize I was doing it. My feet would just kick out to the sides. It was really bad. I haven’t really taken a break since then. I have been at it for 3 ½ years and practiced hard and dedicated myself to something I love.”
B-one grew up playing soccer and field hockey, and says coming from an athletic background definitely helped her with her skating, but says a lot of the ladies on the team had never played a team sport before in their lives.
B-one has been around from the get-go, and she’s seen herself grow along with the team. As she was awkwardly finding her balance as a skater, so were the Derby Dames, making it up as they went along.
“I came in when nobody knew anything. They knew a tiny bit, but no one was really that polished on the rules,” B-one says. “It has grown so much. It’s pretty inspiring and makes me really happy people are getting into it and are so dedicated.”
What is a blocker?The pivot wears a striped helmet and strategizes and gives orders to Blocker One, Blocker Two and Blocker Three. The three blockers from the team line up behind the pivot line (start line) and play offense and defense.
Blockers can switch between offense and defense. They try to stop the opposing team’s blockers from taking out their jammer, while attempting to stop the opposing team’s jammer from scoring points.
Blockers need to be good at stopping the jammer, hitting them, slowing them down and getting in front of them.
The positional blocker gets in front of jammer and puts their butt on the jammer, which makes it harder for the jammer to get around them to score.
B-one’s love for the Dames and adrenaline keeps her coming back. She says not every practice is fun; it’s a lot of soreness, bruising and work, but she has never thought about quitting the team. Being a Derby Dame is a huge commitment from serving on derby committees, participating in community service, coaching fresh meat (the newbies) to showing up to the practices from week to week. But, Dames such as B-one, who are truly in love with the sport, can’t help but live up to the rigorous commitments of being on the team.
“I’ve grown more and more in love with the sport the longer I do it,” she says. “I have never done a sport like that. It comes from more inside rather than being just a sport. I just love it.
“I can tell you on a day-to-day basis, I can be having the worst day and be in the worst mood and I’ll come to practice and every single time I’ll be in the best mood when I leave. It never fails,” she says. “You are with great people, you are getting exercise, you are pushing yourself. It’s kind of like a drug, but it’s so healthy. It makes me happy, so that’s the main reason why I do it. It keeps me in shape. It’s social. It’s such a great network of people. It’s been one of the best decisions of my life.”
Mad Mountin’ Mama is a Derby Dame veteran. She has been here since day one. With no derby experience, Mama started coaching at the second practice, and admits she didn’t know what she was doing.
“We just made it up as we went along,” she says. “I was a personal trainer and that’s why I was qualified to coach the team. We were doing trial-by-error, and I was looking up drills online. It was really slow going.”
The Derby Dames lacked key resources that other leagues had a rink and experienced coaches and players which is why it took them a year and a half to start competing against other teams.
“We had a lot of limitations going into it, but we made the most of it,” she says.
The Derby Dames started skating with other teams throughout Virginia to learn how to work as a pack, try different drills and learn the strategy behind the game. They improved their skating by bringing in experienced coaches from other teams in the area. The Richmond, Va. derby team even drove down with gear and pads and taught the Dames drills. The Derby Dames spent their first year and a half polishing their skills up until their first bout, and when reminiscing about it, they can’t help but laugh.
“Our first game was a disaster somewhat,” Mama recalls. She pauses and shakes her head with a smile on her face. “We got to the parking lot to carpool and this is for a bout five hours away and several people didn’t show up. We already had a light roster. We only had seven skaters. Driving across the state, we started calling everyone we knew asking if we could borrow skaters. We played with seven of our skaters; we borrowed the coach and skaters from the Harrisonburg team. We borrowed skaters from Roanoke and one from the team we were playing. It was embarrassing and we lost like incredibly. It was a completely different team than what we are now.”
After their first bout, the Dames got a trainer and practice space at a warehouse, fine-tuned their skills and started acquiring a pack skating mentality. At their first home game, they lost by a lot, Mama says, but still felt empowered.
The Dames went from not being able to fill a roster, practicing only once per week and homeless, to now boasting a team of 80-plus women from ages 19 to mid-40s, who also run the gamut in personalities and professions.
The Dames and the city of Charlottesville are missing one key component for roller derby though a permanent roller rink where they can practice and bout other teams. Flat track derby is convenient because it’s easy to set up the track by marking boundaries on the ground, but over the years, the ladies have lacked a permanent practice and bout space, saying it’s been hard for them to find a facility in the Charlottesville area that is big enough to set up their track.
“Since our inception, we have moved from undersized warehouse track to undersized warehouse track,” B-one says. “By ‘undersized,’ I mean that the space is not big enough to lay down a regulation-size track. It is a disadvantage to us to practice on such a small track and then skate on a regular-sized track during the bouts. It affects our endurance in a bad way. In addition to affecting endurance, practicing on too small of a track can affect movements and plays.”
What is it like to be fresh meat? (click to expand)One of the Derby Dames’ newest members, Lil Bad Wolf, recently became “bout eligible,” meaning she is able to compete against other teams. When the Dames kick off their season and start competing in February, she hopes to get some time in the limelight.
Although she now says she is in love with the sport, she wasn’t so sure when she showed up for “fresh meat” practice last May. After watching the roller derby movie “Whip It,” Lil Bad Wolf was walking in downtown Charlottesville and saw a poster for the Derby Dames’ tryouts. She joked around with her girlfriends about trying out for the team and then got up the gumption to show up to the first fresh meat practice.
“It wasn’t love at first sight. I was really intimidated,” she says. “I wasn’t that into it and I couldn’t skate that well. It was pretty new for me, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back or not.”
Lil Bad Wolf says around 20 ladies ranging in age from 20s to mid-40s showed up for fresh meat and then slowly they started dropping off, leaving only four ladies vying for spots as Dames.
“It was a lot more intense than I thought it would be. Fresh meat was very welcoming. All the girls were very nice and it was very easy going and go at your own pace,” she says. “I felt that after once or two times I just wanted to go for it and go all the time, but you have to take time to progress.”
The first day of fresh meat involves roller derby basics: a safety review, proper skating stance and stride, crossovers, as well as basic falls and stops.
After day one, the girls practice once per week for eight weeks and then get tested to become a “level one” skater. They are tested on general skating, crossovers, gliding on one foot, stops, etc. After becoming a “level one,” they get to attend more practices and get their USARS insurance (basic skate insurance for $45, which is required for them to skate in a venue).
The ladies then get tested to become a “level two” skater, which is when they become “bout eligible,” meaning they can compete. They are tested on the rules of the game and their skating skills.
Throughout fresh meat, Lil Bad Wolf was champing at the bit to bout, and is ready to start competing this season after perfecting her moves in what she refers to as “big girl practice” with the more experienced Dames.
Lil Bad Wolf sees roller derby becoming a large part of her life and says she is involved in something derby-related every day. Her identity is quirky like the rest of the ladies, but she also stands out in the crowd. She wears a purple romper as she flies around the track and hops around doing footwork drills.
“People don’t really expect it because my life outside of derby is very different,” she says. “When you go out and you tell people you are on the Derby Dames you kind of feel like a rock star. I feel pretty cool.”
Currently, the Dames use the Augusta Expoland, which is 40 minutes out of town, for bouts during the winter. During the summer though, the team gets to bout downtown at the Main Street Arena, where anywhere from 500 to 700 fans show up to cheer them on. At one bout last summer, about 1,000 fans showed up.
“Our fans are amazing compared to other teams,” Mama says. “Other teams don’t have the turnout that we have, the excitement we have.”
Mama says once the Dames started playing downtown it was less appealing for fans to start driving 40 minutes out of town to the Expoland in Fishersville, Va., because everyone would prefer the easy access of downtown.
The Expoland is a great venue though, with an easy track setup and bleachers to seat a large crowd, but the team still longs for the day when the Charlottesville community will welcome a roller rink where the Dames can practice and bout.
“When we founded the Dames, we had a dream of having a community skating rink for everyone especially kids who are excited about roller skating,” says Bruta Liza, one of the Dames’ main blockers and veteran skaters. “It would be lovely if we could get a roller rink back in Charlottesville.”
At the end of November, the Dames made some progress space-wise. They started practicing at a previously abandoned warehouse in town that they fixed up. The space is large enough for a regulation-sized track, but the hunt is still on for a permanent bouting venue.
“It definitely takes a lot of effort to keep derby going in this town with the constant hunt for practice and bouting space, but the team is extremely dedicated and we want it badly,” B-one says. “We also have some extremely loyal fans among them are lots of loyal derby parents who come to watch us and help us whenever they can. Our biggest dream is that someone will build us a roller rink.”
An accessible and permanent roller rink would give the Dames the opportunity to practice more often and better their skating skills; more experienced teams practice as often as four times per week, Bruta Liza says. “For some people, this is the biggest or most important thing in their lives right now,” Bruta Liza says. “It would be nice for that to work out and to have a space to follow their dreams in.”
Bruta Liza is loyal to the Dames, saying they helped her make friends and coax her out of her shy shell when she was new in town. Now, derby has swallowed her life and she has friends who just do derby and talk derby. She knows if she ever left Charlottesville for a new city, it would need to have to a roller derby team, because derby is a part of her identity. The adrenaline, the sisterhood, the game it’s ingrained in her, much like it is with the rest of the 80-plus Dames.
“I have never been in anything that made me feel this empowered, confident, strong and fulfilled. I have not found anything that does this,” she says. “I’m proud of it. When people know that I do this, I’m not ashamed or afraid if they think it’s stupid or degrading or whatever they may think. I’m proud of what we have made together.”