The Road to Rollergirl How I Stopped Being a Roller Wannabe and Started Being a Rollergirl

The Beginning of the Road

Every road has a beginning. This one started on June 21, 2002. I know this because it is memorialized in print.

It was probably about 4PM, too late for the lunch crowd, and too early for the early birds. I was sitting at the bar of the restaurant where I was a waitress, shooting the shit with the busboys and making fake Orange Juliuses out of Bluebell vanilla ice cream, Sprite, and Goodflow orange juice (it's damned fine, trust me on this).  Even between semesters, I was in the habit of flipping through the Daily Texan from the stack of used newspapers left by customers. Usually I'd just do the crossword and read Creased Comics, maybe glance at the letters to the editor.

Can you tell what that is? It's roller derby history.

June 21, 2002 was different.

Mixed in there with all the AP wire pieces and editorials was an article, Rooooll Models by Stephen Palkot (PDF courtesy of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, text below), about something called "roller derby."

Even though I had never seen roller derby or RollerJam on TV, I think that I must have had some image in my head, some inkling of what roller derby was, because I immediately knew that this was totally rad. According to the article, some badass chick-types were practicing at Skate World, my childhood haunt, and they were going to be having an exhibition bout that weekend. The article got some of the details wrong (hint: "Patas de Fuego" means something very different from "Putas del Fuego" -- and look! it's my all time favorite skater! "Miss Conda" [Miss Conduct]!), but it got all the excitement spot-on. By the end, I felt like Ellie Dalton--she discovered roller derby by overhearing a conversation at a coffee shop. Afterwards, she strode over to the women talking and told them "I don't know what this is, but I want in." I was ready to put on my skates and knock some bitches down.

But roller derby giveth, and roller derby taketh away. The very next paragraph broke my heart as it explained that skaters had to be over 21. Derby dreams would have to wait.

There is a lot about the sport that ended up differently than originally planned. The fake fights and hair-pulling went the way of the 1970s rigged bouts. Spank Alley was turned into a line of audience members, and eventually retired when the penalty mistress tragically passed away. But you can definitely see the glimmer of the real, serious, athletic sport to come. I'm sure that you can also see the makings of a roller wannabe--I had no idea it would take 8 years, but I knew my turn would come.

Rooooll Models by Stephen Palkot, Daily Texan Staff (transcribed by yours truly, as-is)

Roller derby is more than a hobby for the 30 women in Austin’s only roller derby league. The sport offers an outlet for creative expression and bonding, with their involvement going far beyond the skating rink.

Established in December 2000, the Bad Girl, Good Woman Productions rollerderby league initially consisted of a few regulars from Casino El Camino Bar looking to play a game or two of the once-popular sport. Over time, an organized league structure developed, with practices twice a week at the Skateworld roller rink and a major time commitment on the part of its founders.

“It’s a lot different now than it was then [when we started], as far as the direction it’s moving an what we’re looking at,” said Rachel Moore, an organizer in the roller derby league. “That was going to be a one-time thing or once a year or something. This time, we’re looking at taking odd and being—who knows?—weekly, monthly.”

As for the group’s name, co-founder Anya Jack said she wanted to convey the idea that the league is about entertainment as well as sport.

All the hard work will come to fruition when the league’s teams face each other at their first tournament this Sunday at Skateworld. Four teams have been established: the Hellcats, the Rhinestone Cowgirls, the Patas de Fuego, and the Holy Rollers, each with their own distinctive outfits. However, the team members insist that the first event will only allow invited audience members. “

It’s supposed to be invitation-only” Moore said, “only because it’s our first dress rehearsal kind of thing.”

Indeed the term “dress rehearsal” applies well to the Sunday event. At the Tuesday night practice, Moore, dressed in a plain gray tank top and black athletic pants, told the women of the league how the event will be run. Praising one of the women for developing a unique on-rink persona, Moore urged the others to follow suit with their own acts.

“She’s been really good abut figuring out what she wants her personality to be,” Moore said to the crowd of helmeted women. “You guys might want to think of something or how you present yourselves.”

Among the other planned stunts for the evening will be the “Spank Line,” where one of the women will skate her way through a line of spankers composed of other league members. The group hopes to rig visually dramatic fouls—hair-pulling was suggested—and include moment where the non-competing teams will venture into the audience, “flirting and talking to people, hanging out,” Moore said.

But make no mistake, the women of Bad Girl, Good Woman productions take the roller derby sport seriously, practicing hard and regularly. For 29-year-old Theresa Pappas, who works at a biotech firm by day, learning to play roller derby has been an immensely rewarding experience. Prior to joining the group, she had never been involved in organized sports.

“I couldn’t really skate very well in the beginning. The challenge was to get your skating up and learn to do jumps and turns and all of your basic drills,” she said. “We did a bout, and it came together, and I could feel it.”

While the women in Bad Girl, Good Woman come from all different backgrounds, the median age is 24. Some of Tuesday’s participants sported tattoos and retro-style Betty Paige bangs. Many are connected to Austin’s rock scene in one way or another. Their education levels range from those with no college experience to individuals working for their doctorates in chemistry. At 21, journalism junior Ellie Dalton is the youngest member of the group and one of the few UT students in the league.

“I was actually studying for midterms this spring, and I was at Bypass [coffee shop],” she said, describing her discovery of Bad Girl, Good Woman. “I was thoroughly intrigued with some girls who were all tattooed up and how they were looking cool, chic, and I kept listening.”

After the meeting, Dalton approached the women, telling them, “I don’t know what this is, but I want in.”

Not just anybody can join the group, though, since the league requires that its participants be at least 21 years of age. Because the members like to hang out at “dark, seedy bars” such as Emo’s, Room 710 and Casino El Real, the league would rather not allow minors into its fold, Moore said.

“Even if there’s a lot of good skaters [under 21], we just can’t accept them,” said Moore. “It’s just safer, legally and everything.”

After socializing frequently for many months in the downtown bar scene, the women of Bad Girl, Good Woman Productions have developed a strong bond.

“These girls are just awesome because they all come from so many different backgrounds, but yet they just all clicked so well,” Dalton said.

For Pappas, even though the women come from diverse backgrounds, it takes a special kind of woman to be involved in Bad Girl, Good Woman Productions.

“I guess there’s a lot of exhibitionism,” Pappas said. “It’s a sport that has these kitschy aspects to it. So you’ve got to have a little bit of bravado and not be afraid to show your personality to be a roller derby girl.”