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

Dispatches from the ATX: Texas is the Reason

Just a quick thought:

An underlying question this entire trip has been why? Why did the roller derby revival start here and not someplace else. The totally viral way that it caught on makes it clear that there was plenty of tinder waiting for the spark. But why Texas? Why Austin?

Apart from the coincidence of Devil Dan rolling into town, I think the answer is in the special blend of Texas and not-Texas that is Austin. I'm pretty sure that we have more underemployed rock 'n' roll 20- and 30-somethings, and more tattoos per capita than anyplace else in the state. We also are smack in the middle of a state that is fanatical about team sports in a way all its own. You've got a bunch of body-modded, hard-partying women who were probably forced to play some sort of sport during their adolescence, you've basically got Ann Calvello. The rest of us (likely) grew up watching football and gathering for sporting events a la "Friday Night Lights," so you have an audience primed for a violent, fast-paced sport.

Since the start, when you say "roller derby" in Austin, even the unitiated say "fuck yeah." Not everyone thinks that way; more often than not they ask "but don't people get hurt?!" Whatever it is that made this place fertile ground for roller derby, it's the Texan in us that makes us physically unable to stop reminding people that TEXAS IS THE REASON.