Roller Derby league skates into Baton Rouge

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By Brian Fontenot

If you cross a street gang with a sorority, add pads, helmets and skates and drop the whole full-contact mix on a skating track, you’ll have Baton Rouge’s latest sport.

Roller Derby.

“It’s a sport that women can play that is a full contact sport,” said Sigourney Morrison, a member of the Red Stick Roller Derby League. “It’s a great sport for women not afraid to get out there and show how tough they can be.”

Morrison, known as Sigga Please on the derby track, had always been interested in the sport and tried and failed to start a league in the Capital City a couple years ago.

She is a fashion design major at LSU focusing on being a milliner, but on the track, she’s training to be a jammer, the point scorer on a derby team.

“I just really like to go fast. And that’s one of the main components of being a jammer, to be able to go fast,” she said.

Mary Koehler, better known as Zarathrustya on track, is the president of the Red Stick Roller Derby League, as well as a senior in psychology at LSU.

A fan of the Friedrich Nietzsche, Koehler’s derby name is a play on the German philosopher’s work, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.”

“When you find your name, it feels right,” she said.

Koehler established the league last July after hearing about other leagues in New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile and reading about the sport on the Internet. Her interest in the sport began from watching it on TV years ago with her father.

While trying to set up her league, Koehler went to Leo’s Rollerland on North Airway Drive in Baton Rouge for help.

The owner and manager of Rollerland, Perry Seaman, had been in business for 62 years, but never had anyone come to him wanting to start up a roller derby league.

“I said, ‘Well, if you want to try, go ahead,’” Seaman said, adding that he thought it would be good for the city and his business if the sport did catch on in a big way.

To help things along, he gives Koehler and her league a small discount for renting his rink, which has the most skating space of any rink in the nation.

Koehler wants to grow her league while preparing its members for their first bout, a derby match against another team.

Typically, it takes a full year of practicing to be ready for a bout – for the players to become familiar enough with the rules and how to protect themselves on the track.

Any less time than that could have disastrous results.

“You really have to work up to an actual bout,” Morrison said. “You’ll literally get killed if you don’t practice for a year.”

Because of its full contact, high-speed nature, players do get bumped and bruised.

“Everybody has a nice collection,” she said. “It’s actually sort of a mark of pride when you get a nice hematoma.”

At the time of this article, Koehler’s bicep was scratched up by the velcro on other player’s pads and Morrison had a potato-sized bruise on her leg, as well as a nasty brush burn on her arm from scraping a wall.

To make sure players are ready to participate in a bout, they have to pass minimum skills tests, including blocking, basic skating and speed qualifying. They also have to pass a written test on the rules.

Koehler nor any of the other girls in the league have any previous experience with the sport. Many of them haven’t even skated in over a decade, but they’ve come a long way.

“They’ve definitely improved,” said Seaman. “Some could barely skate in the beginning, and now they’re really getting around.”

“I’m extremely impressed with the advancements the girls are making,” Koehler said. “They surprise themselves with what they’ve accomplished.”

Her league currently has 10 players registered with the Women’s Flat Track Derby, the world regulating body for the sport, and three more considered “fresh meat,” that joined over the last couple of months.

All players and referees must be over 18 and the ages of the girls in Koehler’s league range from 21 to 31. The league holds private practices at Leo’s and also practices during public skate time at Skate Galaxy.

While a team needs 12 players, two require 24. And four to seven referees, which can be male or female, are needed to run a bout, but neighboring leagues often share their referees, Koehler said.

Koehler hopes for her league to have its first real bout sometime early next fall. She said she’s already had half a dozen offers from other leagues in the region.

“I can’t wait to just get started and have an actual bout,” Morrison said.

Koehler’s long term goal, however, is to have her league recognized by the WFTD, joining the ranks of some 50 other leagues around the nation.

To that end, her league is holding a fundraiser, the Anti-Valentine’s Day Bash, on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Northgate Tavern. The bands, No Fuego, Axes of Evil and Field day will perform. Gifts will be raffled and donations of canned goods accepted for the food bank. Door proceeds will go toward paying for the league’s private practices at Rollerland.

Roller Derby Rules

Here’s a basic breakdown of roller derby rules set by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.

A derby bout is divided into three 20-minute periods and it involves five players, one jammer, one pivot and three blockers from each team taking the track.

At the start of a bout, the teams line up in a pack, all facing counterclockwise. Rows of four blockers, two blockers and the pivots are formed. The two jammers, not considered part of the pack, line up about 20 feet behind the pack.

When the referee blows the whistle, the jam formation begins. The pack begins moving counterclockwise around the rink. When the last member of the pack passes where the head of the pack originally lined up, the referee blows the whistle again and a two-minute jam begins.

The basic object of jam is for a team’s jammer to pass through the pack. They score a point for each player of the other team they pass without getting knocked down.

The first jammer to make it through the pack becomes the lead jammer for the remainder of the jam. The lead jammer can end a jam at anytime by putting her hands on her hips.

When the two-minute jam is over, players retake the jam formation.

So, the jammers act as the scorers. The pivots function as the last line of defense for each team and the blockers just try to block the jammers.

Jammers are denoted with a two-star helmet cover. Pivots are identified by a striped helmet cover. Jammers can also trade positions with pivots during a jam by switching helmet covers.

Players are allowed to block with everything above the waist but their hands, elbows and heads.

For more information visit the league’s Web site at RedStickRollerDerby.com or its MySpace page at www.myspace.com/redstickrollerderby.

Originally Published: Issue 596 - February 13, 2008

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