Roller Derby Explained

A brief explaination of the exciting sport of women's flat track roller derby

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  Sports

[Alicia Pesce]

Ok two things:

What exactly is a jam and why would you call it off

Can blockers ram into other blockers

and I'm still a little confused on the Pivots

[Shawn W]

Blockers can absolutely hit other blockers, and the pivot, and the jammer. Hitting (or checking) is a pivotal part of the sport. However, there are a LOT of rules on how you are allowed to hit…no elbows…no punching…no hits to or below the knees…no hitting the head…and so on.

[Shawn W]

At the risk of offending every pivot I know, I think they would best be described to a fan as glorified blockers. I do not mean glorified in a negative sense, only that they act exactly as blockers with two exceptions. They may line up on the pivot line (this is the start line for the pack…all other blockers must start behind the pivots), and under certain circumstances they can become a jammer (the original Jammer may “Pass the Star” to the pivot during a jam, giving up her jammer position.)

[BassTracker85]

3:49 LMAO

[kievanlady]

No such thing as too skinny for derby! Find your local team, and find out about their tryouts.

[DevinAethnen]

There are many men's leagues around. If there's not one near you, what you can do is train as a referee. Whether or not you're interested in reffing, that's where you'll meet other men who might be interested in starting a men's team in your area.

[DevinAethnen]

... The person was not interested in that reply and instead replied saying it wasn't a combat sport, which is why I replied about the injuries. I thought I had also explained about being out-of-play, but I see now that I did not. I can see now that the other person probably felt like I had no answer to the "clever" tactic. My bad. Whatever. There are tons of blogs and stuff out there explaining tactics better than I can, so I feel like it's not my job.

[kvetonp]

And I agree that a youtube comments section isn't the easiest place to explain a whole sport, but hey its a video explaining Roller Derby and it's exposing the sport to a lot of people who haven't ever seen it before. As a supporter you should be eager to explain and advocate the sport in this forum - or provide good resources to learn more.

[kvetonp]

You're absolutely right and this explanation is quite a good one - I think it is what irishmakbeth was probably looking for when he posed his questions. You make the point that only someone who knows nothing about RD would make such and assumption - that is exactly what is happening here! Many people don't know a THING about roller derby and would like some more explanation from people involved. Don't attack people just because they don't initially understand something and are asking questions.

[DevinAethnen]

... My point is, only someone who knows nothing about soccer would think that the "human wall" strategy was useful and/or within the rules. With "The pack skates too fast for the jammer," the other team would simply refuse to speed up, causing your team to put yourselves out of play (more than 20 feet from opposing players), allowing the jammer to breeze past you because you can't hit while out of play. Ooops.

[DevinAethnen]

The place to ask how to play an entire sport is not in a comments area where people are restrained to 500 characters. irishmakbeth's comments sounded like this to me: You can win at soccer by having your whole team form a human wall in front of the goal, so it doesn't seem like there's much strategy to it. For one thing, just as you can kick the ball over them, the jammer can just skate faster than the pack. For another, you can't win with no offense.

[kvetonp]

You both make good points, and I understand your enthusiasm for the sport, and your desire to defend it (it seems competitive and is highly underrated). But irishmakbeth is asking some great questions as an outsider and he is only getting attacked here. His points are valid and the touchiness surrounding RD legitimacy is clouding your ability to explain the sport properly. Strategy is key so explain THAT. Broken bones and such are cool, but they occur in "pro" wrestling too. So what?

[period73]

im a guy and i would love to do this!! lol

[wothangclang]

Cool. I have no idea how this game work before. I thought it was a bunch of people trying to pass eachothers. Thanks for the video.