Perth Roller Derby

Have you seen the movie Whip It starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore? It's about a girl named Bliss Cavendar (played by Ellen Page) who joins a roller derby team, defying the 'beauty pagent' image that her mother has imposed on her. 

Before seeing this movie, I had never really known what a roller derby was. Basically, it's contact sport where each team has a designated player that scores by overtaking players of the opposite team as they lap around the track. The rules are pretty straight forward and you can read up on it on Wikipedia...or watch the movie. 

My friend had mentioned to me last year that Perth had it's own roller derby league and I was so interested in going to watch one of the games because it looked like a lot of fun.

I never got around to going to watch a game because I didn't really think anyone would want to go with me. Hence, time passed and I forgot about wanting to go until just a few weeks ago when I was thinking of things to add to my list of new things to do this year. 

I hopped onto the Perth Roller Derby website and saw that the grand final was tonight. Since starting my blog, my friends have been so supportive and are always willing to do new things with me and so it was no trouble finding people to go with me. 

There was a great turn out at the derby tonight. The grand final was between the teams Mistresses of Mayhem and The Apocalipsticks. Each player also had their own quirky name. A few of my favourites were Cinderkilla, Weapon of Ass Destruction, Edward Slaughterhands, Stevie Thunder and Parasite Hilton. 

We really got into the game. It was just really good seeing all these talented women pushing and shoving while of skates. There was heaps of vicious play, but it was all in good fun...and it made for great entertainment. In the end, The Apocalipsticks won. Congratulations to them!

Even though the season has ended for this year, add it to your list of things to do for next year. Bring your loudest cheering voice because it's so much fun cheering the players on, and I'm sure they appreciate the crowd's support too. 

It was called the 'Suicide Zone' because it was the area where the girls could fall over and so if you happen to be sitting there, then you'd get hit. And yes, it actually happened. There was one big collision where two girls and a ref collided into the people sitting in one of the suicide zones.

The player with the star on their helmet is the one who can score the points. They are the "jammers".

Even the refs all had a cool name.

This kid was awesome. He skated around the track with one of the score boards. We liked his metallic leggings :P