Rollergirls Turn Back the Clock        Posted 2-12-07

From the 1950s into the 1970s roller derby was a television staple, one part morality play and a small part— perhaps— athleticism.

Today the sport is making a comeback of sorts. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association ranks the sport’s best teams and sanctions some 30 local leagues around the United States.

One of them is in Philadelphia, where the Philly Rollergirls operate a league that includes nearly 50 skaters. The team trains and hosts bouts at an indoor sports facility that is used for lacrosse, soccer and roller hockey.

The sport itself features two five-woman teams skating on a flat track, as opposed to the banked oval that was featured in previous incantations of roller derby. That’s for a practical reason; teams can train on virtually any flat, hard surface.
In contrast to their sisters of an earlier age, some of whom earned a living on skates, the Rollergirls aren’t paid, don’t appear weekly on TV and fit their skating around jobs, school and family responsibilities.

The organization fields four teams that compete against each other in-house. The best skaters also are part of a travel team that takes on teams from other leagues. There are also occasional weekend-long events that involve teams from several leagues simultaneously.

Philadelphia native Shannon Black played a variety of sports during her teen years, including high-school field hockey and briefly, junior college volleyball. Now at age 30, skating gives her a respite for her job as a textile designer.

“Nothing drives me more crazy than sitting still,” he says, “especially behind a computer eight hours. I look forward to practice at the end of the workday. I just cannot wait to get out there and put my skates on and skate.”

Soft spoken off the track, Black enjoys being aggressive on it despite standing just 5-6 and weighing 120 pounds. “What people don’t know is that I’m passive-aggressive,” she says, “so I like to come out and play derby. It helps get all the stress out. It just feels fantastic to be getting this kind of a workout.”

Like all the other skaters, Black has a stage name—Rosie Bloodbath, and many of the WFTDA skaters take the track in tattoos, heavy makeup and fishnet stockings. It’s all part of an 
effort to attract paying customers to the bouts and it’s worked; a recent mtachup between the Rollergirls’ travel team and a team from Baltimore drew over 1,000 spectators.

“(The WFTDA) is part sport and part spectacle,” says Black’s fellow Rollergirl Stephanie Mannis, who takes the track as Lexie DeLuxe. “But it’s very much an athletic endeavor.”
Mannis herself has been on skates most of her life. She was a speedskater as a little girl and later competed in synchronized swimming and equestrian events.

The WFTDA publishes a complete set of rules and has standards for skating ability and safety with which teams and players must comply, but Mannis understands that there are skeptic who question the sport’s authenticity. “We train very hard,” she says, “three nights a week, sometimes more. I think once someone comes to one of our bouts they get a pretty clear picture of the athleticism and the organization that goes into it.

“Even though we play it up with the names and the makeup and the tattoos, we’re still athletes.”

There is a social aspect to the sport as well. Kristina Morgan (Ivana Rock) had never been involved in sports before skating with the Rollergirls; she focused on ballet instead. Now she skates when she isn’t working or taking college classes.

“I didn’t realize honestly what I was getting into,” she says, “but it’s totally taken over my life It’s really great I’ve met a lot of people that I would never meet otherwise. I’ve become part of this huge community, not just here but the whole country, people that I have a connection with now.”

The Rollergirls traveled different roads to get to the track, but when the whistle bowls they are bound together by their passion for their sport. “I love playing to the crowd,” Mannis says. I grew up in the theater; I don’t really have stage fright. Some girls get nervous when they see the people out there. Once you get on the line and the whistle blows you almost tune out the crowd.”