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Denver's roller derby rivalry could start the sport rolling across the country

A A A Comments (7) By Melanie Asmar Thursday, Feb 18 2010

...continued from page 6

The next day, I get an e-mail from Slick Vick. Of the 34 women who made the team, I'm not one of them. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you that you did not make the Denver Roller Dolls," it says. "You have the heart of a derby girl, but you still need to get out to the local rinks and practice a bit more before we can subject you to this dangerous sport."

Which is a nice way of saying "You're not good enough to skate with the big girls. We're going places, and unless you can keep up, eat our skate dust."

TONY GALLAGHER

The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls sold out their debut bout this year at the Fillmore.

TONY GALLAGHER

Gabrielle "Fonda Payne" Begeman (left) of the Dolls skates toe-to-toe with Portia "Frida Beater" Hensley of the Rollergirls last November in Philadelphia.

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I can't say I blame them.

For a slide show of Denver derby girls, links to bout videos and more on derby-girl nicknames, log on to westword.com. Contact the author at melanie.asmar@westword.com.

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Kendra Blood 02/25/2010 9:55:00 PM

Hey Johnny, There are a few banked-track leagues around the country, but the cost is a huge factor. Pretty well all current roller derby leagues are skater-run, and the initial cost of a banked track is estimated at 30-50K, and then requires a permanent location or many hours of setup. Flat-track derby is simply more practical for these small organizations. That being said, as roller derby rises again, there are more leagues trying out the banked track. The LA Derby Dolls, one of the few banked track leagues, is offering a training camp this month: http://derbydolls.com/trainingcamp/

Johnny G 02/24/2010 2:35:00 AM

What ever happened to the banked track roller derby? I always thought it was more fun to watch and the girls really got into it. Over the rail! What fun.

Tim 02/19/2010 6:03:00 PM

Just speaking for myself here: I've been seeing the "slow game" for years. It's not something I'm at all unfamiliar with. I still tend to dislike watching it, particularly to the ridiculous extremes Denver Roller Dolls took it to at Nationals. Once it turns into an "almost dead stop game" or "skate backwards game" I'll even boo my own team for doing it. I find that it makes the game less interesting to watch, which I suppose might be something of interest to sponsors. Something else to consider: One thing that increases skater safety is that the blocker and the target have similar momentum. Thanks to basic physics you subtract the speed of the slower skater from the forward momentum of each. If one is stationary and the other is moving at a decent pace, things can tend to get a good bit more dangerous. Here's hoping some rules changes come out in May to curtail the practice. I'd suggest emphasizing the existing ban on blocking from a dead stop and put a penalty on stops of longer than a second and only allow clockwise skating out of bounds. Which would take that skater out of play and out of the pack.

Dangerous Leigh A'zon 02/18/2010 5:24:00 AM

RMRG is starting a training camp for those interested in learning to play. Only $5 per Sunday session at the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls Training Center! Derby Days! These Sunday drop-in sessions will get you started on learning all the necessary skills to play derby The first session will have a no-skates portion from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., when we will simply tell you everything you need to know about roller derby and RMRG. If you are unsure at all about purchasing equipment, hold off until after Feb,. 21 because we'll cover that too! To learn more, fan us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RMrollergirls Live Dangerously, Dangerous Leigh A'zon P.S. The cast comes off tomorrow!

Kendra Blood 02/18/2010 1:03:00 AM

Melanie, thank you so much for taking the time to learn more about our league and sport. Remember, we do have Drop-in Derby every Sunday night for you to hone your skills before our Spring tryouts! :) Kendra Blood Denver Roller Dolls

Kate Jones 02/17/2010 10:37:00 PM

Way to represent, RMRG and DRD!!! We started the Durango Roller Girls at the end of last year and are one of the groups aiming to get WFTDA certified. Keep up the good, hard work!And RMRG, sounds like we'll be seeing your rec.team soon (gotta start somewhere, eh!?)

Mike Brown 02/17/2010 9:46:00 PM

Correction: The article says "there are now 78 leagues nationwide, including five in Colorado. (There are also five or six non-WFTDA-sanctioned leagues, some of which are working toward joining the association.)" There are over 250 leagues nationwide. 78 of them are full WFTDA members, and another 35 are WFTDA "apprentice" leagues. See http://www.derbyroster.com/