FM Derby Girls Unlaced

When you hear the words roller derby, what comes to mind? That cheesy sport on TV when you were a kid? Choreographed crashes that look like pro wrestling on skates? The 1975 (not too bad) or the 2002 (awful) version of the movie Rollerball?

If you answered yes to any one these, prepare for a shock when you find out what the once decidedly un-hip sport of roller derby has evolved into since its reemergence at the beginning of the new millennium.

Following a peak in popularity in the early 1970s (when the sport once drew 50,000 fans to Chicago’s Comiskey Park) roller derby suffered a steady decline in interest for almost 30 years. In 2001, the sport rose from the ashes in Austin, Texas; however, it was not only reborn but also transformed into something exceptionally unique.

Gone were the banked tracks and the head-over-skates flips over the guardrail. Same goes for the preplanned routines a la the WWF. The male skaters were sent packing and the blond all-American women replaced with pink-haired, punk-inspired riot grrrls. And in the DIY (do-it-yourself) spirit of punk, for-profit promoters were eschewed for a self governed system of local leagues that operate as non-profits under the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s (WFTDA) motto: “By the skaters, for the skaters.”

Most significantly, after dying out as a spectacle, roller derby resurrected itself as a serious sport and as something even greater as well. There is nothing contrived when it comes to both the new roller derby competitions and the women who organize and compete in them.

“It’s not just a sport,” said the Fargo-Moorhead Derby Girls (FMDG) President who skates under the name Athena Barbital (a reference to Pheno Barbital, a drug that slows you down and knocks you out, just as she tries to do as a defender on the track. Her jersey number, 95 mg, is the lethal dosage). “It’s more like being involved in a movement.”

A movement that is quickly snowballing into a feminist evolution. (Revolutions are so last century, no?) Just look at the exponential growth in the number of leagues over the last four years: 2005 – 50; 2006 – 108; 2007 – 235; 2008 – 379. Four months into 2009 and that number has most likely grown yet again. The WFTDA has 66 official leagues divided into four regions, and a new league must operate for one year before applying for membership. Official WFTDA leagues can put together traveling all-star teams that compete at regional and national tournaments.

In October, the FMDG plans to add one more digit to the total. While the board of directors is still working within the start-up stage of the project, this endeavor looks nothing like the unorganized disaster that some baby boomers might expect from a group with more tattoos than MBA degrees in the mix. These non-profit alt-trepreneurs combine a natural understanding of alternative culture with a mature acceptance of the traditional ways of “doing business.” They have established themselves as an L.L.C., have created an impressive business model and media kit, and have built up local interest through networking websites and attention grabbing promo posters. Just as President Obama showed us the archetype for the post-baby boomer politician, derby girls may be the models for the post-boomer businesswoman.

“The sport is taking punk rock girls and turning us into polished professionals,” Barbital said. Polished? No doubt. Prim and proper? Not a chance.

When asked if one of the WFTDA’s goals was to teach women how to run a business, Dr.Purrr-fection – a PhD student in Communications, former English professor, and another founding member of the FMDG – showed the aggressive edge that is sure to make her one of the league’s fiercest competitors.

“I take offense to that question,” she snapped back. “It’s like saying these little ladies need to be taught how to run a business.”

She was right. The question should have been: Is it one of the WFTDA’s goals to help some women who normally work (or were educated) in fields that exist outside the traditional business world to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities? To that question, Athena Barbital offered an emphatic yes based on personal experience.

After earning a degree in fine arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Barbital found herself in the same position as so many talented college grads in creative fields of study: brimming with knowledge in a subject that the nine-to-five world seemed to have little use for.

“Before roller derby I just worked regular jobs,” she said. “But when I started skating, we needed posters to promote the events, so I taught myself graphic design and that has become my career.”

Because the athletes serve as both the competitors in the bouts and the promoters who make the events possible, the concept of victory in roller derby carries two distinct meanings. The obvious one occurs on the track itself, but perhaps the more important accomplishment comes from the behind-the-curtain battle to establish, grow and maintain a successful enterprise.

In order to win that match, the FMDG plan to draw upon the unique talents of each individual member in the group, a collection of multifaceted women who must all wear multiple hats – or helmets perhaps – ranging from tender mother at home to vicious mauler on the track, from individual in style to universal in shared purpose.

While such flexibility may sound like a difficult thing to pull off for some, a big part of being a roller girl involves embracing the alter-ego. Take the case of Abby Synthe, a software engineer for a large IT firm and a mother of an 11-year old son who will wear the number 750 ml, the size of a bottle of the hallucinogenic liquor absinthe. By day, she’s the epitome of the modern woman – maternal yet no shrinking violet – but come October she will step into a phone booth once every month and emerge not as someone else but as a part of herself she keeps hidden most of the time.

“It’s very empowering,” Synthe said. “You can be the woman you want to be.”

With ten such women already onboard, now the next step for the FMDG is to recruit 70 more in order to begin practicing for the league debut; so, they will be holding a recruitment party from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 at The Aquarium. While skaters must be female and must be over 21, the party is open to men and all ages as they are looking not only for skaters but also for referees, coaches, cheerleaders, mascots, statisticians, security, announcers and more. At the party they will be showing the derby documentary Hell on Wheels, and afterwards anyone is welcome to join them at Skateland for an open skate from 7-9 p.m.

For those who attend, expect to feel an instant camaraderie emanating from this group of women. Their enthusiasm is infectious, so don’t be surprised if you catch the skate flu within minutes of initial contact. Those who join can pick both their own name and jersey number, which are guaranteed to be unique because each skater must check against a database (http://www.twoevils.org/rollergirls) of the 16,317 (as of Monday) names already in use. This is yet another way the sport encourages individuality, attracting like-minded women who perhaps thought they were “different” from others but are actually unique, awesome and scattered about in greater numbers than they first believed.

“I have to admit that these are the only female friends I have,” said xSASSerbate, the league treasurer who hopes to exacerbate (to make more violent) the action on the track this Fall.

In true grassroots fashion, the members of a roller derby league extend their internal fondness for one another out into the community, forming a symbiotic mutualism with local artists, musicians and businesspeople. Not only will the FMDG grow their league through cross promotion and sponsorships from local businesses, but also, as a non-profit, they will be donating both time and money to a variety of Fargo-Moorhead charities.

“You know the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’?” Barbital asked. “Well, it takes a city to raise a league.”