The glitz and the glamour of the little-known sport of roller derby were well and truly evident at the Cambridge Rollerbillies' final home match of the year. An exciting double-header of skating took place, with the Rollerbillies triumphing over the Newcastle Roller Girls Whippin' Hinnies 220–146 shortly before Roller Derby Leicester beat the Punt Rockers 244–141. 

This is a sport that trades on its glitter and pageantry as much as it does on the competitive element. And, speaking to two members of the team – Fiesta, an engineering graduate at Churchill College, and Diana Sprints, who works in the University Library – it seems that this carnival-like aspect of the sport is key to its enjoyment. As Fiesta describes, “When it started off, it was quite a spectacle and I suppose we’re trying to keep the spectacle alive. We still train and work hard but you also get to have fun and get to be a little bit silly. The glitter and everything’s a part of it, it’s a reminder not to take yourself too seriously and have fun.”

Diana Sprints concurs with her teammate, noting that an additional element of the sport is the fact that some players skate under different names. “There's no hard and fast rule,” she tells me, “but I've never thought of myself as a sporty person so it’s nice to have this separate identity. And sometimes I forget Fiesta’s real name!”

Both were attracted to the sport for other reasons too. Fiesta explained she liked “the sense of freedom you get from skating," before quickly adding that she “quickly realised there’s a lot less freedom to just skate around than I thought.”

In contrast, Diana Sprints takes a different view: “The skating was probably the last thing for me! I hadn’t skated before this so that was quite an intimidating factor. I came along to a 'fresh meet and greet' – which is our open session where we tell people what roller derby’s all about – with my best friend; she’s from Seattle, and it’s much bigger in the States, so she already knew about it and wanted to get involved so I just went along with her.”

With roller derby lacking in coverage, the Rollerbillies are heavily reliant on attracting new blood via their 'fresh meet and greet' sessions. The sport – which Diana Sprints explains “started, of course, in the 70s where it was mainly a speed race on an elliptical, banked track” – is a full-contact sport played on quad roller skates. Skaters from two teams of a maximum of 14 players play against each other in 'bouts' which last 60 minutes, broken down into two 30-minute halves. And each half is further broken down into jams, which last for no more than two minutes.

For each jam, four 'Blockers' and a 'Jammer' (the point scorer) from each team go on the track. The game begins on the whistle, with blockers skating in a tight formation (the pack) while the jammers race to pass through the pack once, at which time no points are scored – but a “lead jammer” position can be established.

They continue to race around the track a second time and attempt to pass through the pack again. The jammers score one point for each opponent they lap as long as they pass that player in bounds and without penalties. The players continue to race and score points until the jam is over or until the lead jammer “calls off the jam” by repeatedly tapping their hips.

Diana Sprints notes that the sport “became quite a staged affair similar to wrestling there were a lot of staged fights and personas. It went out of fashion for a while but then came back in the early 2000s when a team in Texas decided to kick start it again but with more of a focus on the sport.” Indeed, true to this, there is certainly a sporting element to roller derby that undoubtedly requires athleticism and skill, and is subject to the risk of injury. 

As Diana Sprints explains, while it is “obviously a contact sport, there are rules about what kind of engagement you can have on the track to minimise injuries. We all wear lots of pads and helmets and in our league, there are assessments you have to pass before you can get up to a public skating level so there’s no one out there who doesn’t know how to take a hit or fall safely. We train really hard so you get training injuries. A lot of us do weightlifting or yoga to strengthen our bodies to make sure we don’t get too many injuries during the season.”

Still, she notes, “ankle breakages are the most common, serious injury you can get. I’ve got a sprained ankle right now but that’s just the end of the season.” Fiesta has also been the recipient of injuries too: “I damaged my coccyx once,” she said. “I didn’t break it but I had to do everything really carefully. I remember everyone at work thought I had haemorrhoids because of how I was sitting, which was quite embarrassing.”

All sports are created equal

Nevertheless, despite the risk of injury, there remain more elements of roller derby that keep attracting more and more new players. Since the Rollerbillies were formed in February 2008, after a number of the team sought to create the obvious fun that the London Rollergirls had early that year, the team finished as runners-up in Tier 3 of British Championships 2015, gaining promotion to Tier 2. 

Both girls attribute this continued growth to the solidarity within the team. Fiesta pays tribute to her teammates' ability to “motivate me to do my best, and make me get off the sofa and go to training” while Diana Sprints describes “the relationships and friendships I’ve made through it,” as her favourite thing about the sport, noting that she had “never played a team sport before but I love the dynamic.”

The sport is definitely very accessible in Cambridge, with the Rollerbillies' successes offering a fantastic opportunity for interested players to reach a high standard. At their 'fresh meet and greet' events, the club outline the key facts about their 10-week-long training course where, as Fiesta explains, they “teach you how to fall safely and basic rules of the game. It’s a great way to get fit and even if you don’t want to skate competitively, just come along and give it a go.”

Cambridge Rollerbillies' next 'fresh meet and greet' event will take place on the 22nd January 2017 at the Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre between 3pm and 5pm. The event will give novices the chance to find out a bit more about Roller Derby, watch the team practise and even play the sport themselves. The Facebook event is available here, while those who want to reserve a place can email info@rollerbillies.com