When English teacher Sarah Munsell tries on shoes or gets a pedicure, salespeople gape at the bruises covering her legs. These bruises, along with her highlighted pink hair, are results of playing on a roller derby team.
A friend encouraged Munsell to try out for the team three years ago. “I sucked —literally, I couldn’t stand on skates,” Munsell said. She made the team anyway because she had shown that she was committed, a quality important to the league. Now Munsell attends multiple practices and a scrimmage each week.
Roller derby has recently increased in popularity after its peak in the ‘70s. “Whip it,” a recent film starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore about an underdog roller derby team, has furthered this revival.
Contrary to its portrayal in “Whip it,” however, roller derby isn't all about brutality. There is some physical contact, but the rules include no tripping, elbowing or punching.
“A lot of people think it’s a brute sport, but it’s all strategy,” Munsell said.
The movie accurately portrays the basic rules of the sport. There’s one “jammer” on each team who tries to score the maximum amount of points by getting through the pack of skaters on the track before the jammer from the other team does.
Other stereotypes and misconceptions have been connected to the sport ever since it became popular.
“It’s not a gay, tattooed sport like many people think it is," Munsell said. She added that no one would ever guess many of the women on her team play roller derby if they were to see them on the street. "It seems like most of the other girls [in the league] are married ... [and some] are having babies.” Munsell explained that not as many lesbian women are involved with the sport as common stereotypes suggest.
History teacher Sean Turley thinks that these stereotypes reflect society’s view of women. “I think it’s very easy for people to reduce women competing as butch or manlike or acting in a way that’s not becoming of a woman," he said.
Turley hopes to see the sport grow in population and exposure because the nature of the sport accepts pain. “I think we live in a society that’s afraid of pain and the more we are afraid of it, the more we are hurt.”
Roller derby is not only a sport; it’s also an underground culture. Munsell’s team calls her “Holly Nass” (Haulin' Ass). In roller derby, given names are called "government names,” and some women who play take on different personalities, or alter egos, while skating.
These personalities are visible in players' costume choices. Munsell’s team is called "The Nutcrackers," after their theme of “ballerinas gone bad.” Munsell wears a tutu and belts around her waist to match this theme and died her hair pink to match the team colors.
These accessories are not only fashion choices but are also team strategy. Munsell explained that her belts help the jammers pass through the pack as quickly as possible by holding on to her and pushing off for speed.
History teacher Brian Murray went to “check out” one of Munsell’s games and found it was different than he anticipated. The game was “much, much more complex and strategic than I thought it was,” he said. “It’s cheerful and fun and not bloodthirsty.”
Turley, who saw “Whip it,” said that the renewed cultural interest in roller derby is a product of an obsession with "everything vintage." Turley approves of this particular interest. "Some sports of the past are worth raising from the grave, and roller derby is one of them," he said.
