Roller derby began in the Great Depression, but without rules.
"It was a roller derby match with teams of two people skating the equivalent of the distance from L.A. to New York," derby skater Michela Dai Zovi said. "It was an endurance sport, and the organizer saw people got more into it when people fell. The rules are based around making people fall down. It was more profitable for him if he could increase the likelihood of that happening."
Roller Derby is a contact sport where two teams roller skate around an oval track. A team scores each time a member, known as a jammer, skates past all other participants.
Back in the '20s, roller derby players would skate around the track for days.
"I'm not sure if it was one skating while the other sleeps or what," Zovi said.
Albuquerque has three roller derby teams: Hobots, Dooms Dames and DIA (Derby Intelligence Agency). The dreby season begins in April.
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Tracy Heath has rolled with the Dooms Dames for three years. She calls roller derby civilized rugby on skates.
"Civilized 'cause we have rules," she said. "We're not allowed to elbow each other in the face. We're not allowed to line drive people, because there are certain zones of contact that we can and cannot use. We're not allowed to hit people with our skates or grab people or use our heads."
They have a sub-group named the Polite Ladies Roller Skating Society in which they come out in 19th-century garb during competitions.
"It's supposed to be some sort of mockery of how we are supposed to be as ladies," Heath said. "It's kind of like our fake, cutesy response to the roller derby image. We're supposed to be punk rock and tough with torn fishnets and bloody noses."
Rowan Lange, who helps direct practice sessions, tells the skaters to watch out for individuals' pre-strike signals.
"You could call it a tell - that's what they call it in poker," Lange said. "Some people make eye contact when they haven't really been looking at you before. The expression on their face - they'll get an intent look. Some people, they take a shuffle step toward you or they'll drop their weight down as they prepare for a hit. If you can see what they're going to do, you can do something about it."
She said Albuquerque hasn't won a national competition yet.
"We went to the first Dust Devil Tournament two years ago in Tucson, and we came in 19 out of 20," Lange said. "We had just had two exhibition games, and that was the minimum a team was allowed to do to participate, so we were a little green. Everyone said we had a lot of heart, which meant we had little skill."
Roller Derby is one of a few female-only sports, she said.
"We work hard and we play hard," Lange said. "After every game, we have an after party."
For more information visit dukecityderby.com
