A blanket of silence falls upon the previously roaring arena as players steady their skates and brace for the impending hits and blows from the jam that is about to begin. The whistle blows; players bash into each other, and the following two minutes are a constant action-filled jumble of players hitting each other and trying to stay up after getting slammed into. This is roller derby.
Although the premise of this sport is initially confusing, the sport is fascinating. Sadly, many college students have probably never been to a roller derby game, even though local league Eves of Destruction (EOD)’s events sometimes have higher attendance levels than other local sports games. However, those who know about it love it, including the handful of Camosun alum who play for EOD.
So, to help visualize a game, imagine a large, flat, oval-shaped track. There are four players who are called blockers lined up with their arms huddling around each other. One of these blockers is called a pivot. They wear a line on their helmet and are the last line of defence against the other team’s jammer. The jammer wears a star on their helmet and fights as hard as they can to snake through or break through the wall of blockers and start making rounds around the track. Once they break, it’s a mad dash to make it around the track as fast as possible. After completing one full round, they start earning points for their team.
The sport has changed lots over the years, but derby’s intensity, even in a practice scrimmage, has not budged. Roller derby also remains physically and personally impactful to its players. The unique mix of drag-inspired personas and modern-day athleticism within the sport creates this effect, as does the community within various leagues, and those leagues’ relationship with their communities. For its players, the sport is personal, as it helps develop their physical and mental health. This is something that can be seen vividly within EOD, and through talking to the league’s players. The stories and descriptions from EOD members Tina F. Lawless (Hayley Williams, Camosun alum), Slaya SoLow (Leah ter Hart, Camosun alum), Toombstone (Kimberly Toombs), and Violet Criminal (Madeleine Harber) stand as crashing, bashing testimonies to just how much more roller derby is than initially meets the eye.
A flair for the athletic
Many aspects of roller derby have changed since its creation in 1935. Then, it was a rolling, all-out brawl that produced few serious athletes and fought sexism in sport through its inclusivity. Its modern form still displays the original intention of roller derby, but is more rule-based, volunteer-run, and community-driven. Subsequently, its popularity, meaning, and what it provides to its community have significantly evolved, but it remains a sport for everybody. Everybody who loves to get knocked down by their friends and get a hug afterward, that is.
“At the beginning, it was, like, fishnets and tutus, and, you know, kinda slutty, if you will,” says Slaya SoLow, who graduated from Camosun in 2021 from the Office Administration program. “Then it has got to be very mature and athletic, and then we had the whole wave of being awakened to be more politically aligned and more inclusive.”
“It is pretty amazing how the sport has developed to become, in general, its own thing and much more focused on the sporting aspect, which I love,” adds Tina F. Lawless, a 2014 Mental Health and Addictions and 2013 Community, Family, and Child Studies Camosun grad. “I also love that we can still have the camp and the weirdness of it all.”
The EOD—whose next event is at 5pm Saturday, July 16 at the Archie Browning Arena in Esquimalt—has varying levels balancing the campy aspects of derby and sport within its multiple house teams. There’s their junior team, The Rotten Apples, and their rookie team, The Hard Cores. The league also has B-level teams, including Daisy Pushers, Margarita Villains, and Belles of the Brawl, otherwise known as the Brawlers. The EOD also has one Women’s Flat Track Derby Association charter travel team, The EOD A-Team. And along with a varying level of skill, roller derby teams can feature a varying level of campiness.
“It depends on where you play, for sure, because there are some teams that are more serious, and take it a little more seriously, so you have a little less wiggle room for costume, or some teams won’t let you wear fishnets if you are playing for a high-level game,” says Lawless. “In our league, our house team games and house teams kind of allow us to do whatever we want, so with having our fun names or having specified derby make-up or costumes.”
Although restrictions limit costume pieces that are easily ripped off, most players prefer more athletic wear than a tutu anyway. Yet, the campiness of roller derby past still shines through in the players’ socks, helmets, make-up, and even skates. Most of all, derby’s flair is apparent in the players’ names, although even that can depend on the level of derby.
“As we get up to the upper echelons of high-end derby, you are going to see more people just using their names. It gets a little less campy and a little more serious,” says SoLow, who adds that she’d like to see roller derby representation at PISE. “None of us are going to go to the Derby World Cup anytime soon, so there’s still a lot of us out there that like to play on our names a lot. For sure having the right derby persona and the right name is still a lot of fun.”
Athletic achievement isn’t the only benefit of derby. The EOD community is a family, one that is always evolving to welcome even more potential players.
“When we first started, it was the fastest-growing women’s sport, we were very much a women-only roller derby family,” says SoLow. “Now we realize that women can take many different shapes and forms, there’s also co-ed teams, and we are definitely very gender-inclusive. Our language has changed quite a bit as well as we have evolved, so we are proud of our new culture and how inclusive we are. Basically, we have open arms, and anyone can play… We welcome everybody.”
The EOD community
The Victoria roller derby community is snowballing. In 2008, the EOD consisted of one team of roughly 20 players; today, this has grown to six teams with over 100 members. In this large group, there are many different shapes of player.
“We are all very open and understanding, and I would say we have such a vast and eclectic group of people,” says Lawless. “Our youngest skaters, our juniors, are as young as 11. But in our adult league, we have 19-year-olds, and our oldest skater is 53. We have such an array of life experience that even just being in the presence of someone 20 years older than you, you get the comfort and you learn from their life experience, too. It never feels like you are hanging out with somebody who is 10 years younger or 10 years older than you. You just feel comfortable and connected. I never feel like there’s anybody who is judging or excluding within our group.”
Derby players are their own biggest fans, and it shows, but the second place quickly goes to anybody who has the opportunity to see some gameplay. But there is certainly an exceptional bond between players.
“You often hear people express that after a bout, just how they had no idea it was such a community,” says Toombstone. “You’re seeing these examples of people on the track who are in a game against each other, but as soon as the whistle blows—like immediately after, like the moment after the whistle blows—they help each other off of the track. They’re hugging each other and high-fiving the other team. It’s a positive way to play… This is a sport that is able to be competitive, able to be hard, and it’s also safe for people and it’s friendly. People see that in games and participate and get excited, even if they might not know what’s happening. I think that ripples out, and it brings people in, and that’s why we get these huge intakes of new skaters who want to come join our league because they see it happening and they just want to be a part of it.”
Everyone in the local roller derby community learns from each other, builds their knowledge and compassion, and grows together. And for some of the players, this journey had roots at Camosun.
“I took the Community, Family and Child Studies program and the Mental Health and Addictions program when I was at Camosun, and I would definitely say that that program opened me up to a lot of different types of people from different walks of life,” says Lawless. “I learned a lot about interpersonal communications and working with other people and that kind of thing. I don’t know if that necessarily helped me with derby, but it’s definitely something I think derby kind of mimics. I get a lot of that kind of stuff when I am with the Eves as well, because it’s just so many types of people, and learning to work with a team, and learning to work with other people. I use that kind of stuff, and conflict resolution, and all that kind of stuff a ton in derby.”
It’s remarkable that the players are as close as they are when they hit each other constantly, occasionally to the point of injury. Then again, that’s the point of the sport.
“The physical aspect of it is such a huge part, like being able to hit your friends is really a positive part of the sport because it’s done in a way that is safe,” says Toombstone. “Of course people get hurt sometimes, accidents happen, but you know we have really specific ways of which we [determine] what is legal and what is not a legal hit.”
“We go there, and we give it our all,” adds SoLow, “and we hit each other as hard as we can, and then we are all friends still, which is nice.”
The individual impact of derby
One of the most considerable benefits seen in derby is the personal effect the sport has on its players. Every local league member has grown through roller derby, whether through physical strength, personal development, or a mix of both.
“I believe we grow very much in community and with and around other people,” says Criminal. “Team culture always grows you if you look at sports psych. Team bonding will always grow you.”
“I’m a plus-sized person and growing up playing sports always felt judged or less than or like I wouldn’t get picked for teams because of the way that I look, and not necessarily because of my skill,” says Lawless. “But joining derby, it was so incredibly empowering to see different kinds of body types and everyone having a purpose and being celebrated… I never felt like I fit in anywhere more than I have at derby, being amongst so many different people… When I first started—again, as a bigger skater—I sort of felt like, ‘Oh, I am only ever going to block, I am not going to be a good jammer because I am not as fast.’ But then for the first four seasons I was playing I was only jamming, because I was good at it. It kind of breaks your ideas of what one single body type should be able to do or what one single person should be able to do based on so many different things. If you just give yourself or somebody else the opportunity, they can totally crush it.”
Beyond this community of inclusion, derby provides an outlet through sport and, especially, through expression.
“It’s had a huge impact on my life,” says Toombstone. “I joined roller derby in 2014, and I didn’t really know how to skate. I learned how to skate at [EOD information and tryout sessions] Raw Meat [and] Fresh Meat and then got into the league. I just had two young kids, I had wanted to do it for a long time and didn’t know how to get in. I also had stressful work. My work has always been very, very stressful, and I need an outlet that entirely takes me away to something separate. It does that for me. I don’t think of anything else when I’m playing derby. It also provides us, and builds our ability to be, better leaders as well because we all have to take on roles within the league.”
There are countless other ways this sport has benefitted its players’ personal lives. Each player’s experience with derby is personal; as many have said, it changed their lives for the better.
“It is for you,” says Criminal. “It is about you, community, and connection… The things that derby has done for people [include] them accepting themselves, finding queer community, some people have used derby as a tool for sobriety, or better mental health. For me, I would also say my relationship with my body has been impacted positively by playing this sport.”
For anyone thinking of joining derby, Criminal has a simple message: “Be prepared to have your life changed.”
“It’s the best adult community I’ve ever been a part of,” says Criminal. “Be prepared for all of the joy that it will bring you and do it. Do not let something hold you back from it, because I have truly never met anyone who has joined roller derby and been like, ‘I wish I did not do that,’ never. It’s for you, it’s about you, it’s about community and connection.”
EOD’s impact on the community
It’s because of the bonds within EOD that the league has had the ability to impact Victoria. Players that feel that bond try to share it with whoever needs a little community.
“They were keen to get to know me and very friendly, and they were like, this is awesome that you are excited to do this,” says Lawless. “I was listening to all of the stories of how derby changed their lives, and I was really inspired.”
There’s a good reason for this eagerness. Once someone is a part of the league, there’s an opportunity for development in many aspects of life. Each player is part of the community of Victoria, so their growth is also that of the community.
“Whether you are a captain of a team or you run practices regularly, or you are on the board, or you are in charge of merchandise or you plan, because bouts are a huge event. It’s a massive event that sometimes upwards of 800 people show up to. So you are talking about vendors, and sponsorship, and all this kind of stuff. So there is a lot of skill development within the community as well,” says Toombstone. “And I have learned a lot and have really gained a lot of confidence through derby. Not that I didn’t have confidence, but I didn’t have this type of confidence. I’d never led a sport, like a team, or been a captain, or led a practice… It’s real huge skill development for me, as well as a huge boost to my sense of what I can do, because I came from literally flailing on the track, and people can tell you that, to feeling really confident on the track… I feel my skills are at a level where I can provide other people with support and feedback about what they can do to work to get to where they want to be and be a positive derby role model.”
Each participant in EOD plays a very important role, and, in return, the EOD gives them experience and growth. To make this opportunity more accessible, the EOD offers financial assistance for skaters who need it through what they call a disadvantaged skaters’ fund.
“We also have equipment that we can loan or give to people if they are wanting to try but they don’t have the funds to be able to support themselves through it, because we want it to be accessible for everybody regardless of income,” says SoLow. “We’ve had instances where we’ve done lots of fundraisers for sock drives and things or the Open Door for the homeless centre downtown. And then we’ve also had league members that do individual period product drives for communities that have needed assistance in the past.”
Perhaps the most notable impact EOD has on Victoria is the space it offers for everyone who wants it.
“Derby seems to connect with people who are looking for something in their lives… Somebody who’s looking for community or connection, or is just looking for something fun to do or looking for new friends,” says Lawless. “Coming into derby, where I could just be weird and not worry about anything, I think it really just develops you as a person in general. I feel now that being able to present myself the way I wanted to present myself, even if it was just at derby two, three times a week, it allowed me to bring out my inner weirdo and be really who I wanted to be. It personally had a big impact on me, and really made me the person I am today. It created a really safe space for me to explore just doing whatever I wanted, like colouring my hair, trying different pronouns, or doing whatever I wanted to do. So, I think it creates a safe space where we all know that whatever you do here is cool.”
There’s a specific power within roller derby that changes its players’ lives. It’s a family with open, welcoming arms that reaches out to anyone searching for a sense of belonging.
“We’re parents, we’re sort of all the things, we’re nurses, some folks are teachers, some folks are doing their master’s in arts, we are kinda everywhere,” says Toombstone. “There’s a real standard that has been built out of the derby community, certainly in Victoria. In my experience it’s based in building community, supporting people to build people up, to bring people in and build them up, as opposed to criticize them or get harsh on them because they are not good enough. I think that reflects out into the community.”
“Then when it’s game day you just have to put your head in the game and just be focused and also know that you’re going to have a whole lot of fun,” adds SoLow. “It’s one of those things that is one of the most wonderful, terrifying, awful, exhilarating things you can be doing.”