What do you get when you cross tatooed women, roller skates, pads, helmets, wristguards, and pure guts – the Maui Roller Derby Girls! I sat on the sidelines on a cement basketball court turned roller derby track, with my jaw to the ground. I could not believe my eyes – these chics are HARD-CORE!! I thought surfing Jaws was intense, but wiping out on hard pavement beneath a pile up of muscle stacked, padded chics with roller skates on, is another story. Wow, what a sport! Here’s how it works:
Two teams bout each other on a race track, the jammer position scores points by passing the pack of blockers and pivots, who’s sole purpose is to take out the opponents jammer or support their own jammer in passing up the pack. The blockers and pivots play both offense and defense. It’s such an exciting match to watch. The little speed-track has tight turns that set up serious spills with a total of twelve players bunched together skating at high speeds. The jammers go head to head trying to get through the pack of ten blockers and pivots to score points. The lead jammer has the option to call of the bout at any point and the next set of blockers and jammers come on the track for the next bout.
To really hype up and psych out opponents, are the roller derby names the girls choose for themselves. “Killah Kelly” was my old roomate who organized the Maui league. Other names are “Sarassassin”, “Lizzy Scissor-Skates”, “Slam Musubi”, “Bloody Picka”, etc.
I had soo much fun filming the bout! Here’s the highlights of the “Maui May-Hem: Black Vs. White” bout with the visiting team, Hawaii Pacific Roller Derby girls from Oahu on May 17, 2009!