Hellrazors on wheels Like 'Fight Club' for girls, roller derby debuts at S.B. rink BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer The Lehigh Valley Hissy Fits' Erin Gobraless (Theresa Mitchell, l) and Eva Brawn (Lauren Petix) prepare to skate against the home team, Hub City Hellrazors, at the roller derby match held at the Kendall Park Roller Rink on Jan. 14. At left: Guest referee Kris Phillips, aka Miss Trial, of the Philly Rollergirls, keeps the peace. With 13 minutes left on the clock, Joanna Sparks sees Bonnie Lee Fluids approaching from behind. Slowing slightly, she waits for Bonnie to catch up and then, without warning, slams her hip into the girl's side. Bonnie slides across the floor, nearly plowing into the cheering crowd, but stops just inches short. Once she's brushed off and back in the ring, she plays like nothing happened at all. Were the screaming throngs watching pro-wrestlers' staged dramas? Far from it. Jan. 14 was the first-ever match for the Hub City Hellrazors, the newest New Jersey team in a sport that has been making a quiet comeback from the disco era's long exile - roller derby. Held at the Kendall Park Roller Rink, the match pitted the Hellrazors against the Lehigh Valley Hissy Fits in what was the first game for both teams. PHOTOSBYSCOTT FRIEDMAN Roller derby, as a sport, is said to have begun with a Chicago promoter named Leo Seltzer, who originally wanted to use the game to rival the dance marathon craze that was sweeping the nation at the time. The first roller derby, held in 1935, was more of an endurance match with competitors taking turns skating 57,000 laps, the equivalent of a 4,000-mile cross-country race. It was when a sports commentator observed a few contestants crash together in a "speed jam" that Seltzer seized on this event, realizing that more contact and adding points would bring in more spectators. It did. "The number-one draws on TV in the '50s - roller derby," said Chester Fried, vice president of the National Museum of Roller Skating. Fried was on hand observing the match. Television elevated roller derby into the national consciousness, and continued to be popular throughout the '60s. Once the '70s hit, according to Fried, it began to die out, as many cultural phenomena did, slowly fading into obscurity in the face of increased overhead costs and diminishing interest. While leagues continued to persist throughout the years, the sport's resurgence on the national scene began only a few years ago, as all-women's leagues began to increase in popularity. This is contrasted with the previous leagues, which were mixed-gender. Fried pointed to the use of traditional four-wheel skates, instead of in-lines, as evidence that the revival is linked to retro-appeal. Despite this, contemporary roller derby leagues, formed and managed almost entirely by the skaters themselves, still possess a few notable differences. Personality One of these differences is apparent in a look at both the Hellrazors and the Hissy Fits. The purpose of a uniform in sport, usually, is to express a personality for the team itself, something that still holds true for both Hub City's and Lehigh Valley's players. The home team wears black skirts with red flames on their sides, and a black top. The visiting team wears pink shirts that look like prep school outfits. That's about as far as one can go when describing common appearances. This is because the uniforms in contemporary roller derby also serve as individual expressions of the player. Some wear yellow tights and others wear fishnet stockings. Some wear light jackets, others go bare-armed. Even the helmets that all players wear serve as outlets for individual expression, often covered in writing, stickers and other artwork. Players also select a name that is used in all derby-related activities, including practices. The derby names are registered with the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, the reigning organization helping to promote grass-roots derby leagues in the U.S. The program for the game in Kendall Park doesn't even include players' actual names but, rather, sobriquets such as Kap N' Krush, Shermaine Tank and Carmen Monoxide. "I compare it to being a rock star or something. It's a fantasy life of some sort. I mean, they call me by my derby name - I'm not Kim, I'm Red," said Hellrazor Kim Predham, also known as Infra Red. The consensus on the sport's appeal for the competitors was nearly unanimous: it's a great way to let off excess aggression. Some players noted that it's one of the few venues they know of where such a thing is acceptable for them. "I think it's because a lot of girls have pent-up anger and just need a way to let it out. Sports in general are male-dominated and girls just needed a sport of their own," said Ann Mattison, also known as Go-Go Grenade, a member of the Hissy Fits who was sitting the game out and announcing due to a previous injury. Beyond that trait, however, the appeal of roller derby competitions diverges wildly, as do the lifestyles and attitudes of the players themselves. Some, such as Lori Chyla (aka Joanna Sparks) have been interested in sports, - martial arts, in her case - for most of their lives, and view roller derby as either a continuation or a fusion of their interests. "I feel like this is the perfect sport for me because it just represents everything that I love to do and it represents, you know, how women can be very strong," said Chyla. Others said they had spent most of their lives avoiding sports, feeling dissatisfied with the choices open to them, but they encountered in roller derby something that they never had access to before. "Sports typically available for girls are kind of lame, but this one is so unique and it's just, I don't know, it's just the fact that it's unlike anything else," said the Hissy Fits' Lindsay Parker, aka the Killustrator. "It's like 'Fight Club' for girls." Some said they first heard of the sport through a series the A&E channel did on the game, called "Rollergirls." The Hellrazors themselves were formed after the team's founder, Ashley Rosa, aka Miss Mayhem, saw a commercial for the show. She contacted the other players through an ad on the Internet and the team has been practicing since spring of last year. Rosa said that the team requires a great deal of time and energy to properly maintain, noting, "I don't exaggerate when I say that this is my life now." Rosa said that she was surprised at how diverse the Hellrazors ended up being. The team, as many teams across the nation are, consists of members from many different ages and groups. She noted that the average age of players on the team was 30, and that players range from scientists to information technology workers to graphic designers to college students. "These are just normal chicks. I thought they were going to be all tough and have mohawks and tattoos, and most of them do have tattoos. But they also bake, they're also moms and wives, so I think that was the most unexpected thing, and how nice they were to me because I'm so new," said Predham. However, some feel there are common threads that do unite many roller derby players. "I think, well, most of the people are a little anti-social. We may be pretty normal, but there's just that twinge of oddness that doesn't allow us to quite fit in with most people, so here we are," said Elaina Borchelt, aka Metal Vixen, of the Hissy Fits. Fast and furious The game itself is fast-paced, with two 30-minute halves. Players from both teams skate in a tight pack before the player known as the jammer from each team begins skating to catch up. Teams score points by getting their jammer through the pack and lapping the other players. Meanwhile, they are attempting to prevent the other team's jammer from passing, often by trying to knock them down. This can lead to some spills, since players packed tightly together might all fall together. Many of those attending the game were people supporting their friends and family. Banners and signs were liberally sprinkled into the audience as people cheered on their favorite players. Most attending had never even seen a live roller derby game before and didn't quite know what to expect from it. "I'm very curious what it's all about, and I really didn't know what to expect and that's why I came," said Marianne Boyle, whose niece, Megan Andrulewich, aka Sandwich, was playing for the Hellrazors. Others had been roller derby fans back when it was on national TV and hoped to catch a live game of the sport they loved. "It's a very old sport, but it's still going. It's not passed, it's still here, and that's why it's good for the young people. ... I used to watch it on the TV but I never saw it like this," said Margarita Nazzaro, from Somerset. The game itself was evenly matched, especially by the end of the first half, when the score was 56-55 in favor of the Hellrazors, something unusual in roller derby, according to Danny Pacyna, one of the referees in the game. "A lot of times when you go to see a bout, it's not even and it's a slaughter. ... It's a better game when it's equal," said Pacyna. There were about seven referees in the match, each one charged with an individual responsibility. Some stayed in the middle of the track observing the girls darting to and fro, while others skated alongside the edge of the track with the players. The game had plenty of violence. Players would sometimes be checked and go flying either into the audience or smack into a wall, though more impressive was when players would keep their balance despite hard shoves from the other ladies. The jammers were usually the fastest and smallest players, darting through the crowds as if in the mall on Christmas Eve. A jammer for the local team, Annette Melillo, aka Atom Bomb, stood only 4 feet 10 inches but had been skating for 35 years. Jammers would often pursue each other and try to knock the other down upon meeting. Sometimes it was easy to lose sight of the jammers when they entered the pack, until they either emerged victorious or were spit out on the floor behind them. Fried, watching the game, noted that many of the players are new skaters, and as they get better, there will be fewer falls. By the time the second half was nearly over, the Hissy Fits had taken the lead, though this fact has not been established without difficulty. With four-and-a-half minutes left, Sarah Wolfe, aka Big Bad Wolfe, survived a mass fall as the pack collapsed and pulled out ahead in the midst of the chaos. A little later, Carmen Monoxide of the Razors and Lo-Blowlida of the Hissy Fits were neck and neck trying to overtake each other, with Lo-Blowlida eventually pulling ahead at the last second. With a little bit more than a minute remaining, Shermaine Tank broke out of the pack and rallied more points for the Razors as the Hissy Fits desperately tried to catch up. In the end, it wasn't enough to catch up, and the Lehigh Valley ladies won 91 to 130. One wouldn't know this from just looking, though, as players from both sides hollered, clapped and cheered. "It was great. Everybody performed above and beyond what we expected of them. They're a good team. For two rookie teams to come out like this, it was nice," said Melillo. For more information about the Hub City Hellrazors and their schedule, visit www.njdirtydames.com.