It's a seriously competitive sport, but it's also a sisterhood.
Roller derby came to Humboldt early in the year. In May, it turned into the Humboldt Roller Derby League - a serious club dedicated to competing in the sport.
The primarily female sport has attracted 12 members to the local league, but many are still in the dark as to what roller derby is.
Tammy Morgan, the coach of the Humboldt league and a roller derby girl herself, met with the Journal to explain what the sport is all about.
"We play on quad skates - the old-style four-wheel skates," she explained. "Not roller blades.... because you can do more moves on the old skates - a minimum of 16.... pivots, turns, and jumps. There's more flexibility. Rollerblades are more restrictive."
Competitors are geared-up safety-wise, wearing helmets, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, and even butt-pads sometimes, if they're needed.
That's because while not exactly violent, roller derby is definitely a contact sport.
A roller derby bout (or game) is made up of a number of "jams." In these jams, two teams of five roller-skate in the same direction around a track. One member of each team is called a "jammer" or a scoring player. The jammer scores points by lapping members of the opposite team.
The rest of the group on the track - a pivot on each team, who calls the plays, and three blockers - try to help their own jammer break through the pack while hindering the opposing jammer.
Basically, "you're playing offence and defence at any given time," Morgan noted.
The first jammer who gets through the pack the first time is called the lead jammer, and can call off the jam at any time - presumably when her team is in the lead, point-wise.
"Every time they go through the pack, the jammer scores points for each person she passes on the opposing team," said Morgan.
"The score can really get quite high - 200-plus in one game," she added.
There is a penalty box for those who break the rules - like hockey, while checking is allowed, you have to check properly.
But unlike hockey, Morgan said, there is no regular line on each team. Not one person is the jammer every time.
"You're always switching people and positions," Morgan said. "You want to rotate (positions) so everyone has an opportunity to play positions. That's how you learn other bits and pieces of the game....
"Everything is about strategy and competitiveness and the adrenaline," she added. "And it's about going out and being active in a sport that you love."
One of the ways Morgan explains how roller derby gets into your blood is by using her roller derby name, Baby Girl.
"When I get on the track, I'm no longer Tammy. I'm no longer a wife, mother, daughter, employee. I am a derby girl. I am Baby Girl. I'm just Baby Girl."
Roller derby is an empowering sport for women, Morgan claims.
One of the rules on the derby track, for instance, is that no one says "I'm sorry."
"Roller derby, to me, very much teaches sportsmanship, how to be a team player, focus, control, self-esteem, self-worth and a sense of belonging," Morgan said.
It also teaches women how to be something other than wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, employees - "all the other roles we play in our lives. When you go out onto the track, you become another persona."
That persona, she said, is allowed to be free.
"It's a fellowship of being a strong, independent, amazing woman," Morgan said.
"It's not just about fishnets and bootie shorts," she said, referring to some of the clothes typically worn by players in a bout.
Those clothes actually have a purpose, she added - the fishnets help protect their legs from road rash, and the other clothes like tank tops and legwarmers, allow participants to still feel like individuals and express their own personalities while remaining part of the team.
"As soon as I put my derby clothes on, I feel that sense of empowerment. There's a total sense of belonging in a place and not being judged."
It's also fun, Morgan added.
"You meet people from all over Saskatchewan. It's a community and a world in and of itself."
For Morgan, the roller derby community has become a second family, she said.
There's a camaraderie there, she said, that she hasn't found in other sports.
"We have a shared love (of the sport) and that's all that really matters. There's a huge amount of fellowship."
And while there is a competitiveness on the track, she said, there's also a willingness to help.
"Everyone is more than willing to answer questions. They're very kind, helpful people," Morgan said of her cohorts.
There are men who play roller derby, she said, but it is very much a female-dominated sport. The majority of roles filled by men are referees and non-skating officials.
"When you're on that track.... in that two minutes, you're a pack of people, you're one," she stated. "You all keep an eye on what's going on. There's tons of communication going on."
It's a total team effort, she said - there's no goal scorers or blue-liners like in hockey.
"It's a team effort all the way there," she said.
Before competing in a bout, players have to be benchmarked, to ensure they know the rules and have also the physical skills needed to play safely in a game.
There's no down and dirty moves like punching other players that some may associate with the sport from decades ago.
"It was a more fast-moving, aggressive sport done back then," Morgan said. "Now there are rules and regulations. If you punch someone, you're out of the game."
Skating, she said, is a huge stress reliever for her.
"It balances everything out. If I'm having a bad day, there's nothing like putting on my skates and skating. It's awesome."
While at a bout it's team against team and you want to win, the objective of the game, Morgan feels, is to "go out, have fun and be you."
Everything is left in the moment, she added. When something happens on the track, it's left there; there's no holding grudges.
"I honestly cannot imagine not having derby in my life," said Morgan. "It's given me so much. I've met such incredible people. To not do it, I don't know what I would do."
There are presently roller derby leagues in Yorkton, Prince Albert, Swift Current, Estevan, Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Lloydminster, Rocanville, and Humboldt, and one is starting in Wadena.
Members travel to bouts all over the province.
Though Morgan says the skates don't damage floors, the Humboldt league, which has players from all over the area, is having trouble finding somewhere to practise. Presently, they travel to Watson to use the school gym there once a week.
Long term, the local league would like to attract more members so they can have more than one adult team, and even expand to a junior team, as children aged 10 and up can play against other teams their age.
It's not an expensive sport to get involved in Morgan noted, and there's no age limit.
Their league does offer equipment for newcomers to use to try it out, she added. So there's no risk involved in trying it out.
