Moab Roller Derby’s last home game of the season is this Saturday in the Grand County Middle School gymnasium. After hosting two events early this year, Moab Roller Derby will give local fans another chance to cheer the home team.
They will face the Roller Girls in Pagosa during the Small Town Beatdown.
This will be the first time the league members will play together under the Moab moniker while skating at home.
“The team has been training hard in preparation for the bout and hopes to give Pagosa players a ‘small town beatdown’ they won’t soon forget,” said Andrea Jackson.
Andrea Jackson, aka Hot Pantz, played with the Salt City Derby Girls in 2007 and 2008 before skating with Moab Roller Derby.
Moab’s Roller Derby team is fairly new – they formed August 2011 after team organizer Jessica O’Leary, aka Evil Lucian in the Roller Derby world, moved to Moab from Las Cruces, N.M. She had skated there and didn’t want to stop.
The rules of roller derby are fairly simple.
Each team has five members, skating in the same direction around a track. The “jammer” on each team tries to score points by lapping members of the opposing team. Other team members attempt to help their jammer and hinder the other team’s jammer.
Lots of fast skating is involved, as is physical contact.
It’s violent.
“But it’s violent in a fun way. We’re not out to hurt each other, but it is an aggressive sport. The hits are real. The falls we take are real. The injuries are real,” Jackson said. “We’re not trying to put on a show for the audience. The hitting and aggression has a purpose.”
The team now practices two nights a week, Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Center Street Gym. New skaters are always welcome.
“We’re always recruiting new members,” O’Leary said.
