There are two minutes on the clock. The skaters are jamming and blocking while trying to make their way around the track. It’s a typical bout of roller derby for the Iron Angels at Roller Magic in Waterbury.
Southern student Mary Pelkey, known as Claire Voyant for the Iron Angels, has been skating with the team for about a year.
She started skating when she was 11 years old and has been doing it ever since.
At Southern, Pelkey is a junior history major. She is a member of the Connecticut Roller Derby team in Waterbury.
What got Pelkey into skating was her mother, who was an avid roller derby watcher.
“She used to watch roller derby with her grandmother in the ’70s when it was all elbows and hitting people and very scripted,” Pelkey says.
“My mother found a roller derby match out in Rhode Island with the Rhode Island Riveters, so she took my sister and I, and I saw it and I just fell in love with it,” Pelkey says.
She started skating when she was 11 years old and has been doing it ever since.
Roller derby is a fast-paced sport that involves the use of skates, elbow and knee pads and helmets as its equipment.
“The sport of roller derby was first conceived in the 1930s and was played on a banked track. It was popular in the United States until it fizzled out in the 1970s,” according to the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. “In the early 2000s, modern women’s roller derby got its start in Austin, Texas. Starting with the Texas Rollergirls, the game was adapted.”
The association website states, “the flat track version of roller derby spread like wildfire in subsequent years, as the ability to mark track boundaries on a skating rink floor or any venue with a flat surface large enough to fit a track, rather than building and storing a large, banked track, made it possible to play the game just about anywhere. Today, there are hundreds of roller derby leagues worldwide, and the sport has evolved into a highly competitive sport played by some of the world’s top athletes.”
“There are a ton of rules about where you can hit people and penalties are very serious,” Pelkey says.
Pelkey says there are three positions you will see in a roller derby match.
“Jammers are the point scorers, and they wear the star on their helmets. You have blockers, and you have pivot, which is also a blocker, but they can become jammers,” Pelkey says.
She says that it can be confusing for those who have never played before, and that sometimes she even gets confused.
“I typically like blocking. It’s a little less pressure, but jamming is really fun. Jamming is fast paced, jamming is kind of tiring because you’re the one going round and round in circles trying to get through the pack,” Pelkey says.
A roller derby game is set up in two-minute jams. The goal of the game is to get around the track, and through the opposite teams’ blockers as many times as you can. Each blocker hits that you pass you score a point. The most points you can get are four points.
The games have 230-minute halves and a 15-minute intermission.
“It goes by really fast we have a ton of refs, we have at least six refs out there keeping track of everybody because it’s so fast paced. Everybody’s together and you gotta keep moving,” Pelkey says.
In addition to choosing their own derby names, players can pick their own numbers. Pelkey is No. 716.
“The number 716, I associate with my sister. My sister is a really big supporter of mine, and I love that number. It rolls off the tongue,” Pelkey says.
With the fun of the game there is always the possibility of injuries, and Pelkey has had a few.
“Injuries happen all the time. You’ve got to be really careful,” Pelkey says.
Pelkey had an injury during her first match where she got hit by two players linked up and “clotheslined” her.
In her second match she collided with a group and fell on her neck, causing her to be escorted off the track.
“I had my most recent injury that I’ve been on leave for. I had leg issues, so I went numb in my legs after being hit pretty hard. We wear our safety gear, and we do what we can, and you’re supposed to learn how to fall. But, injuries do happen,” Pelkey says.
Working at Roller Magic as the on-duty manager is Southern sophomore Rachel Stack, a healthcare studies major.
“They were always super nice, and didn’t ask for much beside asking for some hot water so they could form their mouth guards or ice packs when someone got hurt,” says Stack.
Even with getting injured and not being able to be in a match this year, Pelkey says she still loves the sport and being able to skate.
“I love the feeling it gives me. It’s something very unique and I’ve always felt like it was my thing. It was something I did that was very cool. I love the energy around derby.”
“No matter where you go across the country for derby, everyone is so accepting, so encouraging,” Pelkey says.
“It took me out of a really dark place a couple years ago, and it made me more confident and happier. I really found a home with my derby team.”
By: Sofia Rositani
