Little Kenny

Define “legit” and “mainstream” in regards to current, modern roller derby from a fans perspective. I’d like to emphasize that, a fans perspective. Both flat track and banked track.

Legit in regards to roller derby. To the masses the current DIY derby is not seen as any different to “old school” staged derby. No matter how much we wish it otherwise. I still answer questions to new fans in line waiting for their first bout concerning that. I still answer questions from friends and coworkers concerning that. They’re all asking all the same questions I asked over 5 years ago. Is it scripted? No. Are they racing? Kinda. What’s the point? To win. And have fun. Are there rules? Yes, absolutely.

To be considered legit is important. One of the definitions of legitimate from Merriam-Websters is “conforming to recognized principles or accepted rules and standards” and while at first glance that might seem to go against everything that derby started out being it may not actually be a bad thing. Conforming can have some bad connotations, but in this context it is what derby is doing. Whether it be with WFTDA and their ruleset or with LADD and their current ruleset or any of the other leagues out there. The leagues have chosen to do their respective derby in their way and they expect those that play with them to do the same. So in this aspect these types of derby are legit. We absolutely are and that’s good. It’s one of the points that is always expressed. These ladies are skating hard, hitting hard and falling hard for real. Doing all those things while trying to help their team win enough to get to and to win a championship.

It behooves derby to have the perceived norm go away from being a staged event designed to showcase acrobatic skating towards that of a legitimate sports event with teams of players striving to skate hard and win.

Being legit in no way precludes derby from being all the other fun and awesome things it is. It is a counter-culture activity. Of course it is. As such it attracts those that don’t like the current mainstream activities. That’s part of what makes it fun. You never know who or what you’re going to see. There aren’t, or at least shouldn’t be, strict social constraints or rules on how you do it at least in regards to attitude, attire, etc. It doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have some rules regarding how the game is played, but the rest should be left open ended. This is probably the biggest part of derby that is seeing change. The game takes care of itself. You skate hard, you win. You skate hard, you have fun. That’s the easy part. The hard part is how to deal with the inevitable change that is and will always occur in everything.

This leads to mainstream in regards to derby. Mainstream is important if the future plans for derby are to continue the expansion of the DIY leagues and eventually elevate some of them to the level of professional. If that is the plan then relying on a small group of dedicated fans is not going to cut it. As well relying on a group that is solely looking for the latest cool thing isn’t going to work either.

To get bigger becoming part of the mainstream is going to have to happen. Otherwise the only “big” exposure derby will have to anyone other than those of us already involved will be playing bit roles in TV drama shows like CSI or reality shows like Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I’m not saying I’m not stoked when I hear/see that derby is making an appearance in a popular show. Not at all. I love that it’s getting exposed, albeit over dramatically, to a much larger audience. I want to share it’s awesomeness with as many people as possible. At the same time I don’t want it to lose that smaller crowd, counter-culture, I’m in on something really cool feel.

The derby that I fell in love with, that we all fell in love with, when we first saw it is legit. Totally. Women go out there and skate their assess off against their friends and teammates in an effort to win. In an effort to show that this sport really is a sport. That it is hard. That it is dangerous. That it is fast, fun, dirty, quirky, DIY. It is absolutely legit. What it wasn’t when we first saw it was mainstream. It still isn’t. Part of the reason it still isn’t is because of what the scene was and still is.

In the life cycle of these things current modern derby can be considered still quite young and at the same time it has survived it’s latest incarnation for over six years now. Almost unbelievably so with the unprecedented expansion of both the banked track leagues and most assuredly the flat trackers. It’s huge. There are growing pains, but they’ll be worked through. There are just too many women finding this outlet, for whatever they wanted/needed an outlet for, for it to just die overnight. Also, with the junior derby springing up and getting the next generation of skaters involved I can only imagine it getting better. I can’t wait.

After putting all of that down the question that is raised for me is what do I see my derby doing? Growing, changing? As stated above I like my derby the way it is. Thank you very much. It’s changed a bit, increased rules, fancier uniforms, etc., but it’s still basically like I found it and that’s what I like.

That said there’s no reason that there can’t be more types of derby than just mine. As it stands my type of derby consists of what first attracted me. If you want your type to become something else or something different then go for it. Break away. Attract those that feel the same way and start your own league. If there are enough others that feel the same it will take off. If not, well there are plenty of other failed ventures. I guess my feelings are this and they’re based kind of on the old man syndrome, I don’t want the things I like to change. I like things staying like I expect them to. In that vein don’t change my stuff, but if you want to do something different then by all means go your own way and make it happen. I’ll support you whole heartedly in your efforts. It would be awesome to root for my national, professional roller derby team on Saturday nights on ESPN. At the same time I still want to be able to go to my local league game, see the familiar faces I love, see some new ones and root wholeheartedly for not just my team, but for all the skaters tearing up the track.

Specific to my home league I don’t know what the end game target is. I hope it doesn’t stray too far from what attracted me in the first place. At the same time I want to see it do what it needs to do to keep providing the venue that both the skaters and the fans need to enjoy this activity. I hope I can live with and enjoy whatever it becomes, but I’d rather it live on rather than it not.

Vive la Derby!