I love roller derby. I've been playing for almost two years now. I have found though that people who get involved fall into one of two camps: those who say roller derby saved their soul and those who say roller derby destroyed their soul. I started at one end of that spectrum and gradually shifted to the other. It was incredibly painful to fall out of love with something that had done so much good for me at one point.
Roller derby is a community-oriented sport, in the sense that it becomes your community. To be truly great at this sport, it also becomes your lifestyle. This became a problem for me. I have so many other things going on in my life that are equally, if not more, important. I wanted to play this awesome sport, but I no longer wanted to dedicate as much time and energy to it.
That it what prompted a few equally disillusioned friends and I to form a LOCO team in our city. LOCO is low-contact and low-commitment.
Low-contact means "no big hits". There is still pushing, but nobody is going to wind up and knock you down as hard as they can. I like this because it means a few less bruises and forces people to focus on positional blocking, which I am pretty good at.
Low-commitment means I can come and go as I please. It's about showing up to practice and skating with my friends having a good time. Sure once we grow attendance will matter if we play a bout, but bouting is not the most important part for me. It is more of a treat. If I was in this for the bouts I would choose a more competitive team. If I need to take some time away to focus on non-derby life it doesn't matter. If I want to show up only every other week - that's cool too. As long as my abilities on the track don't slip to a point where I'm endangering myself or other people then it's ok. Our main goal is a good time when we get together. Not a trophy or a high ranking.
That's not to say we don't care. We have an awesome coach who is training us to be great. We work on strategy and skills and keeping ourselves in shape. We work on getting better. But we all know that we don't want the level of work and commitment that comes with being an all star team.
My hope is that this recreational level of roller derby continues to grow. There are tons of articles written about what needs to be done to have roller derby more widely recognized as a legitimate sport so all I will say on that is that having super relaxed rec teams like this are definitely a step in the right direction.
Tonight LOCO teams from across southern Ontario are facing off for their year end tournament, Elle Grande LOCO. Good luck to London, Kitchener, Brantford, Sarnia, Toronto, and Stratford. Remember why we are all here, and that every tough there is a trophy to be won, this is a celebration of our love for this sport.
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Great post!
ReplyDeleteAfter I chose to leave Tri-City Roller Girls due to a long list of reasons, I quickly found out about a few derby acquaintances of mine starting LOCO in London. I was at their very first practice and continued to drive down from Kitchener each week for practice as often as I could. The whole foundation that LOCO was being built on at the time (and is evident in every chapter since) was something I believed in 100%. It WAS possible to still be able to play this sport without feeling like you had to give up everything else in your life to do it... as much as I tried to make that a reality when I played competitively, others were still quick to judge and definitely make note if you were not following suit. But, I digress...
Not only has the sport of roller derby changed and evolved from what it was in the 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's, but it has made major evolutions as a modern-day sport. It's no longer a women-only sport - there are now junior, men's, and co-ed leagues forming around the world. It's no longer a full-contact-only sport - there are alternatives like low-contact that help make it more accessible to more people to play. Who knows what the future of roller derby will look like at the rate it's growing and changing today.
LOCO is a prime example that anything is possible if you believe in it... even more possible when others believe in it also! Now we have grown to a multi-city league in 6 cities with probably well over 150 members. There is a niche for LOCO, and it's important for all the reason you wrote about in your post - a reduced risk of injury along with the ability to fit it into your life without it taking over. It's the best league ever!
Shake + Grind,
Pepper Assault
Kitchener LOCO Founder, Past-President & Skater