Toronto Roller Derby - Season 6 Opener - Feb 4th

Now, I've never actually been to a real, live roller derby, but the folks at Toronto Roller Derby have been added to my "Like" list on the ol' Facebook. The downside? You've got to make your way all the way up to Downsview park to take in the event. The upside? Booze & bruising babes bashing and brawling in board-to-board bouts... This post is brought to you by the letter B. Deal with it.

The Toronto Roller Derby is the largest flat-track league in Canada, with four of its own house teams, a travel team, a farm team, and over 100 active skaters. They've even spawned a couple of other teams that train and compete out of other locations in the city. It's had five seasons so far, with each bringing bigger crowds, and a bigger following than the last. Check out last year's promo video:






Event Details:


On Saturday, February 4th, 2012, they'll kick off their sixth season with two matches - the cleverly named D-VAS (one of the Toronto teams spun-off from ToRD) will fight amongst themselves, then the Gore Gore Rollergirls will take on 2011 Toronto Champions Chicks Ahoy. No, I'm not making these names up.

Doors at 5:00, early bout at 6:00. Food & booze for sale at the venue. $14 in advance from their website, or $12 advance from ticket outlets listed on the Facebook event page.


Rules:

So, we all know it's cool chicks in themed outfits smashing into each other at high speeds, but what's the actual object? They play according to the Women's Flat Track Derby Association's rules. Basically, there's a flat oval track that's between 13 and 15 feet wide , and about 90 feet long. It's played in 2 x 30 minute periods, each divided into multiple "jams", which are races to score points. Each jam is two minutes or less, and has a maximum of four Blockers (including one Pivot) and a Jammer (see below).

There are three main positions players play - Blocker, Pivot, and Jammer. The Jammer is the one who does the scoring of points by passing opposing skaters (except the first time through the pack). Each skater she passes is a point. Blockers don't score points, and skate in "the pack"... basically to gum up the works and keep the Jammers from skating by by "blocking" or bodychecking them. Pivots are a special blocker that can turn into a Jammer if the "star" is passed to her by swapping helmet covers. Phew. Got all that?

General info on all upcoming shows, and for those ladies of sound constitution, how to skate with the teams is on their Facebook page. They're also selling calendars to raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer. As the proud owner of a prostate (or so my Doctor claims when he's spelunking), that's a whole lotta allllright.

I, for one, am looking forward to some lively competition and good times. The only question is, who should I root for? My support is up for auction.

No worries. It's all good.