Bismarck, North Dakota. Typically, the VFW Sports Center is used for hockey, and in the summertime, the Sports Center is usually dormant. But not on Saturday, June 25. Saturday, a different sport invaded the home of the Bobcats. A roller derby mixer, and no, not the kind you drink. This is the kind of sporting event that takes skill and trust. Roller derby is reliant on packs. Instead of having one person with the “C” on the uniform, roller derby is more like a pack of animals. Instead of captains, you have what are called jammers, and the jammer is the leader of the pack. The Rhinestone Cowgirls and the Holy Rollers were the featured bout. The way the roller derby is run, only the people with the stars on their helmet can score. The rest of the participants have to follow the jammers. Roller derby has some similarity to hockey. The similarity is when the whistle blows, the pack begins to move. Some of the rules of roller derby are no blocking below the waist. If you block below the waist, you have to sit in the penalty box for one minute, and you get a total of seven fouls. On your seventh foul, you can be disqualified, you are forced to go to the locker room and you are automatically not allowed to play for the rest of the game. There are two halves in each bout. The team with the most points wins. The Bombshellz have had bouts with the Grand Forks Sugar Beaters and the Billings Mafia. Last night reminded me of a combination of football and hockey. The Shellz are hoping to put on another bout in August and October.
