The Flint Roller Derby team has always been an inclusive home for people of all ability levels to find a welcoming environment, gain confidence, become part of a team with a long history in the Flint area, and in general just be comfortable. The sport itself, though? That’s not so comfortable because few are as physically demanding.
“I think because there was some roller derby back in the 80s that was staged or scripted, people have this idea that it is fake,” said Lindsey Zarras, who goes by WrayZar, is a co-captain, and has been a part of the Flint Roller Derby team since 2017. “It is not. We are athletes, and we work really hard.”
Fans will have a chance to see the physicality, athleticism, toughness, and creativity the sport offers up close during Flint Roller Derby’s next home game Saturday, September 20, at Rollhaven. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the game against Kalamazoo starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door and can be purchased online.
Because it is so fast-paced, the rules of the game aren’t always easy to pick up on the fly as a spectator, but the sport offers plenty of entertaining things to watch as new fans are learning the deeper nuances of the game. Flint Roller Derby plays by WFTDA (Women’s Flat Track Derby Association) rules, which are available online.
Nicholas Cotton, who coaches the team and has been involved in roller derby for about 15 years, recommends focusing on specific aspects of the game and learning in pieces.
“It’s probably one of the more complicated games to learn at first, but on a basic level, it’s not too hard to understand,” he said. “I would tell people to just pick one thing to watch. The two people with stars on their helmets are the jammers, so watch them, or watch the blockers. When you start watching from one perspective at a time, you start to learn what’s happening faster.”
WrayZar agrees that watching the jammer is usually a good way to see something action-packed.
“ I would say definitely you have to watch the jammer,” WrayZar said. “They are really fast. They (fans) might see people jumping over the corners (of the track boundary). I would say watch for big hits too, by blockers. We can hit a jammer and they can go flying outside out of bounds. So those are some cool things that our fans like to see usually.”
Getting to know the supportive community Flint Roller Derby has built over the nearly two decades of their existence is also a great way for new fans to get immersed in the sport. Fans and announcers are great resources to lean on for those new to the sport.
“Our announcers do a pretty good job of kind of going over those things and the nuances that aren’t really gonna be so obvious,” Cotton said. “And honestly, our fans are really knowledgeable. So I would urge anybody to look to the person next to them and ask them what’s going on if they aren’t sure. A good portion of our fan base has been here for the last decade, following us and it’s surprising how much they know without even reading the rule book.”
The athletes on the team also deeply appreciate that support and the wild environment fans create at their games.
“In roller derby, not every team has a good fan base or support,” Cotton said. “Depending on the game, we’ve had like between 200 and 500 people. And they’re so passionate. We have someone who brings a trumpet, someone with a bullhorn, someone with a cowbell. I think it (the crowd support) makes them (the athletes) feel like superheroes, you know. Like they realize why they’ve been working their asses off in here, sweating and bleeding and crying to get that one day where we get that reward, and everybody gets to cheer for us.”
That supportive environment extends to the team, too. Many of the athletes have varied reasons for joining roller derby and some don’t even have an athletic background when they start. But the team provides training and other resources to help anyone who is inspired to join and put in the effort.
“I love the competitiveness,” WrayZar said. “As an adult that was never really great at sports, it was hard to get into other sports. I never played soccer, I wasn’t really great at basketball. In this sport, they taught me how to skate and then they taught me how to play roller derby.”
The team also gets together for crossfit sessions to build strength and WrayZar has picked up those workouts on her own time as well, even beyond the team training sessions.
For Katie Cotton, also a co-captain on the team who has been involved in Flint Roller Derby for about 17 years, her roller derby interest morphed from her passion for other sports.
“When I was little, I always wanted to play hockey and because I was a girl, they wouldn’t ever let me play,” she said. “So the opportunity to get a chance to hit some people and also do skating, which I’ve skated for as long as I could walk, that was the big draw to me. It’s so athletic and there’s so many moving parts to it and that makes it really exciting to watch.”
WrayZar is also appreciative that, while the environment is competitive, it is also full of people who care for each other.
“It’s so great to have a place to come where we all know it’s safe,” she said. “All of us know that all of these people here have our back no matter what. If you go into a job one day, you kind of have to put your game face on. But here, it’s okay to come and be like, ‘Hey, I had a really bad day, can I just have a hug?’”
Concessions are available at the game. There is a BYOB policy for the game, so fans 21 and over are allowed to bring up to two unbreakable 16 oz. containers of beer or wine. Kids 12 and under get in free with an adult ticket purchase. There’s also an afterparty planned for Churchill’s Food and Spirits downtown Flint after the game.
“We play for the city and for some people in Flint, we are their sports team, you know,” WrayZar said.
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