Photo courtesy of DC Rollergirls
A few months back an old friend started to post about her early days as a DC Rollergirl. The posters for the events were enough to pull me in — and I hadn’t even seen the publicity shots. Ahem, look to your left for an eyeful of fishnet, garter belts, eyeliner gone wrong and lots of brawn and brass. I introduce to you, the DC Rollergirls, with liberty and justice to brawl.
They’ve got a match at the D.C. Armory tomorrow, October 31, at 3 p.m, (the “bout” starts at 4). For $12 (kids under 6 get in free), you’ll get an eyeful as the DC DemonCats test their nine lives against the Dutchland Blitz of Lancaster, PA, as well as a full-length match between DC home teams, Scare Force One and the Cherry Blossom Bombshells. The league regularly sells 1200 tickets to their events, so get your tickets now!
Martha Squashington, aka Fox reporter Holly Morris (who featured Hill’s Kitchen on a recent segment) interviewed members of the league in September and even took some training laps. Her videos are a hysterical sneak peak and give you a sense of the athleticism involved in the sport. Follow me over the jump to meet Lady Burn Johnson!
Rollerderby, of course, is no new thing. It dates back as far as the 1880s. In 1949, Roller Derby Girl, a documentary, was nominated for an Oscar. After the rise and fall of the sport in the 1970s (I seem to remember big rainbow wigs, fringe and sweaty guys trying to pull off a Sid Vicious look on skates), the revival at the hands of all-girl grassroots leagues around the country has brought the craze and its saucy accoutrements back full force. Hollywood has recently jumped on the camp wagon with the new Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page film Whip It.
Clare Martin has been in training since February, and she has recently shed the generic “training” nickname “Meat” to become Lady Burn Johnson on the DemonCats. The team took its name from the legend of a black cat said to haunt the halls of Congress.
Dave Alexander, a Hill resident, is Clare’s boyfriend. “I think it’s awesome,” he said. “Roller derby is a niche sport on the rise, and this is a good town for niche sports.”
Clare, a roller skate fiend when she was a kid, came to the sport on a dare from her boss. Her company offered a $250 fitness incentive for people who tried something new that made them nervous. So now Clare is whipping around the course at the Armory multiple times a week, “strategically” bumping competitors and picking herself off the floor 10 times a day or more. “I’m not a very aggressive person, and now I definitely feel like I’m building more confidence in dealing with confrontations in my daily life.”
Despite the tough-girl look that her teammates sport (along with awesome knee socks, lamé knickers and plastic mouth guards) there’s a fantastic spirit of support. “I remember being so intimidated by the other girls before I started—like, how can I ever go up against these tough, crazy chicks?,” she said. “I soon realized that they may be tough and crazy on the track, but off it, they’re some of the nicest girls you’ll ever meet.”
