What is Roller Derby?
Derby!
So now you are here at the Salt City Derby girls website, but aren't sure what this game is all about. Click here to find out more about the sport.
What is Roller Derby?
Two teams of 5 players skate against each other in a `bout' on a flat-track. Bouts are made up of 3 twenty-minute periods comprised of jams that last no longer than two minutes. Most leagues play according to WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) rules.
Each team consists of 3 blockers playing defense, a pivot, who sets the pace of the game and serves as the last line of defense, and a jammer who scores points. The pivot wears a striped helmet cover and the jammer sports a star on her helmet.
The blockers and pivots must skate in pack formation. The first jammer through the pack without accruing any penalties and staying in-bounds becomes the lead jammer. The lead jammer has the strategic advantage of being able to `call off the jam'.
A jammer scores points by making her way through the pack of blockers a second time. She scores a point for each opposing player that she passes.
The blockers try to prevent the opposing jammer from getting through the pack. All skaters wear quad roller skaters and protective gear including helmets, mouth guards, wrist guards, and elbow and knee pads.
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About the Game
POSITIONS
Pivot, helmet cover with stripe: Pacesetter and each team's last line of defense. Each team has a pivot who is usually leading her pack. It is legal for blockers to go in front of their pivot, but they cannot go more than 20 feet in front of her.
Blocker, no helmet cover: Blockers do just that; they block. This position is both defensive and offensive. The main goals of a blocker are to slow down or knock out of bounds the opposing jammer and to clear a path for their own jammer.
Jammer, the point scorer: Jammers are the only team members who can score points, and they do so by passing opponents while inbounds. For each opponent passed (either on the track or in the penalty box), the jammer gets one point as long as she did not have a foot out of bounds on the ground. They can go out of bounds, but they don't score points for any opponents they pass while out of bounds. If a jammer is in the penalty box, play continues.
FORMATION
In order for a jam to begin, the skaters must get into pack formation on the track. The pack consists of one pivot, three blockers, and one jammer from each team for a total of up to 10 players on the track at a time. We say "up to" because it is possible to play with fewer players due to penalties being served.
A Jam
Each race is called a jam and lasts up to two minutes. The referee blows a whistle, and the pack starts to skate while the jammers wait at the starting line. When the pack is 20 feet from the starting line, the referee blows the whistle again, and the jammers start to skate.
The jammers try to catch up to the pack, work their way through and come out the other side. No one scores any points during the first lap, but the first jammer to pass the opposing team's pivot (without going out of bounds) becomes the lead jammer.
A referee points out the lead jammer and follows her progress around the track. The lead jammer can "call the jam" before the end of the two-minute period by putting her hand on her hips. If there is no lead jammer the jam will go on for the full two minutes.
IT'S LEGAL...
- To engage another player (block them).
- To block from the side or in front of opposing players.
- To use the shoulders or hips to block opposing players.
- To push or whip your own players.
IT'S ILLEGAL...
- To fight with another player.
- To block from the back of an opposing player.
- To use elbows or hands in any way on an opposing player (as in an elbow jab).
- To block an opposing player while out of bounds or when the opponent is down.
- To push an opposing player in any way by using hands or elbows.
- To trip or use the feet in any way (as in a wheel lock).
- To intentionally fall.
- For the jammer, or any other player, to cut the track (cross through the center), in order to catch up with or pass the pack.
- For the jammer to intentionally go out of bounds in order to go through the pack.
- For the members of the pack to engage any other player while more than 20 feet in front of or behind their own pivot.
PENALTIES
Penalties are used to punish teams and players for disobeying the rules of engagement. Penalties are cumulative over the course of a bout (each player's penalty total carries over from period to period).
If there are more than two players from a team with penalties, the third person may skate until the first penalty time is up so that no team is down by more than two skaters at a time. There are two types of penalties that are dished out during game play: minor and major.