A few months ago I got an email from Alana aka Banana Sassin, a member of the Garden State Rollergirls. She invited me to join one of their practices out in Newark at the Branch Brook Roller Skating Center. Immediately, I pictured the movie “Whip it” with Ellen Page. I invited friend and photog, Greg Pallante, to help take photos so that I can get in the ring with these badass ladies. I had no clue what I was getting myself into.
I arrived right as the ladies were getting ready and judging by the amount of protective gear they were wearing, I was starting to get a little nervous. It’s been years since I put on a pair of skates and I am the biggest klutz! Banana had me sign a waiver, something stating that if I die it’s my responsibility! #goodtimes
There was no turning back.
The first thing that I noticed was how friendly and welcoming these ladies were. They are tough in the ring but super friendly and patient even with newbies or as they call them “fresh meat” like myself. It was such an awesome experience.
After talking to the ladies, they even gave me my own Roller Derby nickname, “Black Eyed Chic Pea.” Genius!!
To those of you who do not know what roller derby is and are too lazy to google it here is a concise description Thanks, Wikipedia!
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Gameplay consists of a series of short matchups (jams) in which both teams designate a jammer who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to hinder the opposing jammer while assisting their own jammer—in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously.[2] Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, nearly half of them outside the United States.” — Wikipedia
What are your names? Banana!
Ruby.
What do you guys do?
Ruby: I’m semi-retired, I’ve done a little bit of everything. I’ve been the captain of the travel team, captain of the home team.
So what is roller derby?
Banana: So the basis of roller derby is it’s a five on five sport where there are four blockers on each team and one jammer on each team. The jammer is the girl who wears the star on her head. Her job is to basically pass the opposing blockers and that’s how you score points. During roller derby, you’re constantly playing offense and defense at the same time.
Ruby: So you have to make one pass through the pack and on the second pass you start scoring points. That can go on until either a jammer calls it off or if two minutes go by.
How did you guys get into it?
Banana: I’ve always wanted to do it. I just always thought it was an interesting sport and then I moved to Jersey City and I needed to find a hobby. I Googled one day and lo and behold they were starting Fresh Meat that month.
What is “Fresh Meat?”
It’s basically girls who are just getting into roller derby, they’re learning the skills, they’re learning that game.
Ruby: So we’re teaching them how to fall safely, how to stop, how to play the pack. Our Fresh Meat Program is a one a month graduated program. The first Saturday of every month we have a “First Skate,” so you’re welcome to come and try it out for $10 and we give you loaner gear.
So anyone can come?
You just have the email the group.
Even like me? I suck!
Banana: Yeah, just show up.
Ruby: You’ll have a coach there who’s going to be completely devoted to your group. After that first practice, you have to get your own gear but you can start coming to practices. To get scrimmage ready you have to pass a written test, twenty-seven laps in five minutes, and a basic skills test.
So it’s a contact sport, right?
Banana: Yes.
Does it get really intense:
It gets really intense, it’s really fun.
Ruby: That’s why the Fresh Meat Program is so long most of it is just to make sure you’re safe. You don’t want to be there in a pack of people who are grabbing, throwing other people down, or tripping people.
You guys all seem so nice and friendly how do you guys go against each other?
Banana: It’s so funny, I’ve had people say that to me when they find out a roller derby girl. That’s because I let all my aggression out on the track.
Ruby: I think more people are afraid of me when I tell them I play roller derby.
Because it’s intense!
Banana: It also fosters a nice sense of comradery.
It’s like a sorority, but a badass sorority.
If somebody hits you really hard and you fall on your ass you compliment them.
Ruby: The big rules in roller derby are don’t be a dick and don’t say “Sorry.” If you hit somebody and you knock them over—they say “Good job.”
So this is a league?
Banana: Yeah, we’re the Garden State Rollergirls.
Ruby: We’re the number one team in New Jersey.
Banana: We have the Ironbound Maidens who are our charter team. That means they play at a competitive level that makes them ranked nationally. Under that is our Brick City Bruisers and their our B-team. But then we also have our home teams which are the Jersey City Bridge and Pummel and Northern Nightmares.
Ruby: And those are the games where we beat each other up the most.
Banana: We’re not playing an outside team, we’re playing each other.
And you guys practice three times a week?
Ruby: Three times a week.
That’s a huge commitment.
Ruby: Yes. It’s all volunteer so everybody has to do committee work so there’s fundraising, there’s coaching.
And you guys have some games coming up?
Banana: We just kicked off our season with our Pancake Breakfast fundraiser so now the season is underway and our first home game is on March 5th.
You both live in Jersey City right?
Yes.
Ruby: Yup.
Where do you guys live in Jersey City?
Banana: Downtown right near Lucky’s.
How long have you been in Jersey City?
Ruby: About four years.
Banana: Since October of 2012.
How many girls from Jersey City are on the team?
Four Jersey City girls, a couple from Hoboken, and we get a lot of Brooklyn girls.
So they drive from Brooklyn to here?
A lot of them we pick up at the PATH, we have a nice little carpool going. We skate in North Arlington, that’s where are our games are, that’s only 10-15 minutes away from Jersey City. Non-car driving Jersey City residents that take an uber spend less than $10 getting to the rink for games!
What are your favorite Jersey City hangout spots?
Ruby: I don’t go anywhere except Lucky 7’s, that’s where I’m always at.
Banana: I really love Lucky 7’s, I really love Barcade, and I like hitting all the spots in Jersey City at off hours.
Ruby: I like the Basement at South House, they have the shuffleboard and the pool table.
So what goes on in practice?
Banana: Lots of sweating.
Ruby: Monday is Endurance Night so you do a lot of sprinting and a lot of stopping skills. Wednesday is Scrimmage Night, so we do an hour worth of drills and stops and falls and then we split up into teams and play each other.
Banana: When we say “drills,” we mean stimulated gameplay.
Do you guys ever hang out after or are you too tired?
Ruby: We used to when we first started it was kind of like a beer league. We would always go to the White Star after practice.
Banana: It’s really hard. We’re here until eleven o’clock at night kicking our asses. If you’re going to practice and can hang out afterward you didn’t push yourself hard enough. I go home and I just want to shower, eat a ton of food, and pass out. Saturdays sometimes we do brunch and we hang out so much doing fundraisers and things like that.
What are your regular jobs?
I work for a record label and a kids music company.
Ruby: I work as a scientist in a pharmaceutical company.
That’s so interesting! All these women have a double life.
Banana: That’s the best part about it because I would never in a million years come into contact with Ruby here. Ruby’s a scientist and I work for a record label but we’ve become really close because of roller derby.
How do you get your nicknames?
For a lot of girls we just come up with our own. How did you come up with your name?
Wednesday: Well, I am obsessed with The Addams Family.
What’s your name?
Wednesday Stabb’ams, it’s my favorite movie in the world. I think I’m Morticia Addams actually, but it just came into my head one day, I don’t know exactly how. I wanted it to be a play on words just like everybody else.
Banana: Growing up my nickname was “Banana” because no one could ever say my real name.
What’s your name?
Banana Sassin’.
Ruby: I wanted to be Ruby Soho because I used to have a good friend and I remembered we would always play the song “Ruby” by the Kaiser Chiefs. I wanted to be Ruby Soho but they have a list of the names online so you can see which ones are taken so I just ended up going with Renegade Ruby.
Do you accept anyone?
Banana: Yeah! There’s a boys team as well.
Ruby: We’re always looking for volunteers too for referees, NSOs, and support staff.
Banana: Yeah, if you want to be a part of the community and not skate there’s other ways to do that. It’s a really good family event too.
Ruby: The national organization we skate under is WFTDA, Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, so your travel team has to be all women.
Banana: But we skate with boys in the scrimmage, they bring their team and we’ll skate against them. It’s fun and it brings a different element to it.
Do you wear funky outfits at games like in Whip it?
Ruby: For the home bouts we do.
Banana: If they want to see some fun outfits they should come March 5th because that’s when people go all out.
Anything else you guys would like people to know?
Ruby: If you’re interested just go to our Facebook and we have the first skate every Saturday. What we always tell people is, “If you come one and you hate it you never have to come back.”
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