The Yukon Derby Girls host their first bout in 3 years
A bout is a game.
Bouts are two 30 minute halves, with a 30 minute half-time.
Halves are made up of two minute jams. During a jam 10 players are on the oval track – a jammer for each team, and four blockers per team.
During jams jammers try to get through blockers. Jammers score points by passing the hips of the other blockers.
Why the hips?
“Because hips are the most central part of a body,” says Lindsay Agar, aka Bonanza Babe.
The team to accumulate the most points throughout the jams wins.
There are details: like, jammers start scoring only after they get through the blockers the first time; they have to do one lap. Whichever jammer gets through the blockers first is the lead jammer. She gets to call the jam off at any time.
“There’s advantages in being able to call off the jam,” explains Agar.
Players wear roller skates.
There is a bout coming up at the Mount McIntyre recreation centre in Whitehorse, at the curling rink.
It’s on September 10. The Yukon Roller Girls are playing the Sea to Sky Sirens from Squamish. Doors open at 6:00 pm, whistle at 7:00 pm. The half time show is courtesy of the Company of the White Wolf, which is medieval sword fighting entertainment — “A fringe organization, like us,” says Agar, “So we stick together.”
There is a beer garden, and it’s family friendly.
Agar joined the team in 2010. She says derby in the Yukon has resurged in the past few years; there are currently 25 team members. They have to pass a minimum skills test before they can play in a bout.
These skills include knowing how to stop, how to fall, being able to be touched and moved by a pack, and skating a lap at a certain speed.
The appeal of roller derby to Agar is the sisterhood of the league, and the physicality and strategy the game requires.
Back to her moniker, Bonanza Babe. “There are two thing people need to know about the world of derby,” says Agar.
Number one is theatrics. Players dress up in tutus, fishnets and dramatic makeup. They give themselves names and personas, like Honey Badger, Martha Blackout and Bonanza Babe.
Number two is its driving force to become more of a proper sport; people wear athletic clothes and train for it.
There’s two sides, says Agar.
Three, if you count the audience perspective.
