Last night I attended the first bout for the Silicon Valley Roller Girls ^[1] (SVRG), our very own roller derby team here in the south bay! It was an action-packed game and close score the last half — but our girls demolished Port City Roller Girls! SVRG won their first game! Go girls!

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Established in 2007, SVRG is an all-female flat track roller derby league. Their dedication, while not only to kick major you-know-what during the games, is to empower their skaters to improve their skating ability through training and teamwork and help Silicon Valley by participating in various community services.

It was my first game, any kind of roller derby exposure I had before last night only came from television programs or movies. Before the game started they had a few players from each team do a pretend round while the announcer explained the game.

In brief, you have 5 members of each team on the floor. You have 1 Pivot, 3 Blockers, 1 Jammer. Pivots are at the front and they set the pace. Blockers are behind and they cannot go infront of the Pivots and their job is to keep the opposing team’s jammer from passing. One whistle is blown, the Pivots and Blockers start off — a second whistle for the jammers to start. When the first jammer breaks through the pack, they’re the Point Jammer and get points for every time they pass an opposing team member. Jams last 2 minutes or when the jammer declares they’re over (by placing their hands on their hips.) This is all a very quick way to describe it – learn more about it here ^[3].

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Roller derby is an awesome sport and a great way to spend your time and money! Go out and support these girls.

Upcoming Games:
Saturday, Sept. 20th – SVRG vs. Bakersfield Rollergirls @ Bakersfield, CA
Saturday, Oct 25th – SVRG HOME BOUT @ SAN JOSE SKATE
Saturday, Nov 15th – SVRG vs. Sonoma County Roller Derby @ Rohnert Park, CA

Find out more about the team at:
www.svrollergirls.com ^[5]
www.myspace.com/svrollergirls ^[6]