Ana Bollocks (r.) shows her stuff for the Queens of Pain, who open Gotham Girls Roller Derby season Saturday night against the Bronx Gridlock
Gotham Girls Roller Derby
City College of New York / Nat Holman Gymnasium
138th St. & Convent Ave.
Opening night: Saturday, March 26, $19.99 – $35, 6:30
888-830-2253
www.gothamgirlsrollerderby.com
Get ready for a slobber-knocker of a good time this Saturday night as the Gotham Girls Roller Derby season gets under way at CCNY’s Nat Holman Gymnasium, with two-time defending champion the Bronx Gridlock battling it out with 2010 runner-up the Queens of Pain. That will be followed on April 16 when the Brooklyn Bombshells take on the Manhattan Mayhem at LIU’s Schwartz Athletic Center. Since its inaugural 2004 season, the nonprofit, all-female GGRD has been doing it their own way, with such players as Bitch Cassidy, Evilicious, Miss American Thighs, Sexy Slaydie, Tip-Her Gore, Angela Slamsbury, and Anais Ninja skating around the track, blocking, pivoting, and jamming toward victory. The league also features the All-Stars, the Wall St. Traitors, and the all-rookie Meatpacking District, who skate against other teams in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. A member of the All-Stars and the Queens of Pain, blocker and pivoter Ana Bollocks recently discussed the fast-growing sport with twi-ny.
twi-ny: What would people coming to their first GGRD match be most surprised about regarding the makeup of the audience?
Ana Bollocks: I think people assume that we have either a hipster audience or a goon audience, and it’s not the case — it’s a good cross-section of regular folks of all ages, including a decent contingent of parents with kids. Our audience is loud — REALLY loud — and enthusiastic but generally positive and well-behaved. I grew up playing soccer and I heard more referee-baiting and shit-talking from roughly two dozen parents on the sidelines than I do from a thousand people at a derby game. It’s a pretty great atmosphere.
Ana Bollocks seeks the crown in upcoming GGRD season (photo by Matthew Pozorski)
twi-ny: How did you first get involved in roller derby? You’re regarded as one of the leading blockers on the circuit, paving the way for the jammer to score points. What are the different skills needed for each position?
Ana Bollocks: Well, I started in early 2005, when GGRD was just starting its first full season and we were one of about a dozen leagues in existence. So all I had to do was make my attendance numbers for three months and I was in. Nowadays there’s something like 700 leagues and 28,000 skaters worldwide, so it’s a lot more competitive. We had about a hundred people try out in November and we ultimately accepted eleven new skaters into Gotham, many of whom had skated in other leagues before moving here.
I don’t know that the different positions require different skills so much as jammers need those skills dialed up to eleven. Whatever position you play, you need stability, sprint speed, endurance, and speed control. For me, jamming is fun at practice, but I’m a better blocker than jammer so I’d rather be blocking when it counts.
twi-ny: You’ve been described as a “bad ass” with the “heart of a champion.” When you’re not racing around the track, you work in data management and developing accuracy systems and standards as a woman named Kristin Carney. Do you bring those qualities to your everyday life?
Ana Bollocks: Hmmm, “heart of a champion?” I don’t know if my bosses think of me as a one-legged puppy who can make it on her own, but I *do* have a review coming up. . . . I’ll let you know! Seriously, the one thing that I think applies to both work and derby is have a plan and keep it simple. If you make things too convoluted, everything goes to hell.
twi-ny: Films such as Kansas City Bomber and Whip It have depicted roller derby to be a vicious, no-holds-barred sport filled with extreme characters and aggressive violence. Is there any truth in any of that?
Ana Bollocks: Well, there’s controlled violence on the track, obviously. Body-checking is legal (and fun!). But you can’t, say, clothesline or punch opposing skaters or anything. Derby blocking is mostly parallel to hockey blocking in terms of what’s legal and illegal. You can hit an opposing skater hard, but you can’t grab her, hit her in the head, etc. But nobody watched Slap Shot for its meticulous depiction of clean hockey play, right? Over-the-top fouling is a superior dramatic device. But it an actual game it’ll just get you sent to the penalty box.