Southern Maryland offers junior roller derby
Locals split time between Waldorf and Hagerstown
Over the past decade Charles County has gradually been home to two women’s roller derby clubs, Southern Maryland Roller Derby and 301 Derby Dames, and now they have paved the way for the next wave of competitors to get involved in the sport.
Members of the Maryland Area Roller Skating club have grown accustomed to making the long journey to Hagerstown to hone their skills. But over the last month the group has gradually made the Capital Clubhouse Skating Rink in Waldorf home to a small, growing roller derby contingent.
Christina Simpson, also known as “Princess Sleia” while competing for the Southern Maryland Roller Derby team, has watched her two sons, Ian Simpson and Christopher Simpson, take an immediate interest in the sport. Unlike the adult roller derby leagues designed for women, the junior roller derby is coed. Ian is also known as “Maze”, while Christopher is “Peregrine Reaper” in matches.
“There are several junior roller derby clubs throughout Maryland, but there were really none here in Southern Maryland until about six weeks ago,” Christina Simpson said. “Now, my boys have a place to compete locally. We get the rink from 10:30 [a.m.] to 12:30 [p.m.] on Saturdays to practice, which beats having to make the two-hour drive to Hagerstown.
Although not a member of either roller derby club, Kierstan Bailey has watched her daughter, Brooke Bailey, aka “Jawbreaker” developed an immediate fondness for the sport. Like Simpson, Bailey was dreading making the long trips to Hagerstown for practices and occasional matches and now
Brooke has the Capital Clubhouse to enhance her skating talents.
“For the longest time there just wasn’t any place for the junior roller derby kids to compete,” Bailey said. “Now we have the rink in Waldorf every Saturday morning and they’re basically in there 11 months a year. We give the kids off in July and then get them back in there in August. We have another match in Hagerstown in August, so we’ll start practicing a few weeks before that.”
With Junior Roller Derby there are three levels, with one being for novices. The Level 1 portion prohibits any contact at all, so participants that can skate quickly around the rink have a distinct advantage. But some contact is introduced at the second level and then full contact is permitted at the third level, so speed demons do not necessarily have a free reign.
“Both of my boys wanted to be jammers, which are the fast skaters that score points,” Simpson said. “In Level 1, they could go around there as fast as they wanted and not have to worry about getting hit. But they’re Level 2 now and they’re realizing that there is a little more to it than skating fast. When they get to Level 3, then they’ll really understand what the sport is all about.”