Are you ready for some fast-moving, hard-hitting, mind-blowing, fight on four wheels? I’m not talking about Formula 1 or NASCAR racing. I’m talking about the first home games of the 2025 season for the Chattanooga Roller Derby Team.
The games are set for March 29, at Camp Jordan Arena with teams playing at 3, 5 and 7 p.m.
If you’re not familiar with roller derby, you’re missing out! The hits are real. The action is fast and furious, and the skaters all have cool derby names.
Roller Derby has been around for a long time. It gained new momentum after the movie Whip-It hit the screen reintroducing the sport to a new generation. These days the game is played on a flat surface instead of a banked track, is recognized, and sanctioned all around the world. The teams are run by the players, for the players and the community.
The sport started off as a grassroots movement across a few major U. S. cities and has since exploded with teams in nearly every state and several different countries.
Kadi Rogers, aka KAOS, said roller derby got stalled during the COVID pandemic but, somehow, it benefitted the Chattanooga team. She said the team managed to keep skating to stay in shape and picked up several new skaters from surrounding communities where teams stopped activities or shut down.
“We got a lot of new commuter skaters,” she said. “They’re coming from Nashville, Rome, Georgia, Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama,”
The addition of new skaters has allowed the Chattanooga team to create new home teams, two of which will debut on Saturday.
KAOS said she is looking forward to blocking the opposing jammer by positionally blocking them and slowing them down to the point of fatigue.
Brittany Olivera, aka Bawdee, is the Captain of the All-Stars. She started her derby career in Sacramento California but now calls Chattanooga home. Bawdee is a jammer, the skater responsible for scoring points. She said she is excited to get the season started.
“I'm looking forward to playing against my own team,” she said. “It's the first time we've had home teams, and I'm really excited to play against my own teammates.”
Bawdee said she still gets anxious as the game approaches. She said the night before a game her mind is constantly in thought. She said she tries to calm her brain before she jams. Once the whistle starts play, she uses her own blockers to help break through the pack. She said she loves the thrills and challenges the sport provides.
Mallory Bowden, aka Jiggle Watts, commutes from Nashville to play with the Chattanooga team. She said she likes how competitive the team is. Right now, the Chattanooga All-Stars are ranked fifth in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s North American South Region. Their B team, the B-Railers, are 15th. But she said she also enjoys how much the team gives back to the community.
“We do a lot of events,” she said. “A couple of weeks ago we went to a local art gallery and helped them paint their walls. They give back to their sponsors and supporters and I think that’s cool.”
The team trains extensively, with team trainer Linda Cope making sure everyone is well prepared to take the track while maintaining safety precautions to prevent injuries.
This is not fake WWE fighting. The skaters hit hard. Bruises, cuts and sometimes harsh injuries have happened. Jiggle Watts said she took a break from derby to recover from a broken ankle. But derby players are resilient, and they have a love for a sport that is primarily female dominated.
The first matchup at 3 p.m. highlights the future of Chattanooga Roller Derby allowing their junior team, the Ruby Regulators, to take the flat track against the junior Rome Roller Girls.
Cope, also the coach of the junior team, said the proceeds from Saturday’s matchups will benefit the Ruby Regulators Skater Scholarship, helping to eliminate barriers for kids getting to experience roller derby in Chattanooga.
At 5p.m. the game intensifies as the Chattanooga B-Railers play host to Romer Roller Derby in a head-to-head friendly competition for local bragging rights.
At 7p.m. Chattanooga will debut their two new interleague home teams, the Honky Tonk Heifers and the Thiccin Nuggets in a battle for points and the chase for the end of the season home team trophy.
The entrance fee covers all three matchups. This is a family-friendly event open to all ages.
How the game is played in laymen terms
In a derby match there are four blockers from each team on the flat track at the same time. One blocker from each team is wearing a helmet panty with a stripe on it. These are called the Pivots. Behind the jam line there is one person from each team wearing helmet panties with a star. These players are called the Jammers.
When the whistle is blown to start the two-minute jam, the Jammers try to pass the opposing blockers to be the first one through the pack and earn the status of lead Jammer. Once a Jammer breaks through the pack, they race around the track to reach the opposing blockers once again. The Jammer now starts to earn a point for each opposing blocker they pass. The lead Jammer can “call-off” the jam to prevent the opposing Jammer from scoring more points.
Blockers try to block, hit and knock the Jammers out of bounds, and skate backwards, forcing the Jammer to re-enter the track behind the skater who knocked them out.
A Jammer who isn’t successful in breaking through the pack can pass the helmet panty to the Pivot, who then places the panty on their helmet and is now treated as the new Jammer.
Of course, some hits may violate the rules causing penalties, where skaters must sit in the penalty box for an allotted amount of time, like in hockey. If a blocker can cause a Jammer to commit a penalty, it’s the equivalent of a power play in hockey where the opposing Jammer can try and run up the score and possibly call off the jam with the opposing Jammer still in the box. This sets up an advantage start for the next jam. Blockers may be sent to the penalty box too if they break a rule. One thing uniquely distinct to derby is that it’s a sport where offense and defense happen simultaneously.
Chattanooga Roller Derby vs Rome Roller Derby
- Saturday, March 29
- Camp Jordan Arena, 323 Camp Jordan Parkway, East Ridge
- 3:00 PM − Juniors Ruby Regulators v. Rome Junior Roller Derby
- 5:00 PM − CRD B-Railers v. Rome Roller Derby
- 7:00 PM − Honky Tonk Heifers v. Thiccin Nuggets
Purchase tickets online at checkout.square.site/buy/OOLY6HNY6QMEXPJRH77EJIF3