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Tonight we talked to two of the TXRD Lonestar Roller Girls, Smarty and Miso. They explained to us the difference between banked track and flat track derby. We also talked about the history of roller derby.
From the TXRD website, www.txrd.com :
Roller Derby, Texas-style
Founded in 2001 in Austin,Texas by She-EOs Anya Jack, April Herman, Heather Burdick and Nancy Lynn, TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls was started with a vision of outrageous production value and fabulous women on skates. The Lonestar Rollergirls are local favorite daughters as well as a hearty entertainment staple, perfectly blending the "Keep Austin Weird" attitude with a free-wheeling pursuit of fun and competition, with rocking local music thrown in for good measure.
High Impact
Primarily composed of women between the ages of 21 and 40+, the Lonestar Rollergirls embody a "do-it-yourself" attitude, pooling their resources and varied skill sets to keep their league up and rolling. With 10+ committees and an elected governing body, these women have fought to build their organization from the ground up, never taking an official loan and keeping the majority of league responsibilities in-house. The same work ethic continues to pervade the league today, as the rollergirls look to the future and plot the course for where the next five years will take them. Their plans are big and their dreams even bigger, and there is no doubt that these women will continue to impact Austin, and beyond, in a serious way.
Teams
We currently have five teams: The Hellcats (50's-style vixens who love their hotrods and switchblades), The Putas Del Fuego (Cholas with a taste for blood and tequila), The Holy Rollers (the baddest bullies in the Sacred Heart schoolyard), The Rhinestone Cowgirls (Texas fillies that offer up the best in country-fried violence), and the Cherry Bombs (ruthless Rock 'n' Roll misfits run amuck).
The History
The Lonestar Rollergirls' first public bout was seen by approximately 400 spectators. By season's end, crowd attendance had reached 1,300, with hundreds having to be turned away at the door. Now, as the 80-member skater-owned and operated league hits its fifth anniversary, the sport of roller derby has grown in incredible leaps and bounds, as has the amount of involvement that each skater puts into this business.
In 2003, TXRD purchased an original roller derby banked track, making them the first all-girl league to ever skate on a banked track. TXRD has sparked a roller derby revival and can be directly connected to new leagues springing up in cities around the world, from the Cayman Islands, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
