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WHAT IS ROLLER DERBY?
WHAT IS ROLLER DERBY?
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction (counter-clockwise) around a track. Game play consists of a series of short match ups (jams) in which both teams designate a jammer (with the star on their helmet) who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to hinder the opposing jammer while assisting their own jammer—in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously.
About Amsterdam Roller Derby
About Amsterdam Roller Derby
Amsterdam Roller Derby was founded in 2009, the first league in the Netherlands. We are a group of strong athletic, ambitious and affable people from all walks of life with a mad passion for one thing: ROLLER DERBY!
We are a volunteer non-profit based sport and so everyone is a part of the running and organisation of our team. If you would like to help us out you could volunteer at a game, join our league as a skater, referee or NSO or of course you can donate!
In October 2013, Amsterdam was accepted as a member of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice Programme, and Amsterdam became a full WFTDA member league in December 2014.
The team was founded as “Amsterdam Derby Dames”, in 2017 the organisation re-branded as “Amsterdam Roller Derby“.
Roller Derby history
Roller Derby history
The sport of roller derby was first conceived in the 1930s, and was played on a banked track and was popular in the United States until it fizzled out in the 1970s.
The sport also owes a lot to the Black American skate culture that propelled the popularity of quad skates continuously through the decades, developing subcultures of skatebowls and skatedance resisting mainstream skate culture that was pushing quads out of the sport and segregating these spaces.
In the early 2000s, modern women’s roller derby got its start in Austin, Texas. Starting with the Texas Rollergirls, flat track roller derby leagues began forming as businesses run by the athletes themselves. The flat track version of the sport spread like wildfire in subsequent years, as the ability to mark track boundaries on a skating rink floor or other venues, rather than building and storing a large banked track, made it possible to play the game just about anywhere. Today, several hundred leagues exist all over the world.
While the original version of the sport eventually became more of a spectacle with fights and other staged theatrics, today’s roller derby is a legitimate sport played by true athletes.
Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, nearly half of them outside the United States. There are 12 Dutch leagues.
About WFTDA
About WFTDA
The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of womxn’s flat track roller derby and a membership organization for leagues to collaborate and network. The WFTDA sets standards for rules, seasons, and safety, and determines guidelines for the national and international athletic competitions of member leagues. With more than 400 affiliated members worldwide, WFTDA is the largest roller derby organization in the world.
The governing philosophy of the WFTDA is “by the skaters, for the skaters.” Skaters are primary owners, managers, and/or operators of each member league and of the association itself. Operational tasks include setting standards for rules, seasons, and safety, and determining guidelines for the national and international athletic competitions of member leagues. The WFTDA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and is governed by a seven-member, volunteer Board of Directors.
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