Photograph by Ethan Trewhitt
An Atlanta skater named Sweet ‘n Sour shoves her way past players from rival team Terminus like a human Tetris block. She pushes and jumps her way to securing the lead—only to fall. She’ll get back up and try on a future lap, because it’s just the beginning of the first bout of Atlanta Roller Derby’s 20th season, now in a new home at Agnes Scott College.
The game may look like a chaotic mix of limbs, but it’s a vicious ballet. Each team has four “blockers” in a pack and one “jammer” who scores points. At the beginning of a two-minute jam, the jammers start behind the two packs of blockers and fight to best them, scoring points for each opponent they pass on their second lap, all while battling with hip checks and butt blocks.
Since 2004, Atlantans have been lacing up roller skates, donning protective gear, and hitting the track to play one of the few full-contact sports for women and gender-expansive people. “For me, roller derby is this really inclusive community that empowers us,” says team president April “Ra” Woods, who first started skating in Portland, Oregon, in 2009 but found more inclusion when she joined the Atlanta franchise in 2021. “When I walked onto the rink and saw four Black women running practice and skating, I teared up because people looked like me.”
As one of the founding teams of the national Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the Atlanta teams have helped transform roller derby from its former pro wrestling–style theatrics into a genuine competitive sport. Even with fewer hijinks, it’s still a lot of fun. Punny derby names abound: Walt Hitman, Erykah Ba-Doozie, and Gucci Maim.
The Dirty South Derby, Atlanta Roller Derby’s all-star A team, is currently ranked number 3 in the North America South region, and number 12 globally. In the process of putting derby on the map, it’s also grown the sport locally, with three home teams, a junior league, and a skating academy to train the next generation. Nicole Webb—aka “Square Ruthless”—was introduced to the sport by her mother, blocker Mari Castle, or “Quadratic Abrasion.”
“I was the weird punk girl in my family, and I always wanted to play full-contact sports,” says Webb. “Roller derby just made sense to me.” By 2016, mother and daughter were skating on the same home team—something the competitive duo were wary about, but which proved advantageous. “It’s really chaotic on the track,” Webb says. “But I was a jammer, and I could hear when Mom would call my name and clear a path for me.” When her mother died suddenly, in 2019, the derby community rallied around Webb: “I had, like, 30 new moms.”
The pandemic put that community in peril, as many skaters moved or retired. But those who remained, like Woods and Webb, were determined to bring the sport back. Games restarted in March 2022 with any skater they could find. But after TikTok made roller-skating trendy, the rec league grew, and the Atlanta teams are lapping their way back to the top. On a night in May, Sweet ‘n Sour and other jammers skated the Atlanta team to success, beating Terminus 204–86—with no major injuries.
This article appears in our August 2024 issue.
