Roller derby is fun and challenging. And it can be intense, says Kendall Olinger, the marketing director and a skater for Memphis Roller Derby (MRD).
Olinger joined the skater-owned and -operated non-profit eight years ago after moving to Memphis and seeking an athletic outlet.
“When I found MRD, I felt like I found my community,” Olinger says. “I found my thing.”
Founded in 2006, MRD is a volunteer-run organization that aims to provide affordable and accessible exercise to Memphians regardless of their skill level or demographics. Olinger says within MRD, there are opportunities for people to participate in a fun or competitive way.
MRD has two recreational teams, the Memphis Minions and the Ghost River Ghouls, that play locally against each other and rec teams associated with other leagues.
The rec teams serve as a stepping stone to the two competitive travel teams, the A-Tracks and B-Sides. Both teams travel to other cities and states to compete in the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Southern Region.
Roller derby is a team contact sport played on an oval skate track. The objective is for the jammer to score points by lapping the blockers of the opposing team. Meanwhile, the blockers work together, using their bodies to check the jammer and try to prevent them from passing.
Olinger likens the games, known as bouts, to high-intensity interval training, as they’re played in short rounds – called jams – that last up to two minutes each. Conditioning and endurance play a big role in roller derby. Skaters also need strength, agility, and power to be successful on the track, Olinger says.
No prior skating skills or roller derby knowledge is required to get involved with MRD. The group offers skate schools throughout the year for those interested in getting started. Meeting twice a week for seven weeks, students learn basic skating skills like transitioning from skating forward to backward, balancing on one foot, and falling safely.
“Falling is inevitable,” Olinger says, who was introduced to roller derby during skate school. “You fall when you’re learning because having wheels on your feet is not an easy thing to get used to on top of doing all these other skills. It’s fine. You get back up and keep trying.”
After successfully completing skate school, skaters can move on to more derby-specific classes and eventually be plugged into the league. Olinger says coming with athletic experience and being in good shape will give beginners the upper hand, but she says it’s not a hard “must have.”
“Mental and physical toughness is something you can learn,” she says. “People can come in and discover what moving your body and being physically fit can do for them. And that’s what we’re there for.”
The next skate school begins in June. The MRD season, which runs from spring to early fall, is set to start April 19 with the team’s first home game at the Pipkin Building.
Visit memphisrollerderby.com to view the full schedule and for more information on how to get involved.
By Maya Smith
