Women clad in red and black fishnet stockings and skates latched onto to a motorcycle circling an indoor concrete track can mean only one thing: The Naptown Roller Girls Tornado Sirens have arrived.
Masses of cheering people seated around the track act as the only buffer to stop roller derby skaters from taking spills into the crowd as soon as the first jam, or race, begins.
For the fans, ground seating, also known as the "suicide seating" section, has only two rules: "Do not spill your beer, and you could get hurt," a Naptown Roller Girls bout commentator said. The emcee goes by the name "Brownie Hero," and, along with cohort "Dill Hero," announces every bout for the league.
"One of my favorite moments is when a roller girl will come visit us here [at the emcee table] after coming around turn four - very harshly," Brownie Hero said. "We learned to save our beers over everything else."
As a result of the roller derby revival, which started in 2001 after its decline in popularity during the 1970s, new leagues have kept the same general structure of the game but with distinctive, all-female teams in a more intense atmosphere, according to howstuffworks.com.
"Everybody was kinda waiting on it to come back," Brownie Hero said. "Then they come see it and realize it's not like WWF anymore, but they think, 'This is wild. It's the real deal.'"
Senior Justin Polley, who learned about roller derby through his roommate, had seen two bouts before the Tornado Siren's matchup against Knoxville Saturday.
He said he enjoyed his seat closest to the action, especially when the team coach, Mr. Whip, threw a chair "Bobby Knight-style" onto the track after a disputable referee call. The incident occurred shortly after a fight broke out between NRG's Touretta Lynn and Knoxville's Black-n-Blue.
"The chance of a girl landing on you just heightens at that spot," Polley said.
Voluntary Efforts
This year marked NRG's first competition season. The league consists of coach Mr. Whip, three referees and 21 women with such monikers as Diane Beatin', Smackie Onassis and Lethal Chrissy.
Each month the women strive to be the top 14 players in the league to make it on to the Tornado Sirens, NRG's competing team, for bouts. The roster changes monthly based on skill, practice attendance and attitude, according to the league's Web site.
The Sirens have gone 2-2 this season and will play their next bout against the Derby City Roller Girls from Louisville, Ky., May 12 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Blue Ribbon Pavilion.
Because it is a new league, NRG is based solely on volunteer staff members, with the only goal being to bring flat-track roller derby to Indianapolis, according to the NRG Web site.
Roller Dex, the head referee, admitted that before a friend approached him to referee bouts, he wasn't a fan of roller derby because he didn't know what it was. However, last April he picked up his skates for the first time since attending a childhood birthday party and re-learned from scratch with help from swinger Strawberry Jam. He has been an official since.
"The actual bout is such a rush. It's just a culmination of everything that the skaters and the refs and the support crew work so hard to pull off," Roller Dex said.
Roller derby referees and security staff are often parts of the league and the teams they represent - A lot of the support staff are the boyfriends, husbands and friends of women on the team, Roller Dex said.
"That's the only way you learn," he said. "It's a necessary thing, and there's a lot of things people will say like are we biased because we're reffing the league. But refs are gonna be questioned in any sport."
However, the volunteer aspect of the sport has in no way hindered fan attendance. The first bout against the Nashville Roller Girls on January 13 attracted more than 2,200 spectators, according to the NRG Web site.
What keeps jammer Jane Ire's mother coming back to the bouts, though, is the chance to see her daughter doing something that makes her happy.
"She's just a different person doing derby. ... It lets her shadow side come out," she said. "She gets to be mean and tough and all the things she was never supposed to be. It's like a fantasy outlet."
Super Fans
For super fans Renee Sweany and Nathan Shipley, both of Indianapolis, NRG started as something different and interesting to watch on the weekends and quickly developed into an extreme admiration for the girls on the team.
Sweany, co-founder of the Naptown Roller Girls [unofficial] Fan Club Web site, has been a fan of the sport since NRG's first bout. She and Shipley were driving in the car one day and decided to start a fan club, she said.
Pointing to the site's banner that saved her spot in the suicide seating section from outside the arena during a period intermission, Sweany boasted of her favorite team and later led a section of the crowd in a Naptown cheer.
"They're hot and they are incredible," Sweany said. "I will defend them until the end because they are amazing athletes. I don't care what anyone says about how it's a joke. These girls work hard - they work out, they practice, they are serious about it."
Much of the heightened interest and excitement of the sport also stems from the fact that it draws such a large, diverse crowd, Roller Dex said.
"For the older crowd, it's nostalgia from the old version of roller derby," he said. "For the younger crowd, it's such a new, fresh thing."
Bliss Young, a fifth-year senior, went to her first roller derby bout on Saturday after friends who had gone before introduced her to it.
Although it took her a while to completely understand the bout rules, she was on her feet pumping her fist and cheering from the suicide seating section during NRG's overtime jam against Knoxville along with the die-hard fans who remained to watch it.
Several skater-fan collisions, two fights and a broken chair later, Naptown defeated Knoxville 100-95, and screams of sirens blared over the loud speaker to announce the victory.
"Who doesn't like women in short skirts on skates fighting each other for the front of the line?" Young said. "Their independent, competitive nature makes them incredible role models, especially for women and girls who have issues with confidence."
Young said she also likes roller derby because it reminds of her of sports like hockey and rugby.
"It's absolutely alive with energy," Young said. "You can't help but be caught up in the excitement and fervor of what's going on around you."
Web LinksThe Naptown Roller Girls on MySpace[unoffical] Fan Club siteNaptown Roller Girls Web Site
Next Bout: (last on schedule) "Bourbon Brawl"NRG vs. Derby City Roller GirlsWhen: May 12, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)Where: Blue Ribbon Pavilion, Indiana State FairgroundsCost: $15 day of bout, advanced tickets $10. Free for children under six and EMTs.
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