How to play Roller Derby
The game itself is a series of races between two teams of five players. Each team's jammer is the only player to score points. Three blockers try to stop the other team's jammer while propelling their own jammer forward. Each team's pivot acts like the pace car in a NASCAR race and controls the speed of the pack. She also keeps an eye on the jammers, calls her team's plays and acts as a blocker. Helmet designs differentiate the positions -- jammers wear stars, pivots wear stripes and blockers wear blank helmets.
Each race is called a jam and lasts up to two minutes. At the start of the jam, the pivots and blockers gather in formation at the starting line. The referee blows a whistle, and they skate as a pack while the jammers wait at the starting line. When the pack is 20 feet from the starting line, the referee blows the whistle again, and the jammers start to skate.
The jammers try to catch up to the pack, work their way through and come out the other side. No one scores any points during the first lap, but the first jammer to pass the opposing team's pivot becomes the lead jammer. A referee points out the lead jammer and follows her progress around the track. The lead jammer can "call the jam" before the end of the two-minute period by putting her hand on her hips.
When the lead jammer calls the jam or the two-minute period ends, play stops and the officials calculate the score. Teams get one point for each opposing player the jammer passes during each lap.
Some rules directly affect whether the jammers earn points. In most leagues, jammers:
Must be in bounds when they pass opponents to receive points
Do not receive a point if they foul the player they are passing or pass a player
who is on the way to the penalty box.
Do not receive additional points if they fall to the back of the pack and pass the
same players again.
Receive additional points for lapping opposing jammers.
Receive a point for each opposing player in the penalty box if they pass all the
other opponents in bounds.
by Tracey V Wilson How Roller Derby Works
Watch and Learn!
Here's a video clip explaining the rules, the positions and goals of Roller Derby.
