Professors Doing Stuff: River City Rollergirls roll among us

Caitlin Puffenberger

Contributing Writer

In the classroom, Jolinda Smithson teaches VCU advertising students the ins and outs of graphic design. But after class, she straps on her skates and dons a new persona: Smithson Wesson, blocker for the Uncivil Warriors, one of Richmond’s flat track roller derby teams.

“Normally people are like, ‘You play that sport?’ ” Smithson said of some friends’ and co-workers’ reactions to her hobby. “They think I’m hiding something.”

She said roller derby is often stereotyped because of its colorful players; many people associate the sport with tattoos, fishnets, eyeliner and crazy derby names. As an adjunct professor in VCU’s School of Mass Communications and the owner of a graphic design business, Smithson said she has found that her professions do not pose any problems for her as a member of the derby team and vice versa.

“Some people do (everything), it’s their whole lifestyle; they dress the part, and they have tattoos about it,” Smithson said. “But that’s not me.”

For Smithson, it was the athletic side of roller derby that got her onto the track. “I skated growing up,” she said. “My brother and I would go every weekend. I used to race (him) and all of his friends.”

During college, Smithson played various sports, and after seeing posters for the River City Rollergirls in her apartment building, she started following them on Facebook and eventually tried out.

One of the main draws for Smithson, perhaps predictably, is speed.

“I like to skate fast,” she said. “When we’re doing endurance or drills, just to have that adrenaline to race people, that’s really awesome.”

The real athleticism and intensity of roller derby are often lost in the stereotypes that have formed around the game. And while the eyeliner, fishnets and raunchy derby names are still a part of the sport, those leagues in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) are less focused on putting on a show – star players like Scarriet Tubman, Sin D Brady and Red White and Bruise-her are there to win.

Smithson’s team is part of River City Rollergirls, the local branch of WFTDA. RCR has two teams – Uncivil Warriors and Poe’s Punishers.

Each team has a pool of up to 20 girls: 14 can be on the roster for one bout, but only five can be on the track at one time. Four of those five girls are blockers, and their job is to keep the other team from scoring points, mainly by using their bodies as barriers and battering rams.

The points are scored by the remaining player, the jammer. This player, marked with star on her helmet, must pass through the pack formed by both teams’ blockers, circle the track, and then pass through the pack again. The second time around, the jammer scores a point for every opposing blocker she passes. The first jammer out of the pack wins that jam for her team.

Though the athletic side of roller derby is often overlooked, it is coming more into focus with organizations like WFTDA. But some aspects of roller derby remain hidden from the public – namely, the diversity of the players and the bonds the girls form both on and off the track.

“It’s really a place for all types of people,” Smithson said. “ … No matter what size or shape you are, there’s always another skater who’s the perfect example of the positions you want to play. It’s really a sport where no matter what you look like, you can be good.”

Smithson said that despite wide-ranging backgrounds and reasons for being involved in roller derby, the girls on her team share a great deal of mutual respect and support.

“With all those girls out there, there’s all these life issues that only other women understand,” she said. “There’s always someone who’s been through it. If you need a job, there are 40 people helping you look for a job. If you need dating advice, there’s always someone who can listen or help you out.”

Sin D Brady, one of Smithson’s teammates, described the team’s relationship a little differently: “There’s a bond you form being on the track beating the s*** out of each other.”