The Stateline Roller Derby Divas are an all female amateur flat track roller derby league skating in the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin stateline area. We are skater run, owned by none!
Roller derby is a full-contact sport where skaters use hip checks, booty blocks and strategy to keep the opponent from passing and scoring. Unlike the roller derby of the 60's and 70's, today's derby is 100% real: every fall, every hit, every bruise, and every woman.
About the Stateline Divas & Derby
Know the Lingo
Blocker: The skaters who try to stop the other team's jammer while propelling their own jammer forward. They make up the pack.
Bout: The name of the game. Rollergirls BOUT each other.
Fresh Meat : A new rollergirl in training.
Hip Whip: When the jammer grabs hold of her own teammate's hips or waist, and flings herself around the track at a high speed.
Jam: Each race during the Bout is called a "jam" and can last up to 2 minutes.
Jammer: The skaters who score points. They wear a helmet cover with a star on either side. They race each other around the track, and every person from the other team that they pass equals 1 point.
Jammer Point: When a jammer laps the opposing jammer, scoring an extra point.
Lead Jammer: The jammer who makes it through the pack first without incurring a penalty. The "lead jammer" can call off the jam at any time by placing her hands on her hips. If both jammers receive a penalty, there is no "lead jammer" and the jam lasts the entire 2 minutes.
Pack: The group of blockers, made up of members from each team. Jammers try to break through the pack to score points.
Penalty: An illegal block. Penalties include using the forearms, elbows, and/or hands to block, blocking against the back of an opposing skater, grabbing, tripping, pushing, fighting, hitting above the shoulders and/or below the knees, insubordination to the refs, unsportsmanlike conduct and more.
Rink Rash: Otherwise known as "fishnet burn," when a skater slides across the ground (usually on her hip) and gets floor burn (usually in the pattern of whatever fishnet stockings she happens to be wearing at the time).
Whip: When a skater extends her arm to assist her own jammer through the pack. The jammer grabs the whipper's wrist with both hands, and is then flung around the track at a high speed.
How It Works
A matchup between two derby teams is called a BOUT. Each time five players from each team face off against each other is a JAM. Each team plays one PIVOT, three BLOCKERS and a JAMMER.
The pivot sets the pace for her team and is responsible for leadership within the PACK. The jammers are the scoring skaters. Each team’s jammer lines up behind the pack.
The skaters wearing a helmet cover with a star on it are the jammers. After making it through the pack of blockers once, the jammer begins scoring points for each opposing blocker she passes legally and in bounds. She can also score points on opponents who are in the penalty box and can get a fifth point if she laps the opposing jammer. Blockers are trying to stop the opposing team’s jammer while helping their own jammer get through.
A jam lasts a maximum of two minutes, but the LEAD JAMMER can call off the jam by putting her hands on her waist.
Hitting and falling are all part of the game, but there are rules on how players can make contact with each other to keep the game safe. A blocker can send an opponent sailing by using their shoulders, hips, or booty, but tripping, throwing elbows, and other grabass nonsense are illegal. Too much of that and a skater will find herself with her meat on the seat in the penalty box.
