We’ll all roll on, alright

Brick Hammond-O’Darrah is a junior who does roller derby. Roller derby is where players skate laps around an oval shaped track while trying to escort a “jammer” player past all the opposing blockers. (Courtesy of Brick Hammond-O’Darrah)

Luella McNickols and Brick Hammond-O’Darrah are both juniors who do roller derby. Roller derby is where players skate laps around an oval shaped track while trying to escort a “jammer” player past all the opposing blockers.  A “jammer” player is a player that has a star on their helmet and their job is to earn points by passing the opposing “jammer” player upright and in-bounds.  McNickols first got inspired to do roller derby after reading a book. 

“I read a book called ‘Roller Girl’ in fourth grade,” McNickols said. “It was just a graphic novel and I was like, this looks interesting. So I talked to my mom about it and found a league and signed up.”

After doing roller derby for almost eight years, McNickols has been moved up to a more challenging team called Galaxy. 

“[I’m] pretty excited because it’s the travel team,” McNickols said. “I’m hoping that I’ll be able to travel out of state and stuff.”  

On the other hand, Hammond-O’Darrah was first introduced to it by his boyfriend at the time, who played roller derby and invited him to check it out.  This is Hammond-O’Darrah’s fourth year playing roller derby and his second on his current team, the Alliance.

Hammond-O’Darrah was on a positional team for two years. While positional teams don’t allow players to hit each other, full contact teams do. During full contact games, you are allowed to hit other players using your shoulders, hips and torso to block opponent players from passing your “jammer” player.  Positional games are where you cannot touch any of the other players and your main job is to escort your “jammer” player past the other team’s “jammer” player.  

McNickols and Hammond-O’Darrah both have received an award called an MVP Award. 

“We have MVP Awards which stands for most valuable player,” McNickols said.  “I’ve gotten that a couple of times.”  

In order to receive a MVP Award, you must be a hard worker, communicate well with your team, own your mistakes, and most importantly, try your best.  

“I got MVP for one early game,” Hammond-O’Darrah said.  “But that’s it.”  

Although Hammond-O’Darrah is now an experienced skater, when he first started roller derby, he struggled with a stop called a plow stop. A stop is where you quickly brake and change direction.  Roller derby players need to use stops to maneuver around opposing players and to avoid collisions.  

“[It’s] where you use both of your feet to curve in and stop your weight,”  Hammond-O’Darrah said.  “I really struggled with that because of my anatomy.  Basically you have to be able to force your hips in this closed position and I couldn’t do that because they’re very open hips.”  

While Hammond-O’Darrah struggled with stops, McNickols said that at first it took her a while to get comfortable being so physical with the other players. 

“I was in fourth grade, and it took me a long time to get comfortable, like being so physical with other players and just getting comfortable on my skates,” McNickols said.  

McNickols skates at a repaired warehouse in Shoreline.

“We have… an old warehouse that we fixed up,”  McNickols said.  “We used to skate in The Rat’s Nest, which was also in Shoreline, but it got torn down.”  

Hammond-O’Darrah skates at White Center in West Seattle. He’s currently taking a break from roller derby, but is planning on continuing when he is an adult. McNickols is also planning on continuing in the future. 

“Our league kicks you out at 18 so next year would be my last year,” McNickols said. “And then, depending on where I end up, I’d like to play professional roller derby for a professional league.”