Page 160 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2015

SPORTS & OUTDOORS rock n’ roll
MISSISSIPPI ROLLERGIRLS
Still rolling after 9 years on the Coast
story by Jeff Clark photos courtesy of Mississippi Rollergirls
I f the Drew Barrymore-directed film “Whip It” is all you know about the sport of roller derby, chances are you only know the Hollywood side of the sport. According to ScarJo Ego of the
Mississippi Rollergirls, the sport is much more complex than the one fictionalized in the film.
“There are five skaters on the track during each ‘jam’ and the ‘jams’ are
two minutes long,” she said. “There are four blockers and one jammer from each team. The jammers have stars on their helmets. They are the ones who score the points by getting through the blockers. The first jammer to get out of the pack is the ‘lead jammer.’ They have the ability to call off the jam if they don’t have any penalty points. The blocker either helps them score or holds off the opposing jammer.”
Founded in 2006, the Mississippi Rollergirls have represented the Gulf Coast as Mississippi’s first women’s flat track derby league. The sport is a full-contact sporting event, but ScarJo Ego, aka Scarlett Cox, said the game is competitive and not violent.
“It’s a full-contact sport like football
or rugby, so we do wear protective equipment,” she said. “We also have legal target zones. You can’t use your head and you can’t use your elbow, that’s illegal. It’s not like it was in the 1980s when people were pulling hair. It’s a legit sport. We have injuries, but we try to minimize them.”
The team is composed of members from Slidell, New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Mobile and other nearby areas. They practice at Duo Dance Event Center in Gautier, which is also the home field for the Rollergirls.
ScarJo Ego said that one aspect of
the team that is often overlooked is its philanthropic nature.
“At each game, we do a fifty-fifty raffle,” she said. “We pick a charity and we
give the money to that charity. We’ve done different ones but we try to do local charities. We also do community involvement events. We’ll be doing the Buddy Walk in October for the Gulf Coast Down Syndrome society.”
Mississippi Rollergirls
www.mississippirollergirls.com
160 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • September 2015 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net