The Shenandoah Valley’s Premier Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby League
Mission Statement
Rocktown Rollers is a skater-owned & operated organization that is dedicated to supporting local businesses & charities, serving as positive role models in the community, respecting diversity, and providing quality sports entertainment. Each member accepts the responsibility to uphold these values and work for the growth of roller derby both locally and nationally.
2012
The Rocktown Rollers are currently in the process of advancing to new levels organizationally and anticipate completing our 501(c)(3) non-profit status so that we may better aide our community.
2011
The Rocktown Rollers are currently in the process of advancing to new levels organizationally and athletically. We anticipate completing our 501(c)(3) non-profit status so that we may better aide our community and look forward to the physical challenges ahead as we compete nationally through the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).
RTR in the News
Media Library
A project documenting where we have been in the local media.
Your Derby 411
WFTDA
Derby News Network
Five on Five
History
Janna-cide and Troch created the Rocktown Rollers in early 2008. Rocktown includes members throughout Staunton, Waynesboro, Rockingham and Augusta Counties. The team was established during a wave of new flat-track derby teams around the country since 2001.
The sport began during the Great Depression as small teams skated endurance races with minimal contact. It picked up momentum and developed into a full contact sport for women’s and men’s teams, and reached its height of popularity in the 1960s and 70s, when games played on banked tracks were televised and widely broadcast. During this time, many teams earned notoriety for on-track fighting, much of which was staged, and their counter-culture sex appeal. The game lost attention in the decades that followed.
Contemporary women’s roller derby teams began in Austin, TX in the early 2000s, and maintained some of the camp of the 70s — tough and sexy nicknames, costumes — but demanded atheticism from their players. Flat-track began to spring up around the country, aided by a DIY ethic: all they needed was a flat surface and some girls to skate on it. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association developed as a result of the Austin revival and now sets the ground rules, guides, and ranks 150 member and apprentice leagues around the world.
Janna-cide told the Staunton News Leader that she’s pleased with the modern incarnation of the sport: “It’s not staged at all. It has very strict rules and regulations that we have to adhere to,” she said, explaining that seven referees per bout are on the lookout for kicking, tripping, elbowing or punching — all forbidden. “In the two years that I’ve been doing it, I’ve never seen a fight.”
Rocktown has grown with the popularity of the sport. After two full seasons, the league now has more than 25 members, and is considering adding a B-team for more play time. Between monthly bouts, Rocktown hosts community events and supports local charities through volunteerism and fundraising.
