What drives Derby Demons? Communication

Heather Logan happened to stumble upon the Middle Georgia Derby Demons.

She is stationed at Robins Air Force Base. While out on base, one of the other skaters, known in the rink as Kimchi, said she was headed out to derby practice. Logan followed her.

Since then, roller derby has been a huge part of Logan’s life.

“I don’t have a life otherwise,” she said while laughing.

While this isn’t a traditional sport, Logan expressed the dedication that is required to compete in such a physical game.

The Middle Georgia Derby Demons will contest their next “bout” (game) at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Bibb Skate Arena on Hawkinsville Road.

To participate on a roller derby team, the most important skill is the ability to skate and stay upright. But it also requires a heavy amount of communication.

“Every time you practice, you have to communicate,” Amy “Rikki Ratchet” Mooney said. “You’re always communicating what you are doing and what the other team is doing. so we do that in our drills. You’ll hear us out here doing all kinds of yelling. That’s us telling our teammates what’s going on, and they echo that back to us.”

With two teams of five on the rink at once, tape outlines a flat, wooden rink to signify what is fair and what is out of bounds. One member of each team is the designated “jammer” — the person who tries to break through the walls and escape the pack. The other four members set up a wall trying to stop the opposing jammer.

The first jammer to break through the pack is called the “lead jammer.” This gives them control of a “jam,” which can last up to two minutes.

Communication becomes essential in this sport with trying to keep the opposing jammer from advancing — there are a lot of other technicalities to the game but this is the basic gist.

The Derby Demons will face the Muscogee Roller Girls on Saturday.

“It’s very rare that your wall stays together the whole time,” Mooney said. “You start out as four people but someone may get a penalty, someone may get caught up by the offense, so you have to get used to working with either two other people or two people on the track.”

Logan, whose derby name is “PoundCake,” said the practices are set up to help prepare for in-game scenarios.

She said the buildup starts with working on the individual. Then she said one person is added for a small group. One person is added until a full lineup is achieved, and then practice will shift to a scrimmage amongst the team to simulate a game-day scenario.

With this being the first bout in a month, anxiety is high. So is the intensity. During practice Thursday, aggression was so high, some of the skaters had to be reminded that it was practice and needed to be saved for Saturday night.

“It’s a hard hitting sport,” Logan said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "What drives Derby Demons? Communication."