Get your roller skates ready and your bruising forearms ready cause Dead End’s first ever ice cream social and roller derby tournament will be held on June 17th at Marcello’s club in Dead Drop.  To be clear, we are talking about Roller Derby, the sport featuring a skating rink designed for the sport, teams of 2-3 people  and copious amounts of elbows to the ribs while players jockey for position during 45-60 minutes of rink time.  We are not talking about Rollerball as some of you might know from the 1975 film with James Caan.  (We are not discussing the 2002 one with Chris Klein cause it never happened!).  There is no ball here, only skaters.  Those of you unfamiliar with roller derby or simply needing a refresher, Fire Chief Melangell Dylasari-Bellic, who is heading up the event, summed it up thusly:

“There is one person on a team called a jammer.  After the initial lap as jammers pass an opposing team member a point is scored. Whoever has the highest score in the end of the 60 minute period wins the match. Or sooner than that if the opposing team ends up being too beaten up to go anymore.”

The tournament, sponsored by the DEFD with ice cream provided by Sugar Rush, is an event for the upstart charity, For Their Lives!  More specifically, it is ” it’s a charity to benefit the past and future victims of violent crimes. Set up to help pay for their medical bills, any counseling, and self defense classes.”  Those interested should contact the Fire Chief who made it a point to note that players will be required to provide “4 wheeled quad roller skates, helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads, and mouth guard.”  It was also noted that there will be “no penalties at all, and continuous play with no jams going on” along with a few special surprises.

An opportunity to get out some pent up aggression without fear of repercussion or even penalty should make for an entertaining athletic event, all in the name for charity.  Team submissions must be made by June 15th.  Any questions, please contact Fire Chief Dylasari-Bellic and we’ll see you on the rink!

Vance Clayton, DE Daily Reporter