BELLINGHAM, Wash.—This past Saturday, March 1, the Whatcom Pavilion swapped dribbling basketballs and squeaking sneakers for the crescendoing rumble of roller skates, shriek of toe stops braking on the track, and raucous yells from tangled athletes pushing and shoving to score points during the double header roller derby event hosted by the Bellingham Roller Betties.
The Roller Betties, an entirely volunteer-run operation, invited Grunge City from Seattle to come and play on the Betties’ home track as part of the first bout of the season, an exhibition event to raise money for roller derby in Bellingham.
Roller derby has been alive in Whatcom County since 2006 when the Roller Betties first established themselves as a team in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. It is sustained entirely by volunteers who set up the track, run the ticket booth, and referee bouts.
The club fields four teams, including everyone from the new skaters on Grit Pit to the traveling competitive team – the Bellingham All-Stars. The derby is a labor of love that brought together at least 150 fans, 50 athletes, and a dozen event officials over the weekend in order to raise money for the Roller Betties. The hope is to continue offering this sport to the diverse crowd that use derby as a form of self-expression and empowerment.
“It seemed like a way to feel like a badass,” said Aurora Gory-Alis (25), who joined Grit Pit after showing up for Booty Camp in Sept. 2024.
Booty Camp is a series of 3-hour training sessions that happens every Sunday for eight weeks, where all skaters test their mettle before committing to a team.
Like all roller derby skaters, each member crafts their own name to fit their skating persona. As a lover of space and horror movies, Gory-Alis was born out of her seeing the Northern Lights for the first time when they were visible in Bellingham last summer. She sports a whorl of blues and pinks and greens painted on her cheekbones, evocative of the Northern Lights, or a bruise, and sparkly blood-red tears painted under her eyes.
When asked why they partake in the time-honored tradition of bout makeup, Gory-Alis said “it’s more like why not?” As she grew up, opportunities to dress up and do loud make-up have dwindled, so Gory-Alis leans into the edgy look.
Regarding the aesthetic of roller derby, Gory-Alis said, “we like to kick shit up.”
And that they did. Gory-Alis was selected to be one of the handful of jammers for the team’s bout on Saturday, where she demonstrated her grit and tenacity by scoring points towards the team’s 220:149 win against Grunge City.
The second bout was a showdown between the Roller Betties’ intermediate teams, The Cog Blockers and Tough Love.
Before starting their bout, the Cog Blockers came together in the locker room for a group huddle. The coach gave a motivating speech beforehand, rallying the team to “stick together, play our game.” They proceeded to play a YouTube video encouraging the team to “go absolutely feral, be the weird scariest thing the world has ever seen.”
“Be weird, do weird things, stay together. We have fun,” the coach added. “Ready to get stronger together? Let’s do it!”
The Cog Blockers led the first half, the score nearly tied just under 100 points, with the Cog Blockers slightly in the lead. However, the second half was brutal. Tough Love wiped the floor, with the final score landing at 214-115, in favor of Tough Love.
Additionally, there were a number of injuries within the second half, with players standing in front of injured players and medics attending to them. Skater Dixy 2.0 was kicked out of the game after a penalty.
The bout was a harrowing affair of bodies hitting the track, knocking into each other, and ref whistles splitting the air with penalty after penalty—all a legal and expected part of the game.
“I haven’t heard anyone successfully compare roller derby to any other sport,” said an audience member, shaking his head at the suggestion of “Nascar rugby” as an example.
Despite penalties and a penalty box similar to hockey, a track and jammers who chase the pack like pursuit racing cyclists at a velodrome, and a ref-to-player ratio to supersede football, roller derby defies expectations and carves out a space for skaters to be tough, aggressive, and shameless while speeding around a 148.5-foot track.
The diversity of athletes is striking. Players are short, sturdy, tall, thick, lean, spry, muscular, and every combination therein, and almost all are dressed helmet to skate in intimidating sparkles and fishnets.
The Roller Betties’ marketing coordinator, affectionately referred to by her roller derby name “Satan,” says that roller derby “attracts weirdos.”
Here, weirdos is a kind of shorthand for folks who don’t fit the mold, who buck the stereotype of women as small, modest, and quiet things, and challenge binary assumptions around sexuality and gender.
“You don’t have to be gay to skate…” Satan said, but “there’s something about a bunch of women in spandex hitting each other that brings the gays…”
Although Satan recalls that her dad watched roller derby on TV during the 1970s when the women competitors were almost certainly a sexualized spectacle like women’s wrestling, roller derby has evolved into a sport where women and gender-diverse athletes are loud and proud about their abilities and are without a doubt not performing for men.
Amidst the chaos about the event, Satan passionately recommended joining the volunteering team: “We’re a very small community of people who come together and work in our different areas of expertise.” She included, “nobody in this building is getting paid…we come in and do what we have experience in, like, I work in marketing for my job, so I play to my strengths.”
Anyone who has expertise that could benefit this non-profit organization, or if those simply interested in volunteering for the Roller Betties can visit their Betty webpage for free derby, free drinks, free merch, and a ton of fun.
On the other hand, for those interested in joining the game, the Roller Betties host a new skater booty camp every fall, with no prior skating experience necessary.
The Roller Betties’ next event is coming up on March 29 at the Lynden Skateway in Lynden. Season 17 passes for all upcoming bouts are available, or simply support their Instagram page @rollerbetties to keep up-to-date on their derbies.
The Roller Betties will continue to host events until June 28, between Whatcom’s Pavilion and the Lynden Skateway. If you’d like to be part of the fun, grab a ticket and come support the Betties!
Reporters: Dana Ringler and Charlie Henton
