Albany All Stars Roller Derby | Kids Out and About Albany <

Albany All Stars Roller Derby

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Albany , NY , 12065 42° 50' 16.2564" N, 73° 46' 16.752" W
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Albany All Stars Roller Derby is the Capital Region’s first flat track all-women roller derby league. AASRD was started in 2006 and currently has over 40 skaters divided into A and B Teams: the All Stars and the Brawl Stars.

Who are the Albany All Stars?

The Capital Region's first flat track all-women's roller derby league, the Albany All Stars began in 2006 with six members and two teams. Four years later, the league has grown to more than 60 players and three teams: The Capital City Legislayers, The Department of Public Hurts, and The Empire Skate Troopers. The All Stars share The Ironworks, a practice space and a home to call their own, in the Warehouse District of Albany.

The league is comprised of a diverse group of players who are committed to a spirit of community within the league, as well as serving the greater community of the Capital Region. In addition to participating in numerous local events and fundraisers, a portion of the proceeds from each bout is donated to charity. Determined, strong, and agile, these ladies play to win, but also never lose sight of having fun. As skillful as they are relentless, the Albany All Stars bring a unique brand of excitement and energy to each bout that will keep you coming back for more.

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What is Roller Derby Anyway?

In 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, America's first "spectacle sport" was born.

Invented by Leo Seltzer, roller derby originally simulated cross-country skating, with participants furiously circling a track approximating the distance between New York and LA.

As skaters became faster and more adept at lapping the track, occasional crashes would occur as they tried to pass those ahead of them. Like any great promoter, Seltzer soon realized these collisions were the most thrilling part of the game, which he tweaked to maximize the carnage.

Two teams of five skaters now circled the pack, with each team sending out a "jammer" to skate around and lap members of the opposing team. Derby became a full-contact physical sport, with elbows, body-checks and fights galore. And the fans loved it.

By the early '50s, roller derby reached its peak, with games regularly drawing 30-40,000 fans and skaters gracing the covers of national magazines. The sport sustained its popularity through the '70s, when the gas crisis forced the main leagues to fold. The sport slipped into pop culture oblivion -- where it would remain for decades. Today, in post-millennium America, "everything old is new again" -- including the roller derby. A neo-derby renaissance is fully at hand, with aggressive all-girl skaters jamming the pack to restore the sport to its hard-hitting former glory.

In locations as diverse as New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Raleigh, Austin, Seattle, Kansas City and the Cayman Islands, a new generation of fierce female athletes is paying homage to the energetic, explosive traditions of derby past, while updating them slightly for a more sophisticated, modern audience.

With a post-feminist, punk-inspired DIY (do-it-yourself) ethos and a hearty helping of raunchy rock'n'roll, this ain't your grandpa's roller derby. Gone are the co-ed teams (in favor of "red hot, girl-on-girl action"). Traditional "time-out" penalties have been replaced with a spin of the much-dreaded "Penalty Wheel," which dispenses wild consequences, from spankings to spontaneous karaoke, for fouls committed during play.

With The Albany All-Stars and other start-up leagues around the country determined to revive this outrageous, crowd-pleasing sport, a nationwide roller derby revolution has definitely begun.

 

 

old roller derby pickids on skates