Inside RollerCon: The world's largest roller derby convention in Las Vegas
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It's effectively the Mecca for anyone in the derby community, whether a skater, non-skating official (NSO), a referee, photographer, or even an avid fan.
Roller derby has evolved from the area of sports entertainment in the 1930s to one of the most brutal, yet rewarding and athletically challenging sports in the world. There are approximately 1,250 leagues across the globe and almost half of these are outside the US - the sport's place of birth.
Like all sports, the nitty gritty rules can become complicated but roller derby is kind of like rugby or American football, without a ball.
An official game has a roster of 14 players on each team and has two 30-minute halves. The game consists of a series of short bursts of play (up to two minutes in length), with four blockers and one jammer from each team on the track. The jammer has a star on their helmet and is the only player that can score by passing a player on the opposing team, after initially passing the pack of skaters in the first lap. The blockers try to hinder the opposing jammer by blocking, forming walls in front or around a jammer, or hitting while also assisting their own jammer.
Like I said, it gets complicated, so if you want to read up about it, check here. If you want to see some of it in action at RollerCon, then check out this slideshow!
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