Thanks to a few bare-knuckle portrayals of roller derby skaters in popular culture, participants have been labeled with a cliché of being careless about whether they win or not and having needs like that of a rabid dog.
That’s not what Ruff Rollerz jammer Christine “Ruby WreckHer” Stanko is like. In fact, the reality is quite the contrary image.
Stanko is a bit like the rabbit in the roller derby world, where big dog blockers patiently wait for their prey. As jammer, she scores points by passing players on the opposing team. Jammers, however, are very often in danger of being subjected to the wrath of the blocker and can be knocked down any time—but that didn’t scare Stanko when she first saw the game at a practice.
“I fell in love with the sport,” she explained. “It was my thing, because I have always liked contact and running.”
For her first game—which was also the team’s first game—Stanko morphed into her alter ego, Ruby WreckHer, and skated on the flat-track as lead jammer.
“I was excited, because during practice, I had never been lead jammer,” she said.
Ruby WreckHer will appear again with her teammates in Santa Maria on March 13 for the “Flashback to the Flat-Track” at the National Guard Armory, where they’ll roll out against the Inland Empire.
This article appears in Mar 4-11, 2010.