As for fieldnotes, here are a few highlights:
- I went to the Texas Rollergirls 2010 Season Opener today to watch the game and help work the will-call booth. I've been doing it for a couple of seasons now and it's fun to see all of the old regulars and to greet the first-timers. The games seems to attract a pretty diverse crowd - reaching a bitacross age, gender, and racial lines. For example, there are little kids and grandparents, there are rockabilly styled girls alongside "preppily" dressed women. There's also a pretty even amount of males and females in the crowd.
- The rollergirls are rather intense on the track - jammer take-outs (completely knocking the jammer from the opposite team to the floor [sometimes into the crowd]) are pretty common. The game-play is rough - our gear really helps keep us safe but it can only do so much. It definitely hurts to get the wind knocked out of you no matter how you fall. Tempers can flare at other skaters or at how the referee calls [or doesn't call/see] penalties. However, the announcer made a good point tonight - as soon as the whistle is blown, the game-faces are usually off and teams are reaching across the bench laughing with each other and playfully smack-talking. I always seemed to get spanked after the whistle is blown in our games - good times.
By the way: I realized that I haven't really explained yet how the game is played. Here's a pretty good intro to the basics: http://www.howstuffworks.com/roller-derby4.htm
Here's a pretty enjoyable clip recapping the Texas Rollergirl's 2009 season as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4gCJlpyMr4
The links you provided were very helpful in understanding more about your project. I had never really paid much attention to roller derby and didn't realize how intense roller-derby could be!
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