Roller Derby

Published:
June 26, 2008

This article appeared as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Fall 2008.

Adrienne van der Valk '97 never expected to become an avid participant in roller derby, but that's exactly what happened. She loves the "brazen, post-feminist flamboyance, pin-up punk aesthetic" of the sport, evident in these photos by Angie Ponso.

Adrienne van der Valk seems to be keeping an eye out for marauding competitors as she flies around the floor.
Aches, pains, and "gnarly bruises" are definitely a part of the mix, van der Valk says.
Modern roller derby athletes include "teachers, welders, landscapers, attorneys, therapists, bartenders, and students," van der Valk says. About half of these women are mothers — and very tough mothers, indeed.
Van der Valk says she was lured into roller derby by the "excitement and the girl-power" but she stayed for the sport.
Roller derby has changed since the days of Kansas City Bomber, says Adrienne van der Valk. For one thing, she competes in a flat-track league, rather than the banked track leagues of the past. And fighting is not allowed.
Van der Valk’s league, the Emerald City Roller Girls, is a nonprofit, skater-run affairs, unlike "professional" clubs of the past.
Adrienne van der Valk says she plans to compete until she is broken — "And I hope I skate until I die," she adds.

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