Wildwood Hosts the Fifth Annual Roller Derby Expo

WILDWOOD — Roller derby enthusiasts from across the country flocked to the Wildwood Convention Center, Aug. 23-24, for the Fifth Annual Colossal Coastal Roller Derby Expo.
Roller Derby is a 60-year-old contact sport that has recently made a resurgence. Event organizer, Melissa Morera, describes it as “football on skates, with no ball.”
While rules can vary from league to league the main objectives stay the same. During a game each team has five players on the track, a “Jammer” who is responsible for scoring points, three “Blockers” whose job is to prevent the opposing team’s Jammer from passing freely though the pack, and one “Pivot” who is the team’s last line of defense when it comes to stopping the opposing Jammer from escaping. All five players skate in a circle, trying to get their Jammer to lap the opposing team, a point is awarded for each team member lapped.
Day One of the expo consisted of a morning boot camp on the beach followed by roller derby clinics designed to hone the players’ skills. Day Two was open to the public and featured a roller derby tournament.
Approximately 150 people participated in this year’s event with some traveling from as far away as Iowa. While this year’s expo numbers were down slightly from last year, Morera isn’t worried, “hopefully we have more fans this year [overall] so it’s a balance and I expect next year to be even more people.”
It’s not just the action packed sport that keeps people coming back to the expo each year; the location also has a lot to do with it. “It’s just a great place to have an event. Everyone enjoys the beach and the pool parties, and they can chill out and relax and treat it as a vacation and do roller derby,” explained Morera.
If you are interested in finding out more information about roller derby or want to take a closer look at the rules you can do so by visiting www.skatemade.org.