When life as I knew it imploded, roller derby was my constant. Snohomish County’s Jet City Roller Derby welcomed this wayward skater into their community with open arms and a spot on Saturday’s rosters.

Jet City Roller Derby (formerly Jet City Rollergirls) was established in Everett in 2006. Around that same time, a pig-tailed, fishnet-wearing, 7-year-old Georgia was drawn to the sport, in awe of the powerful tattooed skaters emblematic of both the sport and the punk scene from which it emerged. Actually, roller derby’s roots date back to 1937 but this is a personal essay, not a history lesson.

Longtime readers may recall a story we did on an Edmonds-based derby couple in 2013. While the sport has evolved a bit since then, the premise remains unchanged: Jammers with stars on their helmets zip around an oval track, gaining points for opposing blockers passed. Meanwhile, blockers obstruct their paths, throwing hip checks at every opportunity — all while being unapologetically themselves on roller skates. Roller derby has always provided a safe space for outcasts (check out the aptly named mixed-gender league Puget Sound Outcast Derby). All shapes, sizes, ages, genders and sexual orientations are not only welcomed but celebrated on the track.

Boasting over a dozen leagues, Western Washington has been a hub for this alternative sport since the mid-2000s. But I didn’t don derby skates until I’d moved nearly 6,000 miles away to Clermont-Ferrand, France. Upon relocating there, I immediately joined their team Les Auver’Niaks. I called myself Georgia O’Gifle and fell in love with both the sport and the community it provided. For the next 3.5 years, I proudly traveled the country, gymnasium to gymnasium, with my yellow and blue clad teammates. Then in January, for a number of reasons, my life in France came to an abrupt end. I found myself back in my childhood home, teamless and feeling down. 

But all that changed when I rolled into the Lynnwood Bowl & Skate and initiated my transfer. The folks at Jet City were ecstatic to add a new member to their ranks and suddenly my evenings were filled with practices, scrimmages and late-night milkshakes in the Highway 99 Dick’s parking lot.

I’ve played many team sports in my life but none compares where camaraderie is concerned. Between the obligatory physical proximity — on defense, there is rarely a time that you aren’t pressed up against at least one other teammate — and constant communication and collaborative efforts, team bonding tends to be fairly immediate and intense in this sport. 

Last Saturday’s bouts were no exception. Jet City competed against Seattle’s Grave Danger and the Eastern Washington and Idaho-based Outlaw Skate Crew Saturday evening at Edmonds College’s Seaview Gym. Blockers came together to form defensive tripods, preventing opposing jammers from slipping through to score points. Jammers used their own teammates’ positioning to blast by opposing blockers and pick up their points. Between periods of play, skaters exchanged high fives of kudos and encouragement, both coming off or going onto the track. 

We were neck and neck with the Outlaws for most of the second game, ultimately claiming victory with a narrow four-point lead at 149-145.

By the time fans had cleared out, chairs were stacked and the floor had been disassembled and put away, it was nearly midnight. But that didn’t stop us from celebrating over pints and onion rings because while we take our sport seriously, at the end of the day, most of us are in it for the community.

To find out more about Jet City Roller Derby — learning to play, upcoming bouts or how to support the club — check out their website.

Georgia Knoles is My Neighborhood News Network’s journalism and marketing intern. She recently returned to the Pacific Northwest after studying journalism and French at The University of Colorado Boulder, followed by a communication master’s from the French Université Clermont Auvergne.