Nashville Rollergirls | Frogdiva Dot Com

The Nashville Rollergirls are Nashville’s finest women on wheels. The roller derby of the 70’s and 80’s has made a comeback in the last 5 years or so, and it has turned into quite an athletic sport. It’s highly competitive, but it’s not quite the hair-pulling, name-calling, catty sport of 30 years ago. It’s much more civilized now.

I am not a sports enthusiast AT.ALL. You won’t find me watching football on the weekends or baseball during the World Series or any other sport, but there’s something about roller derby that changed that, at least when it comes to watching roller derby. The first bout I attended was in 2009 after seeing an event posted at a pizza place in town. It was shortly after my birthday, and I told David that I wanted to go for my birthday. At that time, the Rollergirls played at the sports arena at the Nashville Fairgrounds. The audience was such a grand mix of people from all ages and groups that I never once felt out of place. Oh, and the derby bout was an amazing experience. I was hooked!

Since that first bout, we have seen the Nashville Rollergirls compete with women from other cities all over the US. Their fan base has outgrown the fairgrounds arena, and moved to the Municipal Auditorium where there’s more room for more people without being crowded on bleachers.

It takes watching a few bouts to really understand the rules of the game, but what sport isn’t without complicated rules? Once we started to understand the rules, we really got into the competition and started identifying our favorite players from the Nashville team, like Lady Fury, Hildabeast and Ramb0 Samb0 (Hildabeast has retired and Ramb0 Samb0 moved from the area).

For the younger girls ages 10-17, there’s also the Nashville Junior Roller Derby team. They play some during halftime at the Nashville Rollergirls bouts, and it’s amazing to see them play, too!

This year’s roller derby season is over, but you can catch them again next year starting in February through August for regular games and September for playoffs.

This post is part of a series I am writing, 31 Days of Nashville, where I am introducing several awesome places that make Nashville a great place to live and visit. Each day of the week has a different theme, and I am trying to focus on those hidden gems that aren’t as well known but just as worthy.