What do you get when you introduce a local chemist to the roller derby league? North Richmond resident Jodie Mullinger talks aliases, ankles, and ‘argy bargy’.
“FOR some reason I have a death wish and want to put my body on the line!”
Jodie Mullinger is explaining why she plays the position of ‘jammer’ in roller derby, which is arguably the most hard-core role of the bunch.
Locals might recognise her from behind the counter at the Beta-Care Pharmacy on Windsor Street in Richmond, where she works as an assistant.
But when she’s playing roller derby, she is Chemical Fog - an alias or ‘player name’ coined from an amalgamation of her chemist background and her nickname back at WSU.
“I had to make it sound dangerous. Some people want to make it dramatic, or gory, it’s all about how you want to play the game - so ‘smash’ comes up a lot in player names,” she told the Gazette.
Ms Mullinger is 35 years old and lives in North Richmond with her husband. She moved to the Hawkesbury from the Hunter Valley in 2000 so she could complete a Bachelor of Science with Honours at the local uni.
She’s currently mid-way through a Bachelor of Pharmacy, while getting practical experience on the job.
After hours, she plays roller derby, which is clearly one of her passions. But she wasn’t always attracted to the sport - she simply gave it a go because she heard a friend-of-a-friend was doing it.
She’s now been part of Hawkesbury-Hills Area Roller Derby (HARD) for five years, and is treasurer of the league.
Tournament tools
For anyone who’s wondering, roller derby in Australia is nothing like in the US, and therefore nothing like the film Whip It with Drew Barrymore.
For starters, roller derby in The States is played in a velodrome, whereas here they play flat track roller derby, which means they can utilise any smooth surface - including the polished floor boards at the Hawkesbury YMCA where the local team practises.
The word ‘derby’ can be pronounced either the American way (sounds like derby) or the British way (sounds like darby), but there is a mixture of pronunciations even amongst the members in the local league. Ms Mullinger, however, sticks with the American way, since that’s where the sport originated.
If you get her talking about roller derby, she can get on a bit of a roll. It’s her ‘thing’, and, like any enthusiastic sportsperson, she takes pride in her gear.
Roller derby players use traditional quad skates - two wheels at the back, two at the front, along with a front toe stop (as opposed to inline skates, also known as roller blades).
“Mine are very customised. I have a preference for certain types of shoes. I don’t like anything that goes over my ankle as I have weak ankles, and over-ankle boots encourages their laziness,” said Ms Mullinger.
She bought the skate plates separate from the shoes, and pieced together her ideal pair of skates - including the wheels, bearings and cushions.
Another local roller derby player runs a side-business doing skate maintenance and cleaning, and when Ms Mullinger needs help she takes her skates over there so they can “have a little session and put things together and fiddle”.
Skates can get filthy, apparently, so cleaning is required fairly regularly: “You’re on floors that may not have been swept and the worst thing for our skates is hair. It gets all wound up in the axels and gets into everything,” said Ms Mullinger.
Her preferred pair of skates have a leather shoe, and the wear and tear on them during a game can be “quite huge”.
“My shoes always go first. I haven’t had to change the cushions yet, but I’ve had to change the bearings a couple of times,” she said.
Ms Mullinger’s skates are set-up with two different types of wheels - this comes down to personal preference and how much stability a player desires.
“You can get wheels that stick harder to the floor, and you can get ones that slip - it all gets very in-depth on how you set-up your shoes and skates,” she said.
“I have a stickier wheel on the left hand side of my shoe, so when I’m going around the track - we go around anti-clockwise - I have more grip. The wheel on the other side is more slippery, for speed.
“I still have the original pair of speed skates that my parents bought for me when I was skating at Newcastle Skatel growing up.
“I also have a pair of skates that were made by the bloke that owned the Windsor Skatel - they were given to me by a very lovely old couple who are regulars at the pharmacy. So I fixed them up and they’re quite serviceable now. I’m a bit of a collector of skates.”
Some like it tough
Agility, strength and speed are all desirable traits when you’re playing roller derby. Some competitors focus on being strong, and others focus on agility, “but there’s no point in being fast and not strong, because you’ll get knocked over and lose a lot of energy,” according to Ms Mullinger.
The roller derby track is set out in a ring shape, and the game is played over two 30-minute halves. Four skaters from each team line-up at the starting point - these skaters are called blockers - while a jammer from each team lines up behind.
The jammers are your scoring skaters, and when the whistle goes, they fight to get through the pack of blockers. The idea is to lap the other team members and score points. There are multiple ‘jams’ during the course of the game, each lasting a maximum of two minutes - meaning it’s high intensity, and fast.
“There’s lots of pushing and shoving, but there are a few things that are not allowed. There’s no hitting to the head, no elbows, no forearms, and no hitting to the middle of the back. And you can’t take out people’s legs,” Ms Mullinger explained.
“We’re allowed to use shoulders - that’s a big one - and hips. Those are your main ways of barging through. You can also use your height, and you can go up and down - if you get low enough, you can destabilise somebody to move out of your way. You also get help from your teammates. It’s all very argy bargy.”
Jammers, like Ms Mullinger, have a special cover over their helmets so the referees don’t lose track of them.
“But because you’ve put that on your helmet, everyone from the opposition is trying to knock you over,” she said.
Everyone’s welcome
The local league currently has one team of eight members, all women. They’ve had male players in the past, and members ranging in age from 16 right through to 50, so everyone is welcome, says Ms Mullinger.
The sport is known around the traps as being ‘all inclusive’: “It doesn’t matter what shape, size, gender, persuasion, whatever, you’re accepted. There’s always somewhere for you in roller derby - even if you don’t want to be on skates!” she said.
The local team’s name is Camokazies, and their uniforms are variations on an army theme. Skates, though, are purely personal choice.
“Being a jammer for me is about the ability to sneak through. And knowing that if somebody does get in my way - and this is where the aggression comes out! - I know I can step it up and push them away,” said Ms Mullinger.
“There are a lot of strategies involved once you get past the surface.”
HARD is holding a meet and greet day for new members on Thursday, December 8. Visit the league’s Facebook page for more details.