The Harbor City Roller Derby is quite the sport. A home bout last week in front of a packed arena of fans was just what they needed. But, how does the sport work?

“There’s blockers and then there’s a jammer on each team. The jammer is trying to get around the track as many times as possible and they get a point for every person on the other team that they pass. So our blockers are trying to block the other jammer and also help our jammer get as many passes as possible.”

Superior was the site for the Harbor City Roller Derby home bout, and it was exactly what you would imagine. Pushing, shoving, and a whole lot of physicality.

“It’s full contact,” said Jen Kopischke, a skater known as “Cupcake Chaos”. “We wear mouth guards, helmets, these pads and knee pads.”

“Cupcake Chaos” sure knows about hits and physicality. You never want to forget your padding.

“These along with my elbow pads, I have this hard plastic so that if I go forward and hit the ground, I’ve got some protection for my arms,” said Kopischke. “I have actually fallen without these on before and I forgot what it feels like. We train how to fall so that we’re falling safely and able to push ourselves back up really quickly.”

Put together in 2007, Harbor City Roller Derby brings together all kinds of talent. Just this past week, they had veterans skaters coming back to the team, but also some that were brand new to the entire enviornment.

Despite the competitive nature of the sport, there’s a ton of respect for each player, and at the end of the day, the best part of the game is having fun.

“Our main goal is to just have fun,” said Kopischke. “This is a really silly sport. We’re rolling around and hitting people and just having fun. So that’s kind of what our motto is, is we’re playing to have fun.”