Local Moms Help Power Roller Derby Team

For Kristi Smith of Smithtown and Dianne Boyzok of St. James, motherhood is a way of life. Smith is a mother of two, Boyzok a mother of three. But the two moms are also part of another family – the Strong Island Derby Revolution, a roller derby league based in Setauket.

In the tradition of roller derby, each skater gets a nickname, and so Smith – who stands at 4-foot-11 – goes by the name of BiteSize Brawler. She racked up 59 points for SIDR as one of the players skating the role of jammer in the team's first bout this season, a 314-57 victory over the Finger Lakes Lunachicks. Boyzok, whose derby name is Di-Tanic, skated as both a blocker and a jammer in the win.

Roller derby bouts consist of two 30-minute periods in which skaters, five from each team, square off in "jams" – similar to the breakdown of plays in other sports – of up to two minutes in length. The positions have names like "blocker," "pivot blocker," "jammer," and "lead jammer," with the lead jammer able to score the team's points by passing opposing skaters in laps. Blockers attempt to stop the opposing jammer from passing through. Referees skate inside the track and hand out penalties for rule violations. The team with the most points wins.

"It's not a game for someone who doesn't want to get hit or sweat on. Personal space is not an option here," Smith said.

Boyzok skates with a plate and six screws in her right ankle, a result of a derby accident in which she broke her fibula shortly before Hurricane Sandy, which caused a two-week delay in her ability to have it surgically fixed. It was a hard journey to recover – but four months after her surgery, she made the Strong Island Derby Revolution travel team.

"It was painful in the beginning. Derby is my therapy, so I was anxious to get back," said Boyzok, whose helmet features a sticker that reads "Free Punches in the Face."

She said skaters often have to overcome the impression that roller derby is an intimidating sport.

"You've got to push through your fear," she said. "You don't let it define who you are."

Skaters join the team for various reasons – among them physical fitness, camaraderie, or to have a unique identity.

"I get to come here from taking care of my kids to become BiteSize Brawler," Smith said. "You get to be anyone on the track."

But regardless of who you are and where you came from, she said, you're part of something bigger when you join a roller derby team.

"This team is like one big family," Smith said. "When I joined, I automatically got 30 sisters. We're all very encouraging and supportive of each other."