Penn Jersey Roller Derby (PJRD) is a

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

league based in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Founded in 2005 by Ken Sikes and Greg Spencer as the "Penn Jersey She Devils", the league is home to women and men playing both flat and banked track roller derby. As long time fans of traditional banked track roller derby, Ken Sikes and Greg Spencer recruited former professional derby skaters

Judy Sowinski Judy Sowinski (7 July 1940 – 27 July 2011) was a roller derby skater and coach. Sowinski was born in Chicago, and became interested in roller derby after watching a game at the Chicago Coliseum in 1957. She tried out and was soon picked up as ...

and Arnold "Skip" Schoen to train the newly formed team.Our History
, PJRD The league developed its own rule-set based on former professional banked track roller derby play. This rule-set was adopted by the

Old School Derby Association The Old School Derby Association (OSDA) was an association of roller derby leagues in the United States. The OSDA was founded by Kenneth Sikes in 2007, with nine member leagues. It has the stated ambition of bringing together innovations in flat-t ...

, founded by Sikes, of which Penn Jersey was a founding member. PJRD briefly joined the Modern Athletic Derby Endeavor to play banked and flat track derby, before joining rules sets specific to banked track and flat track roller derby. In 2010, the league re-branded to be inclusive of the Hooligans men's team, and the league became known as "Penn Jersey Roller Derby". That same year, PJRD purchased a banked track, and relocated to their current warehouse space. This move allowed the league to host both flat and banked track games in Philadelphia. Currently, Penn Jersey Roller Derby is a co-ed, "bi-traxual" league, with affiliations with the RDCL, WFTDA, and MRDA roller derby organizations. The league boasts the She Devils women's A and B travel team, as well as the Hooligans men's A and B travel team.

Notable Events

July, 2014, the Hooligans men's team joins the Men's Roller Derby Association. June, 2015, the She Devils women's team joins the Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues banked track organization. June, 2016, PJRD hosts the 9th annual Battle on the Bank national banked track tournament. July, 2016, the She Devils are accepted into the WFTDA Apprentice program. July, 2017 the She Devils complete WFTDA Apprentice program and achieve full member status.

References

{{Pennsylvania Sports Sports in Philadelphia Roller derby leagues established in 2005 Roller derby leagues in Pennsylvania Roller Derby Coalition of Leagues 2005 establishments in Pennsylvania