AHEAD OF THE PACK: Air Force Reservist is roller derby jammer

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Suspended on eight urethane wheels, Senior Airman Kendall Nielsen rocketed down the roller derby track straight, bound for a stormy beehive of shoving skaters known colloquially as "the pack."

Four of those skaters belonged to Nielsen's team and were focused on helping her through.

The other four belonged to the opposing team, and they would do everything in their power to break the Airman - to stop her dead in her tracks.

Many might shrink at the idea of participating in a full-contact sport bound on roller skates, but Nielsen - an Air Force Reserve bio-environmental engineering specialist with the 477th Fighter Group - said she joined Anchorage's roller derby league, Rage City, for a change of attitude.

"I needed something to give me confidence," the Medford, Ore., native said. "I have always had this mentality of being very stubborn, doing things on my own, 'I don't need any help.' I'm number five of seven in a big family, so growing up, I never really had friends. I had my family."

The self-described introvert said she kept to herself through her teens and early twenties, but decided she needed a change of pace.

Roller derby seemed to provide the perfect answer.

"I have three older brothers," Nielsen recalled. "I grew up playing football, getting knocked out of trees and stuff like that, so roller derby came naturally to me.

"I realized in that point of my life, I needed something physical," she continued.

"I needed to feel accomplished, so I tentatively tested the waters of roller derby and was like, 'Yeah, this is legit.'"

Nielsen said, to understand what she does as a jammer, it is important to understand how the sport works.

Roller derby games are called bouts and normally consist of two 30-minute periods.

The periods are further divided into jams, which are two minutes unless called off.

Teams may consist of up to 16 skaters, five of which are on the track at one time.

The team is divided into jammers (one per team) and blockers (four per team).

Jammers are the only skaters who can score points.

A jam begins when an official blows the whistle, releasing the pack and the jammers around the oval track.

The first jammer to work her way through the pack without penalties is designated lead jammer, which carries with it the tactical advantage of being able to call off the jam before two minutes have elapsed.

Jammers only begin to score points on their second pass through the pack, scoring one point for each opposing skater (including the other jammer) passed.

Because the jammer is the only skater who can score, Nielsen said the position is especially challenging, because everyone is gunning to take her down.

"Competition is fierce," she said. "It's very challenging and stressful when you don't know what you're going up against. It's nerve racking.

"Every jam, I have to hit the reset button," Nielsen explained. "Otherwise, if I have a good jam, I might get cocky, and then I look the fool. Or I might have a terrible jam, and if I don't hit the reset button in my head, I can't play the game."

Through all of the harrowing practices and the bruising hits she has received during bouts, Nielsen said roller derby provided what she was looking for in a sport.

"They're women that I wouldn't have been able to meet, had I not played roller derby," she said. "There are no demographics to derby, and I love that. It's enriched my world greatly."

The Airman said she experienced another very similar positive change when she joined the 477th FG.

"I have met people in the fighter group I would not have met if it weren't for the [Air Force] Reserve," she said.

Nielsen said she was influenced to join the Reserve by another Rage City skater, Air Force Maj. Lisa Ray, former 477th FG public affairs officer.

Despite Ray's assurances, Nielsen said she was initially apprehensive at being exposed to yet another way of life.

"I didn't understand the traditions, I didn't understand the culture," she recalled. "My brother, who was a Marine, Army and now Army [National] Guard, says you learn how to become a patriot. The culture was more of a transition than doing the physical stuff."
Nielsen said she adapted to military life quickly enough during Basic Military Training and technical school.

"I was 28 when I went to basic," she said. "I was in a [training] flight of 60, and I believe there was maybe two or three gals who were older than me. That was an odd situation."
Despite initial feelings of being out of place, Nielsen earned top female physical fitness honors for her training cycle and missed honor graduate by one point.

The Airman said years of building speed as a jammer through extensive practice helped her with the physical rigors of military service.

"I don't ever have to worry about my PT test, because of roller derby and because I'm a jammer," Nielsen explained. "It's one thing to be on the track and be a blocker, but as a jammer, you're just going."

To qualify for the Rage City league's all-star team, Nielsen said she is required to skate 25 laps in five minutes.

Her record is 32.

The Airman said she is studying biological sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Previously relying on student loan s, a Pell Grant and a part-time job, Nielsen said she is grateful the Air Force Reserve is helping to pay for college.

"It's one weekend a month, two weeks a year - a very small commitment for a huge gain: to help me pay for school, to allow me not to have to work," she said. "The Reserve gives me what I need."

Nielsen said whether she is jamming on the flat track or ensuring a good seal on a fellow Airman's gas mask, it always helps to have a healthy sense of determination.

"You have to have some grit to begin with," she said. "You have to have perseverance. If you have that personality - as long as you're open to constructive criticism and willing to grit it out, you're going to be legit."