Sport and Sweet
Vintage games are in vogue, especially
among women
PICTORIAL PRESS LTD./ALAMY
ROLLER DERBY hit its TV peak in
the ’60s, but it’s finding new fans in
women, including those 50 and older.
The sport has grown from fewer than
10 teams in 2004 to more than 500
worldwide; leagues are in big cities
and small towns. Players say the mix
of rough skating and campy costumes
is empowering: “It’s cool there’s an
opportunity that women never had as
girls, to participate in a full-body contact sport,” says Seattle skater Donna
Kay, 54—known as The Hot Flash.
CURLING has long been popular
in Canada and
the colder parts
of Europe. But the
2010 Vancouver
Olympics encouraged 40,000 Americans to try curling
clinics across the country. (We also
presume the Fire on Ice calendar,
featuring scantily clad female curlers,
helped spark love for the sport.)
ARM WRESTLING isn’t just for
settling bar bets. The Charlottesville
Lady Arm Wrestlers formed in 2008
in Virginia, spurring the start of more
leagues. Women donate proceeds
to nonprofits—and get fierce. Take
Molly Bearden, 59, of Taos, New
Mexico. A dietitian by day, she competes as Florence NightinHELL.
—Audrey Goodson
