Fight Club

The rules of the game's governing body, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, prohibit egregious contact. For those who cuss at each other or at the refs, who windmill their elbows, who intentionally trip other skaters, grab them or throttle them with their own helmet straps, there is an extensive system of penalties and a penalty box. (Some leagues use a child's wading pool. DC Rollergirls uses a dunce cap and a sign that says "Naughty".)

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What are players allowed to do? They are allowed to hit each other, hard, shoulder to shoulder; they are allowed to whip each other around opposing players and stop so suddenly that the opponent wipes out; they are allowed to slam into each others' hips, thighs, upper arms and front torsos. WFTDA provides the guidelines, but the game is still evolving.

The DC Rollergirls' first year was mainly spent recruiting and holding all-league practices at area public spaces and rinks. In the fall of 2006, the league elected four captains, who drafted their teams. (During the season, skaters could become "free agents," and captains could negotiate with each other to procure them for their teams.) With no shortage of interested women, the Rollergirls capped their membership at 15 per team, started a waiting list and planned their first public bout for this past March. Since that season opener, the league has held two practices a week (teams can hold additional practices) and one bout a month. This season, still working out its system, the league has played a mix of singles and double-headers. The championship bout will be played October 20 at Dulles SportsPlex, based on the teams' regular-season records.

The league's elected board of seven skaters recently bought out the interest of the original owner, founder and skater Shannon Flowers, for $2,000, and is applying for nonprofit status. This year, skaters pay the league $35 to cover the costs of practice space. Other expenses, such as outfits and gear, are paid for by individual teams. Kali Schumitz, league secretary, says that the small profits from ticket sales and merchandise items like T-shirts go into the league.

Perhaps because the league is relatively new, it takes all comers, regardless of skill level. Still, to be considered for a space on a team, skaters must pass a basic skills test, including endurance, speed and the ability to take a hit. Each league player must pass the test a few times a season. Skaters who fail to pay their dues or to attend the minimum number of practices, or who exhibit "unsportswomanship-like behavior," may also be cut, says Schumitz.

It is too early in the life of the Washington league to characterize the type of woman who joins. The league includes elementary school teachers and mothers, scientists and artists. Older leagues have noticed that, more often than not, the women who join are those who never fit easily into more girlie society, as April Ritzenthaler from the Austin league notes.

"Many are tomboys or tough girls or women who didn't have a lot of women friends," says Bob Ray, director of "Hell on Wheels." The teams become sororities of a kind. Scare Force One members skate together four or five times a week and socialize together in their free time.

Roller derby is also a cutthroat contact sport. Tempers run hot. The collisions are real and often ugly. Many team Web sites include "scrapebooks," photo galleries of splintered fibulas, pancake-size hematomas and vast tracts of oozing rink burn. But for many women, this is part of the attraction. Says Trampon: "I need to hit people. It makes me feel better. I guess that's why I chose derby."

TO CONDOLEEZZA SLICE, ROLLER DERBY WAS A NATURAL ACTIVITY for someone who spent a good part of her childhood on wheels. She grew up on 17 acres in Fredericksburg, Va., on what she calls a mini-farm. Her father, a motorcyclist, had her riding a three-wheeler by the time she was in middle school and a motorbike a couple of years later. She was also a baton twirler and a cheerleader, and she roller-skated at Skateland in Fredericksburg "until it stopped being cool." In high school, she played a sport in every season, and she dabbled in inner-tube water polo in college. After college, she played on a succession of work-league volleyball and softball teams, but for the most part, she says, these were not competitive enough for her.

A few months after joining the DC Rollergirls, she attended her high school reunion in a green dress that she remembers for the way it showed off her biceps. Until then, she says, "I had always been athletic, but I had never felt strong."

Derby has proved to be an outlet for the frustrations of her job at the cat hospital, which she says can be "extremely stressful." Treating people's pets, she says, "is like treating their children." And, "a lot of people don't have pet insurance, so money is an issue, and I'm the person to talk to about money."

By the time elections were held for the league's four captains, Slice had emerged as a de facto leader among the skaters. "Slice was the one who, if she saw you doing something wrong -- no matter which team you were on -- she would come over and tell you, hey, if you do it this way . . ." says Scare Force One's second co-captain, Harley Quinn.