| Ten women go whizzing past wearing wild fishnet | | | | The sport has been hugely successful in Austin as |
| hoses. Their colorful get-ups also include helmets and | | | | both local leagues constantly draw sell-out crowds. |
| kneepads and flying scarves and the skates on which | | | | Enthusiasts swill ice-cold cans of Lone Star and local |
| they are racing around the oval track. | | | | bands fill the arena with loud, raucous Austin rock and |
| Elbows fly, legs lock, bodies go careening and sliding | | | | roll. Fans of the flat track version of the sport love to |
| along the masonite track. Occasionally two shapely | | | | sit in the first two or three rows where the chances |
| lovelies go at each other, swinging hard and fast, falling | | | | are likely that they'll become part of the painful action |
| to the ground, rolling and grappling as the beer-soaked, | | | | when some blocker or jammer gets knocked off the |
| capacity crowd roars in approval. It's Sunday | | | | track-there are no rails or barriers-and goes sailing into |
| afternoon at the roller derby bout; roller derby with a | | | | someone's lap. |
| Texas twist. | | | | Rough and tumble roller girls with names like Raquel |
| Austin, the city that likes to keep itself weird, has given | | | | Welts, Misty Meaner and Lucille Brawl plaster and |
| birth to yet another entertainment craze that has gone | | | | pummel each other all through the four 20-minute |
| national. All-girl roller derby, loosely fashioned after the | | | | periods of the game. By day, they are moms, special |
| co-ed roller derby teams of yesteryear, took root here | | | | ed teachers, maternity nurses and art school |
| in 2001 with the founding of the TXRD Lonestar | | | | graduates. On the track though, they assume their alter |
| Rollergirls. A couple of years later, most of the teams | | | | egos and put on a show that one of them, Melissa |
| in the league spun off to form a second league, Texas | | | | Joulwan (Melicious), describes in her book, Rollergirl: |
| Rollergirls, due to a difference of opinion about how the | | | | Totally True Tales from the Track, as a "dazzling |
| original league was managing things. In addition, the | | | | carnival on wheels"a sport of speed-skating and brutal |
| Texas Rollergirls play on a flat track, rather than the | | | | body checks, played out against a backdrop of head |
| traditional banked track that the Lonestar Rollergirls | | | | banging rock. The spectacle drives fans into a |
| prefer. | | | | hormone-and-beer induced frenzy. |
| Volunteerism and inclusion are two of the philosophical | | | | AE channel produced a 13-episode television program |
| and practical pillars of the success of this Austin-born | | | | in 2005 called Rollergirls that was about the TXRD |
| movement. The women risk bodily injury for the thrill of | | | | league, their skating and scrapping escapades, and |
| extreme sport and the glory of winning; they don't get | | | | their life off the rink with boyfriends and bosses. The |
| paid. Proceeds go to local charities and to the expense | | | | website for the show describes the sport as raucous |
| of running the league. Texas Rollergirls, in particular, are | | | | bouts that combine fierce competition with |
| fiercely committed to their slogan, a league for the | | | | jaw-dropping outfits and crowd-pleasing personalities. |
| skaters, by the skaters. | | | | The rollergirls impact has even had an effect on the |
| Both leagues boast an independent, tough-girl spirit and | | | | local Austin real estate market. Texas Rollergirls |
| are proud of the way their movement grew from their | | | | marketing director Rebecca Guitierrez (RadioActive) |
| own sweat and muscle to grow within a few short | | | | said that we've had many folks move here because |
| years into a national phenomenon as all-girl roller derby | | | | of the derby movement. |
| leagues have sprouted up all over the country. Several | | | | That's because it's not just about the thrill, the |
| documentary films and one reality-style national TV | | | | sex-appeal and the colorful, carnivalesque atmosphere |
| show have helped propel the popularity of this | | | | of the sport. It's the community-based, locally controlled, |
| fast-paced, contact sport for women. The leagues in | | | | creative and free-wheeling spirit of fun and competition |
| different cities have begun to hold inter-city and | | | | that sets Austin apart from so many other cities in the |
| inter-state competitions and a national tournament as | | | | country, that has been attracting people to come and |
| well. | | | | settle here for decades. |