Collegiate Times

"KILLnitzki" from the Rocktown Rollers, a team from Harrisonburg, Va., puts on makeup before a Sept. 27 bout. The Rollers lost, 139-64.

They skated out to Lenny Kravitz's cover of "American Woman." This song introduced the NRV Roller Derby girls to the Adventure World crowd at their Sept. 27 bout against the RockTown Rollers from Harrisonburg, Va.

Related: Derby girls hit the rink

Ten women, five from each team, all dressed in fishnets and short skirts, skate around a rink in a pack with one objective: get the "jammer," who is marked with a pink star on her helmet and skates around the rink and past other players. The goal of a derby game may seem simple, though the sport is anything but.

"There's a lot of skill involved in derby - a lot of strategy," said Jennifer "Slingin' Gritz" Smith, who joined the team in May 2008. "A lot of technique. This is really the only sport where players are constantly playing offense and defense at the same time. We are trying to get our jammer through to score points, while stopping their jammer though so they won't score points."

Derby is also a game of continual motion.

"There's a constant action 360 degrees around, and you have to be aware of everything that's going on," Smith said, "and execute your blocks and get your jammer through and not be penalized and not cause fouls. All the while trying to stay in bounds, so it's pretty intense."

Smith, a Virginia Tech alumna, leads an active life outside of the playing field.

She's also a Weight Watchers team leader and a mother of three. She said playing derby helps relieve her of stress.

"As a mom with three young kids whose husband's on the road all the time," Smith said, "I needed something just for me - for stress relief, and you can't have a stressed-out mom."

She played competitive sports as a child and said derby has given her something that many other sports can't.

"There isn't a lot of options out there, especially for women," Smith said. "There's nothing that's kind of hardcore competitive. So you have a choice: You either find something like derby or you live your sports through your kids. You can be one of those psycho soccer moms that's yelling 'kill the other kids.'"

Smith said that it's better for her to be on the playing field because she can be aggressive, knock people down, relive stress and exercise.

As soothing as derby is to Smith, she and her teammates aren't afraid to take hits, and getting bruised is just part of the game. Indeed, Smith fell on her back during their Sept. 27 bout and got right back up afterwards.

The NRV Roller Girls wear the scars and bruises with pride.

"It's kind of like badges of courage and war wounds," Smith said.

One of the most common team ailments is derby rash, which is defined as marks the fishnets leave after the girls fall and slide across the hard floor of a rink.

While Smith has never been injured during a game, her other players cannot say the same.

Kacey "I.M. Pain" Huntington, who takes her nickname from architect I.M. Pei, joined the team in July and broke her ankle in a September bout.

A master's student in architecture, Huntington said that even though it might get nasty on the rink, derby is ultimately a team sport.

"No matter what happens on the track, after the bout everyone is friends," Huntington said. "After the last bout, the girl that knocked me down and essentially broke my leg, she came up to me, and we talked, and there's, like, no hard feelings with it. The girls we're skating with today, I've already talked to half of them and given them hugs."

She plans to get back into the rink after she has healed and said the sport helps more than just her body.

"You get an instant confidence boost as soon you step out there," Huntington said. "People are coming to watch you, and you are slamming into these girls."

Meghan "Ms. Feminazti" Jones works at Rainbow Riders daycare in Blacksburg and said she feels resilient in the rink. Her nickname encompasses both sides of her dual personas, which derby allows her to play.

"I think I'm a strong, empowered woman, and I'm a hard hitter," Jones said. "I'm a force to be reckoned with, and I'm a little nasty out there. I think the 'Ms.' part came because I'm a teacher, and I get called 'Ms.' every day."

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