The New Roller Derby

It's high energy slammin' and jammin' on roller skates. Roller Derby is back in a big way for the Green Country Roller Girls. The News On 6â€™s Rick Wells reports on the local entry into

Friday, October 12th 2007, 5:45 pm

By: News On 6

It's high energy slammin' and jammin' on roller skates. Roller Derby is back in a big way for the Green Country Roller Girls. The News On 6â€™s Rick Wells reports on the local entry into a century old sport.

It's practice night for the Green Country Roller Girls. The teams been organized for a little over a year but has just become a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, the sanctioning group for this latest incarnation of roller derby.

"For our league it's 18 to whatever," said team captain Nancy Galloway.

Nancy Galloway hadn't skated for years, then she found roller derby.

"Something about it just spoke to me," Galloway said.

An architect by day, on skates she's Electra Violette. Skate names are important.

Rosie the Wrecker, that's her skate name, thinks this is so cool.

"Gettin' bruises, and gettin' sweaty, hanginâ€™ out with a bunch of crazy girls and losinâ€™ a bunch of weight," said Green Country Roller Girl Rosie the Wrecker.

Roller derby is a team sport, there is strategy so they have a coach and rules. They scrimmage with officials with whistles so they learn what they can and can't do on the rink.

There's a roller derby league with teams in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, all over this part of the country.

"You just make friends everywhere,â€ said Rosie the Wrecker. â€œThe girls welcome you with open arms, and bruises."

The bruises come easy, but in any contact sport like this, there are injuries, broken noses, broken ankles, cracked ribs, but no worriesâ€¦

â€œYou can get hurt in the shower,â€ one Roller Girl said.

The Green Country Roller Girls' next bout is Sunday evening at the Broken Arrow Roller Sports complex, located at 551 West Oakland Place, thatâ€™s behind Ferguson GMC off the Broken Arrow Expressway at Elm. For more information on the Green Country Roller Girls, click here.

Watch the video: Competing In Roller Derby