 "Photo: Sam Grenadier")
Bruises, rink rash and jamming are all part of what three female Texas Tech students do for fun.
Stephanie "Tygrrr Eyez" Peralez, a freshman mass communications major from Lubbock, said she joined the West Texas Roller Dollz, a female roller derby team, last spring after she watched the sport being played.
"I've skated since I could walk," Peralez said. "Besides loving skating, it's a pretty good workout."
Roller derby players, who choose unique nicknames for themselves, are allowed about the same amount of physical contact as hockey players. Peralez said when she first began playing as "fresh meat" she was taught how to fall and how to hit other players.
The derby players wear uniforms consisting of either tank tops or T-shirts, shorts or skirts, and colorful thigh-high socks or fishnets, she said. When a player falls and slides on the floor in fishnets, the rub burn is called a "rink rash."
Her training helped her become accustomed to the physical contact and occasional injury, she said, but her parents, who are avid supporters, continue to worry.
Her mother, Sally Peralez, said when her daughter first asked her about playing roller derby she said, "What? Are you crazy? Go ask your dad."
"It's kind of scary," Sally Peralez said. "She's my only child. When she fell last week, I got up real quick. But there's no stopping her, and I worry about her, but this is what she wants to do."
The women on the team range in age from 20 to late-40s, Stephanie Peralez said, and they come from different walks of life.
"Everybody has their own story, but we have this one interest in common," she said. "You don't realize that they have actual lives until you talk to them outside of practice."
The West Texas Roller Dollz was formed in 2007 by Renee "Lethal Weapon" Gillson, who moved to Lubbock from Oregon, said Mandy Braziel, the team's public relations officer.
Braziel, a 30-year-old from Lubbock who plays on the team, said five women attended first practice.
The number had doubled by the time Braziel discovered the roller derby group and attended the second practice, she said. The group, one of the youngest leagues to be inducted, was accepted by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association in August 2008 and currently consists of more than 40 dedicated skaters.
Kim "K.O. Kim" Durbin, a junior psychology major from Lubbock, said the team's variety gives everyone a chance to mentor or be mentored.
"You get to hang out with people that you'd never get to hang out with otherwise," she said.
Durbin said began playing about a year and a half ago to help lose the weight she gained after the birth of her son and discovered she enjoyed the camaraderie and the sport.
"The best thing it gives me is an outlet for the stress of going to school and taking care of a kid," she said. "When people ask me about myself, (roller derby) is one of the first things I tell them."
Rachel "Wild Wookeee" Branch, a graduate classical language student from Lubbock, said she enjoyed the physical contact, which helps her relieves stress, too.
Branch, who has been playing for more than a year, said she discovered the West Texas Roller Dollz by accident.
"Nobody told me about it, but one day I was thinking 'I wish there was a full contact sport here for girls my age,'" she said. "And I thought I'd heard of roller derby, but I figured Lubbock was too small. I Googled it anyway and found the team's MySpace."
Branch said she enjoys the "roughness" of roller derby, because she grew up with an older brother who often used her as a tackle dummy for football practice.
Part of the game includes physical pain, she said, and the team's members do not take it personally.
"You have to be willing to take it if you are going to take someone else out," Branch said.
The tough nicknames and rough attitude that goes hand in hand with the contact sport turns into a "roller derby persona," she said, which can help build confidence outside of the rink.
"Some people are the most quiet and shy people outside of roller derby," Branch said, "and then they get to practice and let out their anger."
She said God recently brought her through a difficult period in her life, but roller derby helped.
Attending practice twice a week allowed her to "let out physical violence in a safe environment," Branch said, and provided a place for her to escape.
"For some people, its an identity thing," she said. "For me, it's just something I do."
Roller derby may be intimidating at first, Durbin said, but she encourages people to not let nervousness or inexperience hinder them.
"Even if you're horrible on skates, come to a practice," she said. "The girls will help you improve. Just put on some skates and give it a try."
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