TALK derby TO ME

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, grab a seat rinkside and witness the sass, the sweat, the scintillating spectacle of roller derby! Meet the hotties of hustle, the ladies with skaties, the damsels that cause distress, the Pikes Peak Derby Dames !!!

You wouldn’t want to run into this pack of dames in a dark alley — especially if you’re wearing roller skates.

The Pikes Peak Derby Dames are out for blood and bruises and glory as they go round and round the roller derby track. Hell on wheels is the only way to describe this sport, which was once left for dead but is making a comeback across the country.

At a recent practice, the Derby Dames skated in a tight circle, the tiny track boundaries ensuring they would smack into one another. Some of the women sped around the track, while others laid low, waiting to put a hurting on somebody. Like a monster truck eating up rusted-out Pintos, Erin “Sugrr Rush” Clabeau leapt into the air and cleared a row of four women lying on the ground.

League founder Courtney “Slugs ’n’ Kisses” LaPar said roller derby is a way for women to have fun, look good and play rough.

“It’s not for the weak-hearted,” said Slugs ’n’ Kisses, a sweet, soft-spoken woman with a dozen tattoos and a lip-piercing who dates a member of the local punk band The Mansfields. “I’m pretty surprised we’ve got over 25 girls in two months. I didn’t think Colorado Springs was going to support this, but girls are sticking around.”

Slugs ’n’ Kisses was inspired to round up some fellow dames after she saw an article in a tattoo magazine this year about the Texas Rollergirls roller derby league.

“I’ve got an inner devil,” she said. “I was like, ‘I have to do this.’”

So she did.

Now, the Derby Dames practice three nights a week at Skate City, and new recruits are showing up at every practice. Some of them are former speed skaters. Some can barely stand on their skates.

They want to split off into at least two teams, give an exhibition bout before the year is over and start competing against teams in Denver and be- yond by next summer.

RETRO ON THE ROLL

Given the way the sport is growing, it’s likely their schedule will fill up quickly. The Pikes Peak Derby Dames is one of about 30 groups under the United League Coalition, a flat-track roller derby organization looking to create nationallevel competition.

Why the resurgence? As with many fads that come and go and come back again, it’s the “r” word: retro. The sport had its beginnings in skating endurance contests in the 1930s, and female roller derby enjoyed heydays in the 1950s and 1970s.

The big, feathered hair of ’70s roller derby is gone. The new roller derby has a definite punk-rock feel, with blaring music by live bands during bouts. It’s part of a strange swirl of punk rock, rockabilly and ’50s nostalgia that’s gripped the freak nation.

Perhaps because of that retro streak, the Dames stick close to their sport’s roots — and roller derby is a sport with all the subtlety of a carnival barker. It mixes violence, sexuality, loud music and a dash of irony into a rollicking entertainment juggernaut.

Basically, it’s blood and babes. During bouts, the Dames will wear fishnet stockings and short skirts. They practice fake fights to rile the crowd. In fact, the Dames seem nearly as interested in the costumes, fierce nicknames and staged fisticuffs as in the game itself.

THE GREAT AGGRESSION

Jim Croce sang that his roller derby queen looked like a “refrigerator with a head,” but not many of the Derby Dames fit that description. In fact, they don’t fit any description.

There are full-time students, tattoo artists, stay-athome moms, social workers, marketing professionals and business owners. Some are 20, some are 50. Some are hip, some are not.

But nearly all of them like to show off their bruises, sporting their injuries as proudly as the dudes in “Fight Club.” There’s even been one broken arm.

“I’m a masochist. I love it,” said Marcea “Hanky Spanky” Flowers.

Jessie “Brat Benatar” Peterson, a 20-year-old art major at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, relates to that combative attitude. “I had to come because I’m all kinds of aggro,” she said. “If you’re the first girl in the pit, you’re probably the first girl to join roller derby.”

Other women have children in the mosh pit.

“I went to my 20-year high school reunion with bruises all over my arms and legs. My 15-year-old thought I was an idiot until she knew the Leechpit people were skating, and one of the girlfriends of The Mansfields, and KILO is sponsoring us,” said Julie “Loka Loki” Antuzzi-Rueffert, while she nursed a knee she busted up in a collision.

“Now, other than the fact her mother is doing it, she thinks it’s pretty cool.”

Despite the tough image of a derby girl, the sport’s always had a sexual subtext. Men, of course, are fascinated by scantily clad women wearing roller skates and duking it out. But it’s also sexy for the women in the rink.

“Aggressive women are sexy in a sense,” said Anjelica “Bebe Barrio” Bencomo. “A woman who can throw you on the ground and stomp on you with skates is pretty hot.”

Bebe Barrio said she was shy before she joined the Derby Dames. But that all changed.

“Something happens to you. When you strap on the skates, you feel this character welling up in you,” she said. “I have come out of my shell through this.”

Barrio has something to say to those who think her fishnet stockings are too suggestive or the sport of roller derby is a joke. The petite woman jabs a finger in the air as her voice rises.

“If they want to tell me to my face, they can bring it to the rink!”

Definitely out of her shell.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0226 or reed@gazette.com

CALLING ALL WANNABES

Are you fun and fearless?

Anybody 18 and older who wants to try out for the Pikes Peak Derby Dames should call 635-7303 for more information.

Round and round they go:

The rules of roller derby are fairly straightforward. Each team has five skaters — three blockers, one pivot out front, and one jammer. The jammers are the speedsters who score points by lapping as many of the other team’s skaters as possible. The blockers and pivot try to stop the other team’s jammer while they help out their own jammer. (No tripping or grabbing is allowed, so the blocks look more like hockey checks.)