The women carefully pull their hot pink and black-striped tights over their knees.

Sliding their feet into their neon quad skates, they feel a rush of emotions.

This is their night – This rink. These girls. This game. 

Their laces seem to tie themselves as the adrenaline pumps through their bodies. They swiftly glide towards the roller rink.

Stop. Exhale. Go!

“When people think of roller derby, they think of crazy chicks on skates beating the tar out of each other,” Skater Kelly Soerens said. “But it is far more of a sport than people realize. This is not the banked-track, blood-and-guts WWF-on-skates as it was in past decades. There are rules and athletic ability involved.”

Roller derby began in the 1930s, but it has been modernized in the early 2000s.  The revival took place in Austin and has quickly grown in popularity.

People in Wichita Falls can now say they have hopped on the bandwagon with the Wichita Falls Derby Dames.

The women have been practicing for a little more than a month, but they can already see improvement.

“You get your sea legs back pretty quickly,” nursing student Lauren Shelton said.  “If you skated as a kid, and if you put skates back on, it takes about 30 minutes to get your sea legs back and about a week to get your footwork back.”

While footwork can come back quickly, many of the women, 21 to 45, have difficulty hitting the brakes. While some of the teammates are still adjusting to quad skates, as opposed to blades, the other women are frightened that stopping will injure them.

“It’s scary, because if I get hurt, that’s going to affect my job,” aerobic instructor Anna Jentsch said. “Thank God for the pads. But we’re all there to help each other. Nobody laughs – we all fall and we’re all learning together.”

Shelton recently injured herself while skating for fun. In her opinion, most of the injuries are conditioning problems. The team needs to work on strengthening their muscles to be able to withstand physical contact.

The team is also working together in another aspect – every woman is a part of a committee, and many of them have referred to it as a second full-time job.

“It’s not for everybody,” skater Larissa Loyd said. “It does require a lot of time. It’s skater-owned, skater-operated…so we have to be very dedicated to that.  But I like that aspect. Everybody is working together.”

At practice, the women have been working on technique. During a “bout,” they must skate while squatting. This has proved to be challenging, but the women recognize that it does help with stability.

“The snake drill (is my favorite part),” graduate teaching assistant Rachel Rex said. “You have to weave in and out between girls without falling or colliding with the other girls.  In the process, you must tell the girls whether you are going to the inside or outside of the line that moves at a brisk pace.”

Rex has also embraced the roller derby style with a new name – Sanchosaurus Rex.  This is something that every teammate will do before bouts begin in January.

Roller derby has brought many of the women together – which was unexpected by some of them.

“Derby seems to bring the renegades together – the women who ‘didn’t really hang out with the girls,’” Catherine Deem said. “We were the ones who were the tomboys, the loners, and playing sports.  I really love that I’ve found other women with like-minds who I can hang out and be competitive with.”

Other teammates said they are getting what they bargained for.

“I have followed roller derby since I was a kid in the 70s,” Jennifer Lewis said. “I liked how the girls were powerful, and ever since then I wanted to do derby.”

Practice is somewhat of a girls’ night for some of the women.  Whether they are full-time students, mothers, or work long hours, time at derby practice is personal time.

“I really wanted to do something that was for me,” Jenn Neal said. “I have kids that are very active and most of my time is devoted to them. I wanted to remember what it felt like to be devoted to something for me.”

The entire league is currently on a 90-day probation while they prepare to split into teams. Every player must meet certain requirements set by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. During this preparation, the women are strengthening and improving their skills daily.

“You never know what you’re capable of until you push yourself,” Deem said. “And derby is definitely pushing me. I find out more about myself at every practice.”

The women agree that roller derby is for everyone.  Whether you play, watch or support, everyone can enjoy it.

“It doesn’t matter what you look like, what size you are, what your capability is. If you want something, and you like it, you’re going to be able to do it,” Loyd said. “If you want to do something, it’s for you.”

Roller derby has allowed many of the girls to blossom into new people. They discover who they are through this sport.

“I think a lot of people out there have two personalities, and they like to be both,” Shelton said. “When you put your derby gear on, and you skate with your girls, you get to be that person inside you that’s screaming to get out. I get to be Lauren by day, and Lola by night. And I like Lola. She has a good time.”

The Wichita Falls Derby Dames currently practice every Sunday and Wednesday 6:30 -8:30 p.m. at the Roller Plex. They are always looking for new members, and fans can see them bout it out starting in January.