Muscogee Roller Girls skate their way to sisterhood and success

Liz “Jett Fuel” Wise is about to crash into four people.

But she’s not scared — this is part of the job. Wise is a “jammer” for the Muscogee Roller Girls, and she’s skating as fast as possible and straight into a pack of opposing players whose only job is to stop her from moving forward. The best way to get past them is to come at them quick and break their guard.

She hits the pack, and the three blockers try to use their hips and shoulders to knock Wise out of the way. She scrambles, then jumps onto the front of her skates and lunges through an opening. She’s off, and the clock starts ticking.

The Muscogee Roller Girls are a competitive, volunteer, athlete-owned roller derby team with players from across the Chattahoochee Valley. They come to Xanadu Skate Center at Hollywood Connection every week to practice and train for a season that can last more than nine months.

The all-women team of about 35 is split into two home teams, the Columbus Rapids and the Sin City Phoenix. The top players from each home team make up a third all-star team that travels across the Southeast playing competitive games, which are called “bouts.” The aim of the game is to skate in a circle, trying to get your “jammer” forward to score points and trying to block the opposing team’s at the same time.

Even after losing their home venue in 2015 when Front Porch of the South closed, head coach Jason “Reign” Alford said the team is doing better than they’ve ever done before.

“The last rankings that came out, we came out at 177 in the world,” he said. That’s out of around 400 teams registered as full members in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. “We expect to keep seeing that number jump as the season goes on.”

Women join the team for many reasons. For some, like Amy “Bish Plz” Tyler, it was about being a part of something different, and about getting outside the daily grind.

“I was a stay-at-home mom, and with this, I had six hours a week where it was just for me,” she said. “These ladies support each other, and that sense of community is amazing.”

Others, like Kelly “Rhythm and Bruise” Alford, relish the competitive thrill of the sport.

“I am very competitive. I’ve played sports my whole life. I’ve played full contact men’s football, soccer, softball and baseball, but this is still the most competitive sport I’ve ever played,” she said.

That competition can be brutal. At one point, toward the end of a scrimmage, one player noticed a stain on her jersey. “Whose blood is this?” she shouted. “Because it’s not mine.” Someone casually pointed out that one of the younger players got hit in the mouth pretty hard during the last play.

Tyler said there are no illusions that roller derby is perfectly safe — it’s a full contact sport, and it can be dangerous. She rolled down her sock and showed off a long vertical scar.

“This is from derby,” she said. “The danger is there, but you go in and train and practice, and it dramatically lowers the chance of you going out there and getting hurt.”

In its earlier days, roller derby was largely known for its exaggerated and theatrical violence rather than for athleticism. Athletes would punch, trip and tackle each other on the track. It was usually all for show, but the stigma carried over from those times has made it difficult for the team to find another venue in Columbus, said “Rhythm and Bruise” Alford.

“People think roller derby is like the WWE, that we’re going to come and punch each other in the face. But it’s not like that at all, it’s all strategy and positioning.”

Coach “Reign” Alford said he knows it can be tough for locals to support the team without any home bouts, but there are ways to help the Roller Girls out — by joining the team, for instance. Plus, he wants the community to know that they’re still looking for a new home in Columbus to show off their skills.

“We are always recruiting skaters, referees, non-skating officials and other volunteers,” the coach said. “We have scrimmages that we host. Help us find a venue, because I know there are a lot of places out there that are untapped that we may not know about”

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Muscogee Roller Girls skate their way to sisterhood and success."