Brutal on the skateway, ‘family’ after the match

At the bar of Friendly Confines in Winter Park, a Dallas Cowboys fan is aggressively cheering on his team. No one is paying attention to the section of mild-mannered women who just minutes before were slamming each other face-first into the floor of the Semoran Skateway in Casselberry.

This is the after-party for the latest matchup in Orlando Roller Derby. If not for the remnants of face paint and that most of the players are either wearing red or blue, one would guess that this is like any other gathering of friends, sharing beers and nachos and laughs.

“We’re very cohesive,” says Dulce Muerte of the Heatwave Hellcats. “We’re kind of like a family in a way.”

The league started in 2009 as the Orlando Psycho City Derby Girls. Last year, Orlando completed its apprenticeship season for the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the governing body for the sport. In March, the league rebranded as Orlando Roller Derby and is wrapping up its first season in the official rankings for the international organization.

Fans of the old Psycho City will be happy to know this new respectability doesn’t mean the games have lost their brutal edge. This particular match pitted the Hellcats against the Snowbird Bombers (two of Orlando’s three home teams; the third is the Manatee Mayhem). At the roller rink, confined to a narrow oval marked out with tape on the floor, the combatants pushed and shoved each other for a contentious hour of bruising shoulder-to-butt-tofloor contact.

If you’ve never seen a game, a “jammer” tries to get past the other team’s “blockers” as many times as possible. There’s … a lot more to it.

Why do it? “Anger management,” says Hellcat co-captain Effie Bomber, who was named Fan Favorite for her team this night. But really, the mother of two says, “This is something I can call my own. I take care of my kids all the time. This is my time.”

“It’s the people I’ve met,” says Muerte. (These aren’t their real names. They go by their derby names.) “Women who are strongwilled and opinionated. It’s definitely spilled over into my outside life.”

Watching Effie laugh with a member of the Bombers after crushing them 188-139, one can tell this game is about more than points.

The next match will be Oct. 22 at the Semoran Skateway. Tickets are $8. Details: orlandorollerderby .com.