'Darlins' Give Temple Terrace Derby Fever

The women at USA's Skateplex wear short shorts and tough-girl attitudes. Some are in their 20s; others are in their 40s. By day, they're healthcare professionals, education majors, tattoo artists and moms. But when they put on their skates, they're all Derby Darlins.

The Tampa Bay Derby Darlins, a roller derby league, came together in 2005 after Angela Kroslak, also known as Dee-Bauchery, found a rink and recruited enough interested skaters. Together, they're bringing roller derby fever back to Tampa.

“Roller derby is one of the fastest-growing sports in America,” said Darlin Lisa Ponssa, better known as Rojo Grande. “It’s becoming more and more recognized and respected as a sport.”

The Derby Darlins league is made up of three teams: the Switchblade Sisters; Cigar City Mafia; and the Black Widows. The Darlins also have a travel team called the Tampa Tantrums, which consists of the best 20 skaters in the league. Skaters younger than 17 can skate with the league’s junior team, The Derby Chicks.

The Darlins practice every Wednesday at USA's Skateplex, and during these practices, skaters participate in drills and even have scrimmage bouts (games). The bouts also take place at Skateplex and usually occur once a month. The most recent bout happened June 4 between the Switchblade Sisters and Cigar City Mafia, who won that night.

Bouts are played with two teams that are made up of five skaters. Each team has three blockers, a pivot, and a jammer. Together, the blockers and pivot form a “pack.” Blockers try their best to stick together as they prevent the jammer from the opposing team the chance to break through their formation.

The jammer starts 20 feet behind the pack, and she's the skater who tries to score. Jammers gain points for their teams for every lap they make around the opposing blockers. Blockers try to stop jammers from scoring by knocking them off the track, and this is where it gets physical.

Although roller derby is quite competitive, it's still accessible for just about anyone, even those without athletic ability or strong skating experience, the Darlins explained.

“Many women who have never played a sport before come to roller derby,” Ponssa said. “No matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, what your build is, or what skating background you have, you can become the skater you want to be."

Take Cigar City Mafia jammer Shayna “Stella Knockout” White, for example. Prior to joining the Darlins, she had little skating experience.

“I went to my first bout while on vacation in Portland,” she said. “I was so interested in it that after I got home from vacation, I looked up leagues online.”

After checking out the Darlins’ Web site, she saw that the league was having a recruitment the next month. So, she decided to see what it was all about.

“My dad was concerned for my safety," she said. "He remembered the leagues from the 70s, and he thought I was going to get hurt. I wasn’t a good skater either."

“But, him and the rest of my family saw my passion for it," she continued. "I was hooked since my first practice, and that was more than a year in a half ago."

The Darlins continue accommodating new skaters. The league conducts pre-recruitment bootcamps throughout the year for potential newbies interested in joining the league at later recruitment session dates. Skaters have the opportunity to work with the Tampa Tantrums while learning more about the minimum skills that are required in order to join. If skaters demonstrate the necessary skills at a recruiting session, they could be asked to join the Darlins.

The next pre-recruitment bootcamp will take place June 11 from 10 a.m. to noon at , and the next recruitment session will take place July 11 at 8 p.m. at United Skates of America, 5121 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa.

For many of the Darlins, roller derby is more than just a sport.

“It's sort of like an escape for women,” said Ponssa. “You can leave your corporate-minded job and everything else behind while you’re on that track.”