[SLIDESHOW & VIDEO] Can’t keep them down: Lexington women find release in rough and tumble sport

Despite broken bones, concussions, torn tendons and busted lips, Audri Gaskins can sum up her feelings about roller derby into four simple words: “I fell in love.”

Lexington is home to the Rollergirls of Central Kentucky and many members of the team double as UK employees or students. An intense contact sport, roller derby girls skate around a track using their bodies as weapons to clear a path.

Under the derby name “Audzilla,” Gaskins was a member of ROCK in 2007-08, before a car accident left her with a broken back and took her out of the game. But watching her teammates practice from the sidelines, Gaskins said roller derby is something she cannot let go of just yet.

“I literally have dreams about games, I miss it so much,” she said.

ROCK was formed in 2006 when an A&E show inspired team captain Paris Howall, aka Ellie Slay, to start researching roller derby. After merging with a team in Richmond, Ky., the Lexington-based team was formed. Most of the women coming in had not been on roller skates since elementary school birthday parties, but once they fell into the swing of skating, they found ­­passion in the game.

The aggressive nature of roller derby has led many of the women to break out of their shells. In a sport where falls are hard and injuries real, the girls found an outlet in doing something so physical.

Hannah Trusty, or Kitty O’Doom, works as staff support in the UK statistics department. The soft-spoken 31-year-old said she was terrified before her first practice, intimidated by the girls with tattoos and big personalities. But her confidence soared after joining roller derby because it allowed her to focus on what her body can do rather than what it looks like.

“I’m built for blocking and I’m proud of that. I’ve never felt self-conscience on the track,” Trusty said. “I’m out there in my tights and booty shorts, stuff I would never wear in my real life. But I’m proud of my thighs. I want (my opponents) to see what’s about to hit them.”

Howall, a worker’s compensation liaison for UK Hospital, said every woman can find a way to use her body effectively in roller derby no matter how she is built.

“Once you start skating and you realize ‘I can use my weight, my height, my smallness to my advantage.’ It’s very empowering because you let go of all those negatives you had before,” she said. “If you were like ‘I’m too little,’ now it’s ‘I’m little — I can fit through that tiny hole,’ or ‘I’m too big — I’m so big I can knock three people down.’ ”

For art studio senior Lauri Appleby-Williams, letting go is something she hopes to get out of roller derby. Her first day on skates, she fell multiple times and sat out for a bit after landing on her tailbone. As she caught her breath, Appleby-Williams said she hopes to gain a new attitude from the team.

“I feel like I want to have a different side to me,” she said. “I don’t see myself as very aggressive. Being in this situation help me put myself out there and not be afraid.”

Co-captain Meg Marquis, aka Rainbow Smite, said injuries are inevitable in roller derby — it is not a matter of if you will get hurt, it is a matter of when. But the game is not just the elbow-throwing, face-punching and clotheslining seen in the movies.

Marquis said the sport is more strategic than people realize. The rulebook is about 40 pages thick, all in the interest of safety, she said. But even a rulebook cannot keep the girls from getting shoved to the floor.

Throwing punches can cause harm, but the goal is to get the other person out of the way as effectively as possible, Marquis said.

“I could elbow Kitty in the face but she probably wouldn’t fall down,” she said. “It’s more powerful to use your whole body. Kitty’s signature move is she swings her butt out and slams (a person) right into her hip.”

With all the falling and shoving on the track, bouts tend to draw crowds to cheer on the girls. But their fans extend outside the roller rink. Marquis is an adviser in the UK Honors Program and said she has received tremendous support from her students and from UK administrators.

“When I first started, I was worried it would make me seem either intimidating or subversive in an alarming way, and I have not found that to be the case,” she said. “Students are really supportive of it. They ask about it.”

When Marquis is not in her office or playing with her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia Shannon, she finds an escape from everyday life on the track.

“It’s one of those rare things where there’s not room for anything else in your head,” Marquis said. “I won’t think about work or my personal life.”

The double-life aspect of roller derby is appealing to many of the women, right down to choosing a derby name as an alter ego. That duality is something Trusty loves about the sport.

“Before bouts you see girls putting on make up, some wear push-up bras instead of sports bras to look good,” she said. “But they are the toughest people I’ve ever seen.”

Billie Harris, known as Paralethal on the track, was met with an “are you crazy” attitude when she started skating, even from her 18- and 20-year-old children. When she broke her elbow in a pile-up in early 2007, she had to weigh the risks against the rush.

“My job relies on me typing so I thought, ‘Do I want to play for fun or do I want to pay my bills?’ ” Harris said. “It took two months (to get back on the track) but I never considered quitting even though my kids tell me I’m crazy.

“It’s just a rush— where else can you legally hit people and get your frustrations out?”

Although she has suffered mostly bruises, scrapes and a busted lip, Trusty said she is lucky to have never been seriously injured on the track. But if that day comes, she knows what her first thought would be.

“If I break something it better heal up as quickly as possible so I can get back out there,” Trusty said. “It’s all about the moment.”

ROCK will host a recruitment event Friday, Nov. 13 at Campus Pub from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Anyone interested in more information can visit www.wix.com/rockandrollergirls/ROCK-site.