Broken bones and bruised flesh are as run-of-the-mill for the Roller Rebels as for the defensive line on a football team, but forget cleats and jerseys - these girls wear fuchsia fishnets and feather boas.
The Gainesville Roller Rebels played their first home match of the season at Skate Station Sunday along with the Greater Jacksonville Roller Derby.
The two crews divided into the Barbies and the Goths, with members from Gainesville and Jacksonville on both teams.
About 30 women make up the Roller Rebels, and President Catherine Seemann, whose derby name is Ms. Rebel, said the derby girls range in age from early twenties to mid-forties.
"We have stay-at-home moms, professionals, students, teachers," said Seemann, 31. "You can't pigeon-hole these girls."
The match, which lasted an hour, consisted of short "jams" where jammers plowed their way through blockers to get in the lead. When a team's jammer reached the head of the pack, the jammer's team received a point.
Blockers fended off jammers using their mid-sections to bump them out of the way.
Despite sticker-covered helmets and heavy padding, volunteer paramedics entered the rink three times during the match to assist fallen derby girls, but no one was seriously injured.
About 400 fans watched from the "suicide section" - denoted by signs that read, "Sit here at your own risk. You may end up with a derby girl on your lap - and not in a fun way" - and cheered raucously each time the girls breezed by as they orbited the rink.
Some supported the Barbies, holding bright pink signs with phrases like "Fulfilling your fantasies since the 1930s," and some supported the Goths, with phrases like "Goths do it best in the dark."
The audience gaped as the Barbies and Goths pummeled into each other, their sparkling eyeliner glinting in the strobe lights as they glided around the rink, often crashing to the ground before springing back to their feet and scrambling to catch up to the rest of the team.
The Goths won the bout with 146 points to the Barbies' 97.
Seemann, who said the Roller Rebels practice about five hours a week in addition to individual conditioning, said it's not about winning or losing.
"As long as we're improving," she said, "that's all that matters."
Damien Raulerson, 32, said football is usually the only sport he watches, but he loves seeing the roller derby matches.
"I mean, it's girls kicking each other's asses," he said. "What's not to like?"
