“During the fresh meat stage we want to take the time to see if they have the dedication to the sport and that they can make the practices,” Holler said. “Once they’re out of that stage they can pick a name and put it on the national registry. Once they earn their patch they can put it on their jacket. It makes you feel like you’re part of the family.”

During practice, the “fresh meat” skaters are getting some special lessons from one of the more experienced members off to the side of the main track in the rink, while the rest of the team practices dropping down on their knee pads at full speed. In roller derby, learning how to fall is just as important as learning how to skate.

“During roller derby practice we focus on league rules on bouting, hitting, passing and out-of-bounds rules,” Holler explained. “But we also make sure we get some endurance and speed training and go over skating techniques, too.

“Accidents do happen,” Holler added. “It’s a contact sport and we all have to wear helmets, wrist guards, mouth guards, knee and elbow pads and compression shorts.…We don’t want to see others get hurt, we want to play the sport, but we do show off our bruises after practice.”

In its simplest form, the sport is played with two teams with five skaters per team. The positions include blockers who wear solid colored helmets (Neuwagen), pivots wear the stripped helmets and jammers are the ones with the stars on the helmets. The different helmets tell the crowd who is playing a certain position.

While the pivots set the pace, blockers work in packs to prevent the star jammers from getting by and scoring points. Each skater they pass earns their team a point. It’s up to the rest of the team to help their jammer or prevent the other team’s jammer from getting through and this is when the derby gets rowdy.

During the action, skaters get thrown around the rink, fall and collide, often resulting in pile-ups on the rink. And similar to professional wrestling, there is always a bit of the theatrical involved in the derby, with on-going rivalries to add to the (Time out) experience.

But in the end, there is a deep camaraderie involved among the women and they’re always ready to lend their support.

“We support other local derby girls,” Holler said. They travel up and down the East Coast to places like Raleigh, N.C., and Washington D.C., and Richmond to bout with and support other teams. “We want to be looked at as a sport and support our sister Virginia teams.”