CREDIT: ANGELA MCINNES
Action from the Forest City Derby Girls opener.

The Forest City Derby Girls, London's official roller derby league, started off this year's season with more than a few bangs during the opening games Oct. 1 at the Western Fair.

The competitive travel team the Timber Rollers skated rings around Windsor's Border City Brawlers on the flat track and dominated with a final 307—133.

Following a half-time performance by local musician Carly Thomas came a new bout between London's home team the Thames Fatales and Woodstock's Roller Derby Misfits. The Fatales were eventually beaten by their foes, but not without a fight at a closing score of 138 — 125.

The Timber Rollers displayed speed and agility on the track and the Thames Fatales gave fans a night to remember by showing off their skills in both receiving and dolling out the hits.

Because roller derby is one of the only official full-contact team sports for women, all players were well trained and finished out their games with mere bruises.

For a variety of reasons including those which cite women's biological lack of the muscle-building hormone androgen, full-contact is often penalized within sports such as women's soccer or hockey.

In spite of this, the Women's Sports Foundation has recently issued a statement proclaiming that, “Post-puberty, there is no reason for girls not to participate in contact sports with and against other girls.”

While the International and National Women's Football Leagues have just begun to facilitate full contact football programs, the fundamentals of roller derby have been teaching women how to take hits since it evolved from a road race to a contact sport in the Dirty ‘30s.

Even though some players today may opt to don flashy costumes, it is critical that every girl wear the same helmet, mouth guard, kneepads and wrist and elbow guards. According to Lauren Thompson aka T Kitty, a native Londoner and current member of the Rink Minx Roller Girls in Campbell River, Vancouver Island, the rules of the game are built with safety in mind.

“We're taught what areas of the body we're allowed to hit with, and where you can hit the other person,” she explained. “If you hit outside those lines you get a penalty, and if you get too many you are out of the game.”

One of the first lessons imparted to fresh meat, or new players, is the low squat stance one takes to lessen the blow of a hit, along with how to fall properly on the track. This training afforded Thames Fatales member Jess McGregor, aka Skabzilla, the opportunity to participate in a high-contact sport for the first time.

“There are many obstacles that you have to overcome mentally from never playing sports before. With me being so small and a lot of the trainers being taller, I've found that what they teach translates very well into different sizes. I knew that there would be hard hits but it's awesome once you get a taste,” McGregor said.

With the next game scheduled for Nov. 5, 2016, Saturday's game was just the beginning of what promises to be a smashing season for the Forest City Derby Girls and the many hits to come.