No one will mistake the debut of the Ohio Roller Girls for a debutante ball.

The year-old league will open its season today with four teams geared for full-contact mayhem in an exhibition doubleheader called ??First Blood."

??I love to go out there and know that I can smash into people and it?s OK," said Angie Zimmerman, 35, of Westerville ? a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist on foot and Pippi RipYourStockings on skates.

??I think I was born to do it."

Central Ohio women are drawn to the camaraderie, the exercise and, of course, the hitting.

Roller derby, which dates from the 1930s, reached its zenith on television in the 1950s and ?60s.

Since it faded in the early ?70s, the sport has reappeared now and then, with its image blurred by scripted entertainment in the style of big-time wrestling.

Players adopt feisty ??derby names" to reveal inner demons.

Still, they say, the showmanship doesn?t affect the competition.

??Nothing is discussed beforehand," said Melissa Wallace, also known as Scarlette Fury ? player, founder and president. ??What happens out there is real, no gimmicks.

"It?s really fun to get out there and kick ass on skates. You take your aggression out. It?s empowering."

Wallace sat out a recent practice with a tender arm after a fresh tattoo.

Skin ink and body piercings aren?t uncommon among the 66 women on the roster who pay $30 a month to play.

The regular-season schedule includes doubleheader bouts each month through September in Battelle Hall at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Most of the skaters in the league ? ages 21 to 39 ? have only modest skating experience. Skills are sharpened during three-times-a-week practices on oldschool quad skates.

Wallace, 25, of the North Side, serves as a resident and medical technologist at the Ohio State University Medical Center.

A former "pinup model," she said, she played rugby as an Ohio University student.

Her idea was sparked two years ago when she heard about a league in Austin, Texas.

The national trend blossomed into the Women?s Flat Track Derby Association, which was formed in 2004 with member leagues in 30 cities, including Columbus.

Wallace hopes to line up bouts with teams in other cities. A likely foe: Detroit.

The rolling thunder on skates comes with lightning-strike injuries.

"I?m proud of the fact that I got hurt playing," said Hillary Burton, aka Pixie Lust.

She wobbled, on a walker, into a recent practice at the WOW Family Fun Center on the North Side. Her right ankle was dislocated, with three broken bones, about a month ago.

Burton will run the penalty box until she returns to action.

"I didn?t cry until I realized I couldn?t skate," said the 26-year-old North Side resident and account manager. "To say ?I?m an Ohio Roller Girl,? I felt I had to earn it."

In this league, despite the regular bruising, players leave hard feelings at the rink.

"You find a girl you want to be like, and then you want to knock her down," Wallace said. "She?s kind of an idol to you, and you want to compete with her, and the way to compete is to take her out in a game.

"It?s not in a mean way. The derby girls are like my sisters."

However it?s delivered, a little pain is part of the game, said Kelly Zavotka, aka Delia Trouble.

The 29-year-old English teacher at the Wellington School joined the league "to differentiate my life a little bit, so everything wasn?t my job."

Fitness is part of the attraction, she said.

"The conditioning is difficult, but everybody is really supportive. We push each other."

During the practice, a player urged on her sprinting teammates by repeatedly barking: "Let?s go, ladies! We are derby bitches!"

One of the two coaches ? Tony Mansfield, aka Coach Tank ? compares the skaters? athletic skills to those of female softball and basketball players at the college level.

"They?re pretty solid, man," he said. "It?s truly a hybrid sport. There?s the blocking and checking you would have in football and hockey. There?s a lot of strategy, akin to basketball.

"It?s the best sport in the nation," concluded Mansfield, 25, of the North Side, who works at Huntington National Bank. "I hope the fans love it."

Fans will respond, Zavotka thinks.

"People in Columbus like their sports," she said. "It?s something different. It could be like a party for some people."

After all, Wallace said, "It?s chicks taking each other on. It?s sexy."

mellis@dispatch.com?