The first time I showed up for Sunday dinner on crutches, my mom said, ??I don?t think you?re built for roller derby."

I?m sure the 65 other moms of the Ohio Roller Girls feel the same.

Three or four nights a week, we strap on helmets, skates, pads and alter egos to play a fast, hardhitting game.

Who we are at our day jobs, at school or in our relationships doesn?t matter. All that matters is our speed, how hard we hip-check the other girl and how much we sweat at practice.

We go home with bumps and bruises, torn ligaments and broken bones. Yet we keep skating.

The injuries spur my mother to ask, ??Why on earth would you want to do that?"

It?s hard to explain to a worried parent, but my only answer is that we?re roller girls to our cores.

We?re energized by the smell of rubber toe-stops scraping the polished wood floor of the rink. We?re driven by the thrill of our red-grip wheels taking a corner at double-digit speeds.

That doesn?t mean the sport isn?t a little bit scary: My legs feel like overwound violin strings when I?m waiting for the double whistle to blow; then it?s time to dash off the starting line and skate through a pack of girls whose only goal is to knock me out of the rink fast and hard.

New roller girls are a little nervous at first.

But once we get over the fear, the thrill of the jam takes hold. And it keeps us going back for more, week after week ? despite broken ankles, dislocated shoulders and sprained knees.

I was destined to be on skates from the minute I saw my first derby match on television, then pulled out a crumpled dollar bill to rent my first pair of brown suede roller skates in 1979 at Skateland in Lancaster.

When I moved back home to Columbus from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a good friend told me about the Ohio Roller Girls.

Life after the storm was difficult, but roller derby gave me a reason to get out of bed every day when I thought I couldn?t face another.

I also rolled out of practice with 65 new friends to go dancing with. Sure, we knock one another over on the rink, but off the rink we?re pals.

For many of us, it?s our first team sport.

Hours of grueling practice and dangerous games have shown us we are much more athletic, competitive and talented than we imagined.

Mothers, take note: Roller derby gives you more confidence than bruises.

A sports editor once said, ??Roller derby is not a real sport."

I disagree, and I?m certain ? after one all-out bout filled with blood, sweat and tears _ my mom will, too.

When she isn?t wearing skates with the Band of Brawlers roller-derby team, Girlzilla writes business stories for The Dispatch under the name Denise Trowbridge.

dtrowbridge@dispatch.com?