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When Speed Razor started skating for the Kansas City Roller Warriors four years ago, the local roller derby league was in its infancy.

"It was so different when I first started because we were all kind of just out to hit each other and take each other out. We didn't really know how to skate," said Speed Razor, whose real name is Rene Terrones. "Now, after four years of skating so much, we are a lot more athletic and better skaters where we are not just trying to beat each other up. We actually have tactics."

Speed Razor, who is part of the Knock Outs team, is one of three Roller Warriors who call Shawnee home. Knock Out teammate Audtopsy, or Audrey Oglesby, lives in Shawnee, as does Damsel of D'Tension, or Jen Cullen, who plays for the Black-Eye Susans. Roller derby referee Bill Klassen, who also lives in Shawnee, is a 1996 De Soto High School graduate.

Speed Razor said she joined the league as a way to meet people after moving to Shawnee from Wichita.

"I just moved here and they were just starting out," she said. "A friend of a friend was doing roller derby, and they said just come to practice. I did and I was like 'Wow that looks like fun.'"

She didn't skate very well, but because Speed Razor started when the league was young it didn't matter.

"I feel sorry for all the new girls who try to start now," she said. "Now you have to try out, and you have to be pretty good at skating just to be on a team."

Damsel of D'Tension, who at 34 is in her first year of roller derby, said before she tried out, she hadn't skated since junior high school.

"It took me awhile to get those basic skating skills back," she said. "I used to practice out on my own out there at Skate World."

Now she is a blocker, who tries to prevent her opponent from scoring.

Damsel of D'Tension said she became interested in the derby after going to a competition on a whim with a friend.

"I immediately became a fan," she said. "I remember talking about it, and I said there is no way I could ever do that but it looked like so much fun. I think what drew me to it was the sense of empowerment that I felt whenever I was there. I just thought that it was very woman empowering, and I just love that sense of strength."

Audtopsy said she found out about roller derby as a concert promoter but couldn't join at the time because she wasn't 18.

Finally in 2006, she showed up to the try-out clinic hoping to work on her skills to make the team.

"I probably roller-skated five times before I started doing roller derby," Audtopsy, 21, said.

But now that she's on the team, she doesn't think she'll ever leave.

"There are 80 new best friends, and it's really good exercise," she said.

Klassen said he found out about the Kansas City roller warriors through his old classmate whose wife was participating.

"He was like, you should come out and check out a game," Klassen said. "I came, I saw, I enjoyed it and here I am."

Klassen also could not skate before officiating, but, like Speed Razor, he started when the league was young.

"With three years of skating three days a week, I can hold my own now," he said.

Roller derby rounds are called "jams" and last for two minutes. The object is to get your team's scorer, or jammer, passed your opponents' blockers. A jammer can score one point for each person she passes on the opposing team. The team with the most points at the end of the jam, wins.

Damsel of D'Tension said she has improved tremendously since she started skating.

"Since this is my first year, I feel like I have to work 150 percent," she said. "It also made me realize how out of shape I am because some of those girls, they are phenomenal."

Speed Razor was part of the Kansas City Roller Warriors All-Star Team that was the national champion in roller derby last year.

She said she wanted to retire after this season, but, she joked, she said that last year, too.

"I think it's an addiction," she said. "I just can't quit. I would miss my girls. They are like my great, big, huge dysfunctional family."

But she insisted that this year would be her last.

"There are just so many other things that I want to do," she said. "I used to do triathlons. I like to salsa dance. I would also like to date."

Damsel of D'Tension, is a fourth-grade teacher in the Olathe school district, and she said managing her schedule around roller derby was tough at first.

"It took a little work at first to try to juggle everything," she said. "I'm single, which that helps. I think it would be very hard to do it if I had kids of my own."

Balancing her schedule as a single mom can be a challenge for Speed Razor, who has a 10-year-old son.

"Sometimes we will go straight from his baseball practice to my roller derby practice," she said. "There are girls that have other kids his age and they play around, and he likes to watch. It's hard, but we make it work."

Roller derby costs add up. The yearly membership fee is $50 and dues are $35 a month and wheels can cost about $80. Players also invest money in pads for their elbows, knees and wrists, a mouth guard, a helmet and of course, tights.

"Clearance racks are the way to hit up for socks, panties and pantyhose," Audtopsy said. "Everything's out of your own pocket."

Speed Razor got her name from Speed Racer, as she loves to drive fast.

"I can't do the speed limit for anything," she said. "It pains me. My friends always call me Speed Racer when I'm driving."

Damsel of D'Tension chose her name because she wanted something that would relate to her career as a teacher. She said her fourth-grade students thought her hobby was cool.

"They thought it was the greatest thing in the world," Damsel of D'Tension said. "They want to know about it and they want me to show them pictures. Roller derby is different than what people expect it to be. I think a lot of people think it's staged, but it's not. It's more of a sport than anything."

Game play

Roller Derby is played on quad-skates. Five skaters from each team are allowed on the track at once. Skaters move in a counter-clockwise direction. Each team has one scoring position, called the jammer. Jammers are designated by a star worn on the helmet and start behind the other skaters. The other four positions on each team are called blockers and make up what is known as the pack. When the initial whistle is blown the pack begins to skate. Jammers begin to skate at a second whistle. The jammers then try to move through the pack. Blockers try to keep the jammer from the opposing team from getting through while trying to help their own jammer. Jammers score points by passing members of the opposite team while remaining in-bounds. They get one point for each opponent passed. The team with the most points at the end of the jam, wins.