Skate, battle and roll [The Frederick News-Post, Md.]

Jan. 06--"> By day, Lisa Wright works for an automobile insurance company. By night, she goes by "Rebel Rose" and works diligently on her blocks, slides and stops.

Wright, 30, skates with Key City Roller Derby, Frederick's recently formed women's roller derby league. Key City is an offshoot of the Mason-Dixon Roller Vixens, a derby league in Hagerstown, where Wright and the majority of the team used to skate, she said.

The team officially assembled in Frederick on Sept. 10, Wright said at a recent practice. The women introduced themselves as a team to the community at Frederick's In the Street festival, where they had a booth to recruit "fresh meat," or new skaters in derby lingo.

The group of about 17 women -- including six "fresh meat" -- practice three nights a week for about three hours each evening. Key City skaters range in age from their 20s to 40s, said league president Shae Yamrus, also known as "Too Shae." You have to be 18 to skate, but there is no age limit, she added.

The purpose of the Frederick league was to create a more centralized team, the 25-year-old said.

"For a year, I drove 45 minutes to an hour" to practices, said Yamrus, of Walkersville. "In September, we basically started from scratch."

Yamrus said with the creation of the team comes a lot of red tape in becoming an official league recognized by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, the sport's national governing body.

"We're our own skater-owned and operated team right now ... but the larger goal we'd like to achieve is to be recognized as a WFTDA team," she said. "There's just a lot of steps in order to get to that goal."

One requirement is to have a full-season schedule of bouts, or matches against other teams, Yamrus said. Currently, the team is locking in its 2012 schedule, she added.

After meeting the necessary requirements, the team must be accepted into an WFTDA "apprentice program" before becoming a member league. According to the WFTDA website, the apprentice program matches new leagues with a mentor from an established WFTDA member leagues to guide them through the processes necessary to becoming a full member.

Right now, the team is mostly focusing on getting comfortable as a unit, Yamrus said, and growing familiar with the team dynamic.

The group has participated in scrimmages with other area leagues, most frequently with the Iron Mountain Roller Girls from Cumberland. Key City also hosted a two-day workshop at the end of November with Philly Roller Girls skater "Teflon Donna," who also skated for the U.S. team in the first roller derby world cup last month in Canada.

Yamrus and the majority of Key City skaters said they most enjoy the genuine "team" feel and camaraderie the league provides.

Stephanie Doyle, a new member who became involved after visiting the team's In The Street booth, said she played basketball and other sports in her youth and wanted to feel part of a team again.

"I also have a 1-year-old son, so it's nice to be able to get away sometimes," said Doyle, 25. Doyle will get her own derby name after completing her roughly 90-day "fresh meat" cycle, which ends with the passing of a skating test and written test focusing on derby rules.

The Key City team already feels like a true family, Yamrus said. Both Yamrus and another skater, Shana "Hittsburgh" Gustafson, 30, also have young sons -- ages 3 and 5, respectively -- who love coming to practices, she said. Her husband, Mike Yamrus, 29, is also thinking about becoming a derby referee (about six are needed for just one bout).

Team coach Rafael "Sin Diesel" Guevara, 41, works with the team on a volunteer basis. Guevara has been skating since 2007 on the Harm City Homicide men's team out of Baltimore.

With coaching, "I don't look at it as a 'me' thing," Guevara said. "Coaching here is a collaboration. ... If, for example, someone blocks really well, I ask them to reinforce or re-emphasize what they've learned to others."

Wright said recruiting new members is viewed as a team responsibility. She said she loves the sense of sportsmanship being part of the team provides.

"How many sports are there where you can hit each other and then go out to get a beer?" she said, laughing.

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