Roller girl finds her tribe

The thunderous roar grows louder with each lap the pack of 14 roller girls take around the track. Padded elbows and knees knock and bump into the tightly packed bodies. ACC student April Lowery, or Apeschit as she is known on the track, is in the middle of the pack shoving and pushing the women around her.  The violence is quick and dangerous. People fall, girls slam into the railing, and the roar of thunder continues to grow. 

"We wake up and feel like we've been hit by a truck. We've got track rash all over us. In two years, I've cracked both my hips, knocked out my tooth, tore my ACL and had random other bumps and bruises," said Lowery about what it feels like after a roller derby bout. 

In her two years as a roller girl, Lowery has had her share of  bumps and scars but none as memorable as the injury she suffered in her first derby. 

In her very first match, Lowery tried to jump over a girl splayed out on the track. Lowery didn't make it all the way over Curly Suicide, the fallen skater, and instead landed on her face, knocking out her front tooth. 

Most people might be upset about losing a front tooth, but Lowery was not. 

At practice on Monday Sept. 28, Curly Suicide and Lowery joked about the knocked out tooth.

"I just stood up, spit my tooth out… and kept skating," said Lowery.

"That was awesome," said Curly Suicide.

The tough, brutal side of roller derby is what is on display at a match, but at the Lonestar Rollergirls' practice arena, known as the Thunderdome, the big crowds and fierce personas are left behind. Within the cocoon of rolling thunder created by the track, it is friendship and camaraderie that matter most to the roller derby girls.  

When Lowery went to her first practice, she thought she was signing up to play a sport and nothing else. She was surprised at how close the bonds have become with the other roller girls. 

"You get here, and you realize these girls are a lot like me," Lowery said. "And, I never thought I would find girls who would want to do the extreme sport thing."

Once practice is under way on the track, the girls travel in a close-knit pack. They bump and shove, but they also help each other up and lean on each other as they grow tired. It is a sisterhood forged through bruises, adrenaline, missing teeth and broken bones.

Lowery is a pre-nursing student at ACC and was a medic in her four years in the Army. She knows full well the risks and possible pain involved in roller derby, but that doesn't keep her off the track.

With the Drew Barrymore movie "Whip It" coming out about banked track roller derby and with the Rollergirls' championship bout on Oct. 10, Lowery hopes other women find the same kind of friendship and extended family she has.

"Becoming a roller girl, you become a little more empowered. We are a self-owned, self-run business. So, you've got 80 to 90 women running the business," said Lowery. "You realize you have 90 sisters to help you with whatever you have going on in life."

"It's good to have this expanded family: a group of girls that you can get along with," said Lowery. "It's much like a family. Like they say in the movie, you find your tribe."