On The Road: Charlotte Roller Girls

By Liz Horton - bio l email

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - As spring rolls in, the floor is rolled out to get ready for the Charlotte Roller Girls first bout of the season.

"It's amazing, it's really cool," said rookie, Lisa Pearce, who works at Banks of America by day as a computer programmer.

"I liked to roller skate as a kid, and I thought it would be fun and great cross training," she said.

Pearce joined the Charlotte Roller Girls in April of last year, and is now known as "Rox U Lyka Hurricane" to her derby friends.

"I meet people in different walks of life, different areas of Charlotte, different backgrounds that I wouldn't have met otherwise," Pearce said.

That's one of Erin Barbee's favorite things as well. She's now an All Star with the team. "I like the comradery," Barbee said. "This is a group of 45 girls that come together for a common goal and that's to play derby, so I formed some friendships that will last a life time."

Put aside the friendly bond and catchy names and you've got serious athletes.

"I've run a couple of marathons, and I've done some stuff that is hard, but the workouts were very intense, very physical," said Pearce.

They play through the pain.

"My second week into it I sprained an ankle and then later on about six months later I tore my PCL in my knee and now I'm working on a anterior tibial tendon sprain that I'm just trying to skate through,"Barbee said.

All for the love of the game.

"The big stuff is the Panthers and of course the Bobcats and we're trying to get up to that level, so we're hoping to get our crowd to be a little bit bigger," said Barbee.

Tickets are available in advance at The Common Market, Sleepy Poet Antique Mall, and the Last Word as well as at www.charlotterollergirls.com

FIRST BOUT: March 6th at 5pm at the Grady Cole Center

Advance Purchase Tickets: $10 adults/ $5 kids

Door Purchase Tickets: $14 adults/ $7 kids