A full contact, all-female sport on roller skates, derby is the closest I've ever come to violence. Between the hitting, fighting for position and inevitable face time on the ground, no one leaves the floor without feeling like they've just picked a fight with the biggest guy (or gal) in the room.

Yet here I am again, on a Wednesday night in Aalst, lacing my quad skates and cruising onto the floor of the rink, ready for another beating. My friends laugh at attaching the adjective “tough” to my name. Yet two to three times a week, I join a ragtag group of women called the Gent Go-Go Roller Girls and skate, hustle and hit my way to exhaustion.

There is nothing quite like derby. My infatuation began a few years back when I saw my first live bout in Boston. The female-friendly crowd was a peculiar mix of atypical sport fans. There were older lesbian couples, entire families snacking on hot dogs and rockabilly greasers with hair slicked into pompadours. Between the plastic cups of cheap lager, the half-time show featuring a punk rock band and the stunning high intensity skating, I was hooked.

The premise is easy: five women on a team, opposing teams on a track the size of a basketball court, usually marked with tape on the floor. Each team has three defensive “blockers”, a “jammer” who scores points and a “pivot”, who is both a blocker and sets the pace of the game. A point is scored for every blocker on the opposing team who the jammer passes.

Blockers try to prevent the opposing jammer from skating past them using hip and shoulder checks. Meanwhile, these blockers work to assist their own jammer in getting ahead, with more blocking, hitting and scrambling to create an extra inch of space on the track – all a good skater needs to manoeuvre ahead.

Strong elbows and unfriendly shoving are not allowed – but aren't unheard of. After the two-minute jam ends, the teams have 30 seconds to regroup and switch players. Speed, stamina and toughness: the game lasts an hour and is exhausting.

Two months after watching my first bout, I moved to Belgium and found my skating plans facing a delay. Roller derby did not exist here.

The sport has a long history, dating back to the early 1900s in the Unites States with races for both men and women that eventually turned into endurance competitions that emphasised physical contact. Throughout the 20th century, roller derby experienced ups and downs, with its heyday in the 1950s and its eventual demise in the ’70s. Its popularity was revived for a short-lived, much-maligned TV spectacle that involved over-thetop theatrics.

Today, roller derby has re-emerged as a woman-only, competitive sport with an emphasis on athleticism, do-it-yourself spirit and a highly enjoyable burlesque element. This is showcased in the generally wild and often sexy gear and the names derby girls take, such as Sleazy Rider, Hurt Copain and Paris Kill-ton.

My name is Grace Smelly. Some of my teammates are Catastro-fie, Bang Bang Barbie, Helbiest (an anagram of Liesbeth) and Julie Jawbreaker.

The Go-Gos are an excellent example, in fact, of how roller derby is still evolving. Although it has been reclaimed as an underground subculture in the US, now, almost 10 years later, it is more mainstream. Ours is not the typical derby team of alternative misfits but rather a diverse group of women drawn to the sport for the sport itself, rather than the associated scene.

Roller derby is growing at an exponential rate. The US Women’s Flat Track Association (WFTDA) formed in 2004, had 50 American leagues in 2007 and now has over 78 worldwide, with 34 more leagues in formation. The interest surpasses cultures and languages, with teams all over the UK and Germany, and more forming in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. And now, Flanders.

Julie Jawbreaker, an American six-year derby veteran and the Go-Gos coach began playing with the Carolina Rollergirls in 2004. “Since then, derby has exploded, and there are multiple resources available that help speed the process along,” she says. “And the level of skill and competition has evolved incredibly. The athleticism has become much more serious. I think that modernday roller derby is being viewed more as a competitive sport and less as a spectacle on wheels. The edginess still exists, but the bouts are all real."

With a handful of other women, I launched the Go-Go Girls in 2008, having moved to Ghent the year before. With no skating skills, zero derby experience and no idea what gear to buy, we struggled to come together. Julie Jawbreaker's arrival a few months later got the team rolling. With nearly 30 members, we practice three times a week. From endurance skates and speed lines to falling drills and agility tests, our new coach has shaped us into real skaters.

"I like the fact that if you practice, the sport is open to anyone. You can join without any experience with sports or even skating because we'll train you and train you well."

For this brand-new, international team, there is also a social aspect. “Having just moved to Belgium, I had no social circles. I joined the Go-Gos and voilà, almost instantly went from being friendless to being a socialite! And of course, derby is so much fun that you stay in shape without realising you are exercising.”

Because no one is very familiar with roller derby in Flanders, the Go-Gos are pioneering in brand-new territory. We have created a logo, website and signed up for insurance. We have monthly meetings, sell merchandise and plan events. The goal is to integrate roller derby into the Flemish vocabulary. Ultimate, we will be able to host visiting teams and build a fan base. The passion of roller derby has caught some Flemish women off guard. Helbiest, a 22-year-old student, was surprised at what was required of her. "It's mind blowing how much time and work goes into running things! But I'm happy I'm able to contribute. I made our event poster from a woodcut, which was nice because I was able to integrate my other passions into my new passion."

Catastro-fie, an architectural project developer known as Sofie by day, didn't join actively but slowly got drawn in. "At first, it was the roller skating that attracted me," the 36-year-old says. "I didn't even know we were talking about derby. I realised that later and by then the group atmosphere and the culture of it were such nice environments that I couldn't leave."

Liesbeth captures the feeling: "It's changing me in a good way. I want to keep on getting better, stronger, faster.”

Derbylicious Party!

Meet the Gent Go-Go Roller Girls at their first Derbylicious Party. DJs, drinks, video clips, plus merchandise for sale and plenty of chance to talk to players, should you be inspired to join the fray
of bouting dames. 19 February, from 21.00, Sioux, Platteberg 8, Ghent
www.gentgogorollergirls.be