Three times a week at Leo’s Rollerland on North Airline in Baton Rouge, bodies hit the floor, strategies are improvised and female warriors’ endurance is tested. They are, after all, the rough-and-tumble members of the Red Stick Roller Derby team.  
“We break bones; we tear ligaments,” boasts Red Stick president Stacy “Jams” Sullivan. 
 “This is a real thing, and we do it because we love it.  It’s not for anybody else’s entertainment. It’s for bettering ourselves and bettering the group we are with. That’s what makes it worthwhile.”
Red Stick Roller Derby, established in 2007, entered a new season in March with promise of another year of team progression and player development. Sullivan said she hopes the team can improve its play without losing the love of the game. 
The organization is broken into three teams: All-Stars, the “A” team; Capital Defenders, the B squad; and a team just below them for players who couldn’t make it. The All-Stars and Capital Defenders mostly compete against variousroller derby teams within the state and according to the latest rules and clarifications from the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.
WFTDA clubs within the state are also located in Houma, New Orleans and Lafayette. 
Sullivan had little skating experience when she joined Red Stick in 2010,relying mostly on experience from other sports to help her with the transition. She’s one of many who joined the team with little know-how on the rink. 
Capital Defenders co-captain Jo “Mad Hitter” George was once just a fan, watching her sister’s friend practice and compete.
“One day I was just like, ‘I want to wear my own jersey.’ And she was like, ‘Come to practice.’” George said. “I had to go do it.”
George was named one of the captains in March, but she says she said isready to echo selflessness to her teammates, continually preaching to team members to look out for more than themselves if they want to be an asset.   
The selfless attitude is, in Sullivan’s mind, the biggest change she has seen with the team since its inception. The club has shied away from the Roller Derby stereotypes of crowd-pleasing hits and showmanship in order toconcentrate on synergy and strategy.
 “The focus has moved gradually,” Sullivan said. “It was theatrical when it started, and now it’s more athletic and team-oriented. It’s far more empowering as a women then just putting on fishnets and do something for people to just laugh at and enjoy.”
Erin “Poison” Belledy had never played a sport before joining RSRD, but she wanted an activity where teammates would push her to keep working without making excuses. After graduating from her training class, Belledy broke her ankle and went into rehab for the next nine months, but that didn’t  stop her from returning to the rink. 
“It was scary, but at the same time we put in a lot of effort, and I wanted to see it through,” Belledy said. “It’s just such a fun game. You have to push through the pain and do what you can.”
The team has attendance requirements for its Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday practice sessions that can last three hours.  Their roller derby season begins in early March and runs through November. Home games are held at Leo’s.  
The objectives of roller derby are relatively simple.  Each team chooses a single point scoring skater, or “jammer,” with one objective: lap as many opposing skaters as she can.
The remaining skaters work both on offense and defense ­—to block theopposing Jammer and to clear a path for their own Jammer.
Any woman is eligible to join the team once she turns 18, and the team is comprised of women of various ages and backgrounds.
“It’s amazing to have such a diverse group of women out here,” Belledy said. “Everyone from government officials to nurses, attorneys, to women in college. Some have children, some are married and some are single. We come from all walks of life, just for the love of the game.”