HOT WHEELS—Jillian Bischoff, left, a counselor at Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley, and Darcy Demmon, a counselor at Moorpark High School, are members of the Oxnard-based Sugartown Rollergirls, an all-female roller derby league. A high school counselor by day and a tough girl on quad roller skates by night, Darcy Demmon has quite the alter ego.

For the past five years, the Port Hueneme resident has spent her days providing Moorpark High School students with advice and academic guidance.

But what most students don’t know about Demmon is she’s a roller derby girl in training— speeding around an oval track three nights a week and learning how to land on her skates after somersaulting over fallen team members.

“It’s really exhilarating,” Demmon said. “I show up to the warehouse in heels and a dress—what I wore to school. Then I turn around and put on shorts, skates, pads, a hel- met and turn into some- thing totally different.”

Demmon is one of about 25 women from Ventura County who are members of the Sugartown Rollergirls, an Oxnard-based roller derby league established in 2009.

The skaters, whose ages range from 25 to 40, come from all walks of life—students, homemakers, business owners, corporate executives and government employees.

“We’re not who you would think would be typically skating around and hitting each other,” Demmon said. “It’s just a great thing for women like me, who don’t just want to be soccer moms—which most of us are outside of this.”

Jillian Bischoff of Westlake, another Sugartown Rollergirl, is a counselor at Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley and Ms. Ventura County 2009.

“I just traded my high heels for some quad skates,” she said.

For Bischoff, joining the league in January was a way to make new friends and be part of a team sport.

“I’ve met such great women,” Bischoff said. “I’m playing and skating with people I never would’ve imagined. . . . It’s fun that we all share the same passion.”

Entertainment or sport?

Roller derby, which became popular in America during the 1970s, is commonly thought of as a theatrical form of sports entertainment.

“It’s definitely a show,” Demmon said. “A lot of times when you go to a derby, there’s music performances and bands, kind of like a special event.”

But while the sport may seem “crazy” to outsiders, roller derby requires a great deal of endurance and athleticism, she said.

The league’s motto is “no fishnets, just skills,” denoting Sugartown’s refusal to conform to roller derby’s reputation for being a risqué exhibition.

Paula Daleo, co-owner and co-founder of the Sugartown Rollergirls, said the league’s goal is to “take out the sideshow and make it more about the sport.”

“Sometimes what happens with modern roller derby . . . what’s more emphasized is the edginess,” Daleo said. “The skaters wear these big, flashy outfits and have outlandish names—it takes away from the sport itself and it’s hard to see the skill. So we’ve done away with the fishnet (stockings) and put on uniforms that look like sports jerseys.”

The Sugartown Rollergirls strive to be a family-friendly league, where fans and audiences of all ages can come see them skate, Daleo said.

Still, family-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean the skaters are soft.

Demmon said she tends to be an “aggressive” skater, much better at blocking other players and crashing into them than gracefully skating around the track.

“It’s full-contact,” she said. “It’s tough. But I like being a little aggressive and I like being competitive.”

Bischoff said many of her acquaintances are shocked when they hear she’s part of the roller derby.

“They’ll just look at me and say, ‘No way,’” the former pageant queen said. “Nobody believes me. Nobody thinks I can be aggressive. But I really enjoy skating and I want to have the tactics. And if aggression is part of it, then I guess bring it on.”

Bischoff said the physical aspect of the sport is not as scary as she thought it would be.

“You learn ways to move, dodge and maneuver your body,” she said. “It’s like an adrenalin rush. I seriously love it.”

A banked-track league

As of last month, the Sugartown Rollergirls are the first and only banked-track roller derby league in the county—which means they skate on an angled track, unlike the flat tracks many other derby leagues use.

In the past year the league raised more than $15,000 to purchase the design plans and materials to build a portable banked track inside its rented Oxnard warehouse, Daleo said.

The league has been practicing on the banked track for about three weeks now.

“We built the track ourselves,” Daleo said. “All the girls worked on it. We put our blood, sweat and tears in that track. It’s been a real labor of love.”

Daleo said she and co-founder Corinna Owens are in search of sponsors who would be interested in supporting the Sugartown Rollergirls.

“We had a sponsorship to help us get into the warehouse we’re currently in, but it’s ending soon,” she said. “Hopefully we could get another sponsorship for us to keep things going and keep progressing with the league.”

The league owners are also in the process of recruiting new skaters, both for the Sugartown Rollergirls and their new men’s league—the Sugartown Roller Derby. Skaters of all skill levels are invited to join but must be 18 or older to be part of the league.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/sugartownrollergirls. Those interested in sponsoring the league can email sugartownrollergirls@yahoo.com.