If you’re female and looking for a tough, speedy contact sport with lots of cool jargon than roller derby might be the thing for you.

Spanish teacher Mhairi Flood-McCaw is looking to bring the sport of roller derby to Bermuda and is in the process of forming a league that will play at the roller hockey rink at the Pembroke Community Centre at Admiralty House in Pembroke.

This is how it works.

“One team takes on the role of jammer and the other the role of blocker,” said Ms Flood-McCaw. “Each team fields five players per jam (a mini game of two minutes), four blockers and one jammer.

“Every time a jammer manages to pass an opposing blocker they score one point. A roller derby game is called a bout and lasts one hour but is made up of a series of mini games called jams which last up to two minutes.”

Got it?

This is a full contact sport, and there’s no room for wimps.

A large part of the training involves learning how to fall down. Even cooler, everyone gets a nickname. Ms Flood-McCaw’s is Flash Flood.

“The aim isn’t to hurt people, the aim is to just not let them past,” said Ms Flood-McCaw. “It looks more brutal than it is. You have a lot of equipment including helmets, mouth guards, wrist guards and more to protect you.

“It is about the friendship and camaraderie that comes with it. It is such a challenge, and I love that.

“It is tough learning a new sport, but I gained so much confidence from it.”

There is a theatrical, rumble in the jungle, quality to roller derby.

The bouts are played to music, and there’s food and entertainment for the crowd.

Some female players choose to wear short shorts over leggings or tights, some go for more of a sporty look with leggings.

“Dressing up is part of the fun,” she said. “It is like being a kid again. Forget your day job!”

There are male leagues and female leagues, but women’s derby is definitely more popular, although men’s derby is growing in popularity around the world.

So far the Bermuda roller derby league is aptly named the Bermuda Roller Derby, but they are open to changing it once things get started.

Ms Flood-McCaw first read about roller derby in a magazine while living in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

“I went to my first game and enjoyed it,” she said. “Everyone was really friendly and invited me to come and train the next day. I liked the skating, and the speed.”

As a child she did roller dancing, which uses slightly more frilled up quad roller skates.

“Anyone can start the sport from scratch,” she said. “What is nice is that derby is played by adults.

“You don’t have to be five years old to start. People start in their 30s or 50s. It is quite inclusive. You don’t have to have any particular body shape to be good.”

For the last couple of weeks she and other people in Bermuda have been bagging up roller derby to get a league started here.

To raise interest the documentary “Derby Baby! A Story of Love, Addiction and Rink Rash” was recently shown at Chewstick.

She also did a presentation for a Pecha Kucha event earlier this month. So far around 25 people have expressed interest.

“There are a lot of women here who want to stay fit,” said Ms Flood-McCaw. “Fitness is big here. As an expat it is nice to make new friends, but I don’t want it to just be for expats. One of the co-founders is Bermudian. We have had interest from all sectors.”

She warned that roller derby could be quite addictive. One of its advantages over other sports is that there is no specific season to play roller derby. Games go on all year.

Ms Flood-McCaw couldn’t say how long it took the average person to learn roller derby. She said it depended on their level of commitment.

“My main message is you don’t have to be a natural on skates,” she said. “Most people haven’t roller skated since they were a child, or ever.

“We are looking for women to play but men can be referees. We need lots of help with this as there is the potential for lots of penalties!”

All that is left now is for the people who wish to play to order their equipment, as it can not be purchased in Bermuda.

Eventually, the new roller derby league would like to raise a little money so they can have extra equipment on hand so that people interested in the sport can try it out before investing in skates and the other things needed. April 7 is the launch date for the league.

On March 7, roller derby league organisers will beholding a meet and greet at Red Steakhouse and Bar on Front Street in the City of Hamilton at 5.30pm.

For more information check them out at www.facebook.com/bermudarollerderby or e-mail bermudarollerderby@gmail.com.