Angela Schmolke's fishnet stockings, eye-catching poses and assumed name don't come naturally.

The Saskatoon woman, known as "Angela Anaconda" on roller-derby websites, is undergoing an image change as she gets into a sport that holds endless fascination for her and many other women.

The promotional side of the sport -- complete with studio photos that look nothing like your run-of-the-mill hockey or baseball cards -- diverge sharply from Schmolke's sweats-and-jeans tomboy side.

"For me personally, those pictures are completely out of my element," chuckles the 6-foot-3 Schmolke, who -- with fellow locals Kristin Loberg and JoyLynn Thiessen -- is undergoing the marketing makeover as part of a Team Canada roller-derby trip to Europe.

"But for a lot of girls," she adds, "that's how they dress regularly at practices. They have fun with it. When I first started out, I was, 'Oh; I don't know if I want to play.' I didn't want to wear fishnet stockings. Then here I am, in the pictures, with fishnet stockings."

Schmolke is one of a group of pioneering women trying to bring roller derby back into Saskatoon. She started in December and has practised twice a week since then.

The Saskatoon Roller Derby League's players will split into two teams for a May 31 match -- the first time any of them have played an actual game.

Then in June, Schmolke heads to England and Scotland with fellow locals Loberg (also known as Mirage) and Thiessen (X-Treme Joy). They're the rookies on a Canadian group that includes roller-derby enthusiasts from across the country.

The sport -- wildly popular in the early 1970s -- carries its wild 'n woolly, blue-collar reputation proudly.

"There's a certain empowerment in women playing a rough sport," Schmolke said. "Does it deserve its image? I've seen pictures of some pretty nasty bruises from bouts, so . . . yeah, it probably does."

Schmolke is an all-around athlete who's played some good basketball in her time. She says roller-derby is a perfect fit for somebody carrying a 6-foot-3 frame with an athletic bent.

"I'm a physical basketball player and I think it aggravates people a bit," she says. "When I came to roller derby, the first couple practices I was knocking people over and off the track and I was apologizing. They were like, 'No don't apologize; that was awesome.' That was a nice thing -- you actually get to hit people.

"Roller derby means something different to everybody on the team. Some people like dressing up. Some people like that it's a physical, aggressive sport. It's probably not for the faint of heart. For me, I like that you have to be a good athlete to be good at derby."

The three Saskatoon women are heading to Europe with a cross-Canada assortment of roller-derby wheelers carrying names like Hoochie Mama, Dolly Destructo, Trailer Trish, Trailer Park Tracy and Sarah Saurus Wrecks -- all found at www.teamcanadarollerderby.com.

Schmolke says the local league features women from a wide array of backgrounds. She's the executive director of a local non-profit organization.

"I feel like I have 45 sisters," she says. "It's a really interesting, positive dynamic and everyone comes from such different walks of life and has different life experiences. There's single moms on the team, people who work as professionals, postal carriers."

And they're all new to the sport, which is undergoing a wee bit of a renaissance these days. Schmolke had never watched the old-school roller-derby, but she did watch an A&E special on the sport.

And she spent lots of time at Saints, then a Saskatoon roller-skating rink, as a teenager.

"I'd go in circles for hours, as fast as I could," Schmolke said. "If I'd known about this earlier . . . I wish it had been around longer."

kmitchell@sp.canwest.com

Speed. Aggression. Bruises.
All in a night’s work for 27-year-old Liz Vanderkleyn, a former Port Elgin resident and Saugeen District Secondary School graduate, who has been taken over by the sport of roller derby.
Vanderkleyn, aka Heidi Hasselhoff while competing, got into roller derby in January, 2007, by joining Chicks Ahoy, a team in the ToRD (Toronto Roller Derby) league, the largest in the world at six teams with more than 90 girls competing.
Though she was skeptical about joining at first, Vanderkleyn said she couldn’t get the derby out of her mind and had to take a chance.
“(I) thought about getting involved, but the women seemed so tough,” she said. “They were covered in tattoos and piercings with crazy hair colours ... I was intimidated and decided I might not fit into the scene, but once the seed was planted I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
She decided to attend a Chicks Ahoy team fund-raiser where she met all the girls on the team and she has been skating ever since.
“(The girls) were friendly, confident and welcomed me to a practice,” she said. “I asked for a pair of skates for Christmas and went to every practice from Christmas Day to mid-January when they offered me a spot on the team.”
Taking that chance has offered her the opportunity of a lifetime for a roller girl: she has been selected as a member of Team Canada which will travel to Scotland and England this summer.
“It was a dream come true,” she said. “I was at work (when she found out) and I burst into tears. I called my mom and my best friend, and for the rest of the workday I couldn’t concentrate!”
Three of Vanderkleyn’s Chicks Ahoy teammates were also named to the Team Canada squad which she is very happy about.

“I got in touch with them and shared an excited squeal,” she said. “Derby, travelling, and an opportunity to represent my country as part of the first modern day Team Canada roller derby.”
Team Canada doesn’t get to meet until June 4 with its first and only practice session June 5, before competing June 6 against Glasgow, June 7 against London and June 13 versus Birmingham.
“We’ve been E-mailing back-and-forth, talking about our strengths and position preferences,” said Vanderkleyn. “We’re still figuring out how the three teams in the (United Kingdom) set up their games, finding out if our rules are the same, if our refereeing is similar, and the details that make all the difference in how we play.”
‘Hoff’
“Heidi Hasselhoff can get away with things Liz Vanderkleyn wouldn’t,” she said. “Liz is a mild-natured, relatively soft-spoken book nerd, but Hoff means business. (She) will skate by you without remorse once knocking you out of play (and) she’ll flip her skirt up and show off her ‘HANDS OFF MY HOFF’ underpants.”
By day, Vanderkleyn is a legal assistant for Zarek Taylor Grossman Hanrahan, an insurance defence law firm based in Toronto, but once the sun goes down she is taken over by ‘Hoff”.
“It’s like becoming a superhero by night,” she said, “knocking and bashing over the competition and making holes to whip your jammer through.”
Vanderkleyn, who had never skated before joining Chicks Ahoy, said the derby names are inspired in a personal way.
“I think mine had to do with me learning to take myself less seriously,” she said. “Learning to laugh at myself and just roll with it .... Literally!”
ToRD
After joining the Toronto Roller Derby last year, Vanderkleyn and Chicks Ahoy went on to have an undefeated season, but eventually fell to the Gore Gore Rollergirls in the championships.
The other teams in the league are the Death Track Dolls, Bay Street Bruisers, Death Valley Assassins Squad (DVAS) and the Smoke City Betties. Vanderkleyn said even with the five other teams available, she couldn’t see herself skating for another team.
“If I wasn’t a Chick, I wouldn’t be in derby,” she said. “I have profound loyalty to my teammates.”
Outside of being a competitor, Vanderkleyn is also on the sponsorship committee, the public relations committee, the web committee, the inter-league committee, and she just finished organizing a fund-raiser for Team Canada last week to help finance the trip. (Those interested in sponsorship or donations can E-mail her at lizv33@hotmail.com or check out the website www.teamcanadarollerderby.com)
The sport
Vanderkleyn said her love of the sport has all grown around the camaraderie of the derby.
“The fact you are surrounded by so many fierce, confident women who have thrown so much passion into this sport is great,” she said. “We come from so many backgrounds but the minute we strap on our skates we speak the same language.
“The immense amount of self-confidence and self-awareness you develop in this sport (is great),” she added. “I’ve never felt more me as when I’m on eight wheels and sneering at my opponent while lined up on the starting line.”
The passion Vanderkleyn has for the sport will never die which is summed up in her own words: “Once a derby girl, always a derby girl.”