In a Richmond harbor warehouse packed with hundreds of people of all ages, the women of the Bay Area Derby Girls are flying around the track and playing hard. The crowd is brought to their feet and roars as a player takes a massive fall to hardwood track.

“Bay Area Derby Girls is one of the top teams… and I think it’s because we have been around for eight years and we have had a lot more time than other leagues,” said a player for the Oakland Outlaws who goes by the nickname Killer Vee.

As of June 30, the Bay Area Derby Girls are ranked 4th by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which consists of teams across the country.

“It has caught on because we have such skilled players and because we train so hard people actually feel they are coming to a sport. It’s not just a fad or a spectacle. People really get into the players.”

Bay Area Derby Girls is a non-profit organization that formed in 2004. They are a part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. The league consists of five teams: San Francisco ShEvil Dead, Oakland Outlaws, Richmond Wrecking Balls, Berkeley Resistance, and a traveling all-star team, the nationally ranked Golden Girls.

On Saturday, Bay Area Derby Girls held a double header that started with a bout between the Richmond Wrecking Belles and the Berkeley Resistance and finished with the Oakland Outlaws versus the San Francisco ShEvil Dead.

A roller derby game is called a bout that is made of two 30-minute periods. The object of the game is to score the most points by lapping opposing team members on the track. Each bout consists of “jams” which consists of a two-minute period where the team attempts to score points.

Each team is allowed to have five players on the track at one time. The team consists of the “jammer,” the point scorer, three blockers who play defense and one pivot who plays defense and has more of a leadership role.

Roller derby is a sport that attracts every age and demographic as the crowd is filled with everyone from young children to grandparents.

“This is our first time,” said 64-year-old  Kate Lopes, who came with her husband. “We were dying to see anything where women get to be something other than cute. We just think it feels really good here. We love the feeling of the people here.”

The fans and particpants feel the female dominated sport sets it apart from other sports.

“It is a women’s full contact sport that is not really based off of a man sport and it is kind of their own,” said a woman who went by the nickname Dual Cannons. She once played but is now just a fan. “It is by the skaters for the skaters. It is a lot about empowerment. This is my first season as a fan and I am rediscovering my joy and love of the game and drinking.”

“It is really a competitive sport and it’s full of empowering ladies,” said a woman who goes by the nickname PsychoSeraPissed; who retired after playing her last bout Saturday. “I was an athlete my entire life so this seemed really natural and that’s why I stuck with it.”

As the second part of the double header began, a very distinct shift was noticeable in the warehouse. Many of the older generation and children began to vacate while a more beer and whiskey fueled crowd replaced them. Many of which filled the “suicide seats” which are where people sit on the ground around the track and are warned to sit at their own risk.

Participents in this organization believe the sport is quickly becoming one of the mainstream sports here in the Bay Area.

“We have some women mainstream sports, like basketball or softball and this is just another one that is coming up,” said PsychoSeraPissed. “It has a nice mix of everything some soccer, hockey and it’s a good family kind of game. People bring their whole family and enjoy themselves. I think that people are ready for a change in women sports.”