By day, Aubrey Lockard is a college junior majoring in international and global human rights at UNCG.
By night, she transforms into Molly Flogger, a tattooed, fast-skating and hard-hitting enthusiast of the contact sport on wheels known as roller derby.
"I guess it's an outlet for my anger that's not too aggressive," says Lockard, 22, who grew up in Beulaville.
Lockard is attempting to build a roller-derby team in Greensboro, which would compete in bouts against regional teams such as the Carolina Rollergirls in Raleigh and the Camel City Thrashers in Winston-Salem.
To create buzz about the potential team, she created a Facebook page that more than 800 people have joined since early February. She also hosted the team's first interest meeting on Feb. 21 that attracted more than 70 women.
"I had no idea that many people were going to show up," Lockard says.
One of them was Jona Khaosanga. "I've never been to a roller-derby game. All of my roller-derby contact has been related to music videos," Khaosanga says. "I've heard about it a couple of years and was interested in it, but I couldn't drive off to Winston (the nearest roller derby team)."
Before she adopted the rink name of Molly Flogger, a reference to the Los Angeles-based Celtic punk band Flogging Molly, Lockard had been searching for an aggressive sport since high school. She practiced gymnastics as a child and upgraded to soccer in her teens, but when she attempted to join her high school wrestling team, she was turned down.
"They wouldn't let me because it was an all-guys wrestling team," Lockard says. "So I think most girls wish they had a sport where they could be tough or do something aggressive and knock somebody down."
She found that in roller derby when she moved to Greensboro to attend UNCG and met a friend last year who commuted to Winston-Salem every week to skate for the Camel City Thrashers roller-derby team. Lockard tagged along and quickly found the sport she had been seeking.
Because most of her skating experience was on roller blades, Lockard had to adapt to quad skates (traditional roller skates with two sets of wheels side by side), as well as rink rash from skidding on her bare legs and knees, but the team's kinship and the full-contact aspect of the game, made it worthwhile.
"I'd never played a sport where it was OK to knock people down and be aggressive and that's OK, but not in a mean way," Lockard says. "That's how the sport's played, and that's how you're supposed to do it."
Lockard had practiced with the Thrashers for the position of jammer, the points scorer who speed-skates around the track while dodging the blockers from the opposing team. But the weekly commutes to Winston-Salem took a toll on her finances, and she had to quit the team.
Rather than give up roller derby, she decided to create a new team in her home city.
It's too late for a Greensboro roller-derby team to compete this year because the season typically begins in February. In the meantime, Lockard is trying to build a team, find sponsors and practice by the summer in hope of competing next year.
"It takes a lot of support and a lot of dedication," Lockard says. "You can't just have all these people say they're going to come out and help with the team, then flake out a month from now."
For Lockard, the most important thing now is to start skating again so she'll be ready and in shape to return to the rink.
"I had just been skating the other day to get back into it," Lockard says. "I skated for an hour, and I thought I was going to die."
Contact Joe Scott at movieshowjoe@gmail.com
If you are interested in trying out for Aubrey Lockard’s roller derby team or becoming a sponsor, contact her at anlockar@gmail.com.
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