Thursday February 6th the Ohio Roller Girls held a  Roller Derby scrimmage session at the south east side warehouse that serves as their home. It was a warehouse full of ordinary people working extraordinarily hard to become the undisputed mistresses of a difficult contact sport. Ohio Roller Girls is Columbus's grassroots, up by their skates-straps, entry into the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).    Founded as a league in 2005, the Ohio Roller Girls eventually moved to a two-team organization focused on inter-league play against the All-Star charter teams fielded by leagues in other cities. In this respect they have represented Columbus well, becoming a regional powerhouse, perennial championship contender and division I stalwart where they are ranked against such tiny unknown cities as New York, London and Los Angles. The hometown heroines begin this season ranked 22nd in the world after finishing 8th in last season's championship tournament.    Along with a night of hard scrimmaging went a night of hard training, with drills on blocking tactics taking up almost an hour before the jams begin. Roller Derby is played in a series of two-minute jams  in which a designated skater scores points by first lapping the entire pack, including the other jammer, and then is awarded a point for each opposing skater they subsequently lap. The other four players attempt to block the opposing team's jammer in what amounts to a full contact race.   It is both an endurance and a contact sport. The training is intensely athletic not theatrical.    The Ohio Roller Girls are supported by a large crop of volunteers who serve as helpers, trainers and officials. Before each bout, the dedicated volunteers even build the track. League official Tim Meyer began as a volunteer track builder seven years ago and is now an official. He has no relatives or paramours who skate, he just takes time from his day job to support his team. “No it's just me,” Meyer said. “Neither my wife or my two teenage daughters have anything to do with it.”   The scrimmage and practice were focused and intense and everybody seemed very busy. League president Candace “Chainsaw” Moser-Stafford, when asked for interviews with team stars or at least fan favorites she said, “We don't really cultivate that. We promote ourselves as a team and we work hard on working together.” The action on the track reflected this, with repeated drills and high impacts. The focus was clearly on defensive teamwork even to the untrained eye. Sources within the organization say that defensive teamwork is the rock on which the Ohio Roller Girls winning strategy is built.   This same defensive teamwork which is Ohio's focus will be the key to winning the team's upcoming season opening bout against Nashville's Music City All Stars. It will be a home bout at the Lausche Building at the Ohio Expo Center on March 8th.  Asked what she expected both from the season opener against Nashville and the season in general, veteran skater and OSU employee Blitz Lemon said, “I expect to kick some a... to kick some butt.”  Columbus can expect Lemon and the rest of the team to do just that on March 8th.   Meyer said the bout against the All Stars should prove to be a crowd pleaser. “Oh yeah,” he said. “The girls will be pumped up. The players will be excited to finally get out and play in front of an audience. So yeah, it should be very fast and exciting and hard hitting action. Nashville's a solid team. They have been for some time, so it should be a very hard fought contest.”   The 2014 season will feature six home bouts and five bouts on the road, taking the team as far away as Canada.