"Poison Ivy" (Stacey Shelton) performs an apex jump maneuver during practice with the A-Town Roller Derby team.

ANDERSON, Ind. — By day, Fran Tomlinson is a grandmother of five. But as soon as she hits the track, she turns into Goldy Blox, a pigtailed, purple starred, tights-wearing beast on roller skates.

Turning into their alter egos is a natural part of roller derby for Tomlinson and other members of A-Town Roller Derby.

“Your derby name — the person you are on that track — it becomes like a persona,” said Bobbie Mullins, 30, whose derby name is Rek’lez Disastr. “It’s your alter ego. That’s who Clark Kent is under the glasses and tie. We are heroes on skates.”

A-Town Roller Derby competes in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, an organization governing more than 300 roller derby leagues around the world.

Roller derby has become increasingly popular throughout the country over the last decade, and Tomlinson said she started the team in Anderson so women could have local access to the growing sport.

Each game, or bout, consists of two 30-minute periods divided into “jams” that may last up to two minutes. Each team assigns a “jammer,” who scores points by lapping the opposing team members as they skate counterclockwise on the track. The rest of the players are part of “the pack,” which consists of blockers who try to prevent the opposing jammer from scoring by using offensive and defensive tactics. Each team can have one blocker who is a “pivot” and can be designated as a jammer during a jam.

“It’s a full contact sport,” Tomlinson, 51, told the Anderson (Indiana) Herald Bulletin. “If you’re not in shape, it’s a great exercise. It beats any zumba class I’ve ever been to.”

Players are all different shapes and sizes. There are also volunteering opportunities for people who may not be interested — or have the skill set — to participate in roller derby.

Tomlinson believes there’s a misconception that derby girls are strippers on skates or overly aggressive. Instead, they’re athletes who abide strict rules of the game.

Roller derby is a community for women to be empowered, which is part of why Hewson plans things around A-Town’s schedule.

“Roller derby is life,” she said. “Anybody that says different is wrong.”

Dickey writes for the Anderson (Indiana) Herald Bulletin.