"Blonde Amazon" leads Washington roller derby team

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She can block. She can jam -- roller derby lingo for scoring points. So who cares about her age?Nobody who skates with the Blonde Amazon, aka Julie Schubkegel, a 48-year-old dynamo from Eatonville, Wash. Schubkegel is a member of the Hellbound Homewreckers, a women's roller derby team that's part of the Tacoma-based Dockyard Derby Dames league. She joined the team two years ago, after spotting a recruiting ad in the newspaper."I thought, 'That sounds like fun,'" says Schubkegel, a mother of five and former physical education teacher who now is a nurse.She showed up for tryouts, laced up a pair of four-wheeled skates and "got out there.""I was just so happy," says Schubkegel, who hadn't skated in 20 years, aside from chaperoning occasional school skating parties for her kids. "I thought, 'Wow. This is a blast.'"Schubkegel is old enough to remember the good old days of roller derby, when the contact sport on wheels regularly showed up on Saturday afternoon TV. That was in the 1960s, when roller derby was more show biz than sport.TV announcers hyped the drama, exploiting rivalries between individual players and creating heroines and villains in much the same manner as they did in the televised wrestling matches of the day.The popularity of roller derby has ebbed and flowed over the years. In its most recent revival during the past decade, women's amateur leagues like the Dames have combined a focus on athletic ability with equal doses of punky feminist attitude and campy showmanship. At bouts, skaters might add fishnet stockings to offset their pink hair and tattooed shoulders.Schubkegel's height -- 5 feet 11 inches without skates -- and her short hair the color of ripe corn earned her the officially registered derby name of Blonde Amazon. Her skating skills earned her respect."When I go out there, the size difference is so huge," says Schubkegel of her towering height. "People really see me."Her long legs give her an enviable stride that helps her glide easily to a lead position in a pack of skaters. But her height can also make her an easy target for opponents whose goal is to block her progress.Other skaters might joke about Geriatric Julie, or ask if she forgot her walker, but it's all in the spirit of fun.When Schubkegel hits the rink, younger team members welcome her as one of their own."I feel confident when I'm in the pack with her," says Tobi Hower, a 32-year-old from Seattle. "She's a good skater. Her age doesn't cross my mind.""She's an incredible asset," says Emily Cheney, a 23-year-old co-captain of the Homewreckers. "She's a very versatile player."She also has a reputation as the league's mother hen. As the mom of five kids ages 9 through 24, who all live at home, Schubkegel is used to meeting the needs of younger folks. At the rink, she is the one who runs to her car for a first-aid kit when another skater needs ibuprofen for a headache or moleskin for a blister.Schubkegel's kids and husband, Preston, fully support her wild and crazy hobby."The whole family is pretty much sucked in," says Schubkegel. "This is a grass-roots deal."When she first joined the Homewreckers, she promised her husband she would skate only until she broke something.So far, her luck has held. She's one of the few members of her team who haven't sustained serious injury, although she's had her share of bumps and bruises.Schubkegel has made a few concessions to middle age, though.She wears ankle braces inside her skates, as well as extra knee braces under her knee pads."I thought I should have the extra support," she says.Schubkegel says that the best part of being on the team has been rediscovering who she is and what is possible at midlife."I get to skate with a bunch of younger women who are really amazing," she says. "I was never that smart at their age."There's a real camaraderie. This is a super team game. You really aren't going to be successful if your team isn't working together."And she also realized something about her self that she never knew before: "I don't even know how to describe it. But when I'm skating, I click into this other person. I'm really competitive. It must be something to do with the adrenaline. You just want to get the other person, and knock her down."E-mail Debbie Cafazzo at debbie.cafazzo(at)thenewstribune.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)