LouLife

One part girlie, two parts tough, Natasha Speth spends her time doing two things she is passionate about: hair-styling and roller-skating — with a twist. By day she helps others look beautiful working at Salon Bacco, and by night her alter ego, Sk8 Ninja, finds beauty in the roller derby world of hard hits and big bruises. “Every time you get a bruise, it’s an award. I get jealous because some of these girls get awesome bruises,” she says with a laugh. “When was the last time you talked to someone who said that?”

Speth laces up her skates in the fledgling Derby City Roller Girls league, which formed last June and currently has just two teams.

She’s a coach, charged with improving the performance of competitors on both teams as well as how to avoid broken bones. “I teach skills,” the 27-year-old says. “I teach you how to hit, how to fall and keep from hurting yourself.” Speth is also a player for the Jackie O’Nasties. “We do things as a team,” she says. “We have people who contribute to every single thing, every aspect of our practices and bouts. Going at it alone would be impossible.”

Louisville has joined a national movement to revive roller derby, a sport that all but died out two decades ago. Speth, whose family hails from Southern Indiana, grew up playing volleyball and softball, presenting the flag in the color guard, and even was a cheerleader “for a minute.” She also roller-skated — a lot. When she heard through the grapevine that a local league was forming, she thought she’d let the opportunity to participate wheel on by. But her heart told her otherwise. “I literally could not sleep,” she recalls. “I was up for a week straight trying to think of roller derby names, what kind of skates I wanted, which pads I should buy. I decided there was no way I could not do it.”

Now Speth can’t imagine life away from the track, where roughhousing participants score points by passing opponents to lap them on the oval, dodging the elbows and knees of skaters in their way. “I would absolutely, 100 percent love to do this as a career,” she says. “I don’t think that would happen, but I will stick with it as long as I can. It’s a great release of all things.”

The league’s first official “bout” is scheduled for May 22. For details, visit www.derbycityrollergirls.com.

Katie Brown