Dolly McMahan likes to look at photos from the early days of the Coos County Roller Girls.

That’s when “Dolly Demented” was her new moniker and McMahan and her new friends in the roller derby world were trying to figure out what they were doing.

“We started out just trying to skate,” she said. “If you look at old pictures, we have no kneepads on and we’re wearing jeans.”

Those days are far in the past.

The group will celebrate its one-year anniversary next Sunday with Derby Day, an event at the Sunset Middle School that will include a demonstration of the sport, a scrimmage and a chance to recruit new members for the team.

“It’s going to be awesome,” McMahan said.

People who have followed the league’s progress are impressed with how far the group has come.

“It’s been a year of growth in a lot of ways,” McMahan said. “We had our first scrimmage in August and our first bout in October.

“It’s been a lot of learning in 2007. Hopefully, (we will have) a lot of playing derby in 2008.”

The local team, which goes by the name Rockin’ Roulettes, has a big bout quickly approaching, on April 26 at Eugene against the Andromedolls of the Emerald City Roller Girls league in front of as many as 3,500 people at Lane County Fairgrounds.

“That’s a big deal for us,” McMahan said, though she admitted the local athletes are a little nervous about playing an established team in a league that had 50 women show up for tryouts.

McMahan knows, though, that the Coos County Roller Girls have come a long way.

“We’ve trained hard,” she said. “We have some good players. It’s amazing how the skill level has grown in the last year.”

“I think we all improved as a group together playing with each other and improving our individual talents and strengths,” said Alice “Krash Kitten” Fry, another team member who has been with the group the entire year.

Fry is the organizer of Derby Day, and both she and McMahan hope to see new players join the group.

“My goal would be like 40 skaters,” said McMahan, aiming for a number about three times the current group size.

Five players from each team are on the oval track during competition and 13 is a decent size for a traveling team so girls can be rotated during matches, McMahan said. But a larger league can lead to more than one local team and a better overall program.

The action takes place on a flat track and the women all use quad skates, as opposed to inline skates. During the competition, each team has four blockers and one jammer, who scores points by breaking through the pack of blockers and then passing players from the opposing team.

McMahan hopes people interested in the sport aren’t scared away because they lack experience.

“When I first started, I hadn’t skated in 10 years,” she said. “I feel like a totally different person.

“We don’t need experienced skaters. We have a coach who teaches.”

That coach is Michael “Mikey BigWheels” Goding, who works with the newbies, teaching the basics, including how to skate and fall properly. The experienced skaters work with McMahan’s husband, Jimmy “Bela Lu Greasy” McMahan.

Fry said roller derby appeals to all kinds of women.

“It’s a sport that welcomes all shapes and sizes of girls,” she said. “You don’t have to be a certain height or shape. Sometimes bigger is better. Sometimes older is better.”

During Derby Day, the Coos County Roller Girls will give a thorough demonstration of the sport, including using slow motion to describe the action.

“The main thing is it’s going to be informational,” McMahan said. “Then we’ll scrimmage.”

Players from the league in Eugene will come down to scrimmage with the local skaters during the event.

Such scrimmages have proved valuable for the local team.

“We had our first scrimmage against Bend and totally got slaughtered,” McMahan said. “They had been around a year and a half longer than us. Then we played them again on Feb. 23 in Coquille. They were pretty impressed.

 “We’ve worked really hard. We’ve grown a lot, not only as skaters, but as roller derby players.”

In addition to recruiting more players, the league also is trying to recruit referees, which is a way for men to become involved in the sport.

“What we really need is refs — we need seven to nine,” McMahan said. “It’s a good way for guys who are into it to take part in it. It’s a lot of fun.”

Following Derby Day, the Coos County Roller Girls will have a Derby-oke fundraiser on April 12 at Gussie’s in Coos Bay. That event starts at 9 p.m. The entry fee is $5.

The Coos County Roller Girls hold regular practices on Tuesdays and Sundays at the Sunset Middle School roller rink.

On Tuesdays, the newbies practice at 5 p.m., with the advanced skaters practicing at 7. On Sundays, the newbies start at 11 a.m. and the advanced skaters at 1 p.m.

For more information, those interested can call Dolly Demented at (541) 264-0364 or e-mail cooscountyrollergirls@yahoo.com.