Photo by John A. Bowersmith

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Renee Gilson and her husband used to own a construction company in Oregon. She also owned a scrapbooking store. She had a nice place to live, nice cars. She judged others the first time she saw them.

That was before roller derby. Before she was known as Lethal Whoopin’.

She played her first game in December 2006 and fell in love – with the sport and with people.

“In derby, I saw a lot of lifestyles: punk rockers, church girls, businesswomen,” Renee says. “I began to realize how amazing all people can be. I made some really close friendships with all sorts of people.”

She also began to re-evaluate her life. And she decided she wanted it to be more genuine. More focused on people, specifically her family. She and her husband have three boys, ages 6, 5 and 4. And she had a friend in Texas, where the cost of living was 35 percent lower. So the Gilsons packed up and moved in August 2007, staying with her friend until they could find jobs and a place of their own.

“We took a big risk, and it’s probably the best decision we’ve ever made,” Renee says. “We were caught up in a lifestyle of living up to everyone else’s standards. We got here and it was just us and the kids and my best friend. The rest didn’t matter.”

Renee now works at Windy Hills Therapy outside Lubbock, running the ranch and the hippotherapy program. Disabled children ride horses while Renee leads and a therapist walks alongside. The children’s tight muscles loosen up while they ride, and they also work on motor skills. “It’s really gratifying to see what 30 minutes on a horse will do for a kid,” Renee says. 

There was one problem with her new life, though: no roller derby in West Texas.

So she decided to form a league. She began by randomly asking West Texans on MySpace if they were interested. And they were. Renee founded the West Texas Roller Dollz in September 2007 and immediately began racking up the milestones, including acceptance into the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association after only 11 months, the fastest acceptance ever. And the Roller Dollz are ranked 34^th in the nation, unheard of for a brand-new team.

She credits the 47 women on the team for its success. And the spirit of roller derby gets some credit, too. She says it teaches women to step out of their shell, to make decisions. “The empowerment is amazing,” she says. “I’ve seen such positive changes in the girls.”

Changes like she herself experienced.

“If I can affect one person the way roller derby has affected me, it’s worth all the effort,” Renee says.