It’s not many sporting events where you get to watch girls on wheels body-check each other, or fans compete in crowd competitions to win VIP seating on a couch.

The Kansas City Roller Warrior matches, though, are not like most sporting events. It’s rare that a sport can combine sex appeal and physicality like a roller derby.

“I don’t think it’s like anything else you’ve ever seen,” says player Kristin McFarland. “You go to a football game, you have the cute cheerleaders and the football players ... At our bouts, the cute cheerleaders are the football players.”

The all-female Roller Warriors league, which hosts its second match of the season this Saturday, is broken up into four teams: Black-Eye Susans, Dreadnought Dorothys, The Knockouts and Victory Vixens. All four teams play in the matches, with two teams facing off in each half.

On the track, each team has a pack of blockers in the front and a jammer following. Instead of moving a ball toward a goal as they skate around the track, the object is to get the jammer past the pack as many times as possible. Points are awarded each time the jammer passes an opposing blocker.

While the jammers are trying to get around the pack, the blockers are, well, blocking the other team’s blockers and jammer, while trying to protect their own jammer. Blockers use their torsos — hips and shoulders and everything in between — to keep the other team from their jammer.

“I guess it’s like controlled roughhousing,” Ms. McFarland says. “It’s just a lot of fun.”

And while the players know they’ll likely wake up the next morning with bruises, scrapes, possibly even welts, they’re still eager to get on the track.

“Getting hit is just part of the game,” says player Bianca Perez, who’s also co-director of the Roller Warriors. “You get to do it to other people, and you also get to wear full pads.”

It also helps them get out some of their frustrations.

“It’s really good stress relief if you can believe that,” says player Aris Chapman, “kind of like kick boxing or punching a punching bag or whatever.”

The Roller Warriors have been in Kansas City since 2004, Ms. Perez says. Since then, they’ve been slowly building a fan base. The final match of last year drew about 2,200 fans. This year’s goal is 4,000 by the end of the season. The Roller Warriors play at least one match every month from now through September.

The Roller Warriors draw a diverse audience, with everyone from young computer geeks to bikers to families filling the stands.

“We can’t pinpoint our audience,” Ms. McFarland says, “because basically our audience is everyone.”

Like any sports crowd, those watching the Roller Warriors get into the matches, with lots of clapping and yelling. Unlike other crowds, the fans actually get to interact with the players. There are pre-game air guitar or hot pepper eating contests to see who gets the VIP couch seating. Tailgating parties and autograph tables give the fans a chance meet their favorite girls.

“That’s the one thing that’s different in our sport,” Ms. Perez says, “we have a lot of crowd participation.”

The fan support is one reason players are willing to take a beating while playing.

“The atmosphere is amazing,” Ms. Chapman says. “We come out and there are so many fans yelling and screaming, and its euphoric.

“It just make the hairs on my arm stand up because you know it’s game time.”

Roll on over

What: Kansas City Roller Warriors roller derby

When: 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 26

Where: Hale Arena, 1701 American Royal Ct., downtown Kansas City

Tickets: $6.50 for children, $13 for adults, available at ticketmaster.com

More info: Visit www.kcrollerwarriors.com/events.html

Lifestyles reporter Lacey Storer can be e-mailed at lstorer@npgco.com