Vanessa Sites takes hard-charging style to Gotham Girls Roller Derby

— -- Let's just say there was no tiptoeing onto the roller derby scene for Vanessa Sites.

But it wasn't her stellar skating that punctuated her 2008 arrival to Pennsylvania's Coal City Rollers. Far from it, in fact. What folks in towns across Pennsylvania are still talking about is her athleticism, power and passion, which could be code for her combative style.

"I was terrible when I started," says Sites, a former volleyball player, dancer and hiker. "I definitely could not skate. ... Derby was this exciting new thing."

Derby felt the same way about Sites.