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Under the banner of ‘‘with liberty and justice to brawl,” the DC Rollergirls make up the Washington, D.C. area’s first women’s flat track roller derby league. While the names of the four teams that make up the league — the Secretaries of Hate, Scare Force One, the DC Demoncats and the Cherry Blossom Bombshells — sound intimidating, the league is fan friendly. In an effort to exhibit the rules of their sport to the uninitiated, the Rollergirls, made up of women from all over the D.C. area, including Montgomery County, will kick off their season with the Peep Show Expo Bout on March 24 in Sterling (Va.) at the Dulles Sportsplex. Pre-game demonstrations include teaching spectators the rules of flat track roller derby, a less violent version of the banked track sport popularized in the 1970s.

‘‘It is a little different,” Holly Ross, of Gaithersburg, said. ‘‘There is no fighting allowed — no elbowing, no punching, nothing of that sort.”

In fact, those morbid few hoping to see a sanctioned girl-on-girl brawl will go home disappointed. The official rules of flat track roller derby specifically prohibit many types of fighting, from the general (rule 6.2.4.2.1 outlaws hitting or punching to the face) to the specific (rule 6.2.4.2.4 prohibits ‘‘choking by helmet straps”) to the group battle (rule 6.2.4.2.8 expressly forbids jumping onto or into a pile of fighting skaters, i.e. ‘‘a dog pile”). It is this more athletic version of the sport that has attracted women to try out for the league to fill its 60 roster spots. One of those women is Ross, 24, the co-captain of the Secretaries of Hate, who plays under the Nom de Guerre of Holly Go Hardly.

‘‘I heard about other leagues starting up and I found out about [the DC Rollergirls],” Ross said. ‘‘I started out roller skating at a rink in Manassas, then started skating with them in May doing drills. There was a lot to work on, from endurance, to footwork, and even how to practice falls.”

For Ross, a graduate student at American University who moved to the area from Chesapeake, Va., the sport afforded her an extension to her athletic career that included playing field hockey and lacrosse at Deep Creek (Va.) High. Many other women in the league gravitated to roller derby for similar reasons, and found the Rollergirls through recruiting events held last year at Washington, D.C. locations such as the nightclub Asylum in Adams Morgan, and the Black Cat on 14th Street. The 60 women that lasted through the tryout process were assigned to the rosters Rollergirls four teams. They are supplemented by ‘‘fresh meat”— new initiates that have yet to earn a nickname and participate in bouts. Though no new recruitment events are planned for the immediate future, those interested in becoming ‘‘fresh meat” can visit the team’s Web site at www.dcrollergirls.com for information.

‘‘We were looking for women with a can-do attitude,” said Jen Eskin, the DC Rollergirls spokesperson also known as DC Demoncats member Blonde Fury. ‘‘Some of them needed to take time to get back on skates, and some of them were already competitive skaters, but all of them were looking for an athletic outlet.”

That outlet will last the season, which spans six bouts, held once a month through the spring and summer at the Dulles Sportsplex after Saturday’s exhibition through to the Championship on Oct. 20. In the course of a normal bout — which consists of three 20-minute periods, and allows a team to score only when its ‘‘jammer” navigates through blockers to pass opponents without illegal contact — there is ample time to involve the crowd.

‘‘We have some rivalries,” Ross said. ‘‘We are theatrical in our style and our appearance, and we’ll play to the crowd. It’s all in fun.”

The Rollergirls, who range in age from 22 to 41, come from all walks of life and are encouraged to bring out their diversity in their on-track personas. ‘‘Helena Handbag” is a 37-year-old graphic designer from Washington, D.C. who said in a press release that one of her most recent accomplishments was winning a Jell-O wrestling contest and joined the league because ‘‘knocking down girls looked like fun,” is as passionate about the sport as ‘‘Memphis Hell”, a 30-year-old baker who brings ‘‘roller-skate-shaped cookies and a love of Elvis [Presley]” to bouts. For Ross, whose duties as co-captain include recruiting and training the ‘‘fresh meat” the offbeat nature of the sport is what attracted her to it. And now, the roller rink, and its flat track, is a place she can call home.

‘‘It was hard moving out here to go to school,” she said. ‘‘I really didn’t know anybody, but when I joined the league I instantly had 60 close friends. It makes [the Washington, D.C. area] a place that I want to be.”

Notes: The DC Rollergirls Peep Show Expo Bout will take place at the Dulles Sportsplex in Sterling, Va. on March 24. Doors will open at 4 p.m. and the bouts begin at 4:45 p.m. The Cherry Blossom Bombshells will face off against the DC Demoncats in the first bout, followed by the Secretaries of Hate vs. Scare Force One. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased at ww.brownpapertickets.com or on the DC Rollergirls Web site, www.dcrollergirls.com.