— — This one’s for the girls.

Rainbow Roller Rink in North Tonawanda was a frenzy of pink and lime green during a recent Saturday morning as members of the Ice Ice Babies, the Queen City Roller Girls’ new junior roller derby team for girls 8 to 17, prepared for their first bout Feb. 18.

While the “Babies” took part in assessments on the rink (they have to be able to skate seven laps in two minutes, among other criteria), Debra Hughes of Buffalo (aka Sissy Fit), QCRG league founder and junior derby co-founder, watched from the sidelines.

“My main reason (for starting a junior derby) is that I have two young daughters and they were pressing me to get them involved. A lot of roller girls have daughters,” she said. “Also, junior derby is really starting to take off naturally. To put ourselves on the map, we decided that was the way to go.

“Once you experience roller derby, you really want to spread it. So I think the junior derby is the best way to go.”

Hughes said there will be about 30 girls ready to bout, with several new members still learning the ropes. The team started in November, with a expo bout Jan. 15.

The Feb. 18 event will also be team member vs. team member, but the Ice Ice Babies will eventually take on other leagues, including those from Ithaca, Northeast Ohio and Toronto in the summer.

“It’s really empowering for young girls,” Hughes said. “There aren’t a lot of contact sports for them. It’s really kind of unique, and I think that’s part of the big draw.”

Carolyn Storms of Buffalo (aka Stormie Weather), the Ice Ice Babies co-founder with Hughes, agreed.

“As soon as the idea started, it just gained momentum,” she said. “Sports in general are good for girls. It teaches you to be competitive, to know your own self, to know your own worth.”

While the team practices in North Tonawanda, team members hail from throughout Western New York. At practice and an associated scrimmage Saturday, the girls wore pink or lime green jerseys with their own bits of individuality added — from striped or mismatched stockings to lime-green tutus to the stickers festooning their helmets.

Participants also get to pick their own derby names, which currently range from “Dora Destro’Ya” to “Lizzy Borg” and “Ally Catraz” to “Little Bit” (number: 1/2).

Despite these bits of camp, however, roller derby is serious business. The Queen City Roller Girls compete according to the rules set by Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, and so do the junior derby participants, Hughes said.

“There are no real differences, although we don’t do full contact, we do more positional blocking,” she said. “Although it’s hard to curb the full contact, so it happens.”

All players wear protective gear, including knee and elbow pads and helmets, and they all have to pass the same skating assessments, Hughes said.

“They all skate together,” she said. “We don’t separate them by size. People say, ‘Don’t you worry about the small ones?’ But the little ones can skate laps around the bigger girls. They’re so sneaky and fast.”

Of the parents watching Saturday, Bill Warner of Kenmore — whose  daughter, Isabella, 9 (aka Stumble Lena) is one of those “sneaky and fast” ones — is no newcomer to the sport. His wife Jody (aka The French Confection) skates for the Devil Dollies team of the QCRG.

“It’s not the ’70s, it’s a sport, it’s not theatrics,” he said, while watching his daughter take part in a scrimmage skate. “She’s learning to skate and be a team player. She enjoys the sport and her friends love it. It’s unusual.”

Warner also commended the Ice Ice Babies’ coaches and their work in teaching the girls not only the rules of roller derby, but the basics of sport — and sportsmanship.

“They teach them how to skate forward and backward, how to take a fall, how to protect yourself,” he said. “It’s not just ‘go out there and knock someone down.’ ”

Soon after, Isabella Warner and teammates Ashley Zaino (aka Ashzilla), 12, and Lily Hamlett (aka Lily Wonka), 10, took a break from participating in the scrimmage to watch their teammates and talk about their love for what they declared to be “the greatest sport ever.”

“It’s nice working with a team, and being able to rely on them,” Warner said. “And we’ve got the best coaches, too.”

All three take a certain amount of glee in roller derby’s status as a sport in which women — and girls — get the limelight.

“There are boys in our school; sometimes they pick on us. They say, ‘Roller derby?’ But I’m like, ‘Hey, you wanna try me?’ ” Warner said, smiling, hand on her hip.

“With roller derby, people line up to see girls play,” Hamlett said. “They’re not doing that for boys. They’re doing it for us.”

“Boys take all the sports. This is for us.” Zaino chimed in. “It’s the best sport ever.”

After practice, Sarah Lips (aka Fruitloop), 15, unlaced her skates in preparation for heading home — to Holland, N.Y., on the southeastern end of Erie County, from which she travels every week to take part in practice.

“It’s completely worth it,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a sport where everyone’s accepted.”

Maria Batt of North Tonawanda, the QCRG director of public relations, agreed.

“It seems like there’s always someone who doesn’t fit in, in soccer, in softball, in any sport,” she said. “ Here, there are little peanuts, there are beanpoles, there are bigger girls. Everybody fits in.

“There’s really a place for everyone here and it does a lot for their self esteem. They walk a little taller when they leave here.”