Power Jam: Roller Derby – Derby meets Video Games, an Opportunity.

While modern Roller Derby as a sport is spreading rapidly across the world, and turning up on TV and in newspapers with various degrees of accuracy, there are still parts of modern culture where our favourite sport has failed to penetrate.
Most notably, there is only one Roller Derby game in existence, Jam City Rollergirls, which, while WFTDA-licenced, is also essentially a fusion of Mario Kart and Derby. Disappointingly, it’s also limited to the Nintendo Wii, with no other platforms even being considered.

Concept art for Power Jam: Roller Derby.

This month, however, hope has arrived with the appearance of the Power Jam: Roller Derby project on Kickstarter. (For those of you unaware of Kickstarter, it’s the best known of the “crowd-funding” websites, where potential projects can ask for donations of funds (towards a set minimum target) from the general public. If the minimum target isn’t met, then no-one is charged any money (and the project presumably either dies or goes looking for money elsewhere). In order to encourage donations, projects offer “rewards” for pledging funds at various levels – usually on a graduated scale from “We’ll tweet you a thanks” for £5, up to grand invites to the opening party, or the ability to contribute to part of the project design, for £1000 or more.)

The Derby community is, in fact, no stranger to Kickstarter, thanks mainly to the Derby, Baby Distribution project, which saw basically everyone in derby worldwide donate money to help Robin Bond and Dave Wruck get their Derby documentary distributed around the world. (We, of course, all got sweet DVDs or Blu-rays of the film.) On a smaller scale, photographer Kyle Cassidy ran a Kickstarter to fund taking Lead Jammer’s Moxie McMurder around the States while he photographed skaters for a book.

The Power Jam : Roller Derby project is something different, however. A collaboration between two Belfast-based companies, Iglu Media and BillyGoat Entertainment, the plan is to create a fully-featured Roller Derby management game, with both strategic and tactical elements.
As with management games for other sports, you’ll manage your league at one level, dealing with recruiting skaters through fresh meat, planning training sessions, hiring halls and promoting your bouts. At the bout level, the plans show a full featured tactical interface, allowing you to give orders to both your jammer and all blockers during each jam (the skaters will be smart enough to do sensible stuff if you don’t order them around directly too, of course). The plan is to show the bouting action from a bird’s-eye tactical view, zooming in closer for “glam cam” shots of particularly impressive blocks or other important moments.

Speaking for Iglu, Jonny Kane was keen to emphasise that the project was born of a genuine love of derby from the developers: “It was by having conversations over an extended period of time with Roller Derby players and fans that it occurred to us that those who play or take part as Refs or NSO’s – no matter what your role – there is so much passion and dedication to the sport that goes beyond just the bout. This really appealed to us, the side of the sport that exists as soon as you scratch the service.”

This mock-up shows the tactical options planned for the bout interface.

With media representation, the issue of veracity often comes up (we’ve all seen TV depictions of derby that were… less than accurate). In this too, Power Jam : Roller Derby is trying to do the right thing. One of the first things the developers did was to contact local league, Belfast Roller Derby, for assistance. BRD’s Dempsey Hammer has been pleased with the level of interaction so far: “It’s hard to quantify [how much time we've spent talking to Iglu] as we’ve been in regular contact over email and phone as well as the occasional meeting or mo-cap session. We’ve been kept updated about the various stages of the project, and we’ve asked questions when we’ve wanted to and visa versa, it has been a very positive relationship between us and the guys at both companies!”

Indeed, so concerned are Iglu and BillyGoat at getting the action just right that they’re using the motion capture facility at Queen’s University Belfast to capture BRD’s skaters in action and translate them into the game models’ moves. Despite a little trepidation at being the models for the in-game skaters’ skills, BRD have been happy to help, and are so far happy with the results.

The astute of you may have noticed that we’ve gotten this far without any mention of which leagues are going to be featured in the game. That’s, partly, where the Kickstarter comes in.
In order to raise the £75000 needed to greenlight the game (a very parsimonious amount for modern games development), the developers are putting the final skater and league rosters in the game up for the funders to decide. While smaller donations will get you a copy of the finished game as soon as it’s ready (£15 for digital, £45 for boxed), skaters or leagues with deeper pockets will get to contribute content to the game itself. Donating £60 will get you a boxed copy, and also allow you to add a skater name to the in-game roster. Donating £200 will garner a host of goodies (limited edition art, t-shirt, badges), the ability to add a skater name to the roster and, most importantly, Beta access to the game, allowing you to provide feedback to the developers and shape the final game. Donating £250 will let you add a league name to the roster of leagues, add 5 skater names to the skater roster and also give you beta access and five boxed copies (this is obviously a significant saving if you know 4 people who want a boxed copy), and £300 lets you not just add a skate name to the game but actually provide photographs from which the developers will recreate the skaters’ likeness ingame (plus that beta access and a copy of the game itself). Finally, for those interested in outreach and promotion (those skateshops out there?), £2500 gets corporate branding added to the game, presumably tastefully done.
All of the higher tier rewards are limited in quantity, and several of them are currently on limited-size discounts at present (once 15 leagues have been added to the game, the price for the next 15 will increase to £350, for example).

Example of custom skater option for funders.

For leagues who are trying to decide where their money should go for the next year, £250 might seem like a lot of money just to get a name in a game, but Iglu’s Jonny Kane was keen to emphasise the promotional benefits of being featured: “This game we expect to reach at least high hundreds of thousands of gamers on the mobile version of the game. This means a huge audience made aware of Roller Derby who would not normally be aware of the sport. This is an tremendous opportunity for leagues to be involved in the funding and development of a great game that will get their own league in front of hundreds of thousands of new fans.”
It’s also worth pointing out that offering inclusion in the game as a high-tier funding reward is a standard practice in Kickstarters for video games, and usually for significantly more money (the Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter, for example, has 41 people currently paying $1000 to have the name and description of a character added to their game).

Even if you feel you can’t afford the high tier rewards, it’s worth donating anything you can to the project in order to help it meet its goals. (I am assured that Belfast Roller Derby will continue to be involved in the game development, so missing out on Beta access won’t mean that there’s no Derby involvement). Remember, if Power Jam: Roller Derby doesn’t reach its £75000 target by the 15th of April, then the developers won’t get any money at all. This might not mean the end of the game, but it will certainly mean a different, and probably smaller, product. If the Roller Derby community believes that it deserves quality representation in the Video Game genre, then there’s no argument for not contributing something to helping this happen.

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Power Jam : Roller Derby will be developed in Unity 3D for release on Windows, OSX, Linux, and mobile. It will also be multilingual, supporting English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish. The digital release will be DRM-free.

All images in this article owned by Iglu Media and BillyGoat Entertainment.

The views expressed in this article are those of the contributor, and do not represent those of the Scottish Roller Derby Blog itself.

Happy Mother’s Day!

To all the inspirational Scottish Derby Maws (and Maws-to-be!)

So, this is my 9th Mother’s Day (as a mum, obviously – it’s my 37th one as a daughter!), and all I want from today is peace and quiet! And breakfast in bed. And maybe some chocolates.

Being a mum is awesome! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all breakfast in bed, and cards and chocolates. It’s the hardest, most challenging job I’ve ever had – but it’s also the most rewarding. 9 months of sacrificing all the fun stuff you love to do is well worth it – right? Well, I don’t know about that. My first pregnancy was fairly short – 3 months to be exact. I was 26 weeks ‘gone’ with my son before we knew I was pregnant. So during that first vital 6 months of my baby’s development I was blissfully unaware of his existance and was therefore doing all the ‘wrong’ things. Drinking, dancing, cycling, camping, eating tuna, peanuts and soft cheese (not together – boak), and just having fun. If I’d been part of a derby league at that time I would have been skating, and I wouldn’t have been cautious about it, because I had no idea I was pregnant! Pregancy number 2 was quite different. I knew straight away (at about week 5) and although I had living, breathing proof that you don’t need to wrap yourself in cotton wool during pregnancy, I was a wee bit more cautious.

This rather revealing insight into my private life brings me, tenuously, to the point of my Mother’s Day blog – skating during pregnancy! During the 2 years I’ve been involoved in roller derby, all the pregnant skaters I know stopped skating immediately. I’m of the opinion that this is the sensible thing to do – after all, derby is a contact sport and no-one wants to see a pregnant skater get injured. Roller derby is one of those wonderful all-inclusive sports, so there’s no need for pregnant skaters to disappear off the radar for 9 months. There are so many ways to stay involved off-skates that mums-to-be can remain right in the thick of things for the duration of their pregnancy. Bench, Line-Up, committees, baking – you could well wonder how you ever had time to skate pre-pregnancy!

But what about those who want the best of both worlds? It’s well documented that remaining active and fit during pregnancy is a good thing. In fact, the NHS encourages mums to be to keep up their normal physical activies and sports for as long as they’re comfortable. If skating is part of your normal physical activity, then with a bit of caution, is it necessary to stop straightaway?

I recently had a chat about this with Irn Bruzer from Nasty Nessies who is currently 17 weeks pregnant.

First, huge congratulations on your pregnancy! How did your Nasty Nessies team-mates react to the news?

They were all over the moon for me which was great. I was mostly worried about telling Bee-Yatch and Nat-orious Red as we have all been together from the very start and was worried how they would react. They were so happy for me though so made it a happy time

Have you stopped skating?

I have not stopped skating yet, but I am not on track any more. I am confined to the middle for now. Although I do get a few careful laps in while the others kit up.

Have you done much research into skating (recreationally or derby) while pregnant? If so, has that helped influence any of your decisions regarding on skates or off?

I have spoken to a few other skaters who have become pregnant but they have all stopped straight away  The only person that I know so far who has continued to skate was an American skater. I understand why the others stopped and I understand how people will feel that I have not, but everyone is different. I do not have a time scale when to stop, I think I will know when it comes, but not yet. I’m not trying to prove anything, I just don’t feel that I need to yet. I am not doing any contact or on track, I am not putting anyone in danger and I am very aware of my surroundings. My midwife knows my plans and I was told that starting new exercise routines or sports are not reccomended but just toning down what your body is used to is fine. Well my body is used to skating, and so will my baby hehe.

I know you’re very passionate about Nasty Nessies – how will you be applying that passion to an off-skates role? And what off-skates role (if any) will that be?

For now, I am helping with our fantastic newbies and with coaching. I will take on any role off-skates that I can do in the near future, Hopefully I will bench manage our first bout sometime but time will tell

Have you given any thought to when you’ll return to skates?

I hope to be back on skates as soon as possible, even if its only for five minutes I was chatting to one of the girls last night ans we were joking about an active birth on skates! How awesome? I think the hospital may frown about that though!

Do you think you’ll still be able to commit the same time to derby as before?

I hope to be able to commit as much as I can, I mean, babies sleep a lot right? And you can do lots online and via laptop. I don’t think I can plan how much I can do, best to just take it as it comes, but I still plan to be a very familiar face within the team whatever happens.

Have you chatted to any other Scottish “derby-moms” who have recently given birth? If so, have you been given any good advice that you’d like to pass on to others?

I have spoken to a few of the girls from Dundee who have had babies, just really how they have kept committed to the team and went back when they are ready which is good. I expect there have been many pregnancies in derby where the girls have never gone back from some reason or another and I will make sure that doesn’t happen to me. Even if the worst happens and I cannot skate competitively again, I will still be involved somehow, its too much part of my life now to give up.

Do you have any Scottish “derby-mom” heroes? (Skaters with kids, that still find the time to help run a league, train, coach and bout?) What makes them so inspirational?

I think the one that seemed to do the most up until birth and now back on skates is Crown Jules from Dundee. I went to a bout in November and she was Bench Managing while heavily pregnant. Definitely someone to admire.

 I’m aware there may be mixed reactions to my interview but I feel that everyone is different and what works for you and feels right is always best. But each to their own. I would never put myself or my baby in any danger and I don’t feel that being on skates out of everyone’s way is doing that. Also I’m a clumsy oaf, I can get into more harm walking down the stairs! Also I have a very supportive partner and fantastic team!

Whatever your feelings on skating during pregnancy, there’s no denying Bruzer has really thought this through. And I think that’s the key. Life is a series of risks – some you can control, and others that you can’t. By thinking through the risks you can control and being open and discussing your plans with your league (and your midwife!), then maybe recreational skating is something of a third option. I don’t think anyone would be able to skate for 9 months of a pregnancy - just putting your skates on in the third tri-mester would represent a significant challenge, but in the early days of pregnancy, tentative laps around the track while others are kitting up might be a way to “wind down” your exercise routine.

Next time: I’m looking for skaters who are returning to the track after having a baby. If you’d like to share your story, then please get in touch.

In the meantime – Happy Mother’s Day Enjoy the day with the weans, whether they be kids, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, chickens, fish …

An Interview With Krusty Thud:GCRG’s 2012

Photography by Man On Gerrard

Latest in a series of end of year interviews, this time it’s the turn of Krusty Thud, Chair of Granite City Roller Girls to look back over the last year and forward to 2013.

Granite City Roller Girls had a less than ideal start to 2012,with the news of the loss of your bouting venue,after nearly a year without a home,are you any closer to finding a new venue in Aberdeen?

It has been a constant struggle. Alternative venues were approached but we’re very limited with venues in Aberdeen as they are generally too small. We’ve had various support and at the moment we’re in talks with other medias outside Aberdeen. If our current plan doesn’t end positively then we’ll seek help from them. I am limited as to what I can say at the moment but I will keep you posted.

Impressively ,the lack of a home venue did not prevent GCRG having a season,albeit an all away one.With the help of Fair City Rollers,you hosted Granite City’s first Intraleague bout in Perth,which featured skaters from every bouting league in the country lending a hand.Were you surprised at the level of support shown by the other Scottish leagues?

I wasn’t surprised but more humbled by the support within Scottish Roller Derby. Slaughtership Down was a fantastic day and FCR were brilliant hosts, the intraleague bout was a cracking way to unite varied talents from various Scottish leagues and give skaters a chance to skate with all levels of skaters. It was also something a little different for spectators.
DRG supported us by inviting us to do a double-header bout with them in November, we had a home for the day
This meant we could invite Newcastle for a return bout, and as you know it turned out to be one hell of a game! DRG did us proud with all the organising and being so supportive.

With road trips to Lincolnshire and Belfast amongst other places,having a GCRG skater carry the Olympic Torch and one of the most nail-biting bouts of the year against Newcastle Roller Girls to pick from,What have been the team’s highlights for the 2012?

Despite the lack of venue, GCRG did fantastic in 2012 and indeed we have had many a highlight, all difficult to choose from because there were proud moments in all events. Being able to watch Carolyn (Clinically Wasted) carry the Olympic Torch was amazing, we couldn’t be more proud of her and it was well deserved.
Personally I think the Newcastle bout ended 2012 on a huge high for us as it was a 50 point difference last time we played them in Newcastle. And yes – a nail-biter of a finish it certainly was! It proved to us that all the hard work we’ve been putting in is paying off with regards to training and gelling as a team. All members of GCRG are putting in 100% and I am so proud of everyone and their own personal achievements.

GCRG started a rather slick quarterly newsletter in August,how did the idea for that come about and how did you get it up and running?

Lynne (Hugger-naut) came up with the idea and with her past experience of being a journalist and sub-editor, we jumped at the chance. Lynne felt she was unable to commit fully to our Promotions team due to her work and other sporting commitments, so this was her way of helping promote GCRG. Originally it was supposed to be a couple of pages long, but it grew to 8 pages, clearly GCRG have a lot to say! And I am very privileged because I’m allowed a sneak peek before it’s published
She comes up with ideas and with input and help from members she produces a fun and informative newsletter. It’s great for everyone to get involved in with their thoughts and ideas, and it gives an insight to GCRG and roller derby for our newer members and supporters.

Looking to the future,we have the new rule set on the horizon,are you looking forward to the change to no minors and do you think that WFTDA have been successful in streamlining the game for both fans and skaters?

I was a little apprehensive at first but think it will be quite exciting now the rules are out there. With regards to streamlining I think it will work, but I guess that will become apparent in time.
It will be faster game with the elimination of the minors which slowed the game in my eyes. Also it will be a nice challenge for GCRGs referees being bombarded with questions and also the skaters for coming up with some new tactical game plays.

Finally,can you drop any hints about GCRG’s plans for 2013?

We have a few away bouts already in the pipeline, one being Tenerife in September, so we’re very excited about that. It will be a nice holiday too. At this moment in time we are restricted with lack of home venue but regardless of this, we will have plenty of bouts in 2012, watch this space!
Also, we have our next ‘Fresh Meat’ Saturday 26th January 2013. We have a busy Fundraising team getting ideas into motion to help raise money for all our away games, as we don’t have the income from home games, as well as our charity and community events that we’re heavily involved in. There’s never a dull moment for GCRG and we’re always working and training as hard as we can. We never give up, we love this game and will do what we can to keep on playing it!

An Interview With Fun Ghoul:FVRG’s 2012

Photogrphy by Claire Brunton of Zenspirations Photography & Design

Next in line for an end of year interview are the Fierce Valley Roller Girls.Fun Ghoul looks back over the last twelve months and forward to the new year.

Fierce Valley Roller Girls have had a pretty busy year,with bouts against Dundee,Belfast and Wirral,plus your first intraleague bout,what are the team’s highlights of the last twelve months?

It’s so hard to pick out highlights when the year has been so amazing! For the Parma Violents it has to be the team development, going from playing very basic roller derby, to developing strategically, being able to assess and react to what’s happening on track, working more coherently as a unit and being able to implement whilst bouting what we practice at training. And, of course, our first win!

For the league it has to be our continuous growth; hosting successful Fresh Meat intakes, fundraising events and raising our profile within the local community. We now have four training sessions per week, targeting four different levels of training, which, even just a year ago, would have been crazy to comprehend.

The personal highlight for me is taking girls who are strapping on skates for the first time in years (or ever in some cases!) and seeing their journey from Bambi-on-ice to roller derby player. Watching our girls skate at both DRG’s hosted Cherry Poppers bout and the Jakey Bite hosted Sur5al Tournament made me feel like a proud parent! It’s been a massive learning curve to learn how to play roller derby and coach it at the same time, but seeing it all fall into place makes all the time and effort worthwhile. Every success of a league-mate is a success for the league, and it makes me so proud to be a part of FVRG!

Oh, and meeting soooooo many amazing people within the derby community!

Picking out two of the years’ games,the first public bout for Fierce Valley was back in February against Dundee Roller Girls.Despite a shaky start,Fierce Valley visibly grew in confidence as the game progressed.As captain for that bout,how did you manage the team’s nerves through their first game?

Hiding my own nerves was the first part! I don’t think I shared with anyone how nervous I was as I wanted to be the essence of calm, control and focus for the team.

I knew that being our first open public bout and our first away bout there would be a lot of nerves, so I just tried my best to pull everyone together, so that no one was alone in their worries. We all travelled through together, which gave us time for a good team pow-wow beforehand, where the team could voice any concerns they had and support each other.

Despite the score of the game, everyone was in really high spirits by half-time, so it didn’t take much motivation to get everyone back on track! I think once the initial fear was overcome, and we realised that we could play this game and that we did know what we were doing, everything fell into place a bit better. Which was all helped too by the DRG girls being so wonderful and inviting, and showing us a brilliant time (on and off track), whilst still giving us the serious pummeling we needed to up our game in the long run!

The last Fierce Valley bout of the year against Wirral Whipiteres was held at home at The Peak in Stirling and resulted in a convincing win for the home team.Everyone wants to win their first home game,but what was it like to actually achieve that and will there be a return match next year?

A dream come true!

Going into it it was hard to say what the outcome was going to be. Being a newer team, like ourselves, there wasn’t a lot of information around about what the Whipiteres were like and how they played, so we just went into as best prepared as we could and played for the win.

I plan the Advanced/Team training, so it was the best possible validation that what we’d been doing at training was working. The best comments to come after the bout were about how we’d really played well together as a team, which we’ve struggled with in the past, and that, for me, was a better outcome than winning, as that team cohesion is really what we’ve been working for.

As for a return match…it’s in the pipeline. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say about these things so to be on the safe side I’ll play it coy!

Fierce Valley have done a lot of fundraiser and charity events over the last twelve months,how important are these non sporting events to the league and to Roller Derby as a community?

The fundraising events are integral to the running of a successful league. None of what we do is cheap and I don’t envy our Treasurer keeping things in the “black” for us! The fundraising supports what we do in derby, makes bouting possible, means we have t-shirts to sell at bouts, and ensures that our skaters, officials and support crew who travel to bouts aren’t having to do so solely out of their own pocket. If people didn’t support the derby run events then there’d be a lot of sad, very poor skaters out there.

Making them “events” as well is really important to us. If people want to support the league, they should still get something out of it, be it a cake, the chance to win a raffle prize, or a fun night out. And they get the league name out into the community and spread the word of roller derby! They’re also really fun to attend, and often an opportunity for skaters to socialised outside of the parameters of skating, which is always nice.

Looking ahead,the change to no minors is coming up in January,are Fierce Valley looking forward to playing under the new rules and do you think that WFTDA have succeeded with their vision of a streamlined game?

I’m sure the WFTDA aren’t quite at the fully finalised stage with things yet, so we’ll see how it all pans out soon enough.

With regards to game play, I think it’ll make things easier to understand for those new to roller derby, skaters or spectators. I’m not going to miss explaining “taking a knee” to my mum! From a non-derby spectators perspective, the no minor penalties probably won’t have much impact on how the game is watched, skaters still get sent off…my mum still won’t know why most of the time!

For us, it will take a bit of time to get used to things. I know that the WFTDA leagues get to Beta test the new rules sets, but for the wee-er ones like us, we’ve just gotten them, so it’s going to be a rush to get to grips with things and not be racking up those majors in our first bout of 2013. I’m confident that once we get over the initial niggles of it though, it will all fall into place, and we hopefully won’t have too many foul-outs until then!

Lastly, are you able to drop any hints about Fierce Valley’s plans for 2013?

I don’t know what I’m allowed to say yet!

Well we have our first bout of 2013 at home on the 16th February at The Peak in Stirling (get it in the diaries!!) against Preston Roller Girls so watch this space for further details and online ticket sales …here’s the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/114944845342095/ Our first away bout of the year is on the 30th March against Newcastle Roller Girls Whippin Hinnies. Needless to say we are very, very excited about both bouts!

Further on in the year we have some other very exciting bouts in the pipeline, along with our usual smattering of fundraising events, Fresh Meat intakes, and growing the league into being even bigger and better than before!

Scotland’s Newest Leagues: A Year in Derby

While the bigger leagues have had their 2012 filled with bouting, the rapid growth of derby in Scotland means that there are many other leagues who have been spending the past year growing and moving towards bout readiness. With Inverness’ Nasty Nessies covered in a special edition of their Monthly Diary to come, we thought that New Town Roller Girls, Deadly Divas Roller Derby, Shetland Roller Derby and Lothian Derby Dolls all deserved the time to tell us how they’d been doing over the past 12 months.

New Town, based in Livingston, and the Derby Dolls, based in Edinburgh and the Lothians, are near contemporaries, and both have been growing and developing over the past year. Both leagues have spent the past year growing and developing their skills towards passing mins.

In particular, after a slow start to the year, everything started coming together for New Town Roller Girls in the last 6 months, their numbers swelling to 18 by the end of this year, with 4 skaters, and referee The Real Scrim Shady, already mins-passed. The league’s founder, Hazzard, was keen to credit “Reff Goldblum of FVRG,” as “the man that helped us pass our mins and has been a great help to us!”, with others being equally positive about the recent attendance by Auld Reekie’s Circuit Breaker, and the many other skaters from other leagues who have visited them.

The ladies in black and electric blue also held their first fundraiser in November, the event also serving as the official unveiling of their newly printed boutfits. If Hazzard was upbeat about roller derby and their place in the community,  ”I thought [derby] was amazing from when I first found out about it and all that’s really changed is that I’ve come to know the sport better and love the camaraderie of the community and the sheer fun of being involved!”, The Real Scrim Shady was even more positive, stating “First time I went along, it was a bunch of people who didn’t even know each other’s names, nervously skating round the hall following the instructions of Hazzard and Reff Goldblum. It was fun for sure, but since then everyone knows each other, people push each other to do better and give pointers where needed, there’s a noticeable anticipation in the run-up to each session. People look forward to it and, as far as I can see, great progress has been made. It feels like a team now instead of just a bunch of friendly strangers.”

New Town Roller Girls at their Fundraiser this year.

New Town are very much looking forward to having enough team members mins-passed to bout, although the team is divided on who their first opponents should be, with skater Bump-Her Stick-Her feeling that “Fierce Valley seem to be our closest ‘buddies’ but bouting against them would be terrifying as they are amazing”, with Hazzard taking the more conservative choice of close buddies “Deadly Divas Roller Derby could well be our first bout partners but you do never know…”

The Lothian Derby Dolls have advanced slightly faster than their peers in attaining a full roster of mins-passed skaters, aided by their acquiring of experienced derby coach Cain Unstable. Duke Box, speaking to us for the league, mentioned both Cain, and offered “thanks to Lead Jammer Magazine, Inkabilly and Into The Nitemare [derby store]” for their donations and sponsorship. The league also held a successful Halloween themed roller-disco, which had good attendance and promotion.

Duke Box was also clear that the Derby Dolls, while branding themselves “a team for the Lothians” with “skaters from all across the Lothian area; Mid, West, East and Edinburgh” have been getting on well with the well-established Auld Reekie in the capital itself. “Having ARRG in Edinburgh has allowed us opportunities both to watch them play and support them” she said, adding that the Derby Dolls “have also had some of our skaters join them in scrimmaging this year and hope to have the chance to more in the future, as we wish for all leagues close to us.”

While the Derby Dolls are now capable of fielding a full roster of skaters, they are cagey about their first bout; an initially prematurely announced inaugural fixture has since been delayed or rescheduled. Whenever their initial bout is held, LDD will be attending the Into The Nitemare store-sponsored ‘Battle of Britain’ tournament in November. As one of the two unseeded competitors, it will be interesting to see how they fare, and a good learning experience for them in the process (even experienced teams like Glasgow Roller Derby and Auld Reekie find extended tournaments to be an exhausting endeavour).

A Christmas-themed group photo from the Lothian Derby Dolls 2013 calendar.

The Deadly Divas and Shetland Roller Derby, meanwhile, have both only been recruiting since partway through the year, Shetland having been actively growing since July, and the Divas since September! At this early stage in their existence, a lot of the focus has been on gaining numbers and experience. Shetland’s Shock Blocker put a lot of effort into outreach via local press and radio appearances, also providing taster sessions for those unsure to experience the meaning of derby. The Divas leveraged some less conventional internet media, including Gumtree and eBay, but also the Glasgow press. In the end, word-of-mouth, both online via their Facebook and Web pages, and offline via the inability of new roller girls to speak about anything else, may have been their most significant factors, taking them, in the words of founder AJ La Kaos, from “only 3 of us then 2 left; As it stands now in less than 3 months we have around 20 members which is phenomenal!”

Both have also been welcomed by the derby community, the Divas getting regular support from Glasgow’s men’s derby team Mean City Roller Derby, as well as the Pan-Scotland Jakey Bites, and turning up to New Town Roller Girls’ open practices on Sunday afternoons; Shetland via their closest neighbours Nasty Nessies, who made a flying visit, following on from a visit from the Forth Valley’s Bairn City Rollers earlier in the year. For the Divas, AJ La Kaos noted that “Being the second league in Glasgow has brought up a few complications especially with recruiting and sourcing a venue. We try very hard not to step on GRD’s toes in both respects with branding ourselves as a south side team”, while the advantage of being in the middle of things allows them to “go to as many bouts as possible, its a great way to see the sport in its full glory. It also keeps us motivated seeing what we’re all working towards.” The Divas have the advantage of ex-GRD skater Viper as their coach, who also serves as their “biggest inspiration in the derby world” according to La Kaos.

The Deadly Divas even managed to get themselves into the papers!

Being the most remote roller derby league in the UK causes the opposite problem for Shetland Roller Derby,  preventing easy access to live derby hosted on the mainland, and to physical skate stores. Shock Blocker said that the team “owes a special place in our hearts to Marshall Lawless (of 5th Blocker Skates [and Glasgow Roller Derby]) for answering all of our questions, and managing to get stuff up to Shetland at a reasonable price”.
The remoteness of Shetland also has another effect on the league, in terms of its makeup. While all roller derby leagues have a mix of ages present, Shetland’s overall deficit of University-age individuals is reflected in the more mature demographic of the league, as well. This has not limited their advancement, Shock Blocker commenting that “Our skaters have really grown as a team, and we’ve been supporting each other learning together. It’s been amazing to watch people that have never skated get better and better, and we’ve all certainly learned a lot.”

2012 has been a year of great expansion for Scottish Roller Derby, with the four teams above, and Inverness’ Nasty Nessies, all making strides towards doubling the number of bouting leagues in the country. By the end of 2013, the community will only be enriched further as each league passes their mins and becomes bout-ready. We asked each of the league representatives what their aims for 2013 were, and they kindly responded with many words. Rather than take them out of context, we present them here unedited.

Deadly Divas Roller Derby (AJ La Kaos):
2013 will hopefully be a huge year for us as a team, we’re working hard towards getting everyone mins passed and having our first proper bout! For me personally, I’m looking forward to that first day on track watching my new family kick some ass: win or lose it won’t matter as we’re all there for each other and that’s all that really matters.

Shetland Roller Derby (Shock Blocker):
2013 will be our year of getting our team mins passed, trying to attract more skaters, and educating the public a bit more about the sport. We are delighted to receive any skaters who’d like to come up to Shetland, and show them around. If we can gather enough funding, maybe plan a trip to the mainland.

Personally, I’d like to improve my skating skills, my understanding of the rules, and hopefully see more bouts in person.

In the meantime, we at Shetland Roller Derby would like to wish all the Scottish teams a big thank you, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! xx

New Town Roller Derby:
(Hazzard)
In the next year we hope to have enough skaters mins passed and experienced to start having some closed door bouts atleast! Then on to the big scary world of open bouts and trying to find somewhere to hold them at home too!

(The Real Scrim Shady)

There’s still much work to be done, but over the next wee while I’m interested in helping NTRG improve their skating and developing the fitness levels necessary for a bout. I’ve been skating for years and I like helping other people avoid some mistakes that I made in the process of learning to be comfortable on skates. I want to see all NTRG members be comfortable enough on skates that they can be thinking about the bout rather than worrying about staying on their feet. 

I’ve seen progress in the short time I’ve been involved, for example 4 skaters passing mins. But I’d like to see training become a bit more intense. Circuit Breaker is coming back to help us with exactly that and I’ll try to help Hazzard maintain the level of training and push it harder when the time’s right. 

As for what I see for myself within the next year, I’m learning about the game pretty quickly right now and I’m looking to get a set of quads (I’m a fruitbooter btw). I aim to gain enough knowledge and understanding of bouts to move on from the role I’ve already had as NSO. The eventual goal is to become a ref but I don’t know just now how long I can expect that to take.

Lothian Derby Dolls (Duke Box):
Well 2013 so far does have us taking part in The Battle of Britain; a tournament that is being organised by Into The Nitemare. We also have a couple of things that are being organised bouting wise and will be announced next year when finalised and confirmed. Just a lot more hard work in training and some fun events in store for us also. It is definitely the year the Dolls will make a great one for all our skaters and those who supports us. So a big thanks to all who have got us to the end of 2012 it has been a great start.

(Thanks to: Lothian Derby Dolls’ Duke Box; New Town Roller Girls’ Hazzard, Millie Manslaughter, Bump-her Stick-her and The Real Scrim Shady; Shetland Roller Derby’s Shock Blocker; and Deadly Divas Roller Derby’s AJ La Kaos for their contributions to this report.)

An Interview with Pistol Panties: Fair City Rollers in 2012 and beyond

As part of the blog’s End of Year interview series, we caught up with Fair City Rollers’ Pistol Panties to talk about roller derby in Perth, and the future.

Pistol Panties and the rest of FCR vs Furness Firecrackers. (Photo by Ian Mccreadie)

Despite complications in the latter half of the year, Fair City managed 4 bouts in the past year, including a strong showing against the Furness Firecrackers in September. What’s the high point of the year from a bouting perspective?

I think we showed over the past year how a team can improve with hard graft. We think that’s reflected in our scores, especially against Furness, we all really enjoyed the bout and even though it wasn’t a win, we were still very proud of what we achieved. We are very grateful for the help we had from guest coaches from the other Scottish Leagues and most notably from Alma Geddon of ARRG, who has been a constant source of support for us, both from a training perspective and with the league as a whole. We wouldn’t have improved as much as we have without the support we have had from Alma, and Scotland’s leagues in general.

What’s the best moment of the year from Fair City’s perspective?

Its hard to pick a specific moment… for me it was drawing a small lead in our bout against Wakey Wheeled Cats in June. That Cats are such a great bunch of girls so it was great to host our re-match, and we had a feeling it might be a close bout, because we thought we had improved as a team, and we felt sure they would have too. I think it was during the second half when we pulled ahead by only a few points there was a flash of “We could actually win this”, and I think that was enough to push us to work harder and come back fighting. Even though we didn’t win the game, it was definitely a high point for the whole team.

Bell’s Sports Centre is a fantastic venue, and you’ve been kind enough to donate it to Granite City for their home bouts this year. Do you think it helps a league to have a really solid venue for bout hosting, and how difficult was it getting Bell’s?

We’ve had a lot of support from Granite City in the past, so that decision wasn’t a hard one, but yes it helps to have a really good relationship with your venue, which we have with Bells. They’re always accommodating towards us, when sometimes it can be difficult to find that with a fairly new sport, I’m sure most leagues have experience of that.

You gained a new sponsor in IntoTheNitemare this year as well. What’s your relationship with Raven, and how do you feel about the sponsorship and money-raising side of derby? (How is hire a Fear Maiden going?)

I know there is a split at the moment between those who see sponsorship in Derby is crucial, and those who see it as moving towards the more commercial side of the sport. When the relationship is mutually beneficial, and everyone is in agreement we see it as a positive thing for the league. That’s what we have with Raven, and supporting the derby family is our priority. We think that its important to keep things fresh and capture peoples imagination, which is where the Hire a Fear Maiden came into existence…..its going really well, were hoping to have more success with it next year.

The big shock for all of Scottish Roller Derby was Fair City’s announcement that they were going rec-only for a while. While it’s still sensitive, would you like to tell us a little about the difficult decision that this involved?

It really wasn’t a choice, it is a necessity at the moment. It has been a blow for us to lose so many skaters this year but we feel really positive about what’s happening and where we go from here. At the end of the day there were people who weren’t getting what they wanted from the league, or there was another league closer to where they actually live. People should always pursue what is best for them at that time, rather than stay with the league that doesn’t suit their needs. There have been some really positive developments for us recently, and were hoping that the new year will bring more of the same!

The promise of a future revival is implicit in the announcement on the Fair City facebook page. What do you have planned for 2013? (This isn’t the first time a roller derby league has reinvented itself and come back stronger.)

We are still a Roller Derby League first a foremost, but we are taking time out to focus on recruitment. As a team FCR are full of people who are really pro-active and positive about the future, and who really want the league to succeed, and that’s what’s most important to us. Right now were concentrating on listening to our members and giving them what they want from the league. The recreational element facilitates this because it allows us to draw in a bigger audience and get people interested in skating, and we can think about forming a team when we have a solid foundation to build that on. So watch this space!

An Interview With Milky:DRG’s 2012

Photography by Dave McAleavy

Latest in a series of end of year interviews,this time its the turn of Dundee Roller Girl’s Milky to reflect on the last twelve months and look forward to 2013.

Dundee Roller Girls had an excellent season overall,turning in some strong wins, and only losing once to Glasgow Roller Derby’s Maiden Grrders,what have been the highlights of the year for DRG?

We’ve had an amazing year and I think for me, there were two big highlights. Winning our first away bout outside of Scotland against Manchester Roller Derby was incredible. They were the first team we played as Dundee Roller Girls and the first team I captained against. We lost that first time, so securing the win against them on the return bout really showed us how far we’d come in a year and I could not have been more proud as captain. I cried loads. Quite embarrassing. The other highlight would have to be our win against ARRG’s Cannon Belles. Because…y’know…it’s ARRG! We couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere on the day, they’re an amazing team.

2012 has been in stark contrast to the previous year,where DRG had a single win,how have the team managed to turn that around so spectacularly in such a short space of time?

2011 was a massive year for us, with the dissolve of Dundee Destroyers and the birth of Dundee Roller Girls, we had to entirely re-brand, re-structure, everything. This year, we’ve really hit our stride in terms of organisation, team-cohesion and training. We really focussed on going back to basics and developing as strong a team and as close a team as possible. For me, I think the biggest boost was the introduction of the six-month captaincy. Previously, we’d swapped captains between bouts, but this led to training being a bit disjointed. The long-term captaincy has given us such smooth training, giving captains time to work on the aspects they feel the team needs work, and giving the team time to really grasp new tactics. We’ve also had a lot of new skaters join our bouting team. Their enthusiasm, skill and knowledge brought such an awesome motivation to the team, it’s really boosted us to develop together. I also couldn’t answer this without mentioning a vital addition to the Silvery Tayzers this year – our bench manager Mark McCarthy. I’ve never met anyone who can motivate a team the way he can. We’ve never lost a bout with him on the bench!

Picking up on a couple of the highlight bouts,DRG made a little bit of Scottish Derby history when you hosted the country’s first Co-Ed bout this year.Is Co-Ed something we will be seeing again in Dundee and,more generally,how do you see the future of Co-Ed and Mens Derby in Scotland?

That bout was amazing fun! We’re thinking of making it an annual thing. I think co-ed and men’s roller derby will always be welcome and supported in DRG. We’re really close to the Jakey Bites in particular and they’ve shown us a lot of support over the past year. DRG run co-ed scrims monthly and they really do change the way you skate and the way you think about the game – there’s so many male skaters in Scotland I admire and look to in terms of skating style. I think there’s a huge amount to learn from the different style they bring to derby. The co-ed Su5al tournament run by the Jakey Bites this month was easily one of my favourite roller derby experiences to date so I hope 2013 brings more co-ed! Men’s derby seems to be really taking off in Scotland with local leagues doing fantastic work in such a short space of time. I’m hoping to get to officiate a little more men’s derby – I’ve got a few opportunities already lined up which I’m looking forward to. I’m a big supporter and I’m excited to see how these new teams develop.

The penultimate bout of the season against ARRG’s Cannon Belles was something of a nail biter and surely a contender for bout of the year,resulting in a narrow win for DRG.Given that the last time the two teams met ,the result was a blow out victory for ARRG.How did the team approach the bout,did you go in playing for the win or for damage limitation?

DRG always aim to go into bouts positive. The bout with the Cannon Belles was a strange one – we’d had such a good year up to that point and felt so confident in our team that we really did go in playing for the win, but that felt a bit foreign considering ARRG’s reputation and the incredible calibre of their skaters. We’re very much a second-half team, as was definitely the case on the day! It takes us a little while to really get into the game, but when we do, I think the closeness of our team really comes through and we work together amazingly. Our captains for that bout (Viva La Derby and Spex Offender) are incredible skaters and incredible leaders. They’ve both got so much knowledge and such a good understanding of the game, they couldn’t have prepared us better for that bout. From my point of view, that was the best DRG have ever skated. I think we were all a bit stunned at the end…that was the most nerve-wracking last jam I’ve ever jammed!

On a more personal note,you are one of very few people who skate competitively and also referee in Scotland at the moment,additionally,you are also Chairperson at Dundee Roller Girls.How do you balance skating,reffing and your commitments to the league?

I sort of fell in to officiating when DRG started running our weekly open scrimmages. We often didn’t have enough refs so skaters needed to step in. I realised pretty quickly it was something I wanted to pursue, but wasn’t really sure how to balance it with bouting and training with DRG. I was lucky to have a huge amount of support from our head ref Righteous Oxide when I started really working towards it, and some amazing feedback and wisdom from Cherry Fury set me on the right path! Granite City Roller Girls were awesome and gave me my first opportunity to jam ref their away game in Leicester with the Dolly Rockit Rollers (cheers guys!). The most important part for me of balancing bouting and officiating was to make sure I kept the two entirely separate. I don’t and never will ref for DRG and the only time I take out of training is to ref our scrimmages. Doing that has made it really easy to balance bouting and officiating and to be taken seriously as an official. I think it’s important to draw a line between the two. I can see that as bout schedules get busier, I’ll probably have to make a decision between which it is I’m going to do full-time, but right now, I’m happy doing both. In terms of league commitments, DRG are such a supportive league and we’ve really settled into our organisational structure this year, it’s been a total pleasure to be a part of that. We’re a close-knit team, and I think a lot of our success this year has come down to our amazing committees keeping us running, and our main chairperson Cat. Without her I’d be lost most of the time!

Looking ahead to next year,the new rule set comes into effect in January.What do you think of the changes from a referee’s perspective?

I’m super excited. I think the new rules set is going to un-complicate the game significantly and make it more accessible to spectators. From an officiating view, I spend most of my time jam reffing, so the removal of minor penalties will be fantastic and make our job a wee bit easier! I’m hoping to pick up more pack reffing experienced this year, and I think the new rules set will make the transition more achievable. I’m looking forward to a more straightforward game and can’t wait to ref under the new set.

Lastly,can you tell us anything about DRG’s plans for 2013?

DRG are looking to build upon our success this year. We’ve got an exceptionally busy year planned and have bouts booked with some big names and our first over the water away game in Belfast! We’ve also just had an amazing group of skaters move up the ranks to mins-passed and I can’t wait to see them join the Tayzers and bout with us. Their talent is a bit frightening really, but good motivation to keep improving! 2013 is going to be a huge challenge for us and I’m really excited to think about what we’ll have achieved by this time next year.

An Interview with Chemikill Hazard: GRD’s 2012

Continuing the blog’s series of reviews of the year from Scotland’s many Roller Derby leagues, we asked Glasgow Roller Derby’s officially voted Best Veteran Blocker, and Irn Bruisers co-captain, Chemikill Hazard, about their past 12 months, and their plans for the future.

Chemikill Hazard (and others) looking out for Rogue Runner during Chaos on The Clyde.

It’s been a busy year for Glasgow Roller Derby, starting with Tattoo Freeze, and incorporating the rebrand from Glasgow Roller Girls, a lot of European Derby bouts, a showing of “Derby, Baby”, hosting Scotland’s first international Derby tournament, a Home Teams season, and of course, competing at Europe’s first WFTDA certified tournament, Track Queens. Before we talk about the year individually, what’s been your favourite moment out of all of this?

This whole year has been amazing, so just picking one favourite moment is really hard, I think if we had managed to do a 5 tiered pyramid at our awards night that could have been it but, alas, that didn’t quite work so I guess it would probably be the Chaos On The Clyde tournament. There was a lot of stress and preparation leading up to this (and during it) from everyone in the league but we pulled it off, and we won.

Obviously, it’s been a very good year for you personally, Captaining GRD in international tournaments, winning MVP Blocker at Track Queens, and MVP and Best Blocker from your fellow skaters at GRD, and appearing in “Derby Baby!”.

Yeah, for me 2012 has been an amazing year: I felt really lucky to have had all the opportunities that I have (embarrassing as they may have been; seeing yourself on screen infront of a packed room of people) and still a bit in shock at winning MVP for Track Queens. I think this could well be one of those years that I reminisce about to my grandchildren, so many good things have happened.

The Irn Bruisers have had a very busy schedule this year, beginning with Tattoo Freeze down in Telford in January, where you played Central City for the first time this year, nearly beating them (97-77), in a close single-period bout. Capping off the year, the Bruisers played CCR again in your final bout in Track Queens in Berlin, winning rather more handily (149:208). Is this a testament to GRD’s improvement over the year, or merely to the fact that the Bruisers have always been a strong second-period team?

I think the Bruisers have definitely improved a lot this year in terms of tactics, strategy team cohesion and skating ability but , yes, the Bruisers still appear to be a second half team, though we are working on the first half, so you never know what could have happened in January if we had had that extra 30 minutes.

Of the other teams you played more than once this year, Stockholm, Crime City and Gent, all noticeably improved by the second time you faced them (all at Track Queens). Since GRD had had a really good year up to this point (you’re still, by some rankings, the 2nd ranked league in the UK), how do you think this reflects on the improvement in European Derby in the past year?

When you talk to the girls from those leagues you can see their fire, they are hungry for Derby and they are putting their all into it. It is amazing to have seen games like Berlin v Gent and how far they have come. I think 2013 will be a very exciting year for European Derby and hopefully with more teams pushing themselves and the gap between teams tightening we can only make each other better.
The Maiden Grrders have also had a good year, winning all but two of their bouts, and positioning themselves as potentially the third best team in Scotland with wins over Dundee and Granite City. Would you like to see the Maidens play more European Derby next year? 

Hopefully the Maidens will get more chances to play some European Derby next year, the limiting factor is mainly the cost required for a team to bring both their A and B team across. Saying that though there are some amazing teams in the UK:  teams who were under the radar a year ago are now giving established teams a run for their money so there should be plenty of challengers at home as well

Of course, GRD also hosted their own tournament this summer: the first ever European Roller Derby tournament held in Scotland. How was the experience of co-captaining the team to victory in this kind of event? 

Generally I tend to block out bad memories and only concentrate on the good ones so Chaos was amazing… but it was hard at times too: deciding who to put on rosters and having to tell people they can’t play a game: it is not one of my strong points as a Captain. The team were amazing though and they made things easy for us: we played as team and enjoyed being a team and I’m really proud of them all.

The rest of the league was also so supportive of this event, lots of people put in hours and hours of work behind the scenes to make it so successful. We also had financial help from our sponsors to help pull this event off and Glasgow Sports Council who provided us with funding

As for Chaos 2: well the Kelvinhall are shutting down next year for renovation so we will be losing it as both our bouting and training space. Ideally we would have liked to have had all travel team games there and Home Teams in the Arc but it looks like that is off the cards now. Hopefully we will be able to secure another location but if anyone wants to offer us a warehouse, sports hall, any building large enough for a Derby track then don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Track Queens, of course, has to be mentioned, as the first WFTDA Sanctioned Derby tournament in Europe. This is now, including your time with All Ireland Roller Derby for the World Cup last year, your 4th big semi-endurance style tournament in the past 12 months. What’ve you learned about conditioning and mental endurance for this kind of event, that you didn’t know before the World Cup?

When I played in the World Cup I was still at the point in my Derby career where I would be so nervous that I couldn’t eat for at least a day before a game, given that the world cup was over 4 days this kind of sucked and I pretty much starved myself. Luckily now I don’t get as nervous so I’m all about eating the right food at the right time, making sure I have enough energy to last the tournament. As for physically in the lead up to the tournament I was trying my best to improve my cardio as it is one of my weakest areas. Mentally it is very draining: I think this is one thing we need to work on more as a team and individually, it is really hard to go straight into another game from a loss and still remain focused and positive.

There’s also been a lot of local outreach from Glasgow Roller Derby this year, as always, with gig nights, the Johnny 7, Blingo!, a showing of Derby Baby!, and the opening of the National Museum of Roller Derby’s first exhibition. How important do you think this kind of non-sport involvement is to Roller Derby as a community?

I think it’s a great thing in Roller Derby to see teams all over the world give back to the community. Every year GRD chooses a charity where we donate the money from the raffles at our bouts and I think it’s great that we can be involved and help out in some way

We also love to hear back from our fans and have them involved in our Roller Derby community on how we can improve things;  this year we had some issues with our ticketing system and we are working on a way to make it better and easier for the fans.

For our fundraisers I think it is really good to have a range of events outside the sport where the team can bond, hang out and meet other people, be it refs, fans, NSO’s skaters from other leagues. Derby is still a very tight knit community and great things can come from networking and great friends can be made. Aside from that, it is good to give GRD publicity and for fundraising as 2012 has been an expensive year and 2013 is shaping up to be the same.

Glasgow Roller Derby became a full WFTDA member league early this year. Has this changed how you feel about your status as a skater, or the emphasis the team places on picking opponents? How long before GRD rank in the realm of teams who can compete at regionals?

It has changed the types of opponents we look at, if we want to become ranked in the WFTDA rankings then we need to make sure we play enough sanctioned bouts and so other WFTDA teams certainly have that appeal. I would love to see us at regionals but as seen at Track Queens there will be a lot of tough competition in Europe for the spots. Hopefully we will remain up there among them.

Finally, as is now traditional in the past month: are you looking forward to bouting under the new WFTDA rules next season?

Oh yes, we’ve scrimmaged under it a few times and so far it’s been really good. I’m really looking forward to the new tactics and game play that will be introduced, so I can sit down and work out some counter strategies and counter counter strategies.

With such an exciting past year, can you hint at what GRD has in store for 2013?

Our main focus this year will be on a couple of big tournaments so watch this space for more details

The Lothians Get Rolling!

After the foundation of Fierce Valley Roller Girls, and Nasty Nessies Roller Girls last year, many thought that that would be about it for new roller derby leagues in Scotland.

No sooner had we issued that opinion, however, then two more showed up!
Lothian Derby-Dolls, declaring themselves as a “Mid-Lothian” based league, founded by a group of experienced skaters late of Auld Reekie; and New Town Roller Girls, based in West Lothian’s Livingston.

Both teams are aware of the recruitment pressure exerted on them; by Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie to the North-East, and Fierce Valley to the North-West, but they feel there’s enough demand for derby that they can prosper in addition. Indeed, New Town recruit Gill Brannan explained: “the first team I found was Auld Reekie, but the fresh meat seemed infrequent, and New Town is local to me. I was really surprised and happy there was a team here.” (Gill has since had to leave New Town for personal reasons).
New Town’s initial founders, Hazel “Hazzard” Mochan, Jennifer “JPow” Powell* and Becki “Darko” Lawrie, decided to start the new league in a burst of enthusiasm after having watched Whip It! on DVD. Unaware of the existence of Fierce Valley Roller Girls to the north, and seeing the long wait for the next fresh meat at Auld Reekie, it seemed like the fastest way to get skating would be to do it themselves.

New Town co-founder Hazzard directs training at a Sunday session.

The going has been slow but steady for New Town in the months since; after growing quietly on a Facebook group page for several months, they exploded into the awareness of the Scottish Roller Derby community after Lead Jammer magazine gave them a plug, but gaining awareness outside of the existing derby community has proved difficult. A concerted leafleting campaign is planned in the near future, as most of the team’s previous outreach has been via Facebook and Twitter. Skaters from both Auld Reekie and Fierce Valley have helped with the occasional practise session, as New Town have no experienced coaches amongst them. Initially, the team benefited from sharing practise sessions with Lothian Derby-Dolls, but with LDD growing bigger this has become less possible. Team founder Hazzard has been developing her own coaching skills as a consequence.
New Town’s practices are weekly on Sundays, 3 to 6pm at Craigswood Sport Centre, Livingston.

While New Town’s band of skaters are all new to Derby, Lothian Derby-Dolls have well-experienced founding skaters Psychobeing and Skate-tastrophy, formerly of Auld Reekie. In addition, they’ve recruited the legendary Cain Unstable as their coach. Cain was involved in the early days of both Glasgow Roller Girls and coached Auld Reekie for their first couple of years, bringing them up to an extremely high standard. The lure of Cain, and the presence of experience skaters hasn’t hurt LDD’s recruitment; one skater I spoke to had even been recommended to join the league by Dundee’s Psychomilly!

Lothian Derby Dolls recruits lining up for practise.

Engaging in an impressive structured training plan, Cain hopes to get the first recruits for the Derby-Dolls mins passed and bout ready before the end of the year. With already more than enough members to form a full bouting team, it looks like they might even manage a bout next January.
The Derby-Dolls started with a single practice on Fridays, 7-9pm at Danderhall Community Centre, sharing a Sunday practise with New Town. Since then, Lothian Derby-Dolls have been looking for a new venue for their own Sunday practise, and are no longer sharing with New Town.

The growth spurt for Scottish Roller Derby has not stopped even here. During the process of writing this article, a second Glasgow-based team has just emerged, Glasgow Slayers positioning themselves somewhat in the same relation to GRD as the Derby-Dolls are to Auld Reekie. Unlike LDD, Glasgow Slayers don’t come with any direct derby experience; while co-founder Teri Fiher has skated on inlines for years, she’s new to quads, let alone hitting people while wearing them, and her comrade-in-derby Lou Natic has no previous skating experience at all. Recruitment is in the initial stages, but seems to be very positive, and Glasgow Roller Derby are being very supportive themselves. As yet, the Slayers have not located a suitable practise venue.

More speculatively, even Shetland is potentially getting into the act, with a Facebook page only recently renamed from “Anyone interested in Roller Derby in Shetland?” to “Shetland Roller Derby”. Despite the remoteness of Shetland, they have already hosted an initial recruitment meeting, and are positive that they can recruit enough members to form a team. This would make them the new holders of the “Most Northerly Team in UK Roller Derby” record, previously held by Nasty Nessies in Inverness (in Europe proper, Scandinavia hosts several new leagues which are much further north than the rest of Europe could ever match, of course).

Two taster events for Shetland Roller Derby are planned: one next Sunday on the 10th of June, the other on the 24th. They are linked to from the league’s Facebook page.
New Town Roller Girls have a Facebook page: and a very new website.
Lothian Derby-Dolls have a Facebook page and a website.
Glasgow Slayers can be found on Facebook
Shetland Roller Derby can also be found on Facebook.

 
[*JPow has since left New Town in favour of a skating role with Lothian Derby-Dolls; the current chairs of New Town are the remaining two founders, Hazzard and Darko.]

The Loneliness Of The Derby Widow

It all started pretty innocently for me.I had taken my other half to Edinburgh to go clothes shopping for her birthday.She was looking for a top and not having much luck,”let’s try in here” she said,pointing out a shop that had a million tops and t-shirts in the window.
So we went in and had a look around,off she went into the changing room to try something on and then came one of those moments when fate laughs in your face and plays its trump card.Emerging from the changing room with a Auld Reekie Roller Girls flyer she asked the shopkeeper what this Roller Derby thing was all about.I could see that during the quick explanation that followed,it was already something she was interested in,”I might go and have a look at this”,she said as we left the shop.
That was in 2009.Since then there have been many changes,compromises and learning how to best support a rollergirl as she ventures into the world of Derby….that and learning to keep my mouth shut and letting her get on with it.
It’s all a bit bewildering in the beginning,learning to understand the sport itself,the made up names,endless excited talk about people you don’t know and haven’t met.Then theres the fact that you don’t see your other half as much as you used to or want to,having to make alternative travel arrangements for work as there’s no way you can use the car on a practise night,the alarming costs of kit and fuel.There’s also the changes to routine,the rushed meals and the boredom.

So when your other half discovers Roller Derby and you become a Derby widow,what do you do?

There are two main bits of advice,the first is just to roll with it.When the Roller Derby bug really bites,it bites hard and it hangs on.This isn’t a passing fad,or something that will tail off after a few months,this is years of commitment.The second is to support her all you can,Derby can be a rocky ride,with emotional ups and downs,be like a rock,a universal constant against the times when she doesn’t make the team,feels she played badly or gets injured.

Learn the sport.Trust me,the sooner you know what the hell she’s talking about the better.It’s not a difficult sport to grasp the basics of and although some of the more intricate rules and strategies take a little longer,it will be worth the effort.Learn the jargon too,remember that every rollergirl and every fan were newbies once,no question is too stupid.

Stick with Derby names.Meeting new skaters,referees and NSO’s increases exponentially over time.It may seem a little odd to begin with,but it’s easier than trying to learn dozens of real names as well as the Derby ones.

Derby is all-encompassing.Roller Derby sees no differences in people,any colour,any creed any size,any shape,any ability,any sexual preference,all are welcome.Leave any preconceptions you have at the door and just enjoy it.

Rollergirls have Derby wives.Get over it,it’s going to happen sooner or later.It’s all part of the camaraderie and shared experience of playing Derby.And it’s definitely not weird.

Say goodbye to your car.If you share a car,it now belongs to her.League practises,attending bouts and scrimmages all over the country,social nights out,fundraiser events and more all conspire to steal your beloved car away.Roller Derby will add thousands of miles and increase the wear and tear beyond the scope of your nightmares.Not to mention the alarming amount of fuel being burnt.Most uses you had for this vehicle are now of secondary importance when compared to Roller Derby.On the plus side,if you now have to cycle or walk to work sometimes,then you might as well get to enjoy it,a bit of extra exercise may go down well.

Make use of your new free time.Chances are that a couple of nights league practise a week,along with social nights and scrimmages are going to leave you with some free time.It’s easy in the beginning to feel left out,nights that you may have spent with your other half doing something together in the pre Derby days now have to be reorganised or abandoned.It’s also easy to spend that time doing something close to nothing or sleeping the time away.Catch up with those books you have been meaning to read,visit friends,go to the gym,hell,you could even spend that time learning about Roller Derby!

Go to bouts.As many as your time and job allow,cheer her on,have a t-shirt with her number,be her number one fan,go down to the trackside at the end to high five both teams.Get to know her team mates and her Derby wife and her partner.See the guy at the after party hanging about uncertainly with a league t-shirt on?,he’s probably a fellow Derby Widow,go and say hi at least.

Get involved directly.Leagues are always looking for all kinds of people to be involved.You could strap on a pair of skates yourself and train to be a referee,or be a non skating official.You may work or have a skill in something that can be of use to her league,photography,printing,advertising,announcing,the list is endless.
Me? As time went on from that day in the shop in Edinburgh,i began to want to contribute something,to give something back for the good i could see had been done to my better half through being involved in Derby.So i started this blog.