An introduction to my life on wheely shoes

Sometime during the course of 2011, I became aware of a sport called roller derby. I'm not entirely sure what came first, whether it was walking past adverts for London Rollergirls games at Kensington Olympia on my way to work, or meeting an LRG rec league skater on a night bus after pretending to know her to save her from a dodgy drunk guy. Or maybe it was Whip It. Any which way, this full contact team sport on rollerskates was very much on my radar. Going to my first ever game with my then partner (LRG vs Sioux Falls at Earl's Court) cemented the idea that I wanted in. 

Roller derby is not the cheapest of hobbies. Looking at a super basic start up kit of skates, wheels and protective gear I worked out I'd need a couple of hundred pounds worth of kit. So the Christmas list became entirely skate related and I picked up a couple of cheap bits myself (I actually kept using my original £1.50 gumshield for well over a year). Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and looking back I would 100% suggest buying second hand skates and spending a bit more on a decent helmet and knee pads. But my starter kit was good enough for someone who hadn't been in rollerskates since the heady days of the 90's in strap-on Fisher Price beauties.  

On the first Friday of 2012, I took my shiny new skate kit to work with me and shuffled up and down the carpeted office for a few minutes. My colleagues thought I was super cool. It's a good job they didn't know any better. That evening, I went to my first ever open skate session in North London, and tentatively wobbled about on my wheels for a couple of hours. It was here that I first got to experience the sense of community that is Roller Derby.  Everyone was kind, a few people were as nervous as me, a couple of people were sweet and helpful and supportive. Nobody laughed at me. Nobody judged me.

There were no intakes for any of the London leagues around this time, so for a few months I gave up boozing with colleagues on Friday nights and went to skate in a little sports hall in Chalk Farm. I met a few of the skaters from the November LRG intake, who were keen to brush up their skills in the hope of passing probation and progressing to the rec league. I had it in my head that I would go for the next LRG intake, my confidence boosted by learning to stop, fall safely, and crossover around the track in the required skating style. The tryouts were scheduled for May, so I had a target to aim for and boy was I looking forward to it.

Fate clearly felt I wasn't destined to be with LRG, however, when the tryout date was moved to the weekend of Download festival.  Despite my excitement to join an actual roller derby league, and the anticipation that had been building for months, I wasn't quite ready to bail on another passion of mine for a few hours skating that may or may not have got me a place in the fresh meat program for new skaters with LRG.

Not prepared to wait for another 6 months minimum (they couldn't tell me exactly when the next intake was but said it was most likely the following year) I looked around for other teams to join. LRR had an intake in November, that was 6 months away, and Croydon Roller Derby had an intake next week. NEXT WEEK! I could make it. I'd been practicing. Quite quickly I had to Google Croydon. I'd heard of it, I'd got a train there once to work a godawful student night at Tiger Tiger, but I wasn't sure how practical it would be getting there from New Cross. 12 miles. A 40 minute drive or a little longer on public transport. Going by the London commuting 'rule' that anywhere accessible within an hour is acceptable, I decided to go for it. 

The day was Sunday May 27th 2012, and this was the day I was to become a member of Croydon Roller Derby. Not knowing about a parking situation, I navigated the tube, train and tram to arrive at the sports centre on a blindingly sunny day. I think I was the first there. A couple of skaters started to appear and told me the person in charge of the new recruits was Daylight Throbbery, who turned out to be a friendly Northern Irish lady who didn't seem to quite know what we were supposed to be doing. We soon discovered that the person who was actually supposed to be meeting us had not yet arrived, and the team had a game to prepare for so were understandably excited and not overly concerned with some bright-eyed,  bushy-tailed newbies. After a few more nervous faces appeared, our trusty recruitment boss lady (otherwise known as Sheila) had gathered us into a group of around 10 potential recruits to meet our late running but excitable coach, Rolling Thunder. Throbbery went to join her teammates and we were left sitting atop a grassy knoll and being given the Roller Derby lowdown by Rolling Thunder. It transpired that basically because we'd shown up, we were in. Immediately, I think it was clear to me that I would probably fit in better here at CRD than I would as part of the behemoth of a league that is LRG. We were taken through some basic off skates warm up exercises in the baking heat in a basketball court, whether to 'test' our fitness and competitive nature or just for something to do, I'm not quite sure. Later we got to watch the bout on that day between CRD and Big Bucks. I have no idea what happened, but I know that it was brilliant. I skipped merrily (probably sauntered casually) back home and tried to quell the excitement that in just a few days time, I would be heading to my first ever roller derby practice as part of a real life team.

Fast forward almost exactly 3 years and here I am. Rostered for the A Team, having played all over the UK and in Europe, and about to embark on a slightly impulsively booked trip to Vegas for Rollercon; an international roller derby convention. Roller Derby has taken over my life, in the best possible way, and I honestly can't imagine who I would be without it. There's been joy and heartbreak, the ecstasy of winning and the agony of injury. People have come and gone, there have been really tough times both mentally and physically and I've considered throwing in the towel more times than I've taken to the track. But I wouldn't change it for the world. There will be more challenges, more highs and more lows. But I'll face them with my team, and that's what matters. I am a skater. We are CRD.