Our coaches in ARRG don’t just coach us, they also travel the world, guest coaching other teams.

We love visiting other teams and giving them some of our ARRG tips and tactics, and it seems they love having us! When our Belgian born Lilo & Stitches was asked to visit her home country, she jumped at the chance. Here’s what she said about her trip:

“When we got the email from Antwerp Roller Derby (One Love Roller Dolls) asking me to come and coach them, I was super excited. I was born in Belgium and never really get the chance to go back, so I was very excited to meet and skate with some real life Belgians!

I knew that OLRD were a good team already, in the top 25 in Europe by Flat Track Stats and one of the top leagues in Belgium, so I wanted to make sure that the sessions planned would be tailored specifically to what they needed to work on. They had a big tournament coming up (Skates of Glory – the annual Benelux derby tournament – http://skatesofglory.com/)

After seeing the footage, and speaking to the trainers, we decided to have a section on blocking skills with a lead in to some scrimmage, an off skates session on ‘Mentally preparing for a tough game’, and a session on jammer skills.

Each section focused on small changes that could make their already existing skills more efficient and help fine tune everything in preparation for Skates of Glory.

All in the sessions spanned 5 hours and by the end of the day my voice was almost gone!

OLRD were incredibly friendly and receptive and it was a total blast to go and coach them. I’d do it again any time!”

Sounds like she had a great time! Our top coaches are available for coaching at your league too, have a look here for more information!

It’s 8am on a Saturday morning. Team Bootcamp and ARRG coaches arrive at Meadowbank looking like human versions of Buckaroo carrying skatebags, water, soundsystems, lunches, shirts, inner tubes.. everything you might need for a full day of skatey hardwork and fun! A busy hour later and the tracks are ready, everyone is registered and Head Teacher Die signals to the excited pupils that we are ready for School of ARRG Knocks 3 to begin!

Begin boldly we did – a Fame inspired assembly complete with 80’s aerobics moves, high kicks, high hands and high cut leotards set to Michael Sembello’s Maniac and Irene Cara’s Fame certainly got everyone’s hearts pumping ready for the day ahead!

The day ran fast with each group having 3 on skates and a classroom session covering blocking, jamming, jumping, technical skills, tactical skills and loads of goal setting and off skates. You could see the concentration on faces as pupils really challenged themselves to learn new skills and push themselves further than they thought they could with proud coaches looking on.

Head Teacher Die told us that, “It was amazing to see how much people progressed throughout the sessions and great to see their skills in action when it got to our end of day scrimmage. I love bootcamp day, everyone works so hard!”

We asked Lady Scrapnell, who passed her mins (for the second time(!), after having a baby boy) in January 2013, what she thought of the day’s proceedings:

Scraps, what did you think of the day?
The day was great fun, informative, well-organised and gloriously arrg work!

What sticks out / what were your best bits?
A certain fame-inspired outfit certainly sticks out… I also really enjoyed having some classroom time to talk about goal setting – something that I’ve never had the discipline to sit down and do for myself; it was fantastic to be given building blocks and techniques for the non-skating aspect of roller derby. It was great to end the day with a scrimmage, despite feeling like there was no energy left – we all found some!

What did you learn?
New technical skills – like quicker ways to leap back onto the track after being knocked out and skating on my tripods, the importance of off-skates, mental work: setting goals, celebrating achievements and welcoming positivity into your game! This was only the second time I’d scrimmaged with skaters outside my league and I loved the challenge and excitement of skating with players I’d just met that day.

What would you say to people thinking of attending a bootcamp?
Go for it! You’ll make loads of new skater pals, be taught by encouraging, friendly, top-class coaches and remain stiff and sore for the rest of the week with the lyrics, “I wanna skate forever” echoing around your head!

It was a really well-run day and I’m so glad I came!

There was great feedback from pupils saying their thanks on Facebook and Twitter. From what everyone is saying it was a cracking, fun day and like the title suggests – ARRGer than ever!

Thanks to everyone who came, helped, coached and organised. See you at the next School of ARRG Knocks – From everyone at ARRG SOAK Bootcamps.

ARRG coaches are available for bootcamps and coaching across the world – visit out coaches pg for more information.

This month we are featuring the wonderful Sharlotte Patterson!

Sharlotte joined ARRG fresh meat in 2012 and quickly proved herself a formidable force. She played for the Leithal Weapons in the 2013 home season, and showed how good her jamming skills were. She progressed up to the WFTDA reserve spot in under a year and went from strength to strength.
After a wee break, she returned and secured herself a place on the Cannon Belles.

Sharlotte is an amazing jammer, a level headed blocker and a super lovely person too! She’s also one of our new board members – and everyone is very excited about what she can bring to the league for 2015!

Home Team Affiliation: The Cherry Bombers

Joined ARRG in: March 2012

Favourite position to play: I really enjoy jamming

Your Derby story: I saw something on the internet about roller derby and decided to see if there was a league in Edinburgh. I was pregnant with my second child at this point and it wasn’t until he was about 6 months that I decided to have a go at fresh meat. I remember feeling quite anxious about going because I couldn’t skate and also I’m like the least sporty person ever. I pretty much have two left feet. After a couple of weeks I totally feel in love with skating and derby and I can’t imagine not having derby in my life. I now skate on the Belles and am a WFTDA Reserve skater. When I get the chance I also like to take part in co-ed derby.

Worst Derby injury: I think I’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t had any serious injuries (touch wood). I have lost three toenails, sadly.

Best Derby advice: I have at times felt like I needed to do it all and do it all now. I rushed myself and compared myself to others. The best advice I can give would be to never compare your skating to anyone else’s and to take things at your own pace. There’s no hurry to get anywhere. I took this advice and also took a wee break, I went away and worked on my fitness; both body and mental fitness and came back stronger and more prepared then before. I feel like I’m in a better place to play derby now and I actually have so much more fun now.

Any funny/embarrassing derby stories: Um, I can’t really think of any.

Derby Hero: I don’t really have a derby hero. I’d have to say that my derby heros are my lovely family, my kids and supportive partner. Without their support I wouldn’t be able to play derby.

What do you do outside of derby: I work as a Social Worker and love my job.

Fun fact about you: I love glitter and all things sparkly.