I would be good at eating all of the food stuffs before going into the arena. after that I will teach them all about derby and we will rise up and destroy our oppressors

I would like even wider peripheral vision. the full 360 if possible.

After the incredible response we had from last weeks coach announcement, we thought we better keep the game up – so we are moving straight on to the famous… CRAZYLEGS! Most of you will know her as Team Scotland captain, and ARRG skater, but here’s her full credentials:

I’ve been a pivot / blocker for ARRG’s All Star Team for every home and away game for 7 years!  I also skated as a jammer/blocker for three seasons on our Home Team the Skatefast Club (2014 winners FYI!).  Past Captain of the All Stars, and currently an All Star pivot, Coach, and twice Captain of Team Scotland at the Roller Derby World Cup. I’ve really enjoyed leading on skates and off skates sessions at boot camps all over Europe, but SOAK days are my absolute fave. So much fun 🙂

Very good, we know. But, would she survive the HungARRG Games? We asked her to describe what her main skill or strength would be if she were selected as Tribute?

I’m really good at Power Napping to refuel quickly.  I’m also member of a secret club called ‘Super Bar Brawlers’ -I’m great in a pub fight. ‘One Punch Parry’.  BAM.

So she’ll be good to have around at the afterparty if things start to take an odd turn.

Just like the rest of us, Crazylegs likes to focus on the important things in life – skating, sleeping and food. So, naturally when we asked her what she would like to receive from a sponsor, the answer sounded good:

A nice plate of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon please

If any attendees fancy bringing this along for her on the day, I am sure she would be most grateful! If for some reason you haven’t already bought a ticket, here is the link. It’s 8 hours of roller derby lessons from the best coaches ever, followed by an amazing afterparty! THE BEST DAY EVER!!

April’s featured official is… emKa!

emKa is one of our crossover members – not only does she skate, but she also is a very dedicated NSO. Here she tells us a bit about working in a dual role position.

Joined ARRG in: I went to the taster session in November 2013 and than started FM in January 2014 (that was a very long 2 months to wait for FM to start!).

Role in ARRG: skater and dedicated NSO (also First Aider and friendly face).

Favourite Position to Officiate: I don’t really have one favourite I’d stick to. I like to work on different positions as it keeps you on top of things and is good to work with different officials. I did Jam Timing recently and I really enjoyed it! I also like to work infield as it keeps me non-stop focused and I like to be in the middle of the action (that may be my skater ego though).

Your Derby Story – Why Are You Here?: I heard about roller derby long time ago (not long after ARRG was born) but I joined few years later. I actually wanted to start track cycling! It’s a long story so if you want to know we can meet and talk.

Best Official-Related Advice: Keep your cool and know the rules. Like: ALL the rules. NSOs positions are equally important as Refs (especially now when NSOs can call the penalties) and you would have to face questions and be part of the official reviews so be ready for it!

What You Do For the League Aside From Officiating: I bake vegan cakes and cookies that you can taste when we put games on.I also talk and help injured and not-necessarily-injured people 🙂

Any Funny/Embarrassing Officiating Stories: It was my first or second public game to NSO – Home Season Final last year and I was Penalty Box Timer. WFTDA just changed the penalty time from 1 minute to 30 seconds in March but we were still timing 1 minute at scrimmage. So Friday night scrim I was Penalty Box Timing 1 minute and then the game was played along the new rules. And guess what? – in the first jam I timed Pope 1 minute. It was meant to be 30 seconds… I remember that the official review took long but to me it felt like light years! (it was a SEASON FINAL = massive audience) I learned my lesson – it is good to admit that you made a mistake and fix it asap!

Derby Hero: a lot!!! every single person that tries hard and is able to overcome weaknesses and can persistently push forward to get better and stronger.

What do you do outside of derby: I learn things, I work with people, and I cycle a lot 🙂

Fun Fact About You: I can change my accent while using English but I’m not able to do the same in Polish!

That’s right – the School of ARRG Knocks is back, as you will know by now, and we are ready to announce our first coach – and this year we are staring off STRONG!

As you may have seen on the ticket sales site, we are super excited and very proud to welcome, all the way from Sydney Roller Derby League – the amazing, talented coach Deth Biffo!

For a bit of background, we asked her to give us the run-down on her skating experience and attributes.

I started Roller Derby in May 2011 with the Auld Reekie Roller Girls. Not long after I moved back to Australia and skated with Sydney Roller Derby League for 3 years, playing on home teams the D’Viants and the Brawling Bar Belles. I was a member of SRDL’s All Stars squad, the Assassins, from July 2012 onwards, and worked with them to a 4th place ranking at 2014’s The Great Southern Slam. I’ve played with SRDL against Victorian Roller Derby League, Canberra Roller Derby League, Perth Roller Derby, Rat City Roller Girls’ Grave Danger, Adelaide Roller Derby League and North Brisbane Rollers among others. I was co-chair of SRDL’s Training Committee in 2013/14, and a member of the NSW/ACT Vagine Regime team..

Whoa – that’s some serious credentials! But not only is Biffo an incredible coach, she’s also a triple threat skater, playing blocker, pivot and jammer. Sounds like she really knows her stuff. But would she survive the HungARRG Games? We asked her to describe what her main skill, or strength would be if she were selected as Tribute?

Maybe butt punching, or a blocking move I call the huntsman sandwich.

If you are as intrigued as the rest of us as to what the hell a huntsman sandwich is, I guess we’ll find out at SOAK4!

When we were chatting to Biffo about the day, we mentioned that there will be, in true Hunger Games style, sponsors, who will be watching the tributes and can send in items to help them on their way. We asked her, what one item would you want your sponsors to send in to the arena to help you skate better? Her response did not disappoint.

The one item that would up my game in the arena is… leopard tights. For disguise purposes, or something.

So, presumably you are super excited and, if for some reason you haven’t already bought a ticket, here is the link. As always, there will be everything that goes along with the infamous SOAK bootcamps – from special attendee only merch, to hilarious themed activities, but most of all, it’s 8 hours of roller derby lessons from the best coaches in Scotland (and Australia!). Saturday’s don’t get much better than that.

There aren’t words to explain how we at ARRG feel about our lovely officials. Without them, we would be lost. They keep us informed, help us play safely, and do so while looking look oh-so-dashing in their uniforms. So, to hear that so many of our dedicated ARRG flamingos and zebras have become UKRDA affiliated is fantastic news.

After an in-depth review process, including completing an application, obtaining league references and providing a full game history, Blind Io, Mags Payne, Denominator, Kirds ‘n’ Slay and Caboose have been granted affiliation with the UKRDA. This means having direct input on the issues which face members of UKRDA, particularly on the officials side of things. They will be able to play their part in shaping the future of roller derby in the UK. They also now join the ranks of the UKRDA officials network and have access to the wealth of knowledge and experience of the nation.

We are so proud, and so excited – Our officials are definitely ARRGcore!

Photo Credit © Graeme D Duncan, November 2014, Thistles Vs. Windsor

April’s skater of the month comes in a couple of days late, because she’s only been away playing with the All Stars in a tournament in Berlin! It’s the incredible Temple of Doom.

Doom is an All Star Skater, a Board member and a generally amazing guy. She has a cracking sense of humour, is insanely calm on track and hits like a truck. She blocks and jams, and generally is just an insanely good derby player. She’s also just super fun to hang out with, and a really great, supportive team-mate.

Joined ARRG in:

July 2012

Role in ARRG:

I played on all of the Reserves games in the last season, and have been the sub for the All Stars’ last few games in London and Berlin.

Playing on the Reserves over the last year has been amazing. We’ve played some really challenging teams, but that has helped me to experience tough, competitive play and to do my best to meet that.

Being sub for the London and Berlin games has been amazing too. Subs train and scrimmage with their travel team, even though they won’t necessarily play on the day. Scrimming with the All Stars has really helped me to see where I need to work on my game, and to begin to raise the bar in terms of playing harder and faster. Going to Berlin, and playing two very different and challenging away games was just SO GOOD. Having trained with the team a bunch already I didn’t feel like a total imposter on the day, which meant that I was able to focus on the games themselves. Although it happens sometimes, I wouldn’t ever wish as a sub that someone else who’s on the team wouldn’t be able to play on the day. Being a sub for a few games has definitely been a really fun, positive experience both when I played and when I didn’t 🙂

Favourite Position to Play:

Defensive blocking is my fave position on track. Maybe it’s just because it’s the most straight forward in terms of tactics so, in the midst of the on-track madness I can just cling on to: OTHER JAMMER! STOP THEM whilst everything else is swirling around me.

I’m also really wanting to work on my offensive play, and to be a better pivot / communicator on track. Being quite a calm person, sometimes I think I need to do roles that are challenging and a bit scary and actually get my adrenaline levels up a bit.

Your Derby Story – Why Are you Here?:

I quite wanted find a team sport, and I heard of roller derby years before I joined the league and thought it sounded cool. But I thought you HAD to dress up in spangly hot pants and fishnets and I would have been more at home in a potato sack, so I was like ‘no way.’ Then in 2012, someone (maybe Popé?) was like ‘you know you don’t have to wear spangly hotpants’ and I was like, ‘oh okay’ and joined the next Fresh Meat, and the rest is a relatively short amount of history.

I have always been pretty fit and active, but I never would have seen myself as a sporty person, or someone who could wear lycra in front of people, and playing a sport which has space for such diversity in terms of body types has been great for my confidence.

Best Derby-Related Advice:

I think about the mental side of roller derby a lot. Our bodies obviously have their limits, but I think it’s our brains and our emotional states and our confidence that limit us, often long before we hit our physical limits well, that is true for me anyway.

I think I often worry I’ll look stupid trying out a thing I don’t feel comfortable doing, and that everyone will laugh at me or think I’m stupid or something and this feeling definitely does hold me back sometimes. But what I try to remember is that:

1.) I am playing a sport where accidental boob-grabs, clothing removing t-shirt whips, getting mashed into other people’s armpits and getting embroiled in green hall-dividing curtains are relatively routine occurrences. There is no room for shame in that picture or we’d all be embarrassed most of the time. So I guess I might as well get on with it and give new things a go, because we all look pretty daft on a regular basis, and we keep coming back.

2.) Derby is a pretty complicated game with more than a handful of rules, and some technical skills to be thinking about. The skaters around me are probably mainly trying to focus on that stuff (I know I am) rather than wasting time judging other people. And if they are judging other people, they’re probably impeding their own progress anyway, so ha.

So yeah. My advice is just to go for it and try stuff – because you will get better. Don’t compare yourself to other people and go at your own pace.

What you Do for the League Aside from Skating:

I am one of two Co-Chairs of ARRG’s Board of Directors.  I am also one of two Fresh Meat Mins coordinators: doing the paperwork and letting people know whether they’ve passed.

Any Funny/Embarrassing Derby Stories:

During the referendum campaign, STV came to interview some ARRG members for their opinions on the subject for a piece on the referendum, women and sport. As interviews happened in the foreground, the rest of us were scrimmaging in the background. At one point I got blocked off the track and into one of those hall dividing nets, which was bundled up at one side. In my flailing track exit, I became bundled up and trapped in the net, clearly in the background of a camera shot to be aired on national television.

I don’t know if it did ever get aired, but I can’t escape the feeling that somewhere there is footage of me in lycra and rollerskates enmeshed in a green net curtain flailing to escape… and I can’t quite shake the idea that it may yet make it onto a television screen one day in some kind of sporting out-takes reel. Oh well.

Derby Hero:

I don’t tend to follow it as a wider sport in a big way… ARRG takes up enough of my head already, and I am not really one for big names and idols anyway. Everyone I skate with are my heroes. I see people who are pushing themselves, taking chances and redefining who they are all around me all the time- and that’s amazing.

What Do you Do Outside of Derby:

In my day job, I co-run a wholefood co-operative with four other people. It’s a pretty hands on place to work, and often find myself lifting 25kg sacks chickpeas and / or lentils above my head… that’s like the gym, right?? I am also a very nearly qualified trainee counsellor.

I love my ‘freedom machine’ of a bike and use this to get about between my various activities. And there isn’t really any time for anything else other than skating to be honest 🙂

Fun Fact About you:

For a brief period in 2009 I lived in a tree. Loved that tree. Quite like my house too though…

Photo courtesy of Neil Wykes http://www.neilwykesphotography.co.uk/