ROLLER derby will roll back into the capital next month in a central belt battle of all-female fitness, strength and speed on skates.
Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG) will take on their greatest Scottish rivals Glasgow Roller Derby (GRD) at Meadowbank Stadium.
The latest roller derby game will see ARRG fighting to regain their crown from GRD, who came out on top in their last battle.
GRD are the finest they’ve ever been right now, having swept to the top spot in the latest UK Roller Derby Association rankings for the first time too.
The slip from #1 ranking for ARRG has seen them training harder and smarter than ever in the last few weeks to be on peak form to snatch back the gold.

Watch the love-hate rivalry cause a spin at Meadowbank Stadium on London Road on Sunday, June 28, from 2.30pm.

Image Courtesy of Floyd King

We are back on NSO watch this month, as we take some time to recognise our amazing NSO, Blind Io!

Io has been with us for nearly 18 months, and has really cemented himself as a huge ARRG brick. He’s dedicated, meticulous and keen, and is always ready and willing to lend a hand to NSO’s in training. He’s our first ever UKRDA affiliated NSO and we couldn’t have ARRG without him.

Joined ARRG in:  I started NSOing for ARRG last year in January, and became a full member several months later.

Role in ARRG: I’m a Non-Skating Official! Keep those skates away from me.

Favourite Position to Officiate: I’ve always liked Penalty Wrangling, although it’s an endangered role across most of Europe. As a Penalty Wrangler it’s your job to make sure the Penalty Tracker records every penalty that the referees (and NSOs!) hand out, which means you have to work closely with all of the referees and constantly be on your toes during the game. It’s busy work but so very satisfying when it goes well.

Your Derby Story – Why Are You Here?: I saw my first roller derby game during the Fringe Festival in 2012: I wanted to see if it was as fun a sport as ‘Whip It’ made it out to be! After that I watched as many local games as I could, when during ARRG’s last game of 2013 someone handed out forms to the crowd to ask if anyone wanted to NSO. I said yes because frankly I needed a new hobby, and wanted to see as much derby as possible. But after a few months of NSOing Friday scrims and Home Season I was *hooked*, and have been a devoted NSO ever since!

Best Official-Related Advice: It’s very easy to get pigeon-holed into doing the same one or two NSO roles every game, because that’s all you have experience in! To break out of it you need the confidence to say “let me try this role, I’ve read up on it, practiced it at scrims, I can do this”.

What You Do For the League Aside From Officiating: Anything I can to help ARRGies (ARRGers, ARRGos?) become good NSOs! I’m on the NSO sub-committee and I help out at Friday scrim practices.

Any Funny/Embarrassing Officiating Stories: I almost drunkenly fell into a giant road works pit outside the bar at the West Track Story after party! One step backwards and my foot went slipping down this steep gravelly slope… luckily I recovered quickly and everyone else was drunk enough to not notice. I then had the joy of 4 hours’ sleep and 10 hangover hours to get back to Edinburgh, well worth it though 🙂

Derby Hero: Andy Clockwise! It’s thanks to him that I’ve made it this far as an NSO. Also ‘I am Groot’: a Dutch NSO who gave me the idea of printing out a copy of the WFTDA rules and giving it a permanent place in my bag, because you never know when you might need it 😉

What Do You Do Outside of Derby: Between my job working for a radar company and NSOing most weekends, I just about have enough time to cook dinner and sleep.

Fun Fact About You: I used to have shoulder-length hair until just a few years ago, and I always keep a photo on me to prove it!

We know there will be people wondering if all the hype is really worth it, and really, what can be so good about the School of ARRG Knocks bootcamps.. surely a roller derby bootcamp is a roller derby bootcamp, right?

Well, in short, no! We at the SOAK pride ourselves on putting on the absolute best bootcamps we can. So, not only do we provide a full day of intense drills, skills and tactical learning with some of the best coaches in Scotland, we also provide a choice of off-skates classes, a bout for all levels, and personalised feedback opportunities.

We also don’t teach you how to coach other people, which is a common bootcamp practice. We teach YOU. Every single person that comes to a SOAK bootcamp will leave with at least one new skill, tactic or trick. Most leave with a whole load, because we focus on coaching you individually, and not blasting through drills so you can practice them later. This is a full day of training, for you.

In addition to all the amazing skatey time, we also have so many wee extras that make the day even more fun. We have special merchandise designed and printed for attendees only, we do special lunch packs so you don’t have to bring your own sandwich with your sweaty kit, there’s a gift for every attendee, and we provide water and snacks all day long.

I know, sounds too good to be true. So, to back up these wild claims, we asked an attendee from last year to give her side of the story:

Enter, Klara. We asked her to start off by explaining what she enjoyed best about the School of ARRG Knocks 3?

DD’s warm up. DD’s hair. DD’s leg warmers..so to narrow it down probably DD.

Okay then. Well, excellent news! You’ll all be very pleased to hear that the fabulous DD will be doing another legendary warm up this year. What will this outfit entail?! We wondered if Klara would be coming this year, and she assured us she was. We asked her why:

Because SOAK 3 was absolutely awesome and The HungARRG Games sound even better! Last year I was in the beginners group so we went through the basic skills you need to pass your minimums. The skills I did not know how to do I managed to do by the end of the day and the ones I could do improved loads.

Absolutely! Being on skates for the whole day gave enough time to practice all the new skills/drills and get some immediate feedback from the coaches or assistants on what I was doing wrong or how to improve.

What about improvement, what level were you at before the bootcamp, and what level are you at now?

Before the bootcamp I was still in Fresh Meat, now I train with the ARRG intermediates.

So, there you go. Proof straight from an attendee that the School of ARRG Knocks 4 – The HungARRG Games is worth going to!

Tickets are selling really fast, but there are still a few available for both levels so get in fast!

As you know, we have the super exciting BRITISH CHAMPS (tickets still available..) in Edinburgh tomorrow, and you’d think this would be taking up all our time – but here at ARRG we are busy bees, and we never stop working at roller derby things.

So, we have a NEW COMPETITION! For the past two weeks, you’ve seen us announce two of our most incredible, world renowned coaches; Crazylegs and Ciderella. Now, we have a prize for you.

Having been skating for ARRG for 14 years collectively, Crazy and Cider have been through everything roller derby can throw at you. This makes them akin to victors, and you, as tributes, deserve such mentors. That is why they have offered to mentor TWO lucky winners of our competition!

At the end of next Friday, exactly one week from today, another reaping will take place. This reaping will be different – we will be selecting two tributes, who will win a mentor each. Those mentors will be watching them during the Quarter Quell scrimmage, and will provide them with personalised feedback. This is an amazing opportunity to get complete one to one feedback from our most experienced coaches – a once in a lifetime opportunity! They will watch you, take notes and chat to you afterwards, and then provide you with comprehensive and detailed feedback via email within a week of the bootcamp.

This opportunity is open to every level skater of who buys a ticket between now and next Friday. Tickets are on sale now so DO NOT WAIT!!

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1429029

This month, we are featuring the incredible Ciderella. We all love skating with Cider – not only is she an absolute power force on track, but she is filled to the brim with ideas and tactical knowledge. She’s amazingly lovely too, with a ridiculous sense of humour (that’s what she said…) and we are really sad to see her leave us in September. However, we know she’ll be back – Auld Reekie For Life!

If you want to catch her in her last ARRG home game for probably a pretty long time, she’ll be playing at the British Champs premier division tournament this Saturday. If there weren’t enough reasons to come along, here’s one big reason.

Joined ARRG in:

When it first started, so like 2008?

Role in ARRG:

All star skater and coach.

Favourite Position to Play:

Anywhere in the pack really.

Your Derby Story – Why Are You Here?:

I saw a recruitment poster in a pub when the league was just starting out. I went to the meeting in Bannermans with my flatmate at the time (Lucy) and here I am.

Best Derby-Related Advice:

Aspire to do the best you can but remember it is YOUR journey so go at your own pace. Don’t worry about anyone else’s.

What You Do For The League Aside From Skating:

This year I mostly just coach and work with Training and Progression. I also travel to coach other leagues on behalf of ARRG. Last year I captained the All Stars.

Any Funny/Embarrassing Derby Stories:

Yes, 7 years worth!

Derby Hero: 

Anyone who has supported derby one way or another over the years. I’ve seen such an incredible transformation of the sport and I’ve loved every part of it. I am curious to see where it will go next.

What Do You Do Outside of Derby:

I like to go for walks and do outdoorsy things. A good book and food are usually high up on my list of priorities. Spare weekends away from ARRG derby also get filled with coaching derby elsewhere. Because I like to travel and visit other leagues, usually with my coach pal Crazylegs.

Fun Fact About You:

I am off to do some more travelling. This will be my last season with ARRG for a few years as I am heading off to do the Trans-siberian train in September and then work in Australia for a while where I will hopefully find a friendly league to skate with 🙂 Champs in Edinburgh will be my last home game for a long while so please come watch!