At the beginning of this month our intermediate and Rec skaters had the privilege of being coached by the amazing and world-renowned, captain of Team Scotland, our very own Crazylegs!

The focus for the session was on technical skills, including side surfing; a difficult to master but invaluable skill that takes a lot of practice! Skater LuPaul said:

‘Tonight’s practice with Crazylegs was an excellent mix of technical skills. A great opportunity for skaters to improve and practice for advanced minimum skills. Crazylegs is fab at breaking things down and it’s given us stuff we can work on while warming up at future training sessions, such as side surfing and transitioning. Personally, it’s given me the initiative to use my toe stops a little less as I rely on them too much and I want to improve my agility throughout my whole movement, and not just be dependent on what I’m comfortable with at present! 

Side surfing in a big circle with other skaters was also helpful, and a lot of fun!’

Sounds like an excellent session. All ARRG skaters are coached by skaters from our All Stars team, most of whom have years of roller derby experience under their belt and many skate for the Scottish national team as well.

If you are interested in any of our coaches coming to your training session, email trainingandprogression@auldreekierollerderby.com or see here or, if you are interested in skating with us, get in touch with newskaters@auldreekierollerderby.com for details of our next intake.

We are excited to announce that the Auld Reekie Roller Girls Intraleague Home Season for 2015 is being held at a new time! As our loyal fans will know, for the past three years we have run our Home Season from January – April. However, 2014 has seen our league take on a lot of new directions as we continue to grow, not only in number but in standing in the roller derby world. In the past year, we have gone from being ranked #103 with WFTDA to being #60 in the world. That’s right, our wee Scottish team are the 60^th best in the WORLD! We are super proud of what we have achieved. We plan to continue this until we are #1, so we’ve made some changes and moved some things around – and that includes our Home Season! So, exciting… we will now have our Home Season from September – November 2015! Keep a look out for dates which will be announced later next year.

Because this means we have a whole batch of amazing new rookie skaters who are having to wait a little bit longer to show off their skills in public, we are super excited to announce that we will be holding our first ever InARRGuration game on November 30^th! This is a closed game – friends and family of skaters only – but our whole league will be out in force to cheer on our new guys! The skaters who are making ARRG history have been teamed up as follows:

TEAM GREEN:
Bruiser Black #369
Cirque du Slay #23
Comet Sans #88
emKa #17
Harlot Bronte #303
Hex #71
Klara #14
Lannthrax #92 (New Town Roller Girls)
Major Vengeance #1984
Pummela #321
Shamonster #123
Trojan Virus #526
McSpeedy #145
Rage More #96

Bench – Chasing Katy
LUM – Bint Imperial

TEAM BLACK:
Bacon Roll #4
Ba Humbug #0131
Bunsen BurnHer #61
Coco Schnell – #39 (Newcastle Roller Girls)
Calamity Payne #808
Diamond Slayher #10
Jammy Mammy #333
Khal JoJo – #H2O (Newcastle Roller Girls)
Looney Tunes #148
Mairi #99
Pukeahontas #92
Roxy Rebel # 31F (Fierce Valley Roller Girls)
Teapot Rebellion #24
Tank Girl #46

Bench – DeeDee
LUM – Shiv

This month we are looking at one of our most amazing skaters – Yin & Bang, who we affectionately call Bangers. She skates for our A team and our B team, and she is also off to Dallas in December to skate for Team Scotland in the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup!

Bangers is an incredible skater, an incredible person and an incredible friend. We all love her, and we are so proud to show her off as our skater of the month.

 

Home Team Affiliation: The Skatefast club

Joined ARRG in: 2010

Favourite position to play: I mostly play as a blocker, but I enjoying pivoting also.

Your Derby story: I started fresh meat with Bulletproof glass as we work together. We went along together and were addicted.

Worst Derby injury: (Touch wood) I’ve been lucky not to break anything. Although I did go to A & E when I thought I’d broken my hip. Lucky I didn’t, though the morphine was fun…

Best Derby advice: You fall, you get yourself back up. Never, ever compare yourself to anyone else around you.

Any funny/embarrassing derby stories? I remember when during a Thistles skate out I tripped on thin air and did a face plant to the crowd. Skinner quickly came back and picked up my sorry ass.

Derby Hero: All the lovely arrgers are my heroes!

What do you do outside of derby: I once did a lot of karate and I love to knit. I get to save and play with puppies and kittens every single day!

Fun fact about you: I would like to join a choir.