Player Spotlight: Hell Cat

Skate Name

Hell Cat

Skate Number

BA1

Why Did You Start Roller Derby?

A few different friends had asked me if I'd heard of roller derby and were surprised when I said hadn't. They thought it'd be right up my alley, so I did some digging online and fell a little bit in love. When I found out Bath didn't have a league, I teamed up with some other forlorn derby wannabes and helped to found Bath Roller Derby!

Describe Your Roller Derby Career So Far

Slow and steady! Before upgrading my wheels, I struggled with speed on track and it took me a little while to get to grips with the tactical elements of the sport. Tearing my MCL back in December meant I was off skates for a frustrating two months, but I used this time to swot up, watch loads of online footage and even bench manage a few scrims. Tactical deficit conquered! Played plenty of closed doors, one mixed public bout and excited to have some public games with Bath lined up. Next step; face down my jamming demons...

What's Your Skate Set Up?

Good ol' Riedell R3s. Staggered set up of slim Atom Poisons and Low Boys; lush but mildly extreme mix of grippy and slippy. Rx toe stops. Scabs. Sisu. The prettiest Triple8 helmet ever.

Who's Your Derby Idol?

I have a huge amount of respect for Buccaneer Betty Fear (Severn Roller Torrent). Not only is she a brilliant skater, but she's a kick ass coach and has an awesome way with words. SRT are clearly destined for great things and it's blatantly because of skaters like Fear, who seem to put everything they have into their league. I'm all about that. Go Fear.

Sum up Bath Roller Derby Girls in 5 words

The sisters I never had.

Fun Fact About You

I am called Cat. My dog is called Mouse. I didn't make the connection / realise how silly that sounds until she'd learnt her name...

Player Award 2013
The Mary Poppins Award For Shit Hot Organisation And Perpetual Cheeriness.

Player Spotlight: Mad Math

Skate Name

Mad Math

Skate Number

284

Why Did You Start Roller Derby?

I watched Whip It and fell in love with the idea of a female sport where you can strap on skates and hit people. Speed and aggression - how could I not love it?! I also decided it was a perfect way for me to beat my fears of large groups of people, touching strangers and new places.

Describe Your Roller Derby Career So Far

 A continuous roller coaster ride that I am finally used to. I went from being obsessed, to getting injured and resenting all things derby, then to getting back on wheels having learnt that derby is not the be-all-and-end-all, soul saving thing that I thought it was.

What's Your Skate Set Up?

Antik AR1s, Heartless wheels, Mag. Avenger plate and Moonwalker toestops.

Who's Your Derby Idol?

Judge Redd at Tiger Bay Brawlers. She dislocated her knee and still looked badass with a walking stick. Her resilience in the face of injury is impressive.

Sum up Bath Roller Derby Girls in 5 words

Welcoming, friendly, spreadsheet-loving organisational goddesses.

Fun Fact About You

I'm in my final year of a PhD on the fluid mechanics of aeroplane engines!

Player Award 2013
The Eye Of The Tiger Award For Unwavering Get-Back-To-Derby Dedication

Player Spotlight: S’Mac Down Angel

Skate Name

S’Mac Down Angel

Skate Number

wot4

Why Did You Start Roller Derby?

I skated a lot as a kid as was always a relatively confident skater. Since quitting football three years ago (bad knees) I really missed the team involvement and being part of a competitive contact sport. I randomly got introduced to Derby and knew immediately it was going to suit me..... fast, aggressive, team based, athletic and more kind to the knees. Within 24 hours I had the full set of safety gear, coupled with my 20 year old boots. Ha.

Describe Your Roller Derby Career So Far

Within 3 weeks of being in the league team I'd played 6 bouts (with Bath, also subbing in to help make up numbers for the Devon Clotted Screamers!) I was loving it... until I played bull dogs one night at a roller disco and broke and dislocated my ankle.  One 6 inch plate and 6 screws later, I had months ahead of me before wearing skates again. I was heart broken! But I'm smiling more now, as I'm just getting used to skates again and hope to be back to contact derby within a couple of weeks.

What's Your Skate Set Up?

Well, I fell out of love with my old skates (Riedell Vixens) since breaking my ankle, so sold them.  I'm currently using fellow skater Steg's old skates, but I have a top notch pair on order which occasionally leaves me sleepless with excitement..... Antik AR1s, Arius plates, Boneless Ceramic bearings, Heartless wheels.

Who's Your Derby Idol?

Michelle Steilen (BonesBearings) I’ve watched her stunts a million times on you tube. She's amazing and totally fearless (and beautiful....bitch haha!)

Sum up Bath Roller Derby Girls in 5 words

Family, supportive, skilled, competitive, AWESOME! 

Fun Fact About You

1) I was born with no sense of smell. 

2) I will never play bull dogs on skates again!

Player Award 2013

Best Signature Move (The JCB)

Bath Roller Derby Girls Get Shirty

Ever noticed how roller derby just seems to attract the best ones? Creative, ethical, practical; the derby demographic is all kinds of awesome - the sort of people my mum would approvingly refer to as "do-ers". Couple that with the passion behind the sport's DIY ethos and it's immediately clear why it's one of the fastest growing amateur sports in the world. Derby people make stuff happen.

With all that in mind, it should come as no surprise that when Bath Roller Derby decided the time had come for their very first league merchandise order, we didn't have to outsource a thing! We're very lucky to count an uber-talented and eco-friendly screen printer amongst our ranks in the form of Hannah Conway, aka Conway The Barbarian.

Photo Credit: I Dress Myself

One half of I DRESS MYSELF, Hannah and partner Pete have been busily putting together our order and we're thrilled to announce that it's almost ready to put on sale! We'll be selling two kinds of shirt through this blog (a lovely pale blue and our trademark sunny yellow!) as well as rolling out a mixed bag of various colours and cuts at our bouts, fundraisers and socials.

Photo Credits: I Dress Myself

The shirts are all made from fairly traded, organic cotton and printed with water-friendly inks. So you can save all your chaos and destruction for the track ;)

All funds raised from the sales will go straight back to supporting the league, helping us progress and develop as a team. Watch this space!

Player Spotlight: Dwayne 'The Block' Johnson

Skate Name

Dwayne 'The Block' Johnson

Skate Number

279

Why Did You Start Roller Derby?

I'd heard about derby and desperately wanted to try it. After waiting what felt like ages I saw in the local paper that Bath had a team and were looking for new skaters.

Describe Your Roller Derby Career So Far

Started skating early 2012, Fresh Meat in June, passed my minimum skills in Jan and have played in a couple of scrims and was on the winning side in my first public mixed scrim last week!

What's Your Skate Set Up?

Suregrip Rebel Avengers with DA45 trucks. Need to sort my wheels out next! Smiths Scabs pads. 

Who's Your Derby Idol?

Tess Robinson from BRD, now LRG. I wish my hips moved like hers! 

Sum up Bath Roller Derby Girls in 5 words

Supportive, friendly, most awesome decision.

Fun Fact About You

I used to fly gliders and have flown solo (completely by myself!) both myself and the glider were unscathed! 

Player Award 2013

Best Booty Blocker In The Business

BRDG Winter Highlights! (Or: "What Christmas Break?")

It's been a little while since our last proper update - we promise we haven't been hibernating! Here are some of the best bits of Bath Roller Derby's winter season... Get ready for a post of great epicness!

Halloween Inter-League Scrimmage

Epic BRDG Zombies vs. Witches Halloween showdown! This was a fantastic evening's intra-league scrimming; brilliant costumes, terrifying make up, some ace skating and probably too many sweeties if we're honest. A hard-fought win for the Zombies! Braaaaaaaaains! Braaaaaains!


BRDG's Second Fresh Meat Course Kicks Off!

Awesome FM logo by Stephanie Male / Wheel Swapping, The New (Derby) Wife Swapping?

After the success of our last Freshie intake, we've been dying to get Round 2 underway and at the start of January, it happened! Our 10 week Fresh Meat course was totally booked out, with over 30 lads and lasses taking their first steps into the wonderful world of derby. We're over halfway through the course now, and already seriously impressed by this gang's excellent attitudes and hard graft!

We devised a shared coaching rota for this FM course, with a wide range of league members stepping up to take on teaching each week. This seems to be working really well; each session's coach is chosen because they excel at the skills being taught in that session, so Freshies get a great intro to each new element, as well as getting to know us 'big girls' in advance of joining our league training after graduation. Yays all round for integration!

BRDG skater, The Hendenberg, also organised a super sweet wheel swapping evening, giving Fresh Meat the chance to borrow league skaters' wheels and test out loads of different kinds, sizes and combos before committing to buying their own.

BRDG Christmas Social & Player Awards

Festive Paceline...

Bad jumpers, Secret Santa and a roast potato cook-off; the undisputed king of Christmas party formulas! As well as partaking in pressies, mince pies, and mulled cider, we announced our 2013 BRDG Player Awards, which you can check out here.

Friendly Scrim with Dorset Roller Derby

In January, we spent a great evening hosting Dorset Roller Derby at our Beechen Cliff venue. These girls are so much fun to play! We enjoyed a really close, evenly matched game; coming up against some really impressive walling, great tactical jammers and a few monster hits! Hopefully we can head down to their neck of the woods before too long for another session - thanks again for travelling to see us on a school night, ladies and gents!

BRDG's First Sur5al Adventure!

All Photos Credit: Wix Derby Pix

Earlier this month, Smasha Cake, Lazy Susan, Nan-Imosity, Scarlet O'Harma and Smashing Thumpkins headed down south to represent Bath Roller Derby at Sur5al, playing against skaters from Leagues across the South West, including our eternal favourites, The Devon Clotted Screamers! Big thank snogs to all the refs, NSOs and other skaters at this brilliant event - the rest of the league is itching to have a go at Sur5al too now!

Victorian Roller Derby Bootcamp

Massive thanks to Ruby Ribcrusher and The Flyin' Nun Chucker from the Victorian Roller Derby League for this epic four hour bootcamp! We learnt ridiculous amounts and had so much fun. It was really nice to have a few of Wiltshire's skaters join us too, thanks for coming ladies - we should train together more often! We ended the day in traditional BRDG style; Hell Cat's place, industrial amounts of vegan food, and freely flowing cider. As days go, that one's going to be hard to top...

Closed Door With Wheels Of Gory

Huge respect for Wheels Of Gory who played a super fast, pacey game incredibly short of players. We don't know what you're feeding your Duracell bunny jammers, but we want in on the secret please! Seriously impressive fitness and endurance... Was a real pleasure playing these girls, we're already looking forward to the rematch.

International Bootcamping: Bruges & Berlin!

BRDG went international this winter! Steg, Petra, Conway Barbarian and (an off-skates, boo!) Hell Cat flew out to Berlin for a gruelling but totally, epically amazing weekend with the Berlin Bombshells (video to follow soon!) We had an incredible time, one of the highlights being checking out Quad and stocking up on all manner of roller derby goodies. If you get the chance to go, go!

In February, LaySu, Tink, Steg, Lou Bootin' and Petra also hit up Derby Revolution in Bruges, where they trained with some bone fide derby legends! We've all been benefitting in league training sessions from the excellent jamming drills taught to them by none other than Suzy Hotrod, eeeeee! Getting to learn from some of the best players in the world, first hand... What a truly amazing sport we're a part of <3

Coming Up...

+ BRDG play their first INTERNATIONAL BOUT in Lisbon!
+ Fundraisers galore: BRDG Auction of Promises and Pub Quiz V
+ Grin N Barum Closed Door, Scrimming with the Clotted Screamers...

+ Fresh Meat's impending graduation!

Player Spotlight: Petra Bomb

Skate Name

Petra Bomb

Skate Number

1936

Why Did You Start Roller Derby?

I have always done some contact sport, I loved to skate when I was a kid, and I like DIY culture and feminism so it was kinda a natural progression.

Describe Your Roller Derby Career So Far

Fresh Meat with Dorset Roller Girls, Skater with Bristol Roller Derby for a year while helping get BRDG going.

 

What's Your Skate Set Up?

Hand-me-down Riedell 265's with slightly-shonky-home-mounted Mag Avenger plates and Atom Jukes.

Who's Your Derby Idol?

There are many. Mick Swagger, Stef Mainey, plus everyone who's ever coached and encouraged me especially Delta Strike and Jet Reckless at BRD

Sum up Bath Roller Derby Girls in 5 words

Derby Love and Shoves. ... Biatch.

Fun Fact About You

Ahhh why you make me do this. I don't know fun things. Um. I can't handle carrots cut into rounds and was once bit in the bum by a police dog.

Player Award 2013

The Kingpin Award For Holding BRDG Together