Women In Sport: Meet The Irish Ladies Roller Derby Team

If you are anything like us here at Her Towers, the 2010 movie Whip It! starring Drew Barrymore may just have made you a little bit curious about roller derby. Delve a little deeper though, and you’ll find that not only is there a number of roller derby clubs (leagues) dotted around Ireland, but there is in fact an Irish roller derby team who have qualified for the Roller Derby World Cup which will kick off in Texas, USA next week. Filling us in on all we need to know before the big matches next week was Irish player, Fiona Carton a 26-year-old Dubliner who told us how her love for the sport all began. “I first heard of roller derby from watching the Drew Barrymore film Whip It in 2010,” she explained. “I didn’t realise it was a real sport, let alone being played in Ireland! Once I found out there was a Dublin based team through a friend of a friend, I immediately signed up with Dublin Roller Derby in January 2011 and I have been hooked ever since!" The team begin their warm up. (Pics: Amanda Renee and Wicked Shamrock Photography)  “Roller derby is a full contact sport on quad roller skates (yes, the old school ones!) played on a circuit track. There are two teams of 14 skaters, with five skaters from each team on track at any given time. Four of these skaters play the position of ‘blocker’ while the other is the ‘jammer’,” she continued. “To score points, the jammer from each team must lap members of the opposing team, scoring one point for every player that they lap. The blockers are there to stop the opposing jammer while simultaneously trying to help their own jammer get through! “Each game is broken up into a series of ‘jams’ – which are up to two minutes each. After each jam, another set of blockers and jammers are sent out and then, after two 30 minute periods – the team with the most points wins. There’s no ball but a lot of strategy instead!” she added. “There’s currently 11 clubs (or leagues as they’re known in roller derby) around Ireland – two in Dublin and one in Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Greystones, Waterford, Galway, Tyrone and Tipperary. They’re all competing at different levels across Ireland and Europe. “I tried out for the Ireland squad in February of 2014. This is the second time Ireland has put together a team (the first time being for the first World Cup in 2011). There were two days of try outs with 70 plus skaters competing for 32 spots in the training squad. We’ve been training every second month since then, including warm up games against Wales, West Indies and Scotland and the men’s Ireland team.” Caroline Ní Bhrádaigh swings around Scotland defense. (Pics: Amanda Renee and Wicked Shamrock Photography)  Now, with the World Cup around the corner, how does Fiona think Ireland will do? “This year the World Cup has more than doubled since the inaugural one in 2011 – there are 30 teams competing. The top eight ranked teams from the 2011 World Cup have been split across eight different groups – there was a draw for the placement of the rest of the teams into the eight groups. The top two teams from each group will advance through to the next round and it will be tough going as the competition is over four days – December 4^th to 7^th - in the Dallas Convention Centre, Texas. “As I said, this is the second time Ireland will be competing. Ireland finished 10^th (out of 13) in Toronto at the 2011 World Cup – this year we’re hoping to improve on that! This is my first time playing in the World Cup – unfortunately I had only been skating a few months when the last try outs came around so instead I travelled to Toronto to support. “We’re really looking forward to the World Cup. I’m flying out this weekend to Texas. The team has training just outside of Dallas on the Tuesday and Wednesday and the World Cup begins on Thursday so it’s important to get over the jetlag as soon as possible with such a busy week! A roster of 20 was selected for the World Cup from the 30 skater training squad and 14 of those will be selected for each of the games. We’re in group D for the group stages so we’ll be need to do well against England, Germany and Spain to make our way through to the next round." Hazel O’Mahony assessing the lay of the land. (Pics: Amanda Renee and Wicked Shamrock Photography)  “It’s pretty hard to find the balance between work, family and friends along with roller derby without even considering the Irish team, adding that in on top of things can make it all a little hectic! I had a very busy end of season with Dublin Roller Derby (DRD) combined with the Ireland team – I ended up having 11 games in 11 weekends and travelling four out of five those weekends. “The Ireland team trains about every two months for a full weekend – we try to fit in some games against other teams to help us gel together as well. The squad has skaters based in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Cork, England, Scotland and USA – so it’s hard getting everyone together frequently. “Mixed in with all these games, training two or three times a week with DRD and trying to get to the gym, skaters are also responsible for running our own leagues – so we have committee work to get done in order to keep everything running smoothly and this extends to Team Ireland as well. I make sure to fit in as much as possible in my evenings and weekends so my friends don’t forget who I am! “The support from DRD has been amazing – 11 of us made the training squad and I feel like the support and drive from the rest of the league has fed into that. Having so many familiar faces at Team Ireland training is really comforting. The whole league has been there every step of the way too; from giving constructive criticism, lending wheels, coming to games, buying t-shirts – they’ve been fantastic. So many of them are also coming to Dallas to support or taking time off work to watch the live feed! I’m also really lucky – my entire family is coming out to Dallas to wear a lot of green and do a lot of cheering! They also let me off the hook for not visiting more because I’m always at training. Gemma Harvey takes on Violet Attack. (Pics: Amanda Renee and Wicked Shamrock Photography)  “It’s tough though as trying to get support behind us is hard, and trying to get the media behind our endeavours is a lot more difficult. It’s hard enough for any women’s sport to get people’s attention, let alone a minority sport that a lot of people have never heard of. Team Ireland, along with all of the teams across the world, are constantly working hard to get roller derby recognised and seen as a credible sport. “Financially, it’s all on the skaters and management staff’s shoulders to pay for our training costs, jerseys and getting ourselves to Dallas – it’s a lot of hard work. We ran a really successful IndieGoGo campaign where donators got limited edition merchandise, and sponsors like S1 Helmets, Roller Derby House, PivotStar and Derby Famous have helped out with kit and the Irish School of Motoring and Jones Engineering Kildare have also helped the team out financially, which has been great. “Aside from all that though, Roller Derby is really welcoming for anyone that’s interested – whether you have experience skating or never had wheels beneath your feet before! They’ll even accommodate people who have no interest in skating but want to help officiate the games. Or, if you want to skate but not be hit, refereeing is always an option too. “Most leagues will run beginner courses called ‘Fresh Meat’ where you’ll be taught the absolute basics – the correct skating form, stopping, safe ways to fall and then build up to skills like backwards skating, running on toe stops, jumping and different ways to hit each other.  Often, they’ll also be able to rent skates and safety gear to you when you first start so you don’t even need to own your own skates. "Most leagues will require you to be over 18, but that’s about it. In Dublin Roller Derby (DRD) we’ve had 18-year-olds and women over 50 – we’ve even had mothers and daughters starting at the same time! Simply dropping an e-mail or Facebook message to your local league will get you all the info you need. “Just give it a chance and don’t give up when you can’t do something the first, second or fiftieth time!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQGPdXnb2Gg Video via YouTube/FoxSearchlight