Croydon Roller Derby are ready for their 2016 season, and are looking for new recruits
Croydon Roller Derby are on the look out for determined and feisty players who can help them continue their rise among Britain and Europe’s top teams in this exciting new sport.
It’s fast-paced and full-contact, and Croydon Roller Derby’s all-woman A and B teams want to continue their success of previous years in the new season.
Croydon Roller Derby’s 2016 fixtures begin this month and run through to September. In the British championships CRD’s A team, called Riot Squad, will take on teams from the southern region in Portsmouth, Buckinghamshire, Bristol and Exeter.
Croydon won against every team in their region in Tier 3 last year, winning promotion to Tier 2. This means tougher opponents and bigger challenges, but Riot Squad’s Ellie Odurny, who skates under the pseudonym Inara Terra, says: “We’ve been training hard both on and off the track and we’re feeling strong and ready for the season to begin.”
Roller derby is played by two teams on an oval track on quad roller skates. Each team sends four “blockers” and one “jammer” to the track, where they have up to two minutes at a time to score as many points as possible.
After an “initial pass”, where each jammer must get past the other team’s blockers and sprint a lap of the track, the jammers then score one point for every blocker they pass on the opposing team. Playing offence and defence simultaneously, it’s the blockers’ job to stop the other team’s jammer getting past them at the same time as helping their own jammer to score points.
CRD are excited about the new challenges for them for the 2016 season. Just a week after Riot Squad take on Portsmouth in the first game of the British champs season, Croydon are hosting a double-header against Stuttgart at Haywards Heath. This will see Croydon’s B team, Vice Squad, take to the track against Stuttgart’s the Bad Seeds, followed by even more adrenaline-fueled action when Riot Squad face Stuttgart’s A Team, the Hit Girls.
Both Vice and Riot squad are hoping for a big home crowd to cheer them to victory on Saturday February 27 at the Dolphin Centre. Tickets will be available on the team’s website.
Inara Terra says: “Roller derby is such an inclusive sport, it’s great that we get to meet people from all over the UK and abroad. The atmosphere on game days is always so friendly and there’s a buzz in the air.”
CRD are holding a recruitment day on Sunday February 28 at their training venue, Pulse Health and Fitness centre in Carshalton. Anyone who thinks they want to be involved with roller derby is encouraged to contact the organisers at recruitment@croydonrollerderby.co.uk to go along to find out more about the opportunities to take part.
As well as new skaters to join the rookie training programme, CRD are looking for referees and non-skating officials as part of the team.
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