The Spa Town Roller Derby Team is on the lookout for new recruits after covid took its toll on numbers.
The team, which was set up in 2012, is Harrogate’s only roller derby league team and has 19 players.
It is made up of men and women putting on their skates and taking to the floor at Harrogate Ladies’ College each Sunday.
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two five-person teams skating counter-clockwise around a track. In each team there is a jammer and four blockers.
The jammer scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to hinder the opposing jammer while assisting their own jammer, in effect playing both offence and defence simultaneously.
The team sometimes competes and is currently at tier 4 of the British Championships. In 2016 to 2020 the team competed in the championships each year and without the disturbance of covid the team could have moved to tier 2.
Gemma Wilson has been a member from the start. She started after the birth of her son when she was living with post-natal depression and said being part of the team “saved” her:
“When I put my skates on I was able to forget everything and just laugh, sweat and learn alongside the team. Some say it’s cheap therapy!
“I am one of millions of people who were saved by the crazy, fast paced sport full of some of the most supportive and incredible people the world has to offer.
“During my time skating I have competed all over the country, travelled abroad, tried out for Team England, have some hilarious after party stories and have made lifelong friends across the globe.”
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Ms WIlson is encouraging people of all ages and abilities to sign up. They began recruiting six weeks ago and are in the middle of teaching new members the basics of contact.
The hope is with more members they can add another session in each week. She added:
“People really can take from it what they want as some just want to have a little slice of time for themselves or get fit whilst having fun, but if players want to then they can compete in scrimmages and bouts against other teams.”
To find out more about joining click here.
