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19
Jun 2022
Harrogate's roller derby team seeks new recruits
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:
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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:
To find out more about joining click here.
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