It’s no secret that the new kids on the block get a bit of a hard time but as one of those newbies, I would like to present to you some reasons why you should be becoming our new best friends (or derby wives).

1. The Excitement

Remember that joy you had when you first put on skates that fit and made it a whole training without falling over backwards? (still waiting? Never fear!)
Freshies have that joy and excitement the whole time they are Freshmeat! As well as into their graduation bout!

I have heard tales that this excitement can dwindle going into the second, third or tenth year of roller derby. That, my friends, is what Freshies are here for. All you need to do is head on down to one of our trainings and see how much fun we are having. Which leads me well into point 2.

 2. The Laughter

The most common sound you will hear from a Freshies mouth (apart from OW!) is laughter. Well in my intake it certainly is. We are at the stage now that we can have a laugh about accidental gropings and amazing bails. We also celebrate the small (and large) achievements – first bruises, first controlled transitions, first time jamming and the best recoveries. With all of these things comes the laughter, the smiles, the tap-tap-tap of wristguards clapping and the all round positive-ness.

The best example I have of this was just last week at a training with both Freshies and Old Meat. We were running a contact drill that involved two of us as blockers and one as a jammer trying to get through. My group of Freshies went all in, putting our all into this drill when all of a sudden, two of us locked wheels, one fell, the other regained balance, but only by clinging to the third which pulled her off balance and then we were all on the floor in a tangled mess of limbs and wheels and we are all howling with laughter. We looked up and the Old meat were looking at us with expressions I could not read. But we had the time of our lives!

Feel free to laugh with us Old Meat!

3. The Questions

How well do you know your rules? Your gear? Do you have any wise words of advice for us newbies?  We are full of questions and we are like sponges! We will suck up anything you tell us and apply it. This will make you a better skater and teacher! Don’t just say you don’t know the answer, go and research it and come back to us, or link us to some of the amazing resources! Researching will help you and remember – there is no such thing as a stupid question.

 4. The ‘Sorry’ Press-ups.

In our league, we have a policy where we do not apologize on the track. It stops us from doing our best – not hitting our hardest in fear of hurting someone or taking shortcuts to stop cutting someone off. If we are caught saying sorry then we are dealt 5 or 10 press ups (depending on the Sorry Police for the night). The time when this starts happening the most is when the Freshmeat show up. We are forever doing silly things that get in the way of Old Meat. Sorry’s are everywhere. And you get to watch us suffer the consequences.

5.  The Awe.

Didn’t think you were a very good skater? Think again. Every single Freshie is in awe of even the most basic skills that you do. Your derby name will no doubt end up in a conversation that makes you out to be a roller goddess. We will try and imitate you, and fail. Then we will try again, and again. Then one day we will succeed and it will be because you inspired us.

As well as the most obvious reasons, growing the league, spreading the derby love and so on, these 5 reasons should inspire you to take another look at the Freshies and become our friends and mentors.

It will not be a one sided partnership!

Plus – One day we will have your back on the track!

P.s – I finally have my derby alter ego!
Meet Akka Dakka Smakka #4CDC
Chosen because mine + my hubby’s initials are ACDC. Plus the band aint that shabby either.

Freshmeat 2013 begins with welcome packs. Anything with free stuff is good right? A collection of flyers, stickers, what Otautahi is all about and a free bandana (for soaking the sweat from our unfit bodies). It is exciting to see the freshy crew who have made the commitment to derby this year. Woman who we will have to get REALLY comfortable with, who will be both up in our grill and have our backs. I can’t wait.

Once the welcome pack rummaging had finished, it was onto an off-skates warm up. This consisted of jogging around 30 laps of the track with an alternating leader calling instructions from the front – “high knees!” “inside!” “outside!” ‘jump!’. Each of us needs to be comfortable yelling instructions to the rest of the pack. There were a few creative instructions thrown in  – I am sure we did “Gangnam Style” at some point. At the end of the 30 laps (or was it 20? It felt like more!) we got a much needed water break.

I am pretty sure that was our only off-skates exercise during the first week. A few of us (ME!!!) had our very own pair of skates to try out and we happily geared up. A couple of lessons I learnt that day:

• You do NOT need to have your skates as tight as you can get them. You WILL get pins and needles in your feet.
• One skaters set up is not necessarily how you want yours. I have second hand skates and have loosened the trucks, lowered the toe stops and changed the lacing configuration. I still have no idea if it is working for me yet!

Once we had our gear on we went through some skating basics that we will probably go through every single week. I’m ok with that because I know that bad habits are hard to break! I want to learn right!

Learning how to push off, having the crossover broken down into a few different steps, how to plough stop and how to T-stop were the main order of business. We then spent some time doing a few falls and trying (some more successfully than others) to grapevine across the gym in our derby stance. I was one of the less successful ones. I kept rolling everywhere and bobbing up and down like whack-a-mole. Once I got home I did some practice on our wooden floors!

The last thing we did that night was a team building exercise that was finally my cup of tea. We basically played a giant game of snake (like on the brick phones). We were in two teams on opposite sides of the track going the same way. The person at the back had to push her entire ‘snake’ around the track and catch up with the other team. The ‘snake’ doesnt do anything, just gets to squat there and roll along. It was all on the back pusher. And I totally nailed it! But is it an endurance exercise and the longer it takes to catch up to the other team the more exhausted but determined you become. My secret? Digging my skates into the ground on an angle to get the most grip possible.

Our second training was a bit of a gym-key-logistical-fail but a few of us managed to get an hour or so of free skating in.

The third week ran quite similar to the first but we did some dynamic stretching while off-skates and spent heaps of time on our crossovers and learning to use our toe stops to stop. We also played the opposite to the first ‘Snake’ game where everything was the same except the front person had to pull her whole team rather than push them. I think I did pretty good at this one too but I got too puffed and gave up after a few laps. Endurance!!

The final game we played was the on-skates version of Stuck-in-the-Mud where there are two people ‘in’ and if they tag you you have to stop and stand like a starfish. You can only move again if someone crawls/dives/slides/crashes through your legs. This was seriously awesome to play and it is really good for agility too.

So to sum up, after 3 weeks of freshmeat I am feeling a lot more confident on my skates. I am enjoying making new friends and learning from them and the All Star girls teaching us.

My favourite part is playing the playground games that have a whole new meaning on skates.
The skill I feel I am the best at so far is probably the baseball slide.

The skill I am struggling with the most is being confident enough to use my toe stops when going backwards.

The skill I am looking forward to learning is being able to skate really fast and execute good crossovers

The skill I am not looking forward to learning is jumping at a ‘brisk pace’. Only because of the inevitable bails.

But onwards and upwards! Practice, practice practice and so on.

See you all at the bout this weekend!


- Smakka

Hi ORDL family, some of you I have had the pleasure of meeting, some of you I have fallen on my ass in front of, and the rest I hope to meet in the near future!

Right now my name is Amy, but I will be changing my name very soon, and you will know me by my derby name. My leading choice right now is Impaler Swift, but it has yet to be decided.

My journey began 3 years ago when I watched my first ever game of derby and thought ‘I would LOVE to do this! But where will I find the time?’
Fast forward 2.5 years and commitments were re-shuffled and an eager derby friend in Auckland pushedencouraged me to join a league down in Christchurch. A few emails and a few months later and I was navigating  my way through Avonside Girls High to try and find the gym for my first practice.

There were around 15 of us nervous looking ladies, with mismatched rental gear and wobbly giraffe legs but you could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The learn to skate classes were so invaluable because you were thrown right into the pain, the fitness and the falling, so at the end of 4 weeks you knew whether or not Derby was for you. Most of us stayed and have officially been  inducted into the 2013 Intake.

So far, the most exciting part has been getting new gear. Each week someone else has shiny new imported skates and we all take a moment to admire and examine the differences. I know I have no idea what I prefer yet but I am improving each week and that is all that matters.

Having the skills test updated will be a challenge but I think that for us it will be easier because we don’t know any different. All I know is that I am practicing my grapevines on and off skates as much as I can!

I hope to update this after each week or two of Freshmeat to let you know how I am going, what we are getting up to and maybe even share some photos of us newbies.

See you all at the Charity Bout on May the Fourth! (be with you)


- Smakka