Levin's Whenua Fatales roller derby riders kicked off their 2018 season by hosting Palmerston North's Badda Bings at the Event Centre in Levin on Saturday.
Whenua Fatales took the win: 241-107. "We put a lot of training in for this season," says team member Jay Aldridge.
"For the first time this year we had enough members to make the squad. In the past we relied heavily on members of other teams to complement our squad, but this game we needed only one.
She says roller derby involves a lot of strategy, including planning offensive and defensive moves. The jammer of each team, the player with a star on their helmet, needs to pass as many members of the opposing team as possible and score a point.
The opposing team's job is to prevent the jammer from passing. A game has two half-hour slots, with jams lasting two minutes each.
Each team nominates a most valued jammer and blocker from the opposing team at the end of the game.
The club holds a beginner's intake on April 8, at the Levin Events Centre off Victoria Street from 6.30pm to 8pm. People can watch, gear can be hired, and the first session is free.
The team's next game is on April 28, a three-way against a Nelson and Napier team to be played in Levin.