Roller Derby: Boot camp attracts overseas coaches

Skaters got the lowdown on roller derby during boot camp at the Jubilee Stadium at the weekend. Photo/File

More than 120 skaters hit the boards at the Jubliee Stadium over Easter weekend when the Wanganui River City Rollers hosted the Low Down Derby Throw Down camp.

The organisers hauled in top coaches from the US and Team NZ roller derby coach "Pieces of Hate" to lead the training.

River City Rollers player/coach Mel McGhie (aka Mel-icious) said the boot camp was designed to upskill players and newbies (fresh meat) to the sport on all facets of the game.

"The Low Down included drills and skills and sit-down classes teaching the history of the game, how to manage and coach teams and how to referee," McGhie said yesterday.

"The camp went really well and attracted more than 120 skaters from around the country. About 20 or so of those were fresh meat and they managed to have a short bout between themselves during a lunch break. "There were skaters with varying degrees of skill and they would have learned a lot from the all-day sessions."

McGhie said the camp culminated in a match-up on Sunday evening between two All Stars teams selected by visiting international coaches: "Smarty Pants" from Texas and "Jackie Daniels" from the Windy City (Chicago).

The white team, Charolais Charge, and the black side, Galloway Stampede, each featured a River City Roller.

"I played for the white team and Emma Lamb (aka Empailer) was in the black team," McGhie said.

"It started out a fairly close bout, but the Galloway Stampede eventually drew out to win by more than 100 points. It was fun, though, and it was open to the public and there were heaps that turned out to watch."

McGhie said the next outing for the River City Rollers were home games in August for a three-way match-up involving teams from Hawke's Bay and Taranaki.