Roller What?

I skated as a kid. I was lucky enough to have a tennis court in my yard growing up in Johannesburg. I would skate for hours on the rough green surface on my neon yellow skates two sizes too big. These memories came flooding back on my first visit to the beautiful Durban promenade. The need for a new pair of skates overcame me and I purchased a pair from the Skate Shop next to Circus Circus.

After a disastrous and rather painful first attempt at skating on the promenade, I googled “skate training” to see if I could find a coach to help me find my skate zone again. I found a Facebook page with a small group of girls that skated at Moses Mabhida stadium on a Monday evening. I packed my things and headed over at the first opportunity. It was raining, but a small bunch of girls were still skating. They welcomed me like a long lost sister and introduced me to the world of Roller Derby. 

Wikipedia describes Roller Derby as a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups ("jams") in which both teams designate a scoring player (the "jammer") who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to assist their own jammer while hindering the opposing jammer.

For me it was a sisterhood of strong, creative, energetic women that I found a home with. They gave me instant friendship and constant motivation.  I also discovered a sport that was super fun to play, excellent exercise and I was surprisingly quite good at. 

Have a look at our league Facebook page Durban Derby. We have lots of open nights for new skaters and information on events and bouts which you can watch.