Anchor City Rollers

Whoever coined the phrase “your body is a temple” was right about mine, because over the years I have managed to destroy it slowly (and sometimes quickly). On a regular basis, I am left to pick up the pieces and rebuild until I am back to a “normal,” functioning state. I started ballet at three years old, and I was good at it. Good enough that my teacher asked me to start on pointe shoes when I was around ten years old. As I’m sure you can imagine, putting all your weight on

So you've decided that you want to up your derby game. Maybe you have just joined a learn to skate program and are eager to master the skills. Or maybe you are ready to get that competitive edge and join a team. That is great! I have a couple of steps to help improve your skills. Watch more high level derby I know this is mentioned in about every blog about derby, but seriously, you should watch more. It is so easy to watch something from the WFTDA.tv archives. Our league tri

Last week I went to a talk by Catrina Brown, a professor of social work at Dalhousie. Her talk was on women and depression, and I almost skipped it because I figured I was already an expert, being a woman and depressed. But I went anyway, and spent the full 45 minutes nodding and taking furious notes. “Women can be really hard on themselves, more so than on others,” she said (after acknowledging the inadequacy of the word “women” and of the erasure such generalizations can ca

*With special mention to Maritime derby photographers, especially our very own Richard Lafortune To all of our derby photographers (Richard Lafortune, Paul Vienneau, Steve Clarkson, Evan Shanks, Roy Crawford, Jason Hickey, Andre Reinders, Travis of Digital Reflections, Cassie Latta-Johnson, Andrea Crowell and anyone else who has captured Anchor City Rollers on camera): Thank you. There is so much you do for this sport, for us, that I think we could thank you every day and it

When I started skating I thought I wanted to transform into a hardcore roller derby star. Someone to channel the aggression hiding deep down somewhere in my mind. I wanted to be fearless and rebellious, kick ass and take names, unquestionable confidence in every stride. I truly believed I would evolve into this badass skater through body-checks and broken bones. I used to curse myself out because I couldn’t find the balls to do that one-foot glide around the turn, or I'd fal

I started the “Learn to Skate” program with Anchor City Rollers in January 2016, despite a few family members asking, “You are doing what?” and my partner, who said, “Maybe you should get in better shape first.” Great point, but the comment felt rather discouraging – I took it as a dare. Full disclosure: I am a 45-year-old overweight mother of two girls, and I have not participated consistently in exercise in a very long time. When I was growing up, my buddies and I always ha

I love roller derby. Getting involved in this amazing community has truly been a life-changer for me. I just have so much love for this incredible sport. Yet there is something that I need to say about roller derby which is something that I could do without and hope to change; for a sport that prides itself on its inclusivity and openness, we still use some language that is exclusive and even hurtful for some folks. The good news is that they have some simple fixes that re

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(This is the second post in a series. Please see Intro to Aggressive Skating) Park Etiquette The main thing here is don't be a jerk, and skate safe. Before you barrel into a skate park you will want to watch the other people using the park (if there are any). A busy skatepark can be very intimidating. It is always a good idea to bring a friend or someone experienced for your first time if possible. I like to take a crowd of skaters with me and take over parts of the par

I’ve always been a person that enjoyed playing sports, especially team sports. Growing up I was in dance, swimming, figure skating, ringette, and rugby. I always enjoyed being active but I didn’t really understand training. I would go to my practices and learn the skills and rules of the games so I could play competently but I didn’t have the drive to train on my own time. I was never the best in any of these sports while others that I played with sought out spots on competit