Let's go Rollin'

“I love it! I've always loved being on skates and I like the speed of it,” says Sharon Tilston, who discovered the sport of roller derby nine years ago and hasn’t looked back.

“I loved skating in the 80s... I learned to skate in the Australian theatre, what’s now the Salvation Army… so when the posters went up about Roller Derby in 2011, I jumped in with both feet! There was nowhere to skate this side of the blue mountains and I wanted to skate.”

Roller Derby is fast-paced contact sport played on roller skates. Teams designate a scoring player, known as a ‘Jammer,’ who scores points by passing the opposition’s ‘blockers’ while they move circularly around a track.

“It’s a race to gain points by passing opposition skaters —that's the short summary,” said Sharon, who is roller derby referee.

“Referees have positions, the same as the players have positions, and we are looking for people who are moving outside of the track to gain positions, people who are using illegal blocking zones, people who are using excessive force during the game… and general rule breaking.”

Roller derby is a most definitely a contact sport, with players allowed physically block opposing skaters using their bodies.

For Lyndell Newman, the contact side of the game was something that attracted her to the sport seven years ago.

“There weren’t that many female sports with contact and I saw it and thought it looked like the sport for me,” said Lyndell, who previously played a variety of team sports.

“It’s fun and I like that it is on skates, which is just a bit different to most other sports. And the people that do it, really like it. It is a sport that you choose to do, not just a sport you've been brought up in.”

Central West Roller Derby is always on the lookout for new players and whether you haven’t skated in years or have barely laced on a skate in your life, there is place for you in the sport.

“Just turn up,” said Lyndell. “We've had people who haven't skated since the 80s who've come back and they find it’s like riding a bike.”

“And we can coach from absolute can't-stand-up beginners,” said Sharon.  “We train in Orange on Tuesday nights, Bathurst on Wednesdays and then we alternate Sunday afternoons between Bathurst and Orange.”

If you would like to know more, email centralwestrollerderby@gmail.com or send them a message on Facebook.