Derby girls

Rollerskating is not for everyone. I did try throughout my adolescence to develop some skills on skates but managed only to gather enough experience to not to humiliate myself at the Saturday skate session at Mackay Skate Bowl and Squash Centre.

I could dance to Agadoo and do the Time Warp while maintaining some degree of control and didn’t do any permanent damage to my coccyx but there was no speed skating celebrity on the rink for me.

So when I showed up in my very practical flat shoes to shoot Roller Derby girls training for their upcoming season, perhaps understandably I was immediately intimidated. Not only because most of these woman appeared to be capable of breaking me in half between two fingers but because I knew they could do it on roller skates.

So for an hour, in the heat of Queensland summer, I shot the North Brisbane Roller Girls push, shove, maneuver and charge their way around the tight derby track in 35+ degree heat, training for their first season of competition.

Each sporting the name of their derby alter ego on either their shirt or their helmet and each proudly showing their own sense of style with their choice of attire or footwear.

Training in strength, balance, strategy and speed, derby girls aren’t a novelty social club for chicks who like to roller skate. Derby girls are athletes training with a purpose and their drive to succeed was evident by their commitment to a four-hour training day that Sunday.