Now that Scottish schools are back in session it seems like summer is well and truly over. 'What summer?!' I hear you cry. Well, yes, in typical Scottish fashion there was little by way of good weather, but here at GRD we don't let the miserable temperatures get us down!
Every year we have a short break from derby activity for a fortnight to give our muscles some well-deserved time off. This year we took a break in June, though a few of our members were still in training for the very exciting Team Scotland try outs! Seven of our talented skaters made it to the training squad as the result of their great performances and we couldn't be prouder of them!
We also had some derby adventures away from home this summer as there was the epic London versus Gotham game which took place on the 26th of June. Several GRDers travelled down to the big smoke to watch the game and also took part in a bootcamp coached by some of their skating heroes.
It wasn't just our skaters who were busy though, our very talented Head NSO Sharizard spent her summer holding her very first solo show of her art 'Uncharted Stillness' in Whiteinch Library. It ran for a month and was a huge success with Shari able to show her work and even make some sales of her excellent pieces. You can read all about the show and her work on Shari's blog.
Uncharted Stillness, at Whiteinch Library. Photo courtesy of Shari.
Also in July one of our referees, Feminist Killjoy, visited the nice folk down in Middlesborough Milk Rollers to pass on some of their rules knowledge to their newest intake of skaters. MMR posted a great picture on their Instagram page with their thanks to Freya for sharing their expertise!
Away from the track we've been out in the great outdoors on some derby dog walks!
L-R: Grissom and Fry, Mad Natter, Reuben, Jess E Ska, Danny E Ska, Twain.
Hadrian's Brawl was out and about exploring when she found a cool outdoor space that used to be used as a roller rink when her mum and dad were courting! Pretty different to the tracks we're used to now...
Of course we've also been training hard in preparation for our next games. August is a really busy month for us with GRD's Big Weekend featuring the VRUK vs Soy Division and Team Magic vs Team Science game, our third Queeriosity event as well as our new intake of Glasgow Roller Recruits all over two days! Our Maiden Grrrders are also playing against Aberdeen's Granite City next weekend and we've got Bruisers and Home Teams games lined up for September too. In preparation for this we were visited by LRG's excellent Juke Boxx and Ballistic Whistle for a training session where we worked on our jam starts and some blocking skills.
In fact we crammed so much into this summer that we think we need a holiday to recover!
There's no rest for the wicked though, we're really looking forward to having a busy few months on and off the track. If you want to join us you can check out all our upcoming dates on our events calendar here on the website or via our Facebook page. You can also sign up to our mailing list using the link on the sidebar to make sure you never miss an update. We hope to see you soon!
