Meet the GRD team: Pixie

What's your skate name and number?

Pixie 18

How long have you been playing roller derby?

A year and nine months

What's your favourite thing about roller derby?

Being part of such an inclusive and encouraging sport has helped me push myself more, and has let me feel like I can take on the rest of my life with the same determination as when I scrim. The people are great, the training is so compelling, and I always have a great time at training or games even if I'm not feeling so balanced when I arrive.

Who is your derby hero, or favourite team?

Probably I'd have to say it's the Irn Bruisers from GRD, if only cause I've seen them play more than other teams. But I might also be a little biased. Watching the Bruisers play always gets my psyched to push myself and improve my skills.

What’s your best derby moment?

Definitely has to be my first ever scrim, where I managed a 12 point power jam, had my bench yelling at me to call off the jam once the other jammer came on. Of course, by the time I heard the call, immediately I forgot where I was and ate the floor as I called off the jam. It hurt but it was and still is incredibly funny.

What do you like to do when you aren't playing derby?

I can never just be doing one thing, so I have multiple hobbies. I enjoy building dioramas and really creating a miniature world rather than just 'a building'. I also play in and run RPGs as I love storytelling and the insane solutions that come about from strange situations. I also like tinkering with things, seeing how I can make them look more interesting than as they come, while still able to work if it's device or gadget.

Tell us an interesting fact about you.

I often make decisions in the moment, and sometimes they're good and sometimes they're bad, but I always end up with a fantastical story out of them.

Meet the GRD team: Phoenix

What's your skate name and number?

Phoenix #507

How long have you been playing roller derby?

Over 11 years

What's your favourite thing about roller derby?

TACTICS

Who is your derby hero, or favourite team?

KWOO - K. Woodward - Arch Rival. She is life! She is one of the smartest and skilled blockers playing. I ❤️ her.

What’s your best derby moment?

I have loads! I think the games my daughter attends and cheers me on from the stand are the best 🙂

What do you like to do when you aren't playing derby?

Hanging out with my family, watching anime, baking, loads of things.

Tell us an interesting fact about you.

I used to own a cafe in the west end of Glasgow.

Do You Give Blood? We Do!

A while back we were challenged by Granite City Roller Derby, and then again by Dundee Roller Derby, and finally this month we managed to get ourselves along to a session at Nelson Mandela Place for Blood Donor Week!

We had some first time donors giving a pint of the good stuff, as well as some who’ve given their blood volume a few times over. There were nerves but no one who said they wouldn’t go again!

We all went for delicious Mexican food after as we were reliably informed by Devil that broccoli and beans were the post-donation meal of choice. Puma’s margarita came with medicinal chilli.

To sign up to donate blood, check out the rules (they’ve changed recently) or make an appointment, head to the SNBTS website.

What Pride means to us 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

It’s coming to the end of Pride Month, and we asked League members to reflect on what Pride means to them. It’s been a tough few years for the LGBTQ+ community and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, but we have space and love for all. And you know that Twitter post that’s been doing the rounds about how there shouldn’t be cops at Pride, just a roller derby team skating around knocking over homophobes? Slip into our DMs and we can see if we can come to an arrangement…

I’ll leave you with our members’ thoughts on Pride:

“This year will be my first celebrating at a “real life” Pride event, rather than in the comfort of my own home (i.e on Instagram) and I’m so so excited to be ready to go to a live event as a participant. I feel very privileged to have been able to get to this place in my life, having been afforded the safe space to grow, knowing that so many people across the world still, in 2023, don’t have that “luxury”.

We need Pride so that we can all share this feeling and come together in celebration and love, educating those (especially those in positions of power - whether that power be in government, family, or employment) who don’t understand what it is to be LGBTQ+ or to love someone who is. ”

— 🩷💜💙🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Mötley Brüise

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“Pride for me means a couple of different things. On one hand it was going to a Pride event where I was first myself after coming out, but also every year it feels like I’m letting the community down because I don’t really do much engagement other than Pride. But overall I am glad to go, even with the sense of missed opportunities.”

— Pixie Bladedancer

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“Pride is the celebration of the strength of those who came before to allow me to exist without having to fight for my space. It is also my time to help create that safe space for those coming behind us.”

— Anon

Next month we’ll be walking and skating in the MardiGla Pride march. You’re welcome to join us - just send us a wee message in advance!

How roller derby has helped my mental health

My oldest daughter once asked me what I was most afraid of. I answered immediately.

“Making mistakes,” I said

She looked at me with confusion. “I meant like spiders or something.”

I’ve never been afraid of spiders, but I’ve always been afraid of mistakes. One of my earliest memories is of crying at the kitchen table while I was trying to learn to write because I was worried that I couldn’t form the letters correctly. 

That anxious 5-year-old became an anxious adult who was constantly terrified of getting things wrong. I’ve always been good at what I did because I avoided doing things that were hard for me. If it was hard, I would make mistakes, and that wasn’t okay. I didn’t apply for jobs that would have paid me more because I was afraid I’d fail. I passed up opportunities that were out of my comfort zone. And I definitely avoided sports. 

I had tried a few sports when I was a kid, like football and basketball, and they didn’t come naturally to me. I knew I would never be a great athlete, so I stopped playing sports all together - that is, until I found roller derby.

I was living in a new city and working from home, and roller derby seemed like a good way to get to know people and get out of the house. But trying roller derby was a big risk for someone like me. I already knew how to roller skate - I grew up on Long Island in the 80s and 90s, when pretty much every birthday party took place at a roller rink. But I didn’t know a thing about derby. I might make a lot of mistakes in the process of learning. 

Reader, I did. I still do.

I’m not a great roller derby player. That’s not me being humble; it’s an objective fact. I’m not really agile enough to be a jammer or strong enough to be a blocker. But every week, I go to training and lace up my skates. I get knocked over by people who are much better than me. I have fun. I’m starting to learn - at the age of 40 - that making mistakes isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Most people know that making mistakes is a normal part of life. But to someone with an anxiety disorder, it’s something you need to learn slowly, over time, as you build up evidence that you can mess up and be okay. I fell over and I didn’t get hurt. I struggled with a new skill and no one judged me for it. I got knocked off the track - over and over and over - but I got back on again. 

Roller derby is teaching me that it’s okay to fail at something. I still have a lot to learn - playing in front of a crowd still gives me the fear - but it’s forcing me to let go of the idea that I have to be good at everything that I do. 

It’s left me wondering what else I might fail at next. Art, maybe. I’m very bad at art. 

This post was written by Empire Skate as part of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.