Join us for open scrim in 2019!!

We’re excited to announce that in 2019, Western Sydney Rollers (WSR) will be hosting a series of open scrimmages.  These scrimmages will be mixed gender and get rolling on Sunday 3 March, 2019 so break out your black and white scrim shirts and register today!

The scrimmages will run on Sunday from 6-8pm at Penrith Regional Sports Centre, 30 Herbert Street, Cambridge Park, NSW 2747.

You can grab a 2019 season pass for $40 per person for a 2019 season pass or pay $5 for a single/individual scrimmage.

To register for playing, complete the form here.

Our Open Scrimmage dates for 2019 are: 

  • 3 March
  • 7 April
  • 5 May
  • 19 May
  • 2 June
  • 28 July
  • 25 August
  • September TBA
  • 13 October
  • 3 November
  • 10 November
  • 17 November

Join our open scrimmage facebook event.

If you have questions, contact us at info@westernsydneyrollers.com.au

 

Learn to skate & play derby

Calling all skaters, non-skating officials, referees and volunteers! No experience is necessary and all genders are welcome.

By popular demand we will be holding a second intake of our Learn to Skate and Play Roller Derby Program. This is your last chance for 2018.

Wanna find out more? Join us at on Friday, 20 July 6:30 – 8:30pm, at the Colonial Hotel.

Pixie’s #wsrmumstrainlikechamps off-season workout

You’ve probably seen the awesome hastags our roller girls and guys have been using lately #wsrtrainlikechamps and #nosuchthingasoffseason but what if you’re a mum wanting to balance off-season training with playtime? That was my conundrum.

I work full-time, add to that roller derby including volunteer time and you get #mumguilt when you miss spending time with your spawn.

As the famous commercial goes, “why not do both”? This has been my #wsrmumstrainlikechamps workout for the last two months or so:

The Swing!

In between pushes on the swing complete the following set three times:

  • 20 × squat holds
  • 20 × right leg lunges
  • 20 × left leg lunges

This should give your offspring a good 5-10 minutes on the swing and you can actually enjoy swing time too, instead of going into zombie mum mode.

The Roundabout/Turntable

Ask your darling kidlet to hold on tight. Grab the rail and Carioca/grapevine around the the roundabout. Start slow and work your way faster. How fast can you go? If you go one direction always do the other. Only go for 30 seconds at a time so you and the offspring don’t get too dizzy and fall (learnt that the hard way…).

Ask kidlet to hold on tight. Sit on the very edge of the roundabout, lean back to about 45° and push with just the balls of your feet and toes. Start slow and go faster and faster. Again only do 30 second reps. Stop and spin in the opposite direction. Try changing it up and just use the heels of your feet instead of the balls of your feet. Too easy? Try not to lean on your arms. Put them in front of you in prayer position.

Rope Climbing Frame

Find a length of rope about belly height and hold on with your hands about shoulder width apart. Move your feet back until you are in a comfortable position to do two sets of press ups of 20 reps each. Too easy? Move your feet back further and move your feet to hip width apart and then shoulder width. Still too easy? Find a length of rope at knee height. Lie on the ground and place your feet or ankles on the rope. Complete your reps as push ups.

The Rope Basket/Net Swing

Jump in the net swing with your lil’ dear facing you in the centre. Place your legs and feet on either side of your kidlet and sit toward the edge facing the direction of swing. Hold on, lean back and push with your legs and feet in the direction of the forward swing and bring it back to a crunch on the back swing. See how much swing you can create without touching the ground/getting a push. Too easy? Try not to hold on or use your arms for swinging, get to a point where you are stable enough to swing while your hands are in front of you in the prayer position.

Monkey Bars or Climbing Frame

Try doing some pull ups. Cross your feet in front of you to avoid pushing off with your feet and just use your arms. Tbh, I’ve got really weak arms…I would just try to do one or two reps before moving on…

Some more tips

  • Take time to warm up whether it is part of walking to the park or a quick game of chasings around the backyard before you start.
  • Protect your back, engage your core with each rep by sucking your bellybutton inwards.
  • Get creative, make playtime about both/all of you enjoying yourselves, if your cheeky monkey wants to play here/there how can you play too and challenge yourself.
  • Don’t over do it if you still need to walk back home from the playground either mum needs lots of breaks or Mr Two needs to be carried home along with his bike and drink (lol).
  • You’re at the park to play and spend time with your precious babies, remember to engage with them, ask for help counting your reps, make funny faces or noises with each rep, or make up some imaginative play together.
  • Be that fun mum that properly “plays” at their playground, it doesn’t all have to be about reps and stretching, running around playing tip or the floor is lava is still a workout, trust me.

In the end, Axel and I did have fun and I feel #derbystrong for our 2017 season.

Go forth and play
❤ Pixiematosis

Off-season… WHAT off-season?

With tummies full of festive goodies that may or may not be conducive to your Season 2015 fitness, here are some great off-season fitness tips from Manic Munchkin 🙂

Anyone who has previous conditions, injuries etc should consult their doctor first before performing any of the exercises and if they want alternatives they can message me 🙂 Also, if there are some who attend a gym, I would encourage them to get staff to help with finding neutral spine and squat range.

Tip #1
Do excises that improve stability, we can be super strong but have poor stability, and this is when injuries happen.
Example exercises:

Calf raises; these are important to promote strength around the lower leg area which will improve stability at the knee joint as well as at the ankle. Muscles are designed to absorb a certain amount of force, the stronger we can get the muscles around the joints, the less likely we are to injure those joints.

Glute Bridges:

Use with or without a weight, on a bench or on the ground.

From ground: lift hips to ceiling, keeping neutral spine (keeping natural curvature of spine, ask someone at gym or home to check, or use pole to measure 3 points of contact head, upper back and glutes, all 3 must be touching pole)

On bench: feet in squat position with upper back on bench, keep hips inline with shoulders and head, not letting them go lower or higher. If you want to use weight, rest on lower part of the stomach.

Powerlifters squat:
This squat is where knees do not go past toes. The movement is like sitting in a chair. It’s very important to know your squat range, which is to the point just before your lower back begins to curve under your hip. Do it in front of a mirror and watch your lower back, I also encourage people to watch themselves when doing other exercises in front of a mirror if training alone.

Tip #2
Do exercises that are relevant to Derby. Maybe you guys have heard of this thing called ‘Functional Movement’, to sum it up, part of it is doing exercises that are relevant to your day to day activity and training your body to perform movements you do on a regular basis.

Example of exercises that would be relevant are:

Bicycle kicks or Russian Oblique Twists: We twist our torsos a lot in Derby, these exercises strengthen the muscles involved because the exercises involve similar movement patterns.

Step ups; It’s very important in derby to have a good derby stance, this includes ensuring our knees track over our toes, by this I mean going in the same direction as our toes. Women’s knees have a tendency to cave inwards because of our wide set hips, so it’s even more important for us girls!
This exercise doesn’t necessarily need weights, it’s more to get into practice ensuring your knees are following your toes, if you can try doing them without touching the ground and if needed, use something to balance yourself with.
Our body is built so every joint is inline for maximum force exertion, when they’re not inline we lose the ability to exert that maximum force.

Tip #3

Cardio! I can hear the groans from here but cardio is incredibly important . Most people have probably heard of interval training, and most are probably too scared to try it. Interval training doesn’t have to be intense, it literally just means intervals between exercise. You could do a 1 minute walk then do a slower walk for 2 minutes. Intervals can be performed on a bike, rowing machine, in a pool or even on your skates! Interval training is very relevant to how derby is played, players have to get used to giving it their all for 2 minutes then slowing down to almost nothing. Please begin with caution, do not start with a high intensity, or even medium. Before starting interval training, ensure you have 6 months previous training in some form of cardio or other fitness experience e.g derby training or gym training.

Tip #4

Always keep neutral spine when training and do not compromise your safety just to push yourself a little further!