What’s On

Welcome to the What’s On page.

Come & Try Skate Day

Want to try Roller Derby? Not sure what’s involved?

Join us on SUNDAY 28th April 5-6pm for an information session to answer all your questions….

Family & Friends Bout Saturday April 21st 2024

Join us as we watch our new graduating skaters take on their first game.

This game will be the first for many for our newbie skaters who have trained hard to get to bouting level.

Full of fun and entertainment this game will not disapoint

5×5 Championship Games

Stay tuned for loations and dates for the 2024 Annual 5×5 Tournament

Our Boutlaws will team up with NERDL to play this epic tournement!

https://www.facebook.com/5x5derby

Learn to skate and play Roller Derby

We are starting our next Learn to skate and Derby intake soon! No experience required, we will teach you everything you need to know! 6-8 week Learn to Skate program

When: We train Sunday 5pm-7pm.

Where: Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre. 30 Herbert St Cambridge Park.

Who: Anyone over the age of 18 can skate with us!

Equipment Required: Quad skates, helmet, mouth guard, knee and elbow pads, and wrist guards.

(Hire equipment may be available on request)

Cost: Start Up cost will vary depending on Skate gear purchased by individual.

$15 WSR annual membership fee

$60/ month

$100 yearly insurance fee. (Skate Victoria Insurance)

To enquire email us at info@westernsydneyrollers.com.au

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

 

Meet WSR’s Rookie Liaison!

Meanie Queenie is Western Sydney Rollers’ (WSR) Rookie Liaison. Debuting in the league’s new role in 2018, Meanie (aka Charlie), is on hand to help freshies settle into the league.

Don’t let her name intimidate you, Meanie is a big softy at heart and is well-versed in all things roller derby – especially when it comes to WSR!

Having been involved in roller derby for three years, Meanie became involved in the sport as a way of getting fit and escaping a high pressure workplace environment for a few hours each week. Little did she imagine how much of a difference derby would make to her world!

“My favourite thing about derby is the empowerment and change of perspective,” Meanie says. My original focus was to become skinny; now my goal is to be strong and reliable for my team, and I work hard to achieve those goals.”

“The league and wider derby community have been a big part of forming a healthier perspective.”

How Meanie helps out the newest members of WSR!

“I’m here to help! I’m your personal cheer squad, your support and who you can come to for advice if you have any problems or planning goals. Basically, I’m an objective person, separate from the trainers, that the rookies can come to for anything derby-related.”

Meanie’s tips and advice for new skaters

“Everyone has derby idols –I love Biceptual and Sarge together, when they’re on the same team derby magic happens thanks to Biceptual’s offensive moves and Sarge’s amazing jammer skills! They have been in derby for a long time and have the amazing abilities to match!”

“That said, during your Derby journey you should never compare yourself to others. Everybody’s journey is different and has different bumps, and ups and downs.”

“You can only compare yourself to where you were a week before, the progress you make and the goals you achieve.”

One last word

“I’m really excited to have this role. Don’t be afraid to come up and say ‘hi’ or ask me a question!”

Learn more about fresh meet.

Join WSR!

P.S. We don’t have a photo of Meanie (she’s a bit shy) so you’ll just have to meet her in person!

Happy Mardi Gras weekend

Sydney is currently celebrating its 40th Mardi Gras. With gay marriage recently legalised in Australia (cue loud cheering); we’d like to say that if there’s one thing that Western Sydney Rollers (WSR) prides itself on (family friendly fun, good sportsmanship, etc aside), it’s the fact that we’re inclusive!

No matter what team you play for, you can play for us!

To everyone celebrating Mardi Gras this weekend, we hope you have a wonderful time!

 

Bombshells crowned Intra-League champions

Spectators rolled up to Cambridge Park last Saturday for a Derby in Wonderland grand final showdown between the B-52 Bombshells and the Blackheart Brawlers.

First up in the line up, some fierce and feisty under 18’s took to the track for a junior derby mini bout. The audience may have been lulled into thinking that the pint-sized action would be easy going but they were soon proven wrong! The Cheshire Cats took victory from The Mad Hatters, 179 to 69.

   

The mini bout fun continued with the Riot Squad battling visiting team, The Empire. The intra-league team fought hard but chaos was the order of the night – The Empire claimed the win, 171 to 65.

   

Then, the highlight of the night when last year’s rival grand final teams faced off again. It was a fast-paced, action filled game but the Bombshells were left grinning like; well, a Chesire cat, when they took out the title, 192 to 78.

   

Of course, there was plenty of fun in between too with delicious cakes, doughnuts, chocolates and biscuits on offer – as well as amazing raffle prizes and a spot of duck throwing (rubber, no animals were harmed in the making of this derby spectacular!).

Thanks to everyone who came to cheer on their favourite players and teams, and for supporting Western Sydney Rollers. A massive congratulations to our victors and well done to everyone who played, and a warm thanks for our NSOs and refs for their hard work.

Stay tuned for more exciting bout action later in the year!

Psst…Check out more action in the photos on facebook, thanks to B.T. Photography.

post

Over $1000 donated to beyondblue in Halloween bouting spooktacular

Friends, family and members of Western Sydney Rollers had a frighteningly good time on Sunday 30 October – enjoying a triple header Halloween bout to raise awareness and donate funds for beyondblue.

The spooktacular event kicked off with the tiny but fearsome juniors – the Tiny Terrors beating the Halloweenies 165 to 110.

A bout with a difference (zombie players aside) followed with a specially modified rules ramping up the excitement for the players and crowd alike. As the carnage on the track unfolded, the crowd got a say in the play.

Gold coin donations could remove favourite players from the penalty bin, players could be sponsored to don fancy dress items over their Halloween garb (ever tried skating in a grass skirt?) and, to really take things up a notch, for $20 you could watch the action in anti-derby direction.

The nail biting bout continued to the final minutes with The Munsters victorious over The Addams Family, 146 to 125.

The final bout saw a return to standard derby rules but threw an extra element in with the WSR boys joining the girls on the track for a co-ed frenzy which saw the Lycans take the final win for the night from the Vampires, 167-56.

Other activities throughout the night included some fierce competition in the fancy dress stakes – including the world’s cutest Pokemon, a raffle and of course, the ever present and delicious bake sale.

A total of $1151 will be donated to beyondblue, an organisation equipping everyone in Australia with the knowledge and skills to protect their own mental health.

3 three million Australians live with depression or anxiety

If you or anyone you know needs support or advice call beyondblue on 1300 224 636 or visit www.beyondblue.org.au

View photos from the junior derby bout, The Addams Family v The Munsters, and the Lycans v Vampires – massive thanks to Bout Time Imagery!

Deaf’n’Derby

Deaf and Derby- it sounds catchy right? Sure it does, let’s try it again Deaf’an’Derby. C’mon say it quicker. Deaf’n’Derby.

Yeah okay it doesn’t seem to matter how cool you try and make it sound, it never comes out right. Geddit it – sounds right? Ha okay, I’ll stop with the puns. Maybe…

So last time you heard from me was about a year ago – I’d been skating for about a year – and I spoke about the tribulations of playing as a deaf skater. I’ve now skated for another year, and there’s been fun, many games, there have been a couple of obstacles, and there’s been a hell of a lot more blood, sweat and tears since.

I’ve discovered some important stuff for my playing capabilities. I found that for me, personally, lane 1 is an absolute stinker. It’s the equivalent of blindfolding someone and perhaps tying an arm behind their back just for fun. Other than that track placement doesn’t seem to bother me too much.

My team and I have tried a few different ways to communicate- and in the heat of the game it turns out that signs just don’t work so well – at least not for us. What I do find works best, and strangely I imagine that it works best for those of you with full hearing too, is calm talking.

It’s decisive, it’s directional and it can be loud; but not screechy like a feral galah. This seems to work best for me. It allows my brain to interpret what needs to be done, rather than have to decipher what “OMGLANE1LANE1NO!LANE4THEJAMMERISONLANE4” means. Oh yeah it’s fun.

What has become easier is being able to tell people, “Hey yeah, I’m deaf. I might need a bit of help when it comes to this, and that.”

I’m still not good at reminding my coaches to do it though. For me, it’s an awkward conversation to have, so I hate having it. Some people who know me well know that I hate talking about being deaf. HATE IT!

Anyways, because I’ve had the conversation before, I hate the idea of having to have it again to remind my coaches that “Hey! Don’t forget you need to have ‘that’ conversation with the refs at the captains meeting.” I know it shouldn’t be a difficult thing but it’s something I’m working on.

Good news is; I’m okay with telling someone new. It seems that there is a right way for me to have that conversation, and a wrong way. The right way is a private conversation where I can just go over what I need to in relation to called penalties and being addressed in the box (not that I’m ever in there…much). The bad way is where I’m forced to announce it in front of everyone where it makes me feel…embarrassed.  No one likes to be singled out. I hate that kind of attention; coupled with the fact that I don’t want to be treated as special. I just want to know when to go to the naughty corner, and when I can leave. That’s all 🙂

Playing as a deaf skater has meant that there have been other things to work on, along with the usual learning progression but thankfully I have wonderful people in my league who have been with me every step of the way.

It’s meant that I’ve learnt that going out with a plan is so much better than winging it. I mean that sounds like common sense but seriously…a plan! Those jams where I’ve been thrown out at the last second, and I don’t know what’s happening – I don’t know what wall formation, who’s assisting, or even what lane I’m going into – can really leave me feeling lost out on the track. I’ve been told that sometimes you don’t know this stuff, you just have to react. Well, all I can say is; right now…without that, I can only do the best I can, because without being able to hear your hastily thrown instructions, quite often from 10ft away, I’ve got nothing. Absolutely nothing!

So if you’re like me, and you’re deaf and you want to strap on some skates and play some derby – do it! Yes, it’s going to take some patience. Yes, you’re going to have to speak up on what you need. You’re going to have some fun.

Buckle up kiddo – you’re going to have one hell of a ride!

The Ten Funnest Things About Derby

This article was first published in Derby Oz magazine. 

danger

Photo by Smasharazzi

The Ten Funnest Things About Derby.

To describe Roller Derby as, “a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track…” et cetera, et cetera, which is what you’ll find on Wikipedia, really doesn’t give an outsider any insight into why Roller Derby is the fastest-growing sport in the world. It’s not just the gameplay that makes it amazing, it’s the “aura of Derbyness” around our great sport that makes it so phenomenal and so unique. This author decided to pinpoint what are, in her humble opinion and in no particular order, the ten funnest things about Roller Derby.

We have cool names. I love words. It’s why I like to write. Words can be clever, insightful, cutting, witty, suggestive, and sometimes all those things at once. So when I found out that the manager of my son’s rugby league team was not always called Mike, but sometimes called Dirty Menace, it was like a compass finding North. With our Derby names, we get to live out a little bit of fantasy that most of us don’t get to embrace in our day-to-day lives. For instance, I get to be a Hogwarts student (a really smart one at that). Derby names can make me nod my head in “hell yeah” admiration at their cleverness, or laugh out loud at their wittiness. Our alter egos are not something that “mainstream” sports embrace, and I realise it’s not something every league, or every skater, agrees with, but I love the fact that we have them. It makes us special, and it shows the world that we’re just a little bit clever really.

We play dress-ups. Let’s face it – Derby outfits are the best sporting attire going. Personally I’m not into tutus, but if that’s your scene, then I say TUTU IT UP WARRIOR PRINCESS! My team’s uniform consists of a sexy skate dress that I would NEVER wear in public otherwise. The rest of what we wear is up to us. Yes, some of us love fishnets, some of us don’t. Some of us have stage makeup, and some of us prefer to go mainstream – like our unique names, it’s not everyone’s scene. If you want to wear compression tights, like a hard-core elite athlete, do it. But some Derby girls want to have a bit of fun with what they wear on the track, and if they’re willing to risk a little fishnet burn, then good for them. And, by the way, you ALL look hot, no matter what you’ve got on your bod.

We are for everyone. I’m pretty sure my league is not unique in the fact that we accept, and embrace, people from all walks of life. Derby does not care what colour your skin is, what your background is, or your sexual orientation. We do not care if you are tattooed or a clean-skin, a bogan or a socialite. If you want Derby to be for you, it’s for you, and in this era when demographers try to pigeonhole us as much as they possibly can, I for one find Derby’s inclusiveness like a breath of fresh air.

We respect differences. I’ve seen fresh meat who seem to take to Derby like a duck to water. I struggled for almost a year before I mastered a Tomahawk stop, and seeing fresh meat who master it in a few weeks makes me just a teeny bit green with envy. But the fact is, Derby doesn’t care. Derby will embrace the girls who get it right the first time, and it will also be patient with the ones who take a little longer. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to pass your basic skills test. If you want to be here, we want you, and we respect you all the more for never giving up.

We are free-thinkers. Now, this is not based on any scientific evidence, but it seems to me, from my short time in the Derby world, that our little community is a teensy bit more intellectual, more inclusive, and more progressive than the rest of the community at large. I know that I can express an opinion, related to Derby, politics, or life, and even if it’s not agreed with, my opinion is respected, and an intelligent discussion can ensue. Maybe I’ve seen too many trolls on the Interwebs, but yeah, it seems to me that Derby peeps are pretty cool that way, and are way smarter than the average bear.

We knock the snot out of each other, and are best friends afterwards. We take our sport seriously. I laugh at the nay-sayers (most of whom have never seen a derby bout) who think that Derby is not a “real” sport, that our sport is akin to entertainment wrestling. I challenge anyone to tell a Derby girl to deliberately lose a bout. I promise you, it’ll be the last thing you say before your jaw is wired shut from the high block you’ll receive. We can have immense love, respect and friendship for one another off the track – even as we’re waiting for that whistle at the jammer line – but you better believe it girlfriend, on the track I’m putting my body on the line to make sure I beat you. And afterwards? Afterwards, it’s back to free-flowing, unadulterated, pure-as-the-driven-snow Derby Love.

We have amazeballs fans, volunteers, refs and NSOs. I love our support crew. After every scrimmage, and every bout, I try to thank every volunteer and ref I see. Because they’re not doing it for the fame, the glory or the money. They’re doing it because they love Derby, and because they want to give their time so we can skate. How awesome is that? And, in return, if we can give them the most amazing spectator sport ever conceived, well I for one think that is a fantastic trade.

We have the ultimate stress relief. I never would have said this before I started Derby, but I love getting hit. The idea of actual fisticuffs scares me to tears (as opposed to Feisty Cuffs, who’s an awesome ambassador for our sport), but on the track? BRING IT. When one of our league’s big hitters slams into me, and I maintain my balance, seriously, YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY. I love that feeling of power being expelled against me, almost as much as I love the feeling of expelling all my power against my opposition. And if I can help our team score a point or two in the process, then even better. Even when I don’t feel like going to training, I make sure I go, because whatever monkey has stolen my mojo, I can be sure that a few big hits given and received will send that primate back to the jungle where it belongs.

We get to look cool, even if, secretly, we know we’re not. OK, here’s a confession. I’ve never been a cool kid. I’m a bit like my namesake, Hermione, who only became cool because she got accepted into Hogwarts, and even then was outstandingly dorky to her fellow wizards. I only became cool when I got accepted into Derby. And I’m sure some of the chicks in my league are going, “WTF, she’s so not cool.” Yeah, I know I’m not. But everyone outside of Derby thinks I’m cool just because I play it. And, to me, that’s pretty bloody funny, because I’ve never been allowed to hang out with the cool kids, until now.

We get to wear wheels on our feet.  This one speaks for itself really! We get to go really really fast! It’s like a roller-coaster, only people are hitting you. Hell yeah! The first time I managed to skate without falling, I felt like I was flying, and it was awesome! And you know what? When I get a bit of speed up, I STILL feel like I’m flying! Why would anyone do a sport in sneakers? It really baffles me.

We have after-parties. Yes, I know this is the eleventh item in my list of top ten funnest things about Derby. But really, even if you can’t forgive my appalling disregard for numbers, who doesn’t love an after-party? My league gets to patronise our amazing sponsor, the Colonial Hotel at Werrington, (yes, this is a blatant plug for the best pub in Western Sydney), the Colonial staff get to wear league t-shirts, and we all enjoy a great meal, have a few drinks, reminisce about some great bouts, and strengthen those bonds of Derby love. Any sport with an after-party as part of the official program has got to be a fantastic way to spend a Saturday night.