On the 10th Jan 2010 me & Nitro Noush held our first session of the Dolly Rockit Rollers at Beaumont Leys Leisure Centre. We had a massive turn out and we were really grateful for the help that Central City Roller Girls bought in by coaching that day, as me & Noush had never done that before! Ouija Broad, Twisted Mr, Hustle'Her, Little Nicky, Block Star & Billie Whizz all helped us get our little league on the go!
In that first year we worked really hard to get our skaters through their minimum skills and ready to play their first games. Before that happened me & Noush took part in some mixed bouts hosted by the Lincolnshire Bombers. Noush was on Team White & I was on Team Black and my team won (it's OK her team won the second game)! It was the first time the Dolly Rockit Rollers logo had been used in a bout, so it was quite a big deal for us.
Texas Roller Girls Bootcamp & Whip-It
In March 2010 a group of us went down to London to do an intense two day bootcamp run by Texas Roller Girls! I also got to see my friend HulaGunn play for London Roller Girls in the game against Texas afterwards!
Then in April Drew Barrymore directed a film called Whip-It, it gave Roller Derby a real boost in getting people interested in playing. We managed to take over the local Odeon and get ourselves in the paper too!
Skati
On 10th April 2010 a group of Dollies, along with other skaters from all over the country, came together to skate 24 hours in aid of Haiti. We all camped at the track which is usually used by the Top Gear team and skated around the track for as long as we could throughout the day & night! I took my long board too and one our girls' little boy Charlie asked if he could go round the track with me, so we managed a couple of tracks with the little fella hanging on! He has ever since been named 'Two Laps Charlie'!
Viva Skeg Vegas
In June the Lincolnshire Bombers invited us to an exhibition game at Viva Skeg Vegas which was basically playing outside at a skatepark in the sunshine... what's not to love!!! It was really hot, so we hung out and got ice creams by the sea and afterwards played with a massive beach ball on the beach, really good times!
Our first away mixed player game
On 3rd July 2010 we took all our freshly passed min skills skaters to their first ever game! It was called Clash of the Gladiskaters and put on by Rebellion Roller Derby. It was in a hall that was too small with a warped floor... but we didn't care because we got to play roller derby!!! This was also Rogue Runners' first game, you may know her now, she's done pretty well for herself since then... by being in London Brawling & Team England Roller Derby! (And yes she did get Best Jammer at this game too).
Also, I got to play alongside my friend HulaGunn, who had introduced me to Roller Derby a couple of years earlier, for the first time!
OUR FIRST HOME MIXED GAME
On August 14th 2010, the Dolly Rockit Rollers held their first ever home bout. A mixed team bout called Space Jam with two bouts, one intermediate & one advanced. See who you can spot in there who still plays!
Click here to watch a clip of the bout!
The advanced game was Team Robot vs Team Alien and had players like HustleHer, Andracula, Rock n Riot & Inky Minx. Also in those days EVERYONE went to the after parties & they rocked!!!
OUR FIRST HOME TEAM GAME!
Block the Casbah was the first game we played as a team against another team! It was against Newcastle Roller Girls and although we lost, it wasn't by much... 79-68. I remember that our warm up involved doing shoe laces (weaving in and out of each player in a pace line), which I'm sure was was warm up at the time, but kind of laughable now!
We also had an opener game of mixed players from different teams of intermediate level.
(Photos by Daz Wilson)
Our first away team game
For out first away game we decided it was a good idea to get a mini-bus and drive for 12 hours all the way to Aberdeen to play Granite City Roller Derby in a bout called Jammerblocky!!! A lot of team bonding went on including making a rap and doing strange quizes.
The game was great fun and we had our first ever win! 82 - 56!
The after party was also one of those proper derby parties where everyone (well nearly everyone) got drunk and there were Derby marriages on stage!
On the mammoth drive home we did a few quick de-tours to keep things interesting... including a cheeky stop at a castle where we ran out did a jumping selfie and zoomed off before we got caught!
The Cheeky Calendar
As any roller derby team knows you need to fundraise in order to survive, so we decided to create a cheeky calendar for our fans! Some pages were very very very cheeky (not pictured)! The photos were done by the super talented Grace Elkin.
Helter Belter
Our next home game was called Helter Belter, in those days every bout was themed and we usually had some ridiculous boutfit and a load of props at the venue. In this one it was 'rave' inspired, so there was a lot of luminous stuff going on! We played Wakey Wheeled Cats and won 109 - 78. This was the first game that I got ejected from for too many penalties! This was the era of minors & majors (four minors made a major, if you hadn't already gotten a major anyway!) It meant you got called for more stuff, but not all of it you were sent off for.