Hamilton skaters get national roller derby trial call-up

Don’t be fooled by the fishnets and pig-tails, the roller derby world  is a fierce one – and it’s about to roll up a notch or two.

Three local lasses have just been picked for the New Zealand training squad, with their sights set on the first ever Derby World Cup in Canada.

Poison Petal, Metal Militia and Boom Shakalaka are the adopted derby names of Siobhan Karam-Whalley, Fiona Foster and Natalie Holmes, all members of the Hellmilton Roller Ghouls.

The trio beat out other hopefuls at the North Island trials in April, “busting their guts” through an eight-hour test of strength, endurance and skill.

They will now join 20 other players from around the country for monthly team practices, leaving any further training to their own motivation.

As part of the Hellmilton Roller Ghouls they already sweat it out during two hour practices twice a week and from now on they will up their training schedule significantly.

All in the hope that, come October, they will be chosen as part of the final team destined to compete for derby glory against such teams as USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Finland and Brazil.

“The rest of our team are so supportive. It’s a real community, a real sisterhood and we know we’re going to learn skills to bring back and make our girls stronger,” says Poison Petal.

From the outside roller derby may look like chaos on wheels, but in reality it’s a drop-dead-serious sport that mixes athleticism and strategy with charismato boot.

During a derby ’bout’ five players from each team take to the track, scoring points by getting one of their players, known as a jammer, past as many of the opposition team’s defence, known as blockers, as possible.

In any one team you will see ladies of all ages, shapes and sizes but as the girls agree, it’s all about the right attitude.

“You don’t have to conform to be part of derby. Once you’re on the track you can’t tell what you are by day,” says Poison Petal.

Librarian, mortician, mid-wife, and bank teller – these are all occupations represented by the Ghouls  since the teamʼs inception.

Regardless of how soft a player might start out to be, as Poison jokes, it’s not long before you become proud of your bruises, scrapes and bumps or “derby kisses” as they’re affectionately called.

“You learn to take hits and get straight back up, then the next time you take a hit you learn to get up even faster,” adds Boom Shakalaka.

Though it sounds pretty rough, Metal Militia points out that it’s no more violent than rugby.

“Safety gear is used and there are very strict rules around clothes-lining, tripping and high hits.”

But for all of the rules, teams, uniforms and now an international competition, roller derby is still not a recognised sport in New Zealand.

This means that the cash needed to get the team to Canada will have to come from fundraising efforts and out of the players’ own pockets.