Anyone else interested in getting a roller derby group up and going in Sligo???

Sligo22

so the whole roller derby thing seems like great craic all together... have REALLY wanted to give it a go for ages! The sport is really gaining popularity in Ireland with leagues in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, Galway and qa few others! Unfortunately the closest at the moment is Galway...about 2 hours drive away
Was in contact with the Irish roller derby group on facebook and they suggested setting one up in Sligo! they said they would privide all the necessary info on how to go about it!
Just wondering is there any other women out there interested in getting something going?? I'm a bit pushed timewise so could not commit to setting up single handedly, but would do as much as I can!

SligoLady

My cousin is in 1 up in Dublin and I've been watching her progress on facebook. Have to say, it looks like great craic alright! I'd be interested in doing it and wouldn't mind helping out with the set up. I reckon I could get a few friends interested too. Sounds like a FUN way of keeping fit and meeting new people.
I dread to think how many bruises I'd have though

AllGunsBlazing

I'm old enough to remember the old roller disco out in the silver slipper in strandhill. Absolute carnage it was, no helmets or shinpads either. Every man, woman or child for themselves. Proper hardcore.

Anyways, best of luck with luck with getting this organised, it sounds like a good laugh.;)

Sligo22

@Sligolady thats fantastic sooo glad to hear someone else is enthusiastic about getting something going!!!
I also have a couple of friends who might be interested in participating, i will ask around!!! I mean its not fer the faint hearted all right, but seems like great fun!!!
SOOO excited really want to get something going; but with having a young toddler and being in 4th year of college I just can't comit to being sole organiser!! YAY!!!
I will ask the Irish roller derby group to send me on the info on how to set up and forward it to you via private message and we can see where to go from there??!! I'm guessing one of the big hurdles will be finding a venue to practice that wont charge loads for the use!!

@Allgunsblazing... i never even realised that they used to have roller disco in strandhill...thats awesome...you interested in joining up if we get something going?? ;P

fillefatale

This sounds good but I'm just wondering if these would be gender specific because any roller derby groups I know of are female - a 21st century revival of the riot grrrl spirit as it were.

Sligo22

@ fillefatale; yes most groups are womens flat track groups,but there are (not sure about ireland) some mens leagues emerging now! because of the fact it is a contact sport there are no mixed teams to my knowledge!
I have noticed however that alot of teams do have male coaches and refs for competitions etc. so males do have a way to be involved if really interested!! Dublin city roller girls has a male coach going by the name of "violent Bob"!! love that :P

Buford T Justice

I'd be interested in being involved in this.

SligoLady

Sligo22 wrote: »

I will ask the Irish roller derby group to send me on the info on how to set up and forward it to you via private message and we can see where to go from there??!!
I'm guessing one of the big hurdles will be finding a venue to practice that wont charge loads for the use!!

I'll mail my cousin today and ask her to fill me in on how it all works and once you get the info from roller derby, we can get together and see where we go from there
I'm really good friends with the IT gym manager's girlfriend so I'll find out about prices there later today so we'll at least have a ball park figure!
Oooh this will be something fun to brighten up the miserable winter evenings!:D

Sligo22

yay!! so glad people are showing and interest!!!!

@sligolady; that would be fantastic!!! the IT have their prices on the web...not sure if we wud need half the hall or hire the full hall....its cheaper for student groups.... I'm a student at the IT so maybe we could blag the student rate...your connections would certainly help here i think even at the student rate its about 35 euro an hour for half the hall!! i guess if we have a good group of people coming we can split the cost evenly and hopefully would only be a couple of euro per head?!! have been looking into prices of gear.... maybe you could ask your cousin about which brand of skates are good and reasonably priced?? I was considering a pair of Anarchy mayhem derby skates...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004J9TGKI/ref=s9_simh_gw_p200_d1_g200_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1JN2SEZX54NXWTVXBX33&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

they are fairly cheap (in comparison to others at least) and are specifically designed with derby in mind.......can't find any reviews though!! maybe your cousin would know if they would be any good or not??

waiting for the mail back from irish derby....wen i get the info we should definately meet for coffee and hash out an action plan!!!

YAY.....yeah what a great way to brighten up those rainy winter evenings

weeda

Hiya! Wow, this is all very exciting! I'v just started a thread here as im trying to get more people from round my area together. At the moment we'r called the "The Greystones cyclones" Take a look at our page on F.B. and do feel free to "LIKE" our page
Heres a link for the place i got my skates. Its a skate shop in gorey co.wexford.
http://www.wreckless.ie/
Let us know how your getting on any way! We still have to get our training going, shudn't be long now at all. We both better get training so we can then arrange our first bout with each other, first timers and all that....save us getting bashed by the pro's to suddenly!

Sligo22

Hi weeda, came across your page and liked it a couuple of days ago while trawling the interwebs for info definately would be great to meet for a bout when we get up and going!!! thanks for the link.... is great to see others getting up and going too.... alot to organise but looking forward to it


@sligolady; am still waiting for info from irish roller derby on FB

Sligo22

still havent got info yet i left another message asking again.... hopefully soon!!
am pretty swamped with work till x-mas , so not sure i could do much till then.. but if I get inf i will forward it on!!

SligoLady

Sorry I haven't replied in a while, had a lot on over the past couple of weeks! I got on to my cousin and she said they're hectic up in Dublin at the moment with a few things so they'd probably be slow emailing you back anyway but that if you don't hear from them in a few days then she'll get on to it for us.
The new year sounds ;ike a good time for me too because I've a lot on as well!
I got onto my friend in the gym and he says we'd have to have insurance and things for being an official club so we'll have to find out costs before we do anything!

Sligo22

yea i fiured insurance might be a apin alright considering its a contact sport!! but i guess its the same deal fer a rugby club???
Just heard from irish roller derby.... was a technical glitch...they mailed back but my acounts been a bit dodgey s i never recieved it....they have very kindly said they will resend the info to my yahoo account!! yeah im absolutley swamped till new year too...so around then sounds good.... guess we should be askin santa fer roller skates for x-mas...LOL!!!

SligoLady

We'll need our own public liability insurance to train in rented halls etc but hopefully the derby gang can help us out with advice on those kind of things. Yeh i was lookin up skates myself, some class looking ones around We'll still arrange to meet up sometime next month maybe and chat about it, what ya think?

Sligo22

yeah defo be on fer a cuppa and a chat about the whole thing in a few weeks

Sligo22

Just been chatting with aguy who runs a skate shop in dublin.... hes got some skates in stck for good prices...hes also said hes just about t get a load of new riedel derby equiptment in, and will let me know when it arrives! and if we want to kit out a team in the new year and buy in bulk he will cut us a good discount!! sounds very promising

miniMart88

I'd be very interested in joining this group. I was looking for roller derby groups that were nearby probably about a year ago but I never found any. Came on the boards for something else but then found this and couldn't believe it. It'll be great if something gets going!

Sligo22

@miniMART88 very glad to hear you are interested is definately looking like it will be after chritmas before any major plans are made, but hopefully not to long after the we wil have a meeting and see ehat kind of number of people we are!! still having some issues with my bloody email account..so still have not got start up info from irish roller derby on FB!! Glad to hear ur interested tho...YAY!!

miniMart88

haha brilliant, I'll keep an eye on this thread and I'll tell a few friends.

stinglikeabee

Hi, was reading the article in the sunday times today about roller derby, just finished watching the movie 'whip it' and wow, never heard of this before but i love it! I used to be mad into roller skating when i was younger, it was my form of transportation throughout the city. And then hearing jullliete lewis in the movie: I'm 36, this is what i want, and then the other one with a kid. Man, i'm 35 with three kids, but i love this! You're never too old to learn something new! Plus all the fashion, right up my street! Anyway, i live in the sligo area, if you are still keen to start a club let me know, i'm a great organiser and hey, maybe you got a club together already! Just googled sligo roller derby, got this, registered with boards.ie, so please let me know what's happening! Tx!

SligoLady

We kinda shelved this idea until the new year when people had more time to organise it but it's nearly the end of January and we haven't mentioned any more about it. I'm a bit hectic so not sure how much time I can commit to organising it but I'll certainly help as much as I can. We need to find out the practicalities first, ie. How do we go about setting up an official club/ team? How much will insurance be? How much will we have to pay a gym or likewise to hold training sessions? Will our rollerskates damage gym floors? because we won't be let in if they do! How often are 'bouts' held? Will people be willing to contribute to buses/ car shares to get to them?
If it's going to be a very expensive hobby then I doubt many people will be on for it, myself included.
As mentioned in previous posts, I'm best buds with the girlfriend of the manager of Sligo IT gym very well so I can find out some costs from him. Also my cousin is in a roller derby team in Dublin so I can pump her for some info if needed, although she said we really need to talk to the organisers.
She mentioned theres a 'bout' being held on the 4th in Dublin betweeen Belfast/ Limerick if people wanted to get an idea of what it's all about

stinglikeabee

Hi, thanks for your reply. Guess we're all pretty busy and yes, it will take up a lot of time and money to organise a club.
I reckon that those who are interested should meet up a couple of times first to skate together. A place like the Teeling Centre in Collooney is very affordable and I'm pretty sure you're allowed to skate in there.
It all sounds great but how many are actually ok on the skates, how many people are willing to spend at least two training sessions per week on this and how many of us have time to start travelling around the country to compete? It is not just skating, you've got to work on your cardio, core muscles etc. It's a proper sport, it will need a lot of commitment!
Friends of mine play indoor soccer in the teeling centre. I'm pretty sure you can just rent the hall for 2 hours, meet up in there with those who are inteterested, skate, do some circuit training, etc. and see how we get on. Do that for a while, once or twice a week for a few months, and if people are still interested and any good then you can start talking more seriously about starting a proper club. Once you know all the ins and outs many, maybe even including me, might not want to start a club after all.
Anyway, that's just my idea on it.

kittycadaver

Hey guys,

I skate with the Dublin Roller Girls, I helped set up the league and I'm still involved in the organisation side of things. I'd be happy to help you guys out with questions and help you guys get from idea to skating. You can catch me at kittycadaver@gmail.com

@Sligolady: is your cousin Sara? Think she and I chatted about this before.

Here's a link to our bout on Feb 4th, could definitely be worth coming along to check out 3 Irish leagues in action

http://www.facebook.com/events/361087193906251/

Later skaters,
Kitty

SligoLady

stinglikeabee wrote: »

I reckon that those who are interested should meet up a couple of times first to skate together. A place like the Teeling Centre in Collooney is very affordable and I'm pretty sure you're allowed to skate in there.
It all sounds great but how many are actually ok on the skates, how many people are willing to spend at least two training sessions per week on this and how many of us have time to start travelling around the country to compete? It is not just skating, you've got to work on your cardio, core muscles etc. It's a proper sport, it will need a lot of commitment!

As rollerskating hasn't been that common of a hobby in Ireland, I reckon nearly everyone who are in teams around the country were all novice skaters and wobbly for their first few training sessions so I wouldn't be too worried. With a few regular training sessions over a few weeks we would certainly improve greatly and besides, everyones got to start somewhere and obviously any new team wouldn't do too well against a team that's been going a long time. It's a proper competitive sport but you're making it sound really tough so don't forget that with most local sports teams, people only play for the craic & fun, keeping fit and obviously the competing aspect too. And with any sport that needs regular commitment, we're bound to have people dropping off after a few training sessions. That's why I was saying we really need to find out the cost etc, at least if we have an idea of that we will know how much it's going to cost each team member then we will know how easy or hard it will be to attract people and build a team or if it's worth pursuing at all!

We definitely all need to meet and have a good chat about it anyway. I live and work in Sligo town so I'm pretty flexible about when and where you want to meet


@kittycadaver
Thanks so much for replying to us, we will definitely be coming to you for some advice and help! My cousin is Fiona aka Malibruise Stacey haha.. she's from Swords

Sligo22

Hey Guys,

for some reason did'nt get an email tellin me there had been new posts on this thread..... my email has been acting up fer ages!!
I'm definatley still interested, but unfortunatley don't think I could do any organising of things as was discussed before the whole work load will be easier after christmas thing didnt quite happen and im still completley swamped with no sign of things letting up!
Great to see theres still interest and if something does get going I would love to be attend practice or whatever, whenever i can.

fillefatale

I'd love to get involved in getting it up and running, but I am a poor sportswoman (as in, I am very unfit) and I can't inline roller skate (yet....), but please don't this idea die, because it would be such a great thing to see in Sligo!

RosieMarie_91

I would definaty be up for this. I saw it in the in flight Ryanair magazine a few months ago and though it sounded wicked...I cant roller skate but i'm sure its easy enough to learn. Keep us all posted on here with all the info if anything starts up...:)

rainbowtrout

Bumping this thread, cos I only just saw it recently.. anyone still interested in getting roller derby started in Sligo? I'm north Roscommon based so it would be close enough for me.

dingding

If you are students in IT Sligo it might be worth talking to the students union about setting up a club next year. They give some funding and I think it might cover the Insurance as a student activity.

You could then have a stand on Clubs and Socities day to see if there is any interest.

rainbowtrout

dingding wrote: »

If you are students in IT Sligo it might be worth talking to the students union about setting up a club next year. They give some funding and I think it might cover the Insurance as a student activity.

You could then have a stand on Clubs and Socities day to see if there is any interest.

I'm not a student, and just going on the posts in the thread I get the impression that most people weren't students, more in the 20-40 age category.

fillefatale

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I'm not a student, and just going on the posts in the thread I get the impression that most people weren't students, more in the 20-40 age category.

Yeah I think limiting it to students would be really restrictive. I'm not in the iT but would be interested.

Sligo22

Hello All,
T'was myself who originally posted this thread... can't believe its been nearly 2 years since I did o.0 wowzers!! I, over a year ago moved down the country to Tipperary! But... I have actually just got in contact with a group of lovely ladies down here and we are in the process of starting a team here

All I can say is DO IT!!! Would love to see a team in Sligo!! We had our first skating session today and its great fun altogether... I seriously only wish I had had the time to get skating sooner!!

We have had soooo much support from all the other derby teams in the country, so many offers from skaters with the established teams offering to come and do training sessions with us... it really has been fab. everyone loves the sport so much and is just really glad to see it spreading to another county!

My advice would be to start a Sligo roller derby page on Facebook and post it to the Irish roller derby FB page and any other derby related pages in Ireland...once the likes start coming you can then ask people to contact ye Via the page if they are interested in getting involved....once ye have a handful of committed people just get your skates on get going it really was that simple for us, and whilst we are still in the baby stages here in Tipp, things are all starting to fall into place

C'mon guys make it happen.... Derby everywhere!!

Derby love from the sunny south east,
Grace- Tipperary Roller girls x

fillefatale

Sligo22 wrote: »

Hello All,
T'was myself who originally posted this thread... can't believe its been nearly 2 years since I did o.0 wowzers!! I, over a year ago moved down the country to Tipperary! But... I have actually just got in contact with a group of lovely ladies down here and we are in the process of starting a team here

All I can say is DO IT!!! Would love to see a team in Sligo!! We had our first skating session today and its great fun altogether... I seriously only wish I had had the time to get skating sooner!!

We have had soooo much support from all the other derby teams in the country, so many offers from skaters with the established teams offering to come and do training sessions with us... it really has been fab. everyone loves the sport so much and is just really glad to see it spreading to another county!

My advice would be to start a Sligo roller derby page on Facebook and post it to the Irish roller derby FB page and any other derby related pages in Ireland...once the likes start coming you can then ask people to contact ye Via the page if they are interested in getting involved....once ye have a handful of committed people just get your skates on get going it really was that simple for us, and whilst we are still in the baby stages here in Tipp, things are all starting to fall into place

C'mon guys make it happen.... Derby everywhere!!

Derby love from the sunny south east,
Grace- Tipperary Roller girls x

Congrats on the move, and everything seems to be going well for you!

I'd offer to do it, but I am not sporty in the slightest, am v v unfit, so underqualified for taking the lead! But would love to be involved some way!

cmerush2dstars

Hey,

Just discovered this page as I'm thinking about moving to Sligo and roller derby would be a big plus. At the moment I live in Inverness and I'm part of the team there. It's a really great sport and not too hard to learn. On the team itself we have woman from all walks of life and of all sorts of ages. If I do I do move to Sligo, I would be very very happy to help set something up. I saw someone ask if the wheels affect the floor and the answer is no, as roller derby is an indoor sport. And you can get references from where other teams train if somewhere kicks up a fuss about damaging a hall. Having a derby team to join would be a major plus to move to Sligo.

Claire

dingding

dingding wrote: »

If you are students in IT Sligo it might be worth talking to the students union about setting up a club next year. They give some funding and I think it might cover the Insurance as a student activity.

You could then have a stand on Clubs and Socities day to see if there is any interest.

In case there are any students interested, the Clubs and Socs days are coming up soon and the students union can advise about setting up a club.

Humria

It sounds like good craic! I'm not that familiar with the sport but I'd be happy to help out in organising if there are a few of us that could get together to figure it out. Anyone willing?