Sunday, May 02, 2010

Roller derby





Most people sign up after seeing an ad or more likely hearing about the sport through friends.
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After you start it tends to be all you talk about, says Clare Jackson, whose roller derby name is Whip It.
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Alongside customised kits, names are an important part of the game.
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Players register their chosen names in America, and no two in the world can choose the same sobriquet.
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As you might have gathered, they tend to be pretty spiky.
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It's a kind of alter ego changing you from where you are normally to where you are on the track, says Plackett.
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If you go out and you have a little bit of a hard name, it can give you confidence.
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As few as 3% of women play traditional competitive team sports - that's compared to 17% of men - so newer sports which are successfully attracting women are a real positive.
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With a sport such as roller derby, where there is a high level of women both in leadership positions and participating, they can help shape the way it's run in order to make the provision as female-friendly as possible.
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As you watch women crashing into each other at full speed, you may wonder why anyone would want to strap on skates and throw themselves into the firing line.
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Dr Victor Thompson, a clinical sports psychologist based in London, says the answer is simple: Adrenaline rush, physical stimulation, endorphin release (the feel-good hormones), the challenge, the camaraderie of working in a team, the common goal … feeling like you are alive.
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For many, the question isn't why would you play such sport, but why aren't you playing such a sport?
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Dr Thompson says aggressive sports are attractive both to women who take traditional roles but want a form of escape, and those who have broken the mould and want a hobby that fits with their day job.
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For these women, sports like roller derby are a good fit to their challenging day job.
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Having a nice bath and reading a book just won't do it, he says.
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Louise Esposito, 25, who joined the Rockin' Rollers in April 2008 - two months after giving birth to her daughter, Isabelle - says she likes the chance it gives her to be herself.
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I heard about it when I was pregnant from a friend who had started playing and I thought 'as soon as I have the baby I've got to do that
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I came along and the next day I was out buying skates - I just fell in love with it straight away, says Louise, or Tanya B Hind as she's known on the track.
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I've always played sport, I like exercise, and I wanted something that made me feel like me again
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I've stopped going out to the pub with friends but now I've replaced it with this
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I wanted something different and something that wasn't being a mum.
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Here I can just be me
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Hilary Osbourne - Guardian

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