Sport In Profile UK Issue 16 | Page 8

Birmingham Himley Blitz Dames FOLLOW FOLLOW US US ONLINE ONLINE twitter.com/sportinprofile twitter.com/sportinprofile Birmingham Blitz Dames Skate Fast. Hit Hard. Achieve Success. Birmingham Blitz Dames Flat Track Roller Derby is a fantastic example of a team enjoying success as a result of commitment, hard work and skill. When the British Championship League system was formed three years ago they were placed in the third tier with back to back promotions seeing them compete in the top tier for the first time in 2017. After a solid campaign they are focused on continuing to develop in 2018. Sport in Profile Magazine recently caught up with Dames player and West Indian Captain Violet Attack AKA Simone Radway to find out more. Roller Derby Attack, as her teammates call her, started off by telling us a little more about the sport saying, “Roller Derby is a team sport with fourteen players on a roster with five of those being on the track at any time. You have what we call the jammer who is the points scorer of the team; the main aim of the game is to get that player past the opposition. 8 Issue 16 For every player your jammer passes you score a point and as you’re trying to get your jammer through you’re also trying to stop the opposition jammer so it’s basically a game of offense and defence at the same time. This means that whilst it is a full contact sport there is also a lot of tactical play involved as well.” Involvement She went on to explain how she got involved in the sport, “I’ve been involved in the game for eleven years this month; I initially saw an article in a magazine on the Gotham Roller Girls who are the main team in New York and the top side in the world and the sport looked ideal when I read up on it. The following year I was on MySpace (laughs), as you do, and saw a page for the club and added them as a friend. They got in touch straight away asking me to come along and I was the first official recruit!