Hot Wheel Roller Derby
| Metro area | Leeds |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Teams | Hot Wheel A Team; Hot Wheel B Team; Intraleague Teams: Unicorns and Wolfpack |
| Track type(s) | Flat |
| Venue | The Edge, Leeds University University of Leeds |
| Affiliations | UKRDA |
| Org. type | Non-profit Sports Group |
| Website | https://www.facebook.com/HotWheelRollerDerby?fref=ts |
Hot Wheel Roller Derby (HWRD) is a roller derby league based in Leeds, in England. Founded in 2010, the league consists of a two women's teams, which compete against teams from other leagues.
By mid-2011, the league had more than forty skaters.[1] In May 2012, the league travelled to Germany, where it beat the Stuttgart Valley Roller Girlz B team in front of a crowd of 1,200 fans.[2] In July, they narrowly lost to the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers, in the final of the Great Yorkshire Showdown tournament where they had been ranked last the previous year.[3]
Into 2013 and Hot Wheel are now taking on some of the toughest teams in Europe despite losing several much-loved members. March 2013 sees their European Roller Derby ranking at 19th.[4] By September 2013 they had risen to 16th, despite the toughest teams they'd played to date. Notable events included a Parisian Themed after party at Santiago's in Leeds; Hot Wheel's Battle of the Bands; pregnant founding members; Unity Day in Leeds; judging the Movember Moustache Contest in Fab Cafe; providing security at Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Leeds for the third year running; going to Dublin at the end of year.
2014. Hot Wheel have had an incredible year: visiting Paris in a weekend; supporting our players as they tried out for Team England (roller derby); cheering our Head Coach Jerry Attric on as Coach for the Men's Team England [5] where they came second in the world; the Hot Wheel B Team have played their first four bouts (and have big plans are ahead for the following season!);[6] being the highest ranked all-female team at Sur5al.
Hot Wheel are still recruiting skaters, NSOs and refs.
In the February 2014 rankings, Hot Wheel were at 17th, where they have remained this year so far.[7]
Rankings and Bout Updates Updates for the previous years and individual bout scores can be seen here:[7]
Training Update! Hot Wheel have moved to new training grounds at Kippax Leisure Centre [8] on Sundays from 11am - 3pm where they typically do drills and skills for all abilities of skaters and often assessing newer skaters for their Minimum Skills, followed by two hours' scrimmage. Other teams have joined these sessions regularly to have friendly mixed scrimmages, these including Rainy City, Lincolnshire Rolling Thunder and Leeds Roller Dolls. They train again at Kippax on a Tuesday night from 8pm - 10pm which is another scrimmage session. Thursday night's training is in Leeds at the Ramgarhia Sikh Sports Centre from 8pm - 10pm. Usually, this training includes an off-skates fitness session followed by drills and skills. Thursday sessions work for all abilities, but are more directed at newer skaters who will be provided with a training buddy to help them through their minimum skills.
Training and Skater Development
Hot Wheel's ethos is that everyone learns different skills at different paces and in different ways. New skaters will come to their first session and by introduced to a veteran skater who will help the newer skater's development at a rate that suits them. New skaters will receive a copy of their personal development checklist which will build them towards their Stripes.
"Stripes" are allocated when a skater has passed off certain skills, as seen by the coach or captains.
| Stripe Number | Example of Skills Passed Off | Advantage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knee falls, minimum stability, 4-point fall, knee turn, | Join in with warm up and drills and skills | |
| 2 | Skating postures, plow stop, T-stop, taking and giving hits, 20 laps in 5 minutes | Can join in with scrimmage and contact drills. WFTDA minimum skills passed. | |
| 3 | 30 in 5, lateral cuts, offset lemons, weaving, crossovers, grapevine, | Eligible for rosters and intraleague | |
| 4 | Sidesurf 2 laps, hockey stop, Powerslides, 360 jump | Looking cool | |
| 5 | 32 laps in 5, barrel roll, jump obstacle 2ft high | Making everyone actually go "Wow!" |
Team Structure
Hot Wheel prides itself on being a co-operative. This means that everyone has their part to play in running the league. Any league member can suggest an activity or idea at training, on Facebook or on the forum. If there is support, they can choose their own team to get the work done. These teams include Fundraising, Promotion, Sponsorship, Recruitment, Uniform and Merchandise.
Every year a Board of Directors is voted in at the AGM in October. Each board member has a role to fulfill and will be required to attend Board Meetings. The general role of the board member is to represent the needs and wishes of the team in dealing with anything that needs board attention, as well as their specific role such as League Secretary or Finance Secretary. If an issue requires a change to the Hot Wheel Constitution it will be voted on by board members before being passed to a league vote for all members of Hot Wheel. Any members of Hot Wheel can attend board meetings and are encouraged to do so.
Every year before the end of the season, a new Captain and Vice Captain will be chosen by the Head Coach with consultation from the Head Ref, Assistant Coach and current Captain and Vice Captain. The Captain and Vice Captain are there to pass off minimum skills, arrange training buddies and one-to-one training provision, represent the league, deal with any personal matters regarding skaters and keep up team morale.
Captains and Vice Captains
2010 - 2011: Captain - Gazelle; Vice Captain - Hall of Flame
2011 - 2012: Captain - Red Mist; Vice Captain - Malice in Wonder Wheels
2012 - 2013: Captain - Fanny Batter; Vice Captain - Isla Hurtya
2013 - 2014: Captain - Danger Duck; Vice Captain - Peggy Leethal
References
- ↑ "Roller derby girls get their skates on", Morley Observer and Advertiser, 10 August 2011
- ↑ Jonathan Brown, "Leeds's own Hot Wheel Roller Derby team beat top German opposition", Yorkshire Evening Post, 9 May 2012
- ↑ "Milk Rollers Scoop Best of Showdown", Inside Line, 30 August 2012
- ↑
- ↑ http://www.grinnbarum.com/blog/4583077790/tags/Team%20England%20Mens%20Roller%20Derby
- ↑ http://flattrackstats.com/teams/46039
- 1 2 http://flattrackstats.com/teams/8953/rankings/europe
- ↑ http://www.leeds.gov.uk/sports/Pages/Kippax-leisure-centre.aspx
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