Roller derby is a full contact sport. This means that you will hit other bodies with parts of your body, at speed, while wearing roller skates. IT IS THE BEST.
So, to make sure that you don’t break while having all the skating fun, you need ALL of the following to start learning to play roller derby:
– Quad skates
– Skate helmet
– Knee pads: these need to be suitable for derby – if your knee pads could be mistaken for elbow pads, you need better knee pads
– Elbow pads
– Wrist guard
– Mouldable mouth guard
Some leagues can provide hire equipment to varying degrees, so it’s worth checking with them what they can offer and if they charge for it. We have a stash of kit donated by our skaters that we loan out – it’s first-come, first-served, so make sure you get in early. And you will always need to buy your own mouth guard because…well, duh. Mouth guards should be heat mouldable to allow you to talk/drink/breathe without gagging. We realise it can be hard to commit to buying all the kit without knowing that you’re going to like the sport. This is why we recommend coming along to our off-skates meet and greets, where you can see what a new skater training session is really like. Check our Facebook Events page to keep up with when our meet and greets are happening.