New Skaters

Join Us

We run new intake sessions to anyone who wants to learn to skate and play roller derby.

Open to anyone 18+ of any gender and ability. No skating experience required

The Intake

The new intake runs for 15 weeks, where we teach you how to play roller derby.

The Intake will teach you how to:

  • Get up on skates and how to fall safely
  • Skate forwards and how to stop
  • Skate on one leg
  • Skate backwards
  • Do T-stops and crossovers
  • Do transitions and toe-stop runs
  • Learn how to jam, block and brace
  • The roller derby rules and regulations

We encourage you to attend as many sessions as you can, as many of the skills used in the later sessions are built on earlier ones.

The first two taster sessions are £7. After that it is £20 a month plus £10 if you are hiring kit from us.

Spaces are limited, so email us at hauntedcityrd@gmail.com to book your place.

Where

Energise Leisure Centre

Cornlands Road

Acomb, York

YO24 3DX

When

Every Sunday

13:45 - 3:15

Except the first session of the new intake which is:

12:30 - 3:15

For the first session of the intake we recommend you arrive 15 minutes early

so you have time to put on your skates and kit before the session starts.

If you can't make it to the first session of the intake, then arrive as normal.

For more information, and to secure a place, please contact

hauntedcityrd@gmail.com

You can also get in touch with us on our socials:

Don't want to skate? N(S)O Problem

Love the world of roller derby but ultimately think contact sport maybe isn’t for you?

We welcome all individuals who want to be part of the team and will be offering referee/Non Skating Official (NSO) training sessions, alongside competitive and non competitive skater training.

There are progression pathways for skaters, refs and non skating officials!

Your training sessions will be run by a core group of our more experienced skaters with help from other members of the league so you’ll get to meet us all.

Feel free to discuss these options with us during the new skater period.

Skills Ladder

All the skills you need to skate, referee or officiate Roller Derby is split into coloured levels. These first ones of Red and Orange will take you through the basics of skating to give you the skills you need to work towards completing all the skills needed to play the sport.

We require you to work on basic and safety skills... so well.. You are safe! Because of the full contact nature of roller derby, following the safety rules is paramount, so you MUST wear the correct safety equipment, and follow all the guidance of the training team and Board.

The last 30 minutes of Sundays, are only open to those who have passed Red and Orange skills, so you will be expected to leave after your session has finished until you pass those skills. However you are welcome to stay and watch the rest of training and start getting stuck into learning how roller derby works by helping with officiating.

This is an integral part of the team and everyone is expected to have a knowledge of officiating and be able to complete this.

Derby is tough, but Skaters are Tougher

Whilst we hope that you find roller derby as enjoyable as we do it is a competitive sport and there is always a risk of injury, please also be prepared for the fact it can be as mentally challenging as it is physically challenging.

Sometimes the best asset you can have is the determination to keep trying!

All Genders Welcome

The new skater sessions are open to all genders.

We have two competitive teams:

Helpful bits of Info

Training Venue

York Minxters train at Energise Leisure Centre, Cornlands Road, York (YO24 3DX) – which is accessible by the number 4 bus route, which stops near the entrance.

There is plenty of car/bicycle parking on site, changing rooms with showers and a small café, selection of vending machines and a water fountain (that works 90% of the time).

Click here for more information on Energise Leisure Centre and how to get here.

Roller Derby Kit

As mentioned above we do have a selection of equipment available to use during your initial training sessions however this is only for new intakes. When your new intake is finished you will be expected to hand in your kit so that it can be given to those in the next intake.

We do not loan mouth guards, I’m sure we don’t need to tell you all the reasons why that would be gross.

The training team will give you advance warning of when they plan to start running Blue skills and contact drills that will require you to have one, without one you may be asked to not participate in certain skills.

Once you have a mouth guard you will need to bring it to every session as you may be doing contact drills in that training session.

So it's a good idea to get one to be prepared! You can even wear it for non-contact!

A generalised top to toe run down of what you’ll eventually need:

What happens next?

We hope you enjoy your intake, and want to carry on with roller derby.

Since we only have a limited amount of kit to rent out, we hope that all new skaters can now go out with their new found knowledge of roller derby and invest in their own kit, so that we can rent it to the new intake.

We do have a financial hardship policy, so if you are struggling, and can't get hold of your own kit, we might be able to let you rent the kit for longer. Just let us know as soon as you can.

Passing Red and Orange Skills

When you first join Haunted City you'll be going to our Sunday sessions, and be asked to pay monthly dues of £20, which go towards renting the hall, and other costs.

If you meet the standards for joining our league, you may be invited to the Thursdays sessions where you'll be allowed to practice and play in full competitive games, with the dues becoming £30 a month.

Other things to know

Training may occasionally be affected by scheduled games or other situations out of our control, we will give you plenty of notice about this and also give you the opportunity to sign up to help out with any games we host.

We don’t offer discounts from the dues as some months have 5 Sundays so it typically evens out and we tend to provide additional events to learn more about Roller Derby including off skates sessions!

We have a comprehensive Code of Conduct which you will be able to access once you have completed the training.

However, the waiver gives an overview of our values and should we feel you do not meet these and have exhibited unsporting team spirit we reserve the right to ask you to leave immediately.

Kindness rules in Roller Derby! We look forward to meeting you and know you’ll fall both on track and in love with Roller Derby!