‘We’re not skating to be pretty’: Adelaide’s rowdiest sporting weekend is back
Hundreds of Roller Derby skaters from Australia and New Zealand are mobilising in Adelaide for the biggest biennial competition in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Great Southern Slam (TGSS) happening at the Adelaide Showground this June is being hosted by Adelaide Roller Derby, (ADRD) Adelaide’s oldest and largest Roller Derby League. Established in 2007, it is not-for-profit, fully volunteer run, and 100 per cent owned and operated by skaters and officials.
In its 16th year, the biennial event is this year featuring 41 teams competing in 54 games across three divisions, with stalls from local businesses such as College Park’s The Tattoo Gallery and international favourites Riedell Skates.
Isabelle Hermes, who is known on the track as Ankle Grinder, tells CityMag that the event depends on the DIY culture surrounding it.
“To be part of a Roller Derby League, you also need to be an active contributor,” she says.
“We’re all on committees and we all have an active role in running the league, when you’re part of a community like that, when everybody’s chipping in, you have a real sense of ownership over it. That lends itself to a really strong sense of community”.
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It is Hermes’ 18th season in the sport, and she has been representing Adelaide since 2012 – almost since the TGSS debuted in 2010.
“The first time I went to watch a roller derby game was in 2008 and it was such a good show,” she says.
“Watching a full contact sport on roller skates, it seemed pretty intense, but then just the kind of atmosphere and the vibe of the game that I went to watch as well just really drew me in”.
Roller Derby is a sport played on an oval track by two teams of five. Each team has one ‘jammer’ – signified with a star on their helmet – and four ‘blockers’. It is the jammer’s job to score points for their team by overlapping the pack, while blockers either try to help or hinder the jammers.
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Injuries are rife in the high- intensity, fast-paced sport, however, Jewel Panagopoulos (aka Honey Hotrod), who will represent Adelaide in the competition, says that the risk of injury does not deter her.
“We play a contact sport, and it gets messy and it gets chaotic and it’s hard, but we all put in the effort to be there, and at the end of the day, we are athletes.”
“We’re not skating to be pretty,” she says.
Panagopoulos says that the inclusive community is what has kept her in the sport since a teenager.
“I went to see my first game at the Wayville Showgrounds as a kid” she said. “I just knew I wanted to skate after seeing how cool it was”.
“There’s something really special about it,” she says.
“It brings people together that you probably wouldn’t meet otherwise – in day-to-day life, a lot of my friends who I’ve met through Derby are on completely different life paths to me, but when we’re on the same team, none of that really matters.”
In honour of its 16th year, the Roller Derby is hosting a y2k themed Sweet 16th After Party, to be held at the Lion Arts Factory on Monday, June 8, it’s free to attend with a weekend pass.
Pre-sale weekend passes are available on Humanitix for $65 plus a booking fee, with day passes available online and at the door for $25 for Saturday and Sunday, and $35 for the Finals on Monday.
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