The Estevan Coaler Rollers junior roller derby team went back to camp this past weekend in a bid to prepare for a busy final month of their season.
Sour Cherry, a coach of the Greater Edmonton Junior Roller Derby Association’s Wild Rose All Stars team, conducted the two-day bootcamp at Bienfait Memorial Arena placing an emphasis on team unity and strategic game plays that most teams often don’t get to see. The 11-year derby veteran, who started the first derby league in Canada in 2005 with the Oil City Derby Girls in Edmonton, said the bootcamp basically compounded everything that a junior roller derby team practises in six months into two days.
“It’s nice because I get literally eight hours with these kids and the same with the kids in the morning, so it spreads out,” said Sour Cherry. “It’s like practice times 10.”
Lorelei Lachambre, coach of the Coaler Rollers, said the bootcamp served as a training session for the team’s entry in the Canadian Roller Derby information (CRDi) 2016 Junior Roller Derby Tournament at Calgary’s Acadia Recreation Complex on June 18 and 19. She said the idea with the camp was to get the kids used to their future level 1/2 (introductory roller derby) or level 3 (full contact women’s roller derby rules) linemates, learn a bit of strategy and gain a little more track experience before the tournament.
“It’s the largest junior tournament in Canada, so they have six level 1/2 teams and six level 3 teams, and we’re taking one level 3 and one level 1/2,” said Lachambre. “We’re guaranteed two games and then if we win one of those two games then we make it into the finals and can play Sunday. You can play up to three games on Sunday.”
The Coaler Rollers will bookend the tournament with games in Moose Jaw against the L’il Chicago Most Wanted on June 11 and versus the Pile O’Bones in Regina on June 25. The club then completes their season on June 26 with their annual wind-up tournament at Bienfait Memorial Arena.
“For our wind up we’re doing a full scrimmage, so every kid who went into derby gets to play in the scrimmage,” said Lachambre. “We just take half of our team, divide them up half black and half pink and we just put lines out based on their ability.”
Last weekend’s bootcamp was the second that Sour Cherry has conducted in consecutive years in Estevan. She said the growth of the girls’ ability in derby over the past 12 months has been noticeable.
“They expand their skill level and of course the coaches grow as coaches and it’s a nice evolution,” said Sour Cherry. “Some of the stuff I had to coach last year is completely different from what I’m coaching this year because their skill levels have changed.”
