This months featured skater is none other than Lilo and Stitches! Stitches is a long standing member of ARRG and a Twisted Thistles stalwart, and has recently been voted in as Vice Captain. She is also one of our dedicated coaches, and you can take advantage of some of her coaching skills at our upcoming Bootcamp on the 23rd November.
Home Team Affiliation: I have been a member of the Skatefast Club for the past two years, but have just been reshuffled into the Cherry Bombers – exciting stuff!
Joined ARRG in: August 2010.
Favourite position to play: I’ve been a blocker most of my time skating, but since January I have been mostly jamming for my travel team, the Twisted Thistles. I love blocking and working as part of a team more than anything, but I am learning to enjoy the challenges of jamming a bit more lately.
Best ARRG memory: Being in America with the team earlier this year was an amazing experience. Everyone worked so hard to get there, from putting in the work at practice to raising money, from filming comedy videos and printing merch to taking the weird Chinatown bus to Philadelphia (it was cheaper!) that dropped us in the middle of nowhere! Throughout the whole weekend everyone just pulled together and was so unbelievably focused that I didn’t realise what a massive success our trip had been until it was all over.
I think rolling on the floor of the ECDX venue after our last game, while Philly Roller Girls and Windy City just looked at us like we were total mentalists, was a pretty excellent moment. Also Windy City used our power animals!
Favourite after skate drink/snack: Chocolate milk. I don’t drink protein shakes, so chocolate milk is like my lazy person’s way to get sort of the same thing.
Worst Derby injury: I’ve had two injuries since I started skating. I tore the cartilage in my knee very early on (before my first game!) which was quite stressful at the time. Looking back, the long term effects of it were what forced to me to start cross training properly and treat my body a bit better so I am sort of glad it happened!
Then, last year at Track Queens, I fell very hard on my left side/butt cheek during our game against London Rollergirls. Continued impact on the same spot and some bad advice at the time have massively weakened my left leg, so I am currently building it back up. The most frustrating thing about it is that it affects small technical skills I used to be good at!
Best Derby advice: Don’t worry about skating like anybody else. Skating like you is good enough. I spend a lot of time working on my weak points, and sometimes, I get to a point where all I think is ‘If I could only have form like so-and-so’, or ‘if I could only jump like that guy’.
I have had great coaches and captains remind me that my skating is still effective, regardless of how my style might differ, and that I have my own strengths that I bring to the table (even if I think I look ridiculous).
Any funny/embarrassing derby stories? When we played Hot Wheels earlier this year, I dropped my mouth guard in the loo at half time. It was a stressful moment. I grabbed it immediately and washed it for ages, but then I went out and asked Caitlin about its cleanliness and she was like ‘Washing takes the dirt off, but it doesn’t kill the bacteria’ while looking totally disgusted. Thankfully I had a spare one!
Derby Hero: I would say that the heroes I have are people who put the work into our league to let us do what we do – there are so many people who make our finances work and our committees happen and they aren’t always the ones who get to travel with the team. As a player, I love any skater who puts thought and time into their skating: whether it be breaking down movements or building on their weaknesses.
What do you do outside of derby: When I am not skating, I am the Reader Development Administrator at Scottish Book Trust, where I work on a nationwide annual festival called Book Week Scotland. Mostly my job involves trying to encourage people to read books. I also spend a lot of time with my cats.
Favourite film of all time: Erm, no idea! I really love Remember the Titans and A League of Their Own now thanks to roller derby. Oh, and Goon!
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