READY TO ROLL: The Whakatane Roller Derby League will play their final home game of the season tomorrow. File photo D3725-8
THE Whakatane Roller Derby league have their final home match of the season tomorrow.
Northland team Hell’s Wives will take on Whakatane at the War Memorial Centre, in a fixture the home team won last year.
It is a final hit out for Whakatane ahead of the national league final next month. Whakatane will compete in the bottom section of the New Zealand Top 10 League where they will likely take on Auckland.
Whakatane Roller Derby League chairwoman Lania Lopez said three had joined the team in the past month.
“These games are a good opportunity for new players to come up into the team.”
Since returning from the Great Southern Slam tournament in Adelaide in June Whakatane beat Napier’s Bay City Rollers and had a loss to Dead End Derby from Christchurch
The Adelaide tournament was part of 2016 season where Whakatane wanted to challenge themselves. The Great Southern Slam featured one of the world’s best teams, Victorian Roller Derby League, who took out division one in a dominant final. Lopez said after the tournament they finished at the bottom of division one without a win, about where she thought they should be.
“When we were setting up this season, we wanted to play harder teams and we knew there would be some losses. We learned a lot from those.”
The Whakatane league is in its fourth season and like many sports organisations gaining new players and retaining membership is constant objective.
Each season the league has held recruiting events, where they teach the basics of skating and roller derby. The spring intake will be held at the
War Memorial Centre on September 18 and 25.
“We are always looking at adding to our roster. It is a senior division, over 17. We have looked at a junior team but it is not something we can provide for yet."