Mid Wales Roller Derby

Kit Bag

You are going to need some skates. No surprise there then!

For Roller Derby, you will need 'quads' rather than inlines - but after that it becomes personal choice.

High ankled, white leather skates are more for your artistic skater (think Bolero, but not on ice). These are generally not used in roller derby as most players prefer the mobility of a lower ankled boot and the flatter foot position of a low heel. Artistic skates feel like wearing high heels after wearing a roller derby skate and you don't see many sports people in high heels!

Similary, aggressive or hockey skates, with high, solid ankles, don't offer the mobility needed for roller derby.

A good pair of derby skates will cost quite a lot - so you may want to go a bit retro disco to start out - until you're sure you're committed to the sport.
But again, personal choice.

Now, no roller derby league is going to let you train with them just wearing your skates - you MUST have adequate protection too!
This means:

• helmet
• knee pads (spend more on these, your knees will be taking a lot of impact)
• wrist guards
• elbow pads
• mouth guard (most leagues will let you start without these, but you will need one once you're skating in a pack and scimmaging)

There are a lot of online stores you can browse for skate gear now (see links below for a few to get started with) - and our old favourite, ebay, has more secondhand skates as people upgrade from their starter packs.

You can also put out requests and see what's on offer from others, on the Facebook page - Roll up, Roll up - Roller Derby Gear 4 sale - UK.