Monthly Diary of a League: Nasty Nessies in November: Nat-orious Red
Following on from last month's inaugural diary entry by Nasty Nessies chair Irn-Bruzer, here's her nomination for December: the striking Nat-orious Red, causing our article title to become rather alliterative.
What first attracted you to Roller Derby?
I was looking for a way to get fit but at the same time have fun! I found out roller derby was coming to Inverness and just jumped at the chance to join. I had heard about it before but never really thought I would be able to do it (I'm super clumsy!), now I don't know what I was worried about, it is the best thing I've ever done and the girls are all amazing. We are all like minded and just want to skate.
How did you chose your name? I guess your first name is Natalie...
Yeah it is.. I had lots and lots of ideas but I just couldn't decide between them all, I managed to narrow it down and finally picked one but, of course, I changed my mind again after a few weeks when I thought of Nat-orious Red: it seemed more fitting in account of my bright red hair!
What was your biggest initial difficulty?
My biggest difficulty was getting over the fear of falling! (I know! I know! silly it's roller derby your gonna fall!) but the first few weeks I didn't and because of that I was too scared to go faster or try anything other than the basics, finally one lovely practice day I took a really hard land on my butt and that was not as bad as I imagined it would be. I fall or stumble a lot more now and it doesn't bother me it just means I'm trying harder...
Lots of roller girls find it hard not to spread the word about their new sport. How have you been spreading the word?
I find it hard to stop talking about derby; it's always a talking point for me so anyone I meet hears about it whether they like it or not. Thankfully most people love it so that's good.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt/ done this month?
The most important thing I've learnt is probably getting my endurance up: I never realised just how unfit I was until I had to skate for a longer time than normal or when I tried my 25/5. My first attempt I got 25 in 5.09, which is better than I thought I would get but still not good enough so practice! practice! practice!.
What’s new in NNRG?
Well we had our first bootcamp last week courtesy of the lovely granite city girls, they really helped us perfect a few things showing us their techniques and it was extremely helpful.
Also we are having a fundraising bake sale this Sunday with a lot of the girls ( myself included) making lots of scrumptious goodies.
And last but not least we have been given a sponsorship deal with the Rileys sports club! Which is absolutely amazing: we are all super excited about it. So it's been a pretty good month for us, we have achieved quite a bit and we are sure next month will be just as good.
