The idea for Fierce Valley Roller Cubs was born back in November 2011, with the inception of the Youth Development committee of Fierce Valley Roller Girls. We all have different reasons for getting involved with Youth Development (for me, the clincher was having a high-school age niece desperate to get her skates on) but everyone shares a common goal to get kids on skates and let them discover the world of derby.

We were all aware that there would be lots of hard work involved in setting up a junior derby league, the first in Scotland. Firstly, it was decided that the Cubs would be open to school age kids, both girls and boys, in the hope of training up some refs as well as derby girls. We started by investigating other junior derby leagues around the world and found, as usual in the derby community, people willing to share information and give advice. All excited by the prospect of getting the league up and running, the next step was to start publicising FVRC. We've embraced the world of social media, with a Facebook page, a blog, and Twitter (@FierceValleyCub). We've had lots of interest and positive feedback, hopefully leading to a large number of Cubs signing up when we're ready to go.

The differences between running a "normal" league and junior league were soon apparant, in terms of coaches and the cost of insurance. Every skater that was interested in coaching had to go through PVG checks in order to be cleared to work with children (thankfully, we all were!). The insurance has been our major stumbling block so far: as expected, it's not cheap to cover a room full of kids on roller skates. Fundraising efforts will be required to meet the costs before we can secure a venue and start putting together training plans.

The Cubs have taken part in some events run by our big sister league recently. At April's Craft Emporium, we had a stall dedicated to the Cubs, displaying examples of the neccesary equipment, copies of the rules set and games and treats for the kids. When FVRG took part in the nationwide Roller Derby Torch Relay last month, the first ten laps were skated by one of our first Cubs, Cam Cam Thank You Ma'am. We also took part in the Bike Week launch event for The Helix project in Falkirk, who have taken a keen interest and been very supportive. We loved having Cubs involvement in these events and can't wait until it happens more regularly.

There's still a way to go for FVRC before we've reached our goal of starting a new generation of derby skaters, boys and girls alike, but we remain committed to the task and look forward to the day when we're surrounded by kids, skating rings around us!

For more information, or to register your own mini-skater, feel free to contact us at cubs@fvrg.co.uk.