Wollongong Illawarra Roller Derby (WIRD) is bringing women’s flat track roller derby to the area in 2009!
For those of you who don’t remember, roller derby is a competitive full contact sport played on old school quad style roller skates. The game is played between two teams of five skaters and the object is for the ‘Jammer’ (point scorer identified by the star on her helmet) to pass members of the opposing team, scoring points for each opponent she laps.

Sounds pretty easy – right? Except for the four ‘Blockers’ in her way! These Blockers make up the majority of the players and their two main jobs are to help their own Jammer get through the pack and stop the other team’s Jammer. Games last between forty and sixty minutes and are broken into halves.

Modern roller derby is a grassroots movement spreading across the globe. At this stage only women over 18 can skate but male skaters over 18 are encouraged to join as referees and officials and non skaters of all ages can volunteer to help out in other ways. If you would like to join up as a skater or if you would like to volunteer in some other way go to the WIRD website Wollongong Illawarra Roller Derby

To find out more about the sport in general (including rules and official resources) please check out the Women's Flat Track Derby Association
and to find roller derby in other places visit the Roller Derby Worldwide Roster