Skew – you are our Dolly of the month!!!

Now you are a celebrity, you have to give us an interview as it’s the law! Well… It’s not actually the law, but we want to find out more about you!

Congratulations on being our Dolly of the month – how do you feel about this amazing accolade?
I am a little bit overwhelmed, still.  It was a complete surprise after a really challenging month having spent the lot of it off skates (ankle injury, boo!) and instead chucking myself into NSOing, tweaking newbies’ skates and being a friendly face to chatter to.

What are you doing right now?
I am lying on my sofa feeling a bit sorry for myself as I’ve got one of the winter bugs that’s going around.

What is the penalty you dread calling the most?
I don’t think I dread calling particular penalties – if you see it, call it!

When you are not being a roller derby super hero what do you for really?
I am a PhD student in biostatistics, and I teach in a few tutorial and demonstration sessions for medical students learning basic statistics and study design, and Masters students learning some slightly more advanced stuff.

Had you ever done sports before you took up roller derby?
I am not naturally very sporty.  I always tried hard, but was never very good in P.E. at school.  I was good at orienteering, but that’s essentially applied maths with a bit of running about! I used to do cross country running when I was very young, and had a brief dabble in football, but derby’s the only thing I’ve stuck at and really enjoyed.

If you can tell someone new to derby just 3 things – what would they be?
1)  Don’t be afraid to ask questions and do your own research – find out everything you can about the sport because it’s amazing, and there are new resources popping up all the time!  Blog, YouTube vids – you name it.
2)  Learn the rules from Day One along with skating skills.  They’ll give you an advantage whatever you end up doing, whether playing/refereeing/NSOing/announcing/watching from the crowd.
3)  Keep going, and try your best to focus on your own progress and not other people’s.  I keep falling into that trap, and need others to help remind me of what I can do now compared to six months ago.

If you could pick any song you wanted just for you for a special zebra skate out what would it be?
Haha, I’m too professional/not an exhibitionist and this would never happen. But in a weird parallel universe probably some totally inappropriate early 90s Manic Street Preachers that’d you’d all hate. “You Love Us” perhaps, or “Stay Beautiful”?

What is your most favourite roller derby moment so far?
Oh my goodness, that is a tricky one. On a personal level it’s probably the first time I called a penalty absolutely confidently, clearly and with complete conviction. It took a while to get there, and it was pretty cool. (And the Head of Ref team had forgotten his kit so completely missed it. Boo.) On a more general level, watching the Men’s Euros earlier this year was an amazing experience, especially as I got to watch some great refs at work, and see some guys I normally know as refs showing what they can do on track. Awesome.

What Derby plans do you have for the future?
Well, spraining my ankle somewhat ruined my goal of reffing my first open bout by the end of the year, so I’m determined to get that under my belt in the first quarter of 2014. I want to try and travel a bit more, and work with zebra friends at nearby leagues. I’ve got to get back on skates first, but that will be happening very soon!

Thank you for your time and for this interview, we hope it will inspire Skews all over the country to become as awesome as YOU!