Nitro Noush – you are our Dolly of the month!!!

Now you are a celebrity, it’s obligatory that we interview you..

       Congratulations on being our Dolly of the month – how do you feel about this amazing accolade?

I feel like you are a bunch of douchebags for embarrassing me like this, but also it’s jolly nice of you all, I have never been Dolly of the month before.

What are you doing right now?

I am discussing my extended and slightly incestuous and weird (but very lovely) roller derby family on facebook, checking up on my cripple boyfriend, working out uniform sizes for our last and very exciting bout of the season, and blogging about my adventures. I am also drinking beer. I like beer. I am the queen of multi tasking…

As a co-founder of DRR, you have been skating for a while now – but what is it that drew you to roller derby in the first place?

Have you seen it? Is it not one of the coolest sports in the history of the world? That’s what drew me to it. I am sure everyone has heard the story of the mystical satellite channel ‘Pulse’ that appeared to me one Christmas, played the same few games over and over, then mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again – well it dealt it to me over those few weeks, it dealt me roller derby, and when it was gone I was totally hooked. I didn’t know any more than what I had seen on that square box, but that was enough, and I waited patiently till February for the Blitz Dames intake.

You’ve got tattoos on your legs that say ‘Show Pony’ because of your style of skating and you dance your way around blockers while jamming, what tips can you give to other aspiring jammers?

Photo copyright Silicon Valley Designs

That’s a tough question, I do love to leap around a bit, it’s true, but I don’t see myself as a jammer primarily, there is just so so much I am yet to learn. I do often take advice from jammers who inspire me, and they generally echo the same key points. There are the obvious like speed, agility, power.. then patience, sometimes you need to wait for an opportunity to happen if you can’t make it yourself, that’s what your team mates are for. But the one thing I think that sets apart the really good jammers more than anything else is resilience, the ability to get back up off the floor and try again, to take that time in the box to reset and go out with a clear mind, to spend 2 minutes getting pummelled by terrifying blockers then a few jams later do it all again. Mental toughness is the most important thing for jammers to learn, and often it’s harder than the skill itself, if you want to be a jammer, train your brain to be STRONG too!

DRR recently became full members of WFTDA, you had a big part in making that happen, why is it so important to you and the league?

It’s so exciting as it gives us so many opportunities to grow and develop as a league, and as a sport. I think I am right in saying that it’s really quite unique (in sport) for us to be able to vote and have a say in things – in the rules for example – we get to shape the future of roller derby together – isn’t that amazing? We are also very lucky that we have become full members at a time when there are so many other member leagues in Europe. This gives us a great scope for our travel team to play other full WFTDA travel teams. These games then get us into the WFTDA rankings system, and from our very humble beginnings we can work our way up the divisions, up the rankings, play against some of the most impressive, skilled teams in the world head towards that beautiful Hydra.

Photo copyright Russell Strainer

Who is the skater you dread meeting on track the most?

I am generally scared, especially when I jam – that’s what gets me through. Fear. I never underestimate anyone, and am always anxious, but I don’t dread meeting them, I just wonder how hard it’s going to be – how much of a challenge.

When you are not being a roller derby super hero what do you for really?

I design shoes by day, well and night. The occasional roller skate. But generally shoes, a lot of shoes, it’s fun because I get to draw all day, it doesn’t feel proper. I do CrossFit to get strong, and I run to decompress.

Had you ever done sports before you took up roller derby?

Not really, I danced, I was good at ballet, but I stopped when I was in my early teens and joined a theatre group instead. I loved ballet, but I didn’t have the drive or confidence at that time in my life. I was never picked for teams at school except rounders, I was pretty good at that, I liked the idea of sports, but just wasn’t sporty.

Photo copyright Russell Strainer

If you can tell someone new to derby just 3 things – what would they be?

1. Don’t obsess over how other people are progressing, we all learn at different rates.
2. Ask questions, watch footage, go to games, immerse yourself in it.
3. Be prepared for the fact that it may well take over your life, but in a good way.

You regularly pick a million songs for the Dollies to choose from before a bout, but if you could only pick ONE song for the skate out what would it be?

This is a very mean question as you well know I am terrible at picking just 1 song, I have narrowed it to 3 but I feel I have cheated all the other super awesome songs. I would probably go with ‘The Ruler’ by Kreayshawn, ‘Bitter Rivals’ by Sleigh Bells or ‘Harmonic Generator’ by the Datsuns.

What is your most favourite roller derby moment so far?

Now I was going to say that is impossible to answer as there are gazillions, but actually it’s easy. The day the Dolly Rockit Rollers were born. If DRR didn’t exist none of the other amazing things would have happened. (thank goodness we were told ‘red rockit rollers’ was a poor choice for a name – google red rocket – dear God)

What Derby plans do you have for the future?

You know it’s a cult right? I don’t make the plans, the plans are made for me…

Thank you for your time and for this interview, we hope it will inspire more little Nitro ponies all over the country to be as awesome as you!