Dolly of the Month: March 2014

Drew E. Decimaul – 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?

All warm and fuzzy and smiley. Kind of like when the sun is shining on you, but on the inside.

What are you doing right now?

Sitting in the library pretending to write an assignment but mostly getting distracted by Buzzfeed.

As a fairly new Dolly what is it that made you come along to try roller derby in the first place?

Some friends took me to a couple of bouts up in Leeds last year and it blew my mind. I then got a bit drunk at an afterparty and went home and ordered skates. Oops! (but not oops!)

You’re well on your way to passing your minimum skills right now, what advice would you give to someone coming to their first intake?

If you’re feeling nervous, just chuck yourself at the floor a few times and it’ll suddenly be much less scary!

When you pass your min skills, who is the skater you most look forward to meeting (eg. Hitting) on track?

Would it be cheesy to say everyone? I’m quite looking forward to meeting Nitro Noush and Rolling Pins on the track because they make lots of funny noises. The people I *don’t* want to meet are the refs. They’re super scary.

When you are not being a roller derby skater, NSO AND trainee referee, what do you for really?

I’m halfway through getting a masters in Being A Librarian. Libraries are the coolest places ever. If you haven’t been to your local library in a while, go and pay it a visit – lots of libraries are under threat right now so they need your support!

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

I think horse riding technically counts as a sport, but I just do that for funsies. Oh, and I am a ninja at putting books in order. Other than that, I’ve pretty much avoided sport like the plague for my whole life. But there’s something different about roller derby. It’s super empowering and full of lovely people (and only a little bit scary).

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

1. Your own personal roller derby journey is likely to be a pretty long road. Embrace it, enjoy it, and try not to compare yourself to others too much. You’re probably doing much better than you think.
2. Take the time to get to know your leaguemates. They will all be super supportive and learning to skate is much less scary/embarrassing when you’re surrounded by people you love.
3. Always bring treats for the NSOs (unless you are busy actually being one, even better!).

If you could pick any song you wanted just for you for your skate out what would it be?

Rock n Roll – Avril Lavigne (I know, I have excellent music taste, you don’t have to tell me)

Drews first scrim – Photo DizzyDreams Photography

What is your most favorite roller derby moment so far?

I think I have three. There’s the first time I jumped over a wall of cones and didn’t die; the rookie bootcamp I went to last week where I did my first scrim (and also didn’t die); and my first attempt at jammer reffing at a Dolly practice (still alive!).

What Derby plans do you have for the future?

I plan to be calling lots of penalties on naughty skaters, and also nailing my minimum skills. Epic funtimes to be had all round.

Thank you for your time and for this interview, we hope it will inspire more potential Drew types all over the country to get their feet into some skates pronto!

Yay for clever book sorting skatey types!