SARAH COLESHAW
Roller derby star helps youngsters learn game she fell in love with
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The first time Sarah Coleshaw watched a roller derby game, she was hooked.
Coleshaw first saw a game in Grade 12. Her impulse to join the sport was “automatic,” she said.
Roller derby is more than just a physical activity, though; it’s helped Coleshaw gain the confidence she needed to work through an emotionally abusive relationship.
It has also given Coleshaw a sense of belonging she never knew existed.
She took up the sport seven years ago. Coleshaw now skates in the Saskatoon Roller Derby’s A-level league with the Saskatoon Mindfox. She’s also the president and one of the coaches for the Saskatoon Junior Roller Derby League.
Her husband, Cody Kurz, is a member of the adult league. He’s also an in-demand referee, a role that takes the couple to World Cup bouts everywhere from Manchester, U.K., to Barcelona, Spain.
Roller derby is played by two teams on an oval track. It’s a strategic game where players take both offensive and defensive positions.
Each team has five players on the track at once — one of those is called a jammer and skates around the opposing team to score points. The remaining four players are blockers — using strategy and sometimes force, they attempt to stop the opposing jammer.
To the uninitiated, the cluster of blockers looks a bit like a mosh pit at a rock concert. In fact, it’s all about strategy and positioning: “Setting up your body on the right spot on the track with your teammates to block instead of trying to hit them as hard as you can,” Coleshaw explained.
She was a figure skater for 13 years, which helped when she first joined, but she often tripped over the roller skates’ wider wheel base. To improve, she asked if she could skate on the outside at adult practices, and skated outdoors as much as she could.
All that practice paid off. Coleshaw is a formidable jammer. She lives up to her roller derby name, Curb Stomping Coleshaw.
“I like to hit people really hard or hit opposing players’ setup really hard so it loosens everything up. (Then) I can have some room to work with.”
At a recent scrimmage match, Coleshaw aggressively pushed through a pack of blockers and, with a quick twist and duck, came cleanly out the other side.
The clack, clack, clack sound of wheels increased as the bout sped up, accented with the odd player’s yell or the occasional thump of someone hitting the floor.
‘A BOND LIKE NO OTHER’
For Coleshaw, roller derby has offered a welcoming space where she’s met people who have became family. It’s an inclusive environment — all ages, genders and abilities are welcome.
“Roller derby helped me become the woman I am today. And not just through the sport but through the people that I’ve met. You … find these people that you have a bond like no other with.”
It’s for that reason Coleshaw has devoted countless volunteer hours to the junior league the last six years.
“To be able to give that opportunity to other kids and give them a safe place to be themselves and grow up in the sport — that in itself is the reason why I do it.”
Players all start at the same level: They strap on skates for the first time and promptly fall down.
“They have to learn right away — you fall, you get back up. You can’t just lay there. You have to learn to pick yourself up,” Coleshaw said.
The junior players’ respect for her at practice is obvious. During the warm-up, good natured rivalries played out on the gym floor, as kids jostled each other out of the way and parents called out encouragement from the sidelines.
The chatter quickly died down as they gathered around Coleshaw for further instructions. She’s firm but fair, keeping the players accountable while instilling pride in their accomplishments as the practice progresses.
“They work through their own issues by learning how to play roller derby, which is pretty cool.”