GnR claim derby champs
Gun n Roses prove they have appetite for destruction — of their rivals
There was nothing jammy about Hawke’s Bay roller derby junior team Guns n Roses (GnRs) coming home last month from the National Junior Roller Derby Championships in Whanga¯rei sporting a golden roller skate trophy.
“The team is beyond excited and their fabulous coaches Tower of Terror, Tu Meke Bootay and Gravity Worxare very proud of the hard work — and massive fundraising — it took to get there,” says team player Drop Dead Fred’s mum Amy.
“Seeing our team holding the trophy was incredible. The coach said they were well prepared and skated their hearts out on the day. The parents were also so stoked for the kids to have a win like that.”
Guns n Roses are the junior division of Hawke’s Bay women’s team The Bay City Rollers and include players Nightmare, Phearless, Whisker, Devil’s Daughter, Atomic Blonde, Dynamite, Misty Meaner, Anarchist Skywalker, Rage Against the Rogue, Scarface Claw and Kay.Os. The team travelled to Whanga¯rei to take part in The Younger Games, beating The Northland Hell Razors and The Otautahi Otau-Tini Rollers.
Coaches Tower of Terror, Tu Meke Bootay and Gravity Worx put the level 2/3 rep team through their paces, boosting training in the lead up to the games.
“Trainings ramped up significantly, with offence and defence drills as well as strategy sessions. Current junior teams compete at Level 2 contact skills but there are a significant amount of Level 3 junior skaters at the moment leading to mixed scrimmage trainings in preparation for NZ juniors to send a representative team to France next year for the Junior Roller Derby World Cup,” Amy says.
GnRs was started about seven years ago, already showing promise with a hugely successful boot camp in the 2015 July school holidays, before competing in the nationals three times, Amy says.
“The Northland league team based in Whanga¯rei hosted the inaugural Younger Games tournament in 2019. In 2020 we hosted at the Rodney Green Arena in Napier and in 2021 the national event was a casualty of Covid lockdowns and restrictions. We were really excited to get back on the road and competing again. The atmosphere was electric.”
The GnRs train during term time and compete when they can.
“This was hampered a little over the last few years due to Covid restrictions and the flood damage of our home venue Rodney Green Arena. We couldn’t host home games until the flooring was replaced but the silver lining of the wait has been that Napier City Council marked out a permanent roller derby track on the new floor.”
In preparation for the nationals they also managed to travel to Wellington during Queen’s Birthday Weekend for a doubleheader against Otautahi and a North Island invitational team.
The Whanga¯rei weekend was the first ever junior Level 3 roller derby bout held in New Zealand and six of the GnRs kitted up in themixed black team vs white team.
“This was a tough game, especially being played after a day of national competition.”
She describes roller derby as an amazing full contact sport.
“It almost has to be seen to be fully appreciated. It consists of plays called jams, with a max of two minutes where teams field five players aside per jam, with one player (the jammer) scoring points by lapping the opposition. There are a huge number of referees and non-skating officials needed for each game and the entire league is held together by an incredible network of volunteers.”
It was a quiet trip home for the group of 10 to 17-year-olds.
“The team was exhausted. A tournament like that takes days to recover from as it’s physically and mentally draining— the bruising takes weeks to fully heal.”
She says the team wouldn’t have made it to the nationals without the considerable help from sponsors.
“The team and families fundraised with things like raffles and selling chocolates and are grateful to the Paisley Stage in Napier for letting us host an all-ages event with local musician Kenya Boerman, who is a GnR team member.
“We’re also grateful to MPT Concrete and MCL Construction Ltd for their help, including lending us a vehicle to drive the team equipment to Whanga¯rei while the team flew.”
This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air