That’s right, everyone, our March 19 session of Raw Meat Roller Skating will be three hours long! The session runs from 5 to 8 PM, for just $7, at Thunderbird Community Centre, 2311 Cassiar St.  That’s a lot of awesome.

Our first hour will focus on fundamental roller skating skills, including t-stops, plow stops, knee falls, baseball slides, basic agility drills, and more. Our second hour will feature proximity work—skating in formation with other skaters and moving in various patterns. If you are just learning to roller skate, don’t worry-we’ll adapt the drills to your level and offer additional help as needed.

Our third hour will feature a play scrimmage. It’s all the fun of derby, and none of the contact! We will simulate a roller derby jam, with blockers and jammers, and play though various blocking strategies, but with ABSOLUTELY NO HITTING, SHOVING, PUSHING, or overly aggressive skating. We do not practice any roller derby contact skills. We will slow down the play as needed to keep the practice comfortable for our beginner skaters. Think of this as an opportunity to learn the rules and strategies of roller derby in a fun, safe manner.

As always, full safety gear (helmet, wrist, knee and elbow pads, mouth guard) is needed. We have two rules: 1. Be Safe, and 2. Don’t Be an Ass-Hat. We have zero tolerance for breaking these rules.

Red Sashes of Awesome

For new, injured, tired or hung-over skaters, we have introduced red sashes. Red sashes will now be available to wear at Raw Meat skates. Wearing a red sash around your waist is a signal to other skaters that you do not want any form of contact (specifically, hip whips). They also signal to give you a bit more room in the pack and as you are skating, particularly in pace lines and scrimmages. We want everyone to feel comfortable joining in all of our drills. No one should feel pressured to skate beyond their skill level—we all started from the same place.

The Schedule for the Next Few Weeks

March 19 and 26 will be three-hour sessions. April 2 will only be two hours (sorry-Thunderbird had a booking!). There will be no Raw Meat skating on April 9, because, that’s’ the TCRG Home Opener Bout, and Raw Meat is going on a field trip! Join us at Kerrisdale Arena to cheer on the Terminal City Roller Girls’ house teams as they battle it out. A lot of Raw Meat alumni will be skating, so let’s show our support.