Big Smack and Fries - 199
Skate Number: 199
Playing Since: April 2010
Likes: shouting, reffing sometimes, drawing posters and Wetherby Services
Dislikes: washing kit, working night shifts before bout days and people touching my feet
Positions: Currently recovering from breaking my ankle on November 18th 2012 so off skates jobs only – line up manager for the Belters, Hinnies AND Tyne & Fear mostly!
- When was your first bout? My first bout was a mixed B-team opening game at Block the Casbah (NRG v DRR) in September 2010. Me, Tequila JacKILLina and Booze Wound Barbie were on Team Bandit… it was alright! I was really nervous on the coach on the way down as I hadn’t even learned to transition properly yet or anything, it was literally ‘oh you’ve passed your mins? here’s a bout!’ and I thought people in the crowd would be able to tell but I felt better on track.
- Who is your favourite player for Newcastle Roller Girls? Levine Dead <3
- Who is your favourite skater in the world? Juicy Lucy, formerly of ARRG and now a London Roller Girl, and of course on Team England!… which you might think a bit of an obvious choice, because she’s my boyfriend’s sister. BUT SHE’S AMAZING. I remember when I first started out and being impressed by the skating of essentially every one other than myself but the first time I saw Lucy it was like… wow. There’s a skater, there’s something to really aspire to. Her laterals are UNREAL and her jamming seems to defy physics. Also when we were 10 we held hands and danced in a circle to ‘Summer Holiday’ wearing yellow gingham in a dance show and there’s video evidence in her parents’ house so there.
- What is your proudest derby moment? Being picked for the A team for our first ever home bout, Flog on the Tyne, in March 2011. When I saw my name on the roster email I nearly did a cry. I felt like I’d sort of plateaued with my training at the end of 2010 and had all but given up hope of one day being a Canny Belter but I pushed through it and was duly rewarded. At the time of writing I’ve been picked for a Belters line up another five times since and the feeling never gets old, hope there’s plenty more coming!
- What is your most embarrassing derby moment? There is YouTube evidence of a pretty disastrous jam I did when the Hinnies played RCRG’s Tender Hooligans in May 2011… it was a power jam to us, but I false started, but it took them a while to call it so I kept going, got careened into the crowd then sent to bin and like a prat questioned it because I didn’t get what was going on. When I came out I got blocked off track and the blocker went backwards so I was skating clockwise outside to get back in behind her… and headbutted a player going into the penalty bin! And during all of this my arse is pretty much hanging out because I was wearing ripped shorts with a too-short tshirt. Beautiful. This is why I don’t jam!
- What’s your set up?
- Skates/Plates/Stoppers: Broke my ankle in Riedell R3s. Gonna get some Reno hockey boots for my return!
- Wheels: I was on all 8 Radar Phantoms (80A) when I broke my ankle, and I broke my ankle because my foot stuck to the floor, so when I’m back on wheels I’ll definitely be going for harder ones…
- Pads: Triple 8 helmet and elbow pads, SFR wrist guards, 187 Pro Derby knees that I won from Sucker Punch (yey!), yellow Pro Tech mouth guard.
You can read all about Big Smack’s derby injury and recovery on her blog, Big Smack vs The World!