Abu Dhabi’s Desert Divas roll into Cairo for derby bout

The region’s first-ever international roller derby, Arabian Nights - 1001 Jams, will see Abu Dhabi Desert Divas take on CaiRollers’ Cleopatras at Cairo’s International Stadium on Friday.

Some members of the Abu Dhabi Roller Derby will compete in the first international derby of the Mena region. Christopher Pike / The National

ABU DHABI // It is not a sport for the faint of heart and Friday’s first international roller derby bout in the region promises to be fast, furious and highly competitive.

Abu Dhabi Desert Divas take on CaiRollers’ Cleopatras, Egypt’s only roller derby team, in Arabian Nights – 1001 Jams.

The match will be held at Cairo’s international stadium at 5pm UAE time – and neither team will be taking prisoners.

"Cairo is a younger team than us," said Tracie Scott, captain of the Abu Dhabi Roller Derby team, from which the Desert Divas was spawned.

“They’re young and fit, so that’s an advantage for them but we are old and treacherous. As my friend used to say, ‘I will take age and treachery over youth and skill any day’.”

Derby is really about strategy, formations and game play, said Scott, who goes by the skate name Nerd Badger.

“We’re playing offence and defence at the same time, so it’s really fast and lots of stuff going on,” she said “For spectators, it’s a fast and exciting sport.”

Roller derby involves two teams of five skating in the same direction around a track. Gameplay consists of a series of short match-ups, in which both teams designate a scoring player, or “jammer”, who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team.

The teams attempt to block the opposing jammer while assisting their own.

The Abu Dhabi roller derby team, which has 20 members, meets Sundays and Wednesdays for two hours and has a membership as diverse as the city, with players from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Singapore.

Most of the members were newbies when they started playing in Abu Dhabi, although some, including Ms Scott and Ruth Elizabeth Hilton, had played in other leagues.

“Me and a girl in Dubai have quite a bit of game experience but pretty much everyone else had played at most one game,” Ms Scott said.

“So we really worked on playing as a unit.

“This roller derby really is a team sport because the jammer is trying to get by and if you’re all in different bits of the track and separated, it’s really easy for the jammer to escape through.”

On Wednesday night, in preparation for their Cairo derby, the team spent two hours of cardio training, wall drills, blocking and jamming.

“It’s a lot of getting them prepared to be calm when they play,” said Ms Scott

“It’s getting them to the point of ‘don’t worry about anyone else. Just stay in your wall, calm down and, if we can keep them calm and focused, it means we’ll have a good chance’.”

Their coach, Christopher -Hopchin, 42, ran the skaters through a variety of drills, focusing on the basic strategies that work well with their skill level.

“Eleven of our Desert Divas are off to Cairo for the game,” he said.

“If they can keep their head about them, they will not get overly excited and they’ll do just fine.”

It will be the first roller derby game for Tiffany Griggs, 37, an American teacher in Al Ain who joined the team last September.

“When I first learnt about derby I thought, you know, it’s a bunch of women on a track hitting each other,” she said. “But it’s not at all like that.

“I used to think I was a good skater until I started roller derby.

“I have so much to learn still and it definitely involves a lot of strategy.”

Ms Griggs, who goes by the skate name Tackleberry, was looking forward to an exciting bout in Cairo. “If a jammer tries to get past me, I’m pretty sure that they’ll fall and I’ll have to tackle them or they’ll have to try to tackle me in order to get through,” she said.

“With me, the biggest thing is staying low in my wall and having a nice, solid stance.

“Having a wider surface area works really well for me, and steady feet.”

Ms Scott, who has played in leagues in Canada and the US, considers this first international roller derby game an achievement for a team that started four years ago with four members.

“For us, being able to play an international bout and having a team we can field that can skate well enough and can go, that’s an achievement,” she said.

“And it will help us build momentum to hopefully expand our numbers.”