- Title: Beirut roller derby team dreams big
- Date: 5th December 2016
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (RECENT) (REUTERS) ROLLER DERBY TEAM SKATING IN A LINE DURING TRAINING VARIOUS OF ROLLER DERBY TEAM SKATING DURING TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN ROLLER DERBY TEAM COACH, KARIMA AL-JILANI, SAYING: "The game has freedom and liberation, the skating itself is very relaxing, one could release her stress and feel comfort while playing. Also, the game has violence for when someone is upset from something and needs to release this energy from within, violence within the limit of sports is nice, you don't need to fight anyone outside, just fight within the game and that is acceptable." VARIOUS OF TEAM MEMBERS WALKING ON TIPS OF ROLLER SKATES TEAM MEMBER WOBBLING ROLLER SKATES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic and English) BAHRAINI ROLLER DERBY TEAM MEMBER, ALAA MOUTAWAA, SAYING: "I did not know anything about the game, I did not know it even existed, so I was like 'ok, we can go and try', I have never tried skating, I have never did any sports before in my life and this was the first thing so I went and was like 'ok let's try this' and at the beginning, I did not know how to skate at all, I was barely standing on the skates." VARIOUS OF TEAM MEMBERS SKATING DURING TRAINING EXERCISE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic and English) BAHRAINI ROLLER DERBY TEAM MEMBER, ALAA MOUTAWAA, SAYING: "We kept on going and I started to love it, I started to like it. I didn't look at it as a sport, I looked at it as something fun to do, that was the beginning and now we are trying to actually improve which is kind of nice." VARIOUS OF TEAM TRAINING DURING EXERCISE STICKER ON HELMET OF ONE OF THE TEAM MEMBERS READING (English): 'WE LOVE ASPHALT' TEAM MEMBERS EXERCISING, WITH ONE MEMBER FALLING OVER (SOUNDBITE) (English) YEMENI ROLLER DERBY TEAM MEMBER, HADILA AL-HOBEICHI, SAYING: "One thing about roller derby, I think when I come here it keeps me more positive and having a good energy, so if I am stressed, if I have other things that I need to deal with, if I am feeling down, it kind of pushes it all aside and I am just enjoying my time at this moment, I am just laughing and I just skating with my friends. That, you know, shows me that there is a good thing in my day and when I go back, which is the most influence, I feel my day was productive, I did something that I really love." TEAM MEMBERS LAUGHING TOGETHER (SOUNDBITE) (English) TUNISIAN ROLLER DERBY TEAM MEMBER, NADA BEN JEMAA, SAYING: "We grew in number and we got much better in the sport, in the game itself, but we still need to recruit more people because we are all students at AUB (American University of Beirut) so we are going to graduate soon, in a year or two, and we are going to need people to actually keep the team going, to keep it sustainable." VARIOUS OF TEAM MEMBERS SKATING THROUGH EACH OTHERS LEGS VARIOUS OF TEAM'S TRAINING AREA
- Embargoed: 20th December 2016 15:23
- Keywords: roller derby students women skating team
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BLYIQD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A pioneering group of female students are getting their skates on in a bid to make roller derby kick off in Beirut, Lebanon.
The Roller Derby Beirut team, made up of students from the American University of Beirut (AUB), practices skating, sliding and sometimes slipping for two hours every Sunday.
The fast-paced activity is a contact sport pioneered by women in the United States and dominated by all-female teams.
And these girls are tough: helmets, mouthguards, wristguards and knee and elbow pads are a must.
The Beirut team's coach, Egyptian art student Karima Al-Jilani, explains the sport's appeal.
"The game has freedom and liberation, the skating itself is very relaxing, one would release her stress and feel comfort while playing. Also, the game has violence for when someone is upset from something and needs to release this energy from within, violence in sports limit is nice, you don't need to violate anyone outside, just fight within the game and that is acceptable," she said.
The team was founded in 2015 by Danish derby veteran Elizabeth Wolffhechel as part of a project with an NGO called GAME. When Wolffhechel returned home, Jilani took charge, watching roller derby training videos on YouTube in the evenings and putting them in to practice on the weekend.
The team believes that anyone can play roller derby if they're brave enough to try it.
Twenty-year old Bahraini computer science student Alaa Moutawaa, says she hadn't done any sports before - let alone skating - but "loves" this activity, despite a few bumps and falls.
"I started to love it, I started to like it. I didn't look at it as a sport, I looked at it as something fun to do, that was the beginning and now we are trying to actually improve which is kind of nice," she said.
Yemeni team member Hadila al-Hobeichi, who has earned the nickname 'Shiny Tiny', agreed.
"One thing about roller derby, I think when I come here it keeps me more positive and having a good energy, so if I am stressed, if I have other things that I need to deal with, if I am feeling down, it kind of push it all aside and I am just enjoying my time at this moment, I am just laughing and I just skating with my friends. That, you know, shows me that there is a good thing in my day and when I go back, which is the most influence, I feel my day was productive, I did something that I really love," she said.
Tunisian business student, 21-year old Nada Ben Jemaa, was inspired to take part in roller derby after watching the American movie, 'Whip It'.
She joined Roller Derby Beirut when it first formed and kept bringing her friends to the team.
But she knows that recruiting more members is essential to keep the sport alive.
"We grew in number and we got much better in the sport, in the game itself, but we still need to recruit more people because we are all students at AUB (American University of Beirut) so we are going to graduate soon, in a year or two, and we are going to need people to actually keep the team going, to keep it sustainable," she said.
Roller Derby Beirut is gearing up to play their first game on an international level in Egypt with a team from Cairo. They're now raising funds for the upcoming competition. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
