Are you passionate about sports and an inspiring person? Can you bring people together, make them work together and succeed together? Dirty River Roller Derby is looking for new coaches. We are hoping to get 1–3 coaches, who could share the responsibilities and tasks of coaching. The sharing is done by coaches themselves.

The tasks of coaching consist of being present in team’s practices and occasionally planning and running the practices together with the coaching group. We hope that the members of the coaching group have an enthusiastic attitude towards learning new things, skill of working together and ability to inspire. Obviously, basic knowledge of roller derby is also desired!

The coaching should be interested in getting to know also the international governing body of roller derby, WTFDA, and its rankings, and be able to plan the team’s future games with that in mind.

DRRD has currently one competitive team, Föri Fighters, which represents the league. Föri Fighters is going to play in the SM series in this upcoming season. Formerly we have aimed to play WTFDA-sanctioned games also abroad.

The players of the team are on different skill and experience levels, so it is important that the coaching is able to coach players both as a team but also as an individual.

Everyone participating in DRRD activities should read and commit to our values: https://dirtyriverrollerderby.com/en/drrd/our-values/

If this advertisement made your heart pump faster, send us a message:
coaching@dirtyriverrollerderby.com.

Are you passionate about sports and an inspiring person? Can you bring people together, make them work together and succeed together? Dirty River Roller Derby is looking for new coaches. We are hoping to get 1–3 coaches, who could share the responsibilities and tasks of coaching. The sharing is done by coaches themselves.

The tasks of coaching consist of being present in team’s practices and occasionally planning and running the practices together with the coaching group. We hope that the members of the coaching group have an enthusiastic attitude towards learning new things, skill of working together and ability to inspire. Obviously, basic knowledge of roller derby is also desired!

The coaching should be interested in getting to know also the international governing body of roller derby, WTFDA, and its rankings, and be able to plan the team’s future games with that in mind.

DRRD has currently one competitive team which represents the league. At the moment the team does not play in the SM series but participating in it is possible in the future. Formerly we have aimed to play WTFDA-sanctioned games also abroad.

The players of the team are on different skill and experience levels, so it is important that the coaching is able to coach players both as a team but also as an individual.

Everyone participating in DRRD activities should read and commit to our values: https://dirtyriverrollerderby.com/en/drrd/our-values/

If this advertisement made your heart pump faster, send us a message:
coaching@dirtyriverrollerderby.com.

You don’t need to know everything or anything about roller derby: the most important thing is that you’re willing to coach. We are looking for different persons with different strengths and interests. Let’s find a suitable role for you together! As a coach you can be there for us on game days and help us succeed. You can also plan and run practices if that’s your thing! Or are you a PT or physiotherapist and want to use your expertise to help us get our off skate practicing to a new level?

DRRD has currently one competitive team which aims to play scrimmages and games of different levels in 2022. If the SM series or Division 1 are restarted at some point, we will consider taking part in those as well.

Fill in this form and tell us a little about yourself! The deadline is 28 February 2022. If you want to come and watch our practices and get to know us and our sport a little bit before filling in the form, send an email to martta.malila@dirtyriverrollerderby.com.

Everyone participating in DRRD activities should read and commit to our values: https://dirtyriverrollerderby.com/en/drrd/our-values/

Link to the form: https://forms.gle/xShnDQyYfEqQQcKQ6

During the Summer Olympics a while ago, a lot of discussion went on about the inclusion of trans people in sports. A lot of these discussions have been focused on trans women and trans feminine people in women’s sports. Dirty River Roller Derby states in its guidelines explicitly that we support trans players, and do not allow transphobia or trans misogyny. Excluding trans women and trans feminine people from sports is not only harmful to trans people, but to all women, especially black and brown women (cis and trans) who are often the target of transmisogyny.

Roller Derby from its origin is intended to be an inclusive sport, and even though the sport has not always been successful on this front, it has always been at its root. Dirty River Roller Derby intends to be a place where we include all kinds of different bodies into sports, this includes trans bodies. We want to be a league where people who haven’t felt welcome or able to play sports can engage with roller derby and its community. There is no one type of body that can play roller derby, all kinds of different bodies can engage in this sport, and by being inclusive to different bodies we hope to make it possible for people to imagine themselves on the track. DRRD is always trying to create an atmosphere of acceptance and love of difference.

Within DRRD we will endeavour to continue looking at our own praxis and prejudice, specifically regarding trans people, especially trans women and trans feminine people. We are driven by our values which everyone of our members agree to comply with. Trans women and trans feminine people are underrepresented in our league, and we will try to examine the reasons for this and continue these conversations internally. We encourage other sports leagues to have these conversations or keep having these conversations as well.

The Coaching Department at DRRD has been actively working with the topic of harassment and bullying and how to prevent them for a long time. The Department has, however, been especially active in this regard during the past year, since the study about harassment and bullying (in Finnish. A summary of the key points is available in Swedish and English also) in our sport by SUEK/Luisteluliitto was published.

As one concrete action, all Finnish-speaking members of our Department have now taken or will take the Et ole yksin online training which aims at creating a safe environment for sports and offers guidelines on how to prevent and tackle bullying and harassment. More info: https://etoleyksin.fi/ (in Finnish and Swedish).

The Coaching Department at DRRD used the training as a starting point for a critical discussion about our own activities. We also suggested various concrete actions to other actors within our league. Some examples include surveys on practices and well-being as well as opening a low-threshold feedback channel for our members. All our league activities are guided by our official bylaws, our strong core values as well as the Code of Conduct approved by our membership.

We would like to challenge all derby leagues in Finland to boost their work against bullying and harassment. Let’s share good practices, learn from each other, admit it when we mess up and roll together towards a brighter future!

We have our very own merch shop with exclusive items coming up that you don’t want to miss! You can already add drrd.mycashflow.fi to your bookmarks as the shop will open during this spring.

DRRD 10 YEARS! Now is your chance to order some cool merch with our brand new 10th anniversary logo. T-shirts, tank tops, long-sleeved shirts and beanies are available. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance! Order via this form: https://forms.gle/yt6zK5ESsFucA5Tk6

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Dirty River Roller Derby is looking for coaches for the season 2020-2021!

DRRD has two teams, and in 2020-2021, if COVID-19 pandemic situation permits it, the A team Föri Fighters will play in the Finnish National League (SM-sarja) and WFTDA sanctioned games both in Finland and in Europe. The B team Åbo B-ajs will be continuing in the Finnish Roller Derby’s 1st Division and in addition to that aims to play both scrimmages and games both inside and outside of Finland.

You can apply to do different coach tasks that suit you the best – you can for example bench coach, plan and run practices, or run a bootcamp. We are looking for different persons with different strengths and interests. You can apply by sending an email to DRRD’s coaching department rep: hanna-leena.partanen@dirtyriverrollerderby.com.

Please tell us about yourself, about your roller derby and/or other sport experience/knowledge, what kind of coach you would be, and how you would be able to commit to the coaching of the team(s). Mention also whether you would like to coach both our A or B teams or just one of them. We also expect you to read and commit to our values. You can apply until 16 August 2020!

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all DRRD practices, beginners course and other activities requiring face-to-face contact are suspended until further notice. All meetings will be held via video. All our games scheduled for this spring have also been cancelled.

We are doing everything we can to help slow down the spread of the virus. This is to protect those in high-risk groups and to reduce the burden on our health care system. However, we are keeping in touch via internet, training at home and supporting one another. Let’s stay strong together during these unusual times!

We will resume practices and other face-to-face activities as soon as it’s safe again. We are hoping to organize a beginners’ course in the fall as usual. If you are interested in joining us, do not hesitate to contact us! We are here to answer any questions you may have.

If this situation or e.g. the loneliness caused by it causes you anxiety and you need help, the national crisis helpline offers service 24/7 at 09 2525 0113 (Arabic & English) and 09 2525 0112 (Swedish).

Would you like to join Dirty River Roller Derby this autumn? Please do! We welcome everyone who accepts our values and wants to be part of our organization in one way or another.

Here are easy ways to join us in different roles:

1. Become a volunteer or just come and watch us play
   We are organizing a big home tournament on Saturday 14 September. Come cheer for us! Or if you’re interested in volunteering, check out our volunteer Facebook group.
2. Become a Non-Skating Official
   On Sunday 15 September we are organizing a training for Non-Skating Officials (NSOs) in Turku. It’s free and open for everyone, no experience required. Check out the Facebook event for more details and sign up!
3. Become a referee
   Referees are very much appreciated in our league as no games can ever happen without referees. If you’d like to become one, join our beginners’ course to learn basic skating skills! The beginners’ course starts on Wednesday 2 October, follow our website and social media for further information and sign-up form.
4. Become a player 
   If you’d like to become a player, join our beginners’ course, and we’ll teach you how to skate, how to fall safely, how to take contact and so on. The course starts on Wednesday 2 October – we’ll post more info later!

Need more info? Send us a message! You’ll find our emails here. You can also send us a message on Facebook. We speak English.