	{"id":189460,"date":"2026-06-22T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=189460"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:31:22","slug":"geelong-roller-derby-eyes-return-to-states-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelong-roller-derby-eyes-return-to-states-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Geelong Roller Derby eyes return to state&#8217;s best"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GEELONG Roller Derby is on a path of resurgence, and a local trio are helping to lead the charge to restore the club to being a state powerhouse.<\/p>\n<p>Corey Scaffidi (Dakota Blocker), Regan Pearce (Cherry Bomb), and Steph Darragh (Melon Head) are aiming to guide Geelong to the Oceania Regional Championships within the next three years.<\/p>\n<p>While the club is still a few divisions away from qualification &#8211; following its third place at the Great Southern Slam this month &#8211; confidence is quickly building.<\/p>\n<p>Crucially, the biennial national competition will be held in Geelong later this month &#8211; a great launchpad and backdrop for the team to chase their dreams.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We just keep winning at the Great Southern Slam, and it was a testament to our hard work over the past few years,&#8221; Scaffidi said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was the first time since 2018 that we fielded our own complete team, rather than joining another one for competition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_189472\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-189472\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-189472\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4154_39304-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4154_39304-rotated.jpg 800w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4154_39304-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4154_39304-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4154_39304-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-189472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, Regan Pearce, Steph Darragh and Corey Scaffidi. Photo: Nathan Rivalland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you asked us a fortnight ago if National Championships was on the cards, we would have laughed, but after this recent result, we believe it&#8217;s something we can work towards.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Scaffidi joined the Geelong Roller Club Derby team over a decade ago, inspired to get fit and meet new people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I joined in 2014 and learnt skating that next year. I grew up in Melbourne but shifted to Geelong and started playing,&#8221; Scaffidi said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I played basketball as a teenager \u2013 footy was off limits as my parents thought it was too dangerous. The irony now of doing roller derby.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For Pearce, it was almost ten years later that she came across the sport.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In 2023 I jumped on board through our skate fit program and learnt how to skate,&#8221; Pearce said. &#8220;I went from there, joined fresh to derby, learn how to play the sport and off we went.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The interesting thing about the sport is whilst it looks quite aggressive, you can&#8217;t swear or be to over the top. &#8220;The camaraderie is incredible, people are cheering from each team when you hit each other, it&#8217;s great.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_189463\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-189463\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-189463\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4161_39349-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-189463\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Geelong Roller Derby train and play their matches at the Leisuretime Sports Precinct in Norlane. Photo: Nathan Rivalland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Roller derby games are divided into jams, where players will be cycled through accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>On each jam, each team will have a jammer who will score the points, and four blockers who defend against the opposing jammer and help their jammer get through.<\/p>\n<p>The role of the jammer is to score points &#8211; they can do so by passing every player of the opposing teams&#8217; hips. You can get a maximum of four points per jam.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hitting people on the way is the most fun part I think, I just love it,&#8221; Darragh said,<\/p>\n<p>Pearce emphasised endurance as being another key characteristic of the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Endurance is the key. Skating around for two minutes and hitting and manoeuvring, it&#8217;s quite tiring.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_189476\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-189476\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-189476\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4166_39364-1-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4166_39364-1-rotated.jpg 800w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4166_39364-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4166_39364-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/IMG_4166_39364-1-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-189476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The team has aspirations of representing their state at the National Championships in the years to come. Photo: Nathan Rivalland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After being struggling to attract any members, with only two or three turning out to training during the pandemic, Geelong Roller Derby is now getting more than 35 players to events.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The growth within our club has been amazing,&#8221; Darragh said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve slowly been working up, and we didn&#8217;t expect to do as well as we did at the Great Southern Slam.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While we&#8217;ve still got a way to go to National Championships, we are rebuilding and are on our way back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The local trio are looking forward to watching the country&#8217;s best take to the court later this month in the major event.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t wait to see it up close,&#8221; Darragh added. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big deal for Geelong to get this event, it really puts us on the map.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Maybe one day we can get an event back here and we can get that home court advantage.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GEELONG Roller Derby is on a path of resurgence, and a local trio are helping to lead the charge to restore the club to being a state powerhouse. Corey Scaffidi (Dakota Blocker), Regan Pearce (Cherry Bomb), and Steph Darragh (Melon Head) are aiming to guide Geelong to the Oceania Regional Championships within the next three [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/geelong-roller-derby-eyes-return-to-states-best\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":189627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-189460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Geelong Roller Derby eyes return to state&#039;s best - 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