Roller derby goes postal

The team was delighted to qualify, says captain Deborah Hill (aka Bambi von Smash'er), but not surprised: "We've planned for this competition for nearly two years, curating the opportunities we needed and training hard to make the rankings push and achieve the result that we wanted."

Qualifying for the Continental Cup is the culmination of a strong season for the team. In June the Rollers made Australian derby history, bringing home the champion’s trophy in the world’s largest roller derby tournament, the Great Southern Slam. They became the first team to break Victorian Roller Derby League's four-tournament winning streak.

Christine Murray, co-captain who is better known to derby fans as ShortStop, said "...this will be unlike anything we've done before. There's loads of skill in Australian derby, but we're limited by our location. Everyone has to spend a lot of money travelling interstate to play the same teams! It's a fun way to build rivalries and we all grow and push each other to be better-but the team's excited to play some new opposition."

Although this will be the first time the team plays overseas, several members of the Vice City Rollers have represented Australia in international competition before. As one of the league's original members (and a two-time Team Australia veteran), Bambi said "this has been a long time coming. We've been working to build our skillset and are really proud to be able to represent Canberra on the world track. Getting this far really speaks to the dedication of the whole league and its volunteers, officials, and the training ethos we've instilled from day one, back in 2008!"

The team is travelling over 14,420 kilometres to Omaha, if you want to hep you can donate here www.gofundme.com/vcrs-to-omaha