Video: Safety Equipment for Roller Derby

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Choose the proper safety gear and equipment for roller derby. Learn how to play roller derby and skate from a roller derby expert in this free instructional video.

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Video Transcript

In this clip we'll talk about how to choose the basic safety gear for Roller Derby. Before you ever step on to the rink with a new league you're going to have to have all the gear that's required to keep you safe on that rink. First of all you're going to have to invest in a good helmet, and a good helmet is going to have a solid foam core in it. Some helmets just have a basic plastic lining. That's not going to keep you safe if you fall on the concrete. You need to protect your brain, it's the best organ you have. So make sure you get a nice solid core helmet, something nice and sturdy, solid on the outside. Also, just as basic tip you might want to get something that has some smooth parts to it, because you're going to want to put stickers and your name and all sorts of things on this helmet. Next thing you're going to need to get is a mouth guard. Mouth guards can be purchased at your local drug store or sport's supply store. A mouth guard will need to be boiled and formed to your teeth. You can also go to your dentist and have one custom made. That's going to be a little more expensive but the mouth guard should fit snuggly on your teeth like this. It's not pretty, but it will keep that smile pretty. Next you're going to want to invest in some good wrist guards. A common injury in Roller Derby is falling on your wrist and either spraining or fracturing that wrist bone. A very solid wrist guard will keep you from injuring that wrist. You want to make sure that whatever you buy, especially if it's an S-curve wrist guard, has a really nice solid piece of plastic in it that's going to take a really strong impact. Also you're going to want to get some elbow protectors. Again go with the more expensive ones. Don't go cheap on any of your gear. You really want to make sure you're being protected. An elbow protector will have a nice large area covering the elbow and this molded piece of plastic that's going to protect you if you fall. You might talk to a local sport's store; check out the junior football section to find a hip protector. A hip protector is going to have padding on the hips and on the back side around the coccyx to protect your tailbone, again really good if you're doing a lot of slides, if you're doing a lot of falls, you want to protect yourself. Knee guards, these should be as big as possible and you want to get something that's created for dropping into a swimming pool if you're a skate boarder. Talk to them about that, it's usually either skate park gear or street gear. What you don't want is the little children's hockey gear with a tiny circle on it that will not protect your knees. In Roller Derby we have a tremendous number of knee injuries mostly caused by not having the proper gear.

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Safety Equipment for Roller Derby

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