Hades is a long time member who recently took on the duty of co-Captaining our Travel Team, and was tasked with creating a coaching regime for the newly formed team to prepare them for the BIGGEST tournament on the derby calendar; The Great Southern Slam held in Adelaide every two years.  TGSS had not been held for four years due to COVID, so everyone was super excited and nervous about the event.  WARD came home with one win and one loss at TGSS, and we couldn't have been more proud of how the team performed.

We're so pleased to crown Hades WARDian of the month for the huge effort she put in.  Read on to learn more about Hades.

How long have you been involved in roller derby, and how did you first hear about the sport?

On and off for over 8 years now which is crazy when I think about it! I have retired a few times, but I keep coming back. I saw some friends share some photos of a game online and thought 'That looks like fun!' The first session of the training cycle was the following week about 5 minutes from where I lived, so it seemed like fate!

When you're not at derby training, what could we find you doing on a normal day?

Probably working! If I'm not working, I'm spending time with my tiny dog, my family or friends, or relaxing with a good book.

How did you come up with your derby name?

My nephew was reading the Percy Jackson series and thought it would suit me. In hindsight I'm not sure whether he meant that as a positive thing....

What's an interesting thing about you that's NOT roller derby related?

I love to travel, and got to go to Rio to watch the Olympics. I spent three week enjoying all sorts of sports, but also was so close to the beach volleyball stadium I could hear the games even when I wasn't there. I managed to get tickets to watch Australia play the USA in the beach volleyball medals matches, and our group of Aussie supporters got into some cheer offs against the USA Basketball Dream Team. One of the coolest experiences ever.

What is a roller derby goal you are working towards right now?

My time as a skater is coming to an end but I'm enjoying getting to pass on my years of experience to the next generation of skaters. 

Tell us about a tough moment you've overcome in derby, or when you've played a hard games in which you've accomplished some small goals.

Coming back from my MCL tear was probably the hardest thing I have done (and that includes when we skated against the VRDL All Stars at TGSS one year). I thought I would never be back on skates again but I worked through the fear of hurting it again and managed to get one more travel tournament in!

Who do you nominate as our next WARDian of the Month?

Penny