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

I'm well over the derby decade mark, although probably most of it was probably spent in off-skates roles or injured haha.  I joined in 2010 when I saw a Facebook call out for non-skating officials. I was your standard 2010 newbie, I looked up roller derbty because I watched Whip It.  I rocked up to volunteer as an NSO having never seen the game and have been a member ever since.  I'm in my longest stint actually playing the game, which makes me super proud.

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

Sitting at a computer like I literally am now haha.  I'm a massive nerd, and by day i an am IT Business Analyst.  My job is to look at business systems and processes and make them better, and I definitely use these skills in my derby career too!  I just got a puppy, Gordon, who is keeping me busy too, I'm teaching him to go for walks right now and my long goal is a morning run - that should help with derby cardio!

How did you come up with your derby name?

Geez ok buckle up for a long story as I've had a multiple derby names in my time.  When I started, I did what all good nerds do and asked Facebook for help and someone suggested the name Leannarchist (Leanne + Anarchist... and before you laugh that I wrote those two words out, the amount of people who called me Leanne-T-Christ from misreading it was pretty massive haha). 

The thing was though, everyone called me Leanne for short - how boring! About five years in, when I started actually playing the game, I was complaining I wanted a new derby name and someone started calling me Pants after they saw my computer login 'leanneypants' during a league constitution edit meeting.  Being a huge cider lover, a friend suggested Cider Pants, and being the innocent person I am I didnt get the reference at first. Teehee.  You used to be able to have letters in your number, and so I became #1N Cider Pants.  Additional teehee's.   I just go by Pants nowadays.

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

I really like plants.  The pandemic had one good side effect, and I live in a jungle that I dont actually realise is there most days.  I also now see trees everywhere and they remind me of the people who have them on their properties.

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

I think I may have just given up on my ultimate goal of playing at The Great Southern Slam in June (COVID-19 has ruined this goal twice now), so my new goal is to just give it my all.  Act like it's my last year of game play. Show up, play games, and strive to play in the state tournament, Boom State Clash.

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.

Every time I injure myself is overcoming a tough moment haha; I'm super clumsy so I do it a lot (touch wood).

Recently, I played in the mixed team of DPR/WARD played against PRD at DWFFS '21 in September last year.  In the first jam I headbutted their jammer's helmet and ended up with the bridge of my nose bleeding on track haha.  We scored like, 30 points against their 300 or something so we were absolutely chuffed.

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

Swifty has been going great guns as our new Head of Coaching. She has redone the L4 assessment, and is working on coaching plans for the lower levels that incorporate the WFTDA "This is Roller Derby" guidelines, which were introduced after minimum skills were abolished. These coaching plans allow more game based skills than just skating skills and we'll be in a great position as a league once Swifty is done with this project!