October 7th, 2024:
On the weekend of October 5th and 6th, Team Canada held our first full-squad practice in preparation for the 2025 World Cup!
Skaters flew into Calgary from all over Canada and as far away as Los Angeles to join in a grueling 5.5 hour practice on Saturday, followed by another intense 3.5 hour session the next day!
For many, it was the first opportunity to skate with each other and start nailing down the strategies and tactics that will bring success. For others, it was a meeting of old friends as many skaters have already worked together (or against) each other at Rollercon games and other competitive events.
Many thanks to all the referees and NSOs that came out to help with the scrimmage on Sunday, and to Fatal Fantasy Photography, who provided the pictures below.
Next event: Western squad practice at Daze of Derby 2025 in Chilliwack, B.C. on November 8th!
Smackie Kennedy began the practice with a land acknowledgement created by our DEI committee:
“Hi everyone, welcome to the West Hillhurst Community Centre located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Tsuut tina Nation, Siksika Nation (also known as Blackfoot), and Stoney (Nakoda) territory.
There are lots of names for what we now call Calgary, including the Blackfoot name Mohikinstsis, the Stony Nakoda name Wichispa, and the Tsuut’tina name Guts’its’i. These names all sound incredibly different but they all mean something close to “elbow”, referring to the meeting place of the Bow and Elbow rivers that run through the territory. A place where both waters naturally come together and people naturally come together from across Turtle Island (what is now known as the United States and Canada), spanning language and culture. By meeting at this “joint” place, they created a stronger community.
So, I think it is fitting that we are all meeting for the first time, together, at this place of confluence to create community with one another from across Turtle Island and work towards our common goal of learning from one another and planning towards our ~victory~ at World Cup. We are taking part in a tradition that is literally ingrained in this land. With that, I would (or we would) like to share my (or our) gratitude to be able to skate and build community on this land. Thank you and let’s have a great practice!”