Two New Brunswick teens have been named to Team Canada and are set to compete at the Junior Roller Derby World Cup in France this summer.
“I just started crying of happiness it was amazing,” said 13-year-old Violet LeBlanc of Fredericton, the youngest member in the country named to the team.
Laine MacDonald, 16, also from Fredericton, also made it to the national team roster.
“It is really exciting because me and Violet are the only people east of Toronto on the team,” said MacDonald.
The international tournament will take place in France in July.
Keegan Gregan, a coach for the Fredericton Roller Derby Association, said the girls have trained for years to make it to this level.
“They don’t miss practices. They are here every night they are putting in 110 per cent,” he said.
The Canadian team will be competing against eight of the top-ranked countries in the world.
“World juniors in general gets pretty rough so they definitely have quite a bit of competition to look forward to,” said Gregan.
But the two New Brunswick teens have embraced every bump and bruise; their tenacity and eagerness to compete have them excited to roll off to worlds.
“If you get knocked over you got to get up. You can’t wallow in self-pity on the ground you got to get back and keep trying,” said LeBlanc.
Gregan said the ultimate goal of the full-contact sport is fairly straightforward. Team members called blockers, like “Hurricane Laine,” try to take out opposing teammates so jammers, like “Vicious Vi,” can sneak past the pack and score.
It is MacDonald’s job to protect her younger teammate.
“She is the sweetest person ever and I don’t want anything to happen to her so I am definitely keeping an extra eye for her on the track,” she said.