WATCHING all the women around me whizz round on their roller skates was pretty nerve-wracking.

I had been invited to the Riot City Ravens’ – Newport’s all female roller derby team – two hour long training session ahead of their game tonight vs the Derby Roller Girls at Cwmbran Stadium.

The only thing that I was most nervous about is that I would be attempting to skate myself.

Riot City Ravens was started around three years ago by people in the area who has tried roller derby before and it now has between 30 and 40 members.

Roller derby is a contact sport which first started in the late 1800s in America, since its beginning it has grown in popularity and has also become a frequent sport in the UK.

The game is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction counter-clockwise around a track.

The sport consists of short jams, which means both teams designate a jammer (the scoring player) who scores points by getting past (or lapping) members of the opposing team.

The teams – the other members are called blockers - attempt to assist their own jammer to score while at the same time trying to block the opposing team’s jammer.

Member Dee Montague – whose team name is R2-Dee2 - has been at the team for a year now and said the atmosphere of the event is what makes it such a thrill to take part in.

She said: “I moved down here from Hereford just over a year ago and the first thing I did was look up roller derby teams. I’ve been here a year last Sunday and it’s pretty cool.

“It’s great because everyone and anyone can come along, it doesn’t matter what level you are. We have beginners who can come along to any session – there’s always someone who is available to help and look after them – and it’s just a fantastic atmosphere really.

“It’s a sport that anyone can do. It doesn’t matter what size you are, shape you are, what you’re into or even who you’re into, we’re all accepting of everyone.”

Now it was the time for me to strap on knee pads, elbow pads, put on my helmet and my skates and have a go.

As someone who had never tried roller skates on and gave up ten minutes after trying rollerblading aged 10, I knew I wasn’t going to be wonderful. And as the temperature was 31 degrees, I knew I would become a sweaty wreck.

However, even with my lack of experience on skates, I had team member Jenny Price - whose team nickname is Blitzkreig Bopper - to look after me.

After an initial panic, I got to my feet and managed to successfully stand up with a bit of a wobble.

“Brilliant,” said Jenny. “Now try and walk forwards. I’ve never looked after a beginner who has been shaking so much!”

With knees shaking I managed to move one leg in front of the other, slightly moved forward and began almost moon walking before realising I was barely moving anywhere at all.

After about ten to fifteen minutes of heavy sweating and moving about 10 steps, Jenny and another team member took my arms and moved me to a bench, where it hit me just how exhausted I was and that I was absolutely terrible on skates.

Even though I was rubbish on skates it was fascinating to watch the other women swoop round at such a speed with no care in the world.

Claire Jenkins – team name Jenkill and Hide - is the captain of Riot City Ravens, and set the team up around three years ago.

Although she is currently resting and not taking part due to a recent ankle break, when I spoke to Claire it was obvious how enthusiastic she was about roller derby.

“A few of us split away from another club and sort of decided to set up a Newport roller derby team as there wasn’t already a roller derby team in Newport,” she said.

“We set up and had the beginner’s course straight after and it went from there.”

The team has had quite a lot of sponsorship from local businesses which Claire said has been great when the team play in games.

“It’s really helpful and we’ve had a lot of support in the Newport area,” she said.

A lot of members of Riot City Ravens have been skating for a number of years, and Claire herself has been skating for five years.

Claire said: “The thing about it (coming to the Riot City Ravens and starting roller derby) is you don’t have to have skated before. The main thing you get taught is how to fall and how to fall safely. It’s good fun.

“We get about three people coming along each week to try it out and see if it’s for them. We’re hoping in the future we can get an A team and a B team.”

As well as having regular training sessions where the team meet on Wednesday and Friday nights, Claire also says the team go out to skate in general and do lots of other things together.

For a person who isn’t exactly the best at sports – give me a cross trainer and weights and I’ll be fine but make me play anything and I will massively fail – and even though I was horrendous at skating; I have genuinely never felt so welcomed by a team before. The team spirit and friendship was something which really stood out for me in the sport, and it was also great to see how enthusiastic and determined the players were.

The Riot City Ravens train at Newport Live’s Active Living Centre in Bettws on Wednesday and Friday evenings, and anyone interested in skating, refereeing, becoming a non-skating official or volunteer can contact them via facebook.com/riotcityravens or at riotcityravens@gmail.com