Grant #224

Resistance Roller Derby

December 27, 2016

Roller derby elbows its way into Scotland to benefit queer and trans youth.

Lace up your roller skates, swallow the awkwardness of a mouthguard and prepare for the promise of bruises. You guessed it. It’s roller derby time.

While you may associate this full contact and incredibly tactical sport with the tattooed hipster subculture of cities like Seattle, Austin, or New York, it’s an international phenomenon that is elbowing its way into Glasgow, Scotland. Resistance Roller Derby Glasgow is joining the worldwide movement of connected and empowered athletes and ensuring queer and trans youth are part of it.

As the only junior league in the world that is explicitly intended for LGBTQI+ youth, RRDG is pushing the conversation on issues like queer and trans-inclusive sports. They’re also building a community around healthy habits, body positivity, and physical activity among a population that faces glaring health inequalities and is systemically disenfranchised.

The league has already crowdfunded startup costs to cover insurance, hall rental, and a few roller derby starter kits, but RRDG is committed to making it completely free for all to participate. But skates, wrist guards, elbow and knee pads, and a helmet aren’t free (we know, obvi), so the Awesome Without Borders grant will go directly towards buying these starter kits. More kits = more young people on skates and benefitting from awesomeness on wheels. Wheeeeeee.

Follow the action on Facebook and Tumblr.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

WE’RE AWESOMELY OVERWHELMED BY THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS WE’RE GETTING WEEKLY!

Starting May 15, 2023, we’re pausing accepting new applications. We will post here when we re-open the floodgates! Please do not submit any applications until we announce we are accepting them. We will not review them.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@AF_WB), Facebook (@AwesomeWithoutBorders), and here on our fab website for updates on our weekly grant announcements. You can also join our quarterly newsletter:

We’ll be back soon!

Cheers,
Team Awesome Without Borders