The origins of the Dread Pirate Rollers began in 2011 when two skaters from Mandurah, Soozy Slugworth and Shinobi Sellty, decided that it would be great to have a league closer to home. The feverish search for like-minded souls began and after seeking expressions of interest, they held their first training session in a carpark next to an outdoor skate park in May 2011. WA Roller Derby from Perth lent a helping hand by taking us under their wings as we built on our fresh meat skills and continued to seek better training locations, as we upgraded first to a small room at Billy Dower Youth Centre and then to a community hall in Secret Harbour – a space still not big enough to lay a regulation track down! We NSO-ed and volunteered our hearts out at WARD events and dreamt of one day being able to battle it out on the track ourselves.