The South East Saskatchewan Roller Derby Association's Hillbilly Hurt is getting ready for another season.

The Hurt hosted recruitment drives on March 10 and 12 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Estevan. Several prospective members turned out at each session, and learned the basics of the sport.

Lorelei Lachambre, who is one of the Hurt's coaches, said roller derby can be a hard sport to learn, since roller skating isn't easy, but the Hurt's members have a lot of fun.

“Right now we are still playing with Weyburn's team, because we need about 20 for a roster. We have about 10 benchmarked skaters that are ready for games, and Weyburn has about 10 that are ready for games,” said Lachambre.

They also have another five skaters locally who are ready to be benchmarked, which would give them the necessary qualifications.

Lachambre said they would like to have a full team in Estevan, and a full team in Weyburn, which would allow the cities to play each other on a regular basis. They would also play teams from other cities, too. 

A couple road games are planned for this year. They'll be in Moose Jaw for a match on May 11, in Whitewood in early June.

“We'll probably book one or two more away games, but what we'd really like to do is host a game here or Weyburn, if we could get some referees for the season,” said Lachambre.

Training camp will be the first weekend in May in Moose Jaw.

Lachambre said the program also needs referees, as they don't have any officials in the region. Referees can be men or women, and it would be ideal for women who want to be involved with roller derby, but want to avoid the physical contact.

Referees need to be able to roller skate. Seven officials are needed for a game.

During the Hurt's two games in Estevan last year, they had to import referees from other communities, and their referee expenses kept them from making money from the contests.