Smith Scabs

Knee pads are arguably the most important form of padding that a Roller Derby girl can wear, and it is important to get the right ones. When I bought my first pair of basic pads, I bought a ladies ‘medium’, and after using them for a few weeks, it soon became apparent I wasn’t a medium. They were way too big and after each knee slide I would have to reach down and hike them up, and reposition them. The pads themselves also seemed to get thinner after a few months too.

As it was my birthday coming up, I decided that there was one present that would really come in handy. New knee pads! And as Throbbing Whistle was paying, I decided to go for some top of the range ones.

The problem was – which ones to go for? There are a fair few different types, and I had no idea what I wanted. So Googled a little and read a some reviews on the internet, and I checked out what girls were wearing at the bouts I attended. I narrowed it down to a choice between the Smiths Scabs, 187 Pro Knee Pads, or Rector Fat Boys – which all seemed to be of a similar price and quality. Recaps were available for all these pads too, meaning that if you manage to wear the caps out, rather than buy a whole new pair, you can just replace the caps.

So I headed down to Non Stop, Nottingham’s friendly neighborhood skate shop. They didn’t have the Fat Boys, but they did have the 187s and the Scabs, so I tried them both on. Feeling slightly stupid, I had a go at falling to my knees.  Both felt wonderful and my knees were much more cushioned than they had been in the old pads. It almost felt like I was falling on cushions.

After a small amount of deliberation, I went for the Scabs. I have pretty skinny knees and the Scabs were narrower than the 187s, which I had worried I wouldn’t be able to do crossovers in.

I’ve been skating in them for a few months now and they are truly brilliant. It did take me a few wears to get used to the increased bulkiness, but now I don’t even notice it. I had worried slightly about being able to do crossovers in bulkier pads but this has never been an issue. The Scabs started out slightly stiff, but after I’d worn them a few times they soon loosened up. The padding is still thick as it was when I bought them, and the S/M size fits perfectly.

The Scabs have also increased my confidence. I know that if I drop to my knees I wont feel a thing, and the slight twinges I used to feel in my left knee when performing knee slides are a thing of the past. My knees seem to ache less between practices too. I would recommend Scabs to any Derby girl or Ref, as protected knees, are happy knees.