Get your skates on for the roller derby in Shrewsbury - with pictures and video

"Get a good set of pads," says Lauren Hamilton. "When I started, I was falling down every two minutes, I fell down on my face, and I had a bruise that was very big and purple. Other people don't bruise as much as me."

Er right, I think I've got an idea of how this one is going to pan out. Lauren, who is offering me advice as I prepare to step onto the track for the first time, is fit, agile, in her late 20s, and appropriately dressed for sporting activity. And me? Well, I've got a good set of pads.

Roller Derby is probably the fastest growing sport you have never heard of, having seen a surge in popularity since featuring in the Hollywood movie Whip It. And the Evolution Roller Derby club, which meets every Thursday at Sundorne Youth Centre in Shrewsbury, has just received a £2,100 boost from Sport England to buy new equipment which will allow it to enter a roller derby league next year. Which is why I've got a good set of pads.

Lauren, who lives in the Aqueduct area of Telford, herself only took up the sport in March this year, having been introduced to it by a friend. But despite her early stumbles, she quickly found she was hooked.

The game involves two teams of 10-15 members skating in the same direction around the track at the same time.

There are only five members of each team on the track at any one time, with the others waiting in the wings as substitutes. Each team will nominate a "jammer", who scores by lapping their opponents, with the remaining players being "blockers" who try to stop them.

"You can cut in to shove them out of the way, that's fine," says club chairman and coach Sarah Evans. "You can make contact up to the shoulder blade, but you can't go below the middle of the thigh. You can't hit or elbow your opponent, but you can shoulder charge them."

No wonder they wear protective gear.

As well as trying to stop the opposing jammers, the blockers also try to help their own jammers overtake their rivals. So as you can imagine, there is a lot of pushing and shoving.

Sarah, 28, from Welshpool, took up the sport just over four years ago, at the suggestion of a friend.

"I had never heard of it before, and hadn't been on roller skates since I was eight," she says.

"It was just so different from anything I had been offered before. I went to a small school in Mid Wales where I had to do netball or hockey.

"It's an incredibly inclusive sport which accepts players from every walk of life, no matter what your size, shape or current fitness level. We have a diverse range of members, from early 20s to early 50s, including students, parents and carers, and many more."

The club has been receiving support from Shropshire sports partnership Energize, which helped it lodge the bid with Sport England for the skates, helmets, pad and wrist guards. And I for one am very grateful for that.

Thankfully, I won't be doing any jamming or blocking in my first session, which is just as well, as there is the small matter of getting from the bench onto track.

"Put both hands on your thigh and lift yourself up," says Sarah as I struggle to stand. After falling flat on my face, Sarah suggest it might be wise to crawl on my hands and knees to the edge of the track.

"Where's your dignity?" says our photographer, always ready with a few words of encouragement. After performing the standing-up manoeuvre with little more success, I am at least sort of upright, although my position is tentative to say the least.

"Keep away from wall, don't be tempted to use that to support you," says Sarah, adding that it is important to keep the knees bent so you fall the right way when lose your balance. Needless to say I do just that, but I'm getting better. I am now falling down like a pro.

"Keep your head up so you can see where you are going, don't look down or you will fall," says Sarah. "It's like driving a car, you need to see where you are going."

Apparently, a common mistake first-time skaters make is to move by shuffling their legs backwards and forwards; drawing the feet apart makes for a much smoother movement, although remember to step back inside, otherwise you will soon be doing the splitz ­– and that really is painful.

The longest serving member of the club is Anne Whittaker, 33, who has been there from the very beginning.

"The founder Amanda Tromans saw it at the Tattoo Freeze at Telford, they had a display there, and she thought 'this is amazing', and wanted to set something up," says Anne.

"She started recruiting her Slimming World friends, and I worked with a girl who went to Slimming World with her."

One of the things she loves about roller derby is that it works the body in a completely different way to other sports.

"You can go to football and you can run, but this works out a completely different muscle group," she says.

"I love the rush of adrenalin, and the friendship groups, being part of it."

Anne, 33, from the Belle Vue area of Shrewsbury, likes being the blocker best.

"I like to be in control rather than racing around, I like to be the one pushing other people."

Bethan Humphreys is one of the group's newest members, having turned up to her first session six weeks ago, although she first watched the club play some four years ago.

"I have fallen a few times, but not as many times as I thought I would."

After a few false starts I do manage to (almost) complete a full circuit without falling over – although our photographer had to make a few deft moves to avoid me crashing in to him. Privately I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.

As the club prepares to enter the league next year, the club is looking for new members, and hopes to use the new equipment to allow prospective new members to try the sport out, without having to commit.

"As well as our regular Shrewsbury meetings, we've also been taking sessions out and about around other parts of Shropshire in recent months, including Oswestry, Wem and Baschurch," says Sarah.

"We're looking for men and women aged 18 or over to get involved in our expanding club. It's a chance to learn how to roller-skate and have lots of fun at the same time."

She add that those who do not feel ready for playing competitively are welcome to practise skating around the track.

*Evolution Roller Derby meets at 7pm every Thursday at Sundorne Youth Centre, 218 Sundorne Road, Shrewsbury SY1 4RG. For more information see the Facebook page www.facebook.com/EvolutionRollerDerby/ or telephone Sarah Evans on 07958 623118.