Tom on a roll after Stateside experience

Langford's team, Southern Discomfort, are ranked sixth in the world in the Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA) and qualified from this year's British Championships to compete Stateside in St Louis.

For Langford, who has only been associated with the sport for four years, it was the latest success in an impressive sporting CV.

He said: "I've been skating my whole life. But I only got involved with Roller Derby through a friend. We went to watch in Shrewsbury and I instantly got hooked and fancied a go.

"I ended up at a team in Birmingham, called Crash Test Brummies."

It has been a rapid rise for the 31-year-old, who was successful at national try-outs in 2014.

He earned himself a place in the England World Cup team where he represented the nation in the Birmingham-based tournament later that year.

He has been handed a spot in the provisional squad of 30 for next year's World Cup and is waiting to see if he has made the cut of 20.

Along with his 14-man Southern Discomfort side, Langford skates under his alias 'illbilly #76.'

Him and his team-mates fell agonisingly close to a bronze medal in the Men's Roller Derby Championship across the Atlantic.

He said: "It's like the Champions League of Roller Derby. The top sides from each nation go out there to compete.

"We basically played against a load of American sides because they're the leaders in the sport.

"They've been playing for about 30 years and like their American footballers, they're all huge.

"But it was good to test ourselves against them and we gave them a good go. It was nice to be part of a top tournament.

"It's a round robin system out there and we finished five points from bronze. We suffered a narrow defeat to a team from New York – we were unlucky."

After being a part of the national set-up, Langford, who works as a media executive, left the Brummies for Southern Comfort with the promise of competing in the men's championships.

He added: "I was persuaded to go and join the London side by England team-mates saying that I'd compete at the men's championships.

"The British Championships, which is our league system, only started up this year but has four tiers already.

"We competed among Lincolnshire Rolling Thunder, Newcastle Tyne of Fear and South Wales Silures.

"But we're a big club in London and we took the top tier's title and the European Championships too.

"I'm fortunate to be helped by my sponsors, Grnmnstr (www.grnmnstr.com) and they help with equipment because skates can cost anything up to £900.

"It's great to use their skates and stay at the top of my game."

The infant sport first took off in the first-half of the 20th century, but because of serious levels of brutality was banned for a number of decades.

Since then, it has been re-established and the idea is now for the MRDA to reach the standard of the more popular women's game – headed by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).

Langford said: "The British Championships were good for us as there is now a league structure and fixtures so we know when we are playing.

"Before that it was a bit chaotic and a case of fitting things in when we could.

"But hopefully the sport can be taken serious with the governing body and the level of competition.

"It's a bit of a niche hobby and it turns serious when people get into it. But it's also a great social event. It certainly makes you realise there are muscles you didn't even think you had!

"But it gets people out, it gets them motivated and it gets them fit."

The sport sees players compete on a circular, banked board track – of various surfaces – with the aim to free a team-mate for the opportunity to score by lapping members of the opposition.

For Langford, it is already about giving back, as natural progression has also seen him take up coaching where he trains Birmingham-based girls team Central City Roller Girls.

He said: "I coach the girls three times a week. It's really about wanting to give back to the sport.The girls' team is very successful and it's good to be a part of that.

"But another reason was that it gave me the opportunity to skate more which is always a bonus."