Birmingham’s Two Largest Leagues Have Joined Together

Birmingham will return to roller derby with a new merged league — Birmingham Roller Derby — combining Birmingham Blitz Dames (2006–2021) and Central City Roller Derby (2007–2021). The merger follows a year long discussion between the leagues and unites the first UK league formed outside of London (BBD) with its former cross town rivals (CCR).

BBD and CCR have been integral to the growth and development of UK roller derby over the course of the last decade. The teams have developed high-level skaters, coaches and officials, and hosted key international roller derby tournaments and events in the Midlands. Between the two leagues their skaters and coaches have been represented at Roller Derby World Cups on Team West Indies, Team England, Team Wales, Team Scotland, Team Ireland and Team GB Jrs.

To the broader derby world, Birmingham and Central City both secured their first post season appearances in 2018 at the European Continental Cup hosted by the Birmingham Blitz Dames. Birmingham dropped their first game by 2 points against the eventual 4th place finishers Dock City, and Central City claimed their first post season win beating Birmingham on the consolation bracket side 185–160.

Central City, known for upsetting the Chatterbox grid whenever facing a unanimous pick against them, returned to the European Continental Cup in 2019 securing their second post season win with a 156–126 win over Auld Reekie in the consolation bracket.

The merger will significantly increase the versatility and depth of any Birmingham Roller Derby roster with a great mix of veteran skaters, alongside a stock pile of physicality, height and speed.

Director at Central City Roller Derby, Steven Liner-Douglas said about the merger, “When we first went into lockdown back in March 2020, like many teams we had no idea we would still not be skating 16 months later.

BBD and CCR have co-existed for a long time, and there has always been a friendly, sporting rivalry amongst our teams. Competitively, it was always a positive to have a good team close by to train and play against but, in the wake of the pandemic, a merger was a clear decision to ensure we can return stronger than ever.”

The merger has been officially recognized by WFTDA and was helped along Manchester’s Rainy City Roller Derby with Rainy City’s leadership offering guidance on internal processes, return to training structure and diversity initiatives. Rainy City have also agreed to join Birmingham Roller Derby’s Board of Trustees to continue to provide support and guidance in the early stages of the league’s development.

The merger comes in anticipation of Birmingham hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with the league planning to be actively involved in community events and initiatives that are in keeping with their diversity and inclusivity values.

Skater Tanya Morrison said: “Considering the rich diversity of the city, I’m so excited to be a part of what we believe, will be the most ethnically diverse team in the UK. As a black female skater, I believe that it is important for the sustainability and growth of the sport to see representation in all forms and show that this sport is truly accessible to everyone.”

Training for Birmingham Roller Derby will commence following WFTDA guidelines. New members are actively encouraged to join from Autumn 2021. For more information, please visit www.birminghamrollerderby.co.uk or contact us at hello@birminghamrollerderby.co.uk.

Blitz Dames and Central City to Merge — Say Hello to Birmingham Roller Derby! was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

15 months into this global pandemic and roller derby can be proud of the fact that its main governing body, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), can confirm no direct reports of COVID transmission within WFTDA participation. For a close contact sport, without a ton of resources and largely played in poorly ventilated facilities, it’s been key that WFTDA’s return to play has followed a strict baseline to ensure the sport doesn’t become a site of transmission. It’s also meant that a lot of skates are collecting dust though.

As vaccination rates increase and we see transmission decrease, more and more leagues are getting closer to their baseline requirements and WFTDA is soon adding another lower tier for those who can practice skating skills outside in small groups. In the meantime though, there are many leagues that are still months away from baseline, and more who may hit a baseline only to move back.

Some folks have been able to successfully transition to park and ramp skating, but not everyone has access to a skate park and for others the skate part just doesn’t offer the same team sport environment or competition. Fair enough.

Roller derby has been known as one of the main sport homes for people who otherwise did not enjoy sports, and although there are a lot of valid reasons for that, set up against a lot of systemic barriers, leagues can port those same spaces that were created to help learn the sport of derby into other sports.

There are a lot of advantages to being a multi sport athlete — namely lower levels of burn out and lower risk of injury. Hey those things sound amazing! While we wait for the safe conditions for our own sport, we can pivot to other already safe sports, expand our skills and work on derby relevant movements that will help us when we do get back.

It can be win-win, especially for those who are currently craving the social aspect of derby. It can also help derby as a whole learn about the performance and health benefits to multi sport training, even for when derby is safely back.

Below isn’t an exhaustive list, but 4ish sports that I think leagues could really think about and benefit from using alongside their return to play. Just because a sport isn’t listed doesn’t mean you couldn’t incorporate it (S/O basketball, I love you).

A lot of leagues already have experienced athletes in these sports, survey your league, find out what skills exist and if that sport can be practiced safely and if that person would be interested in leading some training. If no one is any good, who cares! It’s good just to be active together.

And hey, if you are confident that derby is your only sport and you are waiting it out til return, that’s a-okay too. This post is about expanding options, not a guilt trip. You do you, it’s totally valid to know where your interests lie and waiting for what works best for you.

Last caveat, this isn’t some work around the WFTDA RTP which I fully support. This is about using the skills that exist in our sport to find safe and healthy ways to be active together. I am banking on the fact that you might like soccer more if taught to you, socially distanced, by an experienced league mate rather than whoever was your high school gym teacher. Follow your public health guidelines and if things line up, use this time to skill share other sports.

Soccer (Football)

Soccer checks so many boxes as a return to play sport; low level buy in ($15–$20 for a soccer ball), can be practiced outside and at a distance, lots of free public space to play, lots of derby relevant movement and can be practiced alone or with a larger group. Derby already has the cones!

Soccer is amazing for activating and increasing functionality in your weight bearing leg. The vast majority of us are right leg functional, left leg weight bearing. Dribbling and passing with a soccer ball can help get your brain communicating with your weight bearing leg and start to balance out your movement. Because derby is largely played in one direction, and that direction (counter clockwise) benefits the majority who are left leg weight bearing/right leg functional, it can start to significantly unbalance us and really hinder our ability to move laterally or make that left leg functional.

If you watch the movement pattern of even Division 1 jammers you will see an over reliance on movement to the out when entering a pack, and likewise, you will see many blockers initiate lateral movement to the in by activating their right leg instead of their left.

Beyond just getting our left legs working, soccer can also be great cardio when adding in movement in passing drills, can be used to train great lateral movement and can also help us be mindful of separating our upper and lower body not using our (fore)arms!

Whether alone, in pairs, or a group, there are loads of soccer drills to pull inspiration from on Youtube.

In lockdown and/or want to practice solo and don’t have a lot of space? Get yourself a hacky sack and start there, ya dirty hippy!

Tennis

You will struggle to incorporate as many people as soccer, but tennis is still a great return to play sport for derby. The combination of cardio and lateral movement is perfect for derby, the buy in is low ($30-$35 for a starter racket and balls) and it can be played outside and at a distance.

Ivan The Terrible on Twitter: "Side note: This is exactly why, mid-quarantine, I had the realization that tennis would probably be good cross training for derby players / Twitter"

Side note: This is exactly why, mid-quarantine, I had the realization that tennis would probably be good cross training for derby players

Tennis is a great way to run up your step count and the short bursts are close to mimicking the pace of derby. Your line to line lateral movement is the main derby skill tennis will help you unlock though. Use of angles, control of your body and that first step lateral crossover are very derby relevant. Play in pairs and you’ve added a level of communication which is very derby relevant as well.

The hand-eye portion of tennis won’t be as relevant, but the fact that you can compete in tennis is a huge bonus over the “practice” of another sport like soccer.

Pair up and find experienced league members who can help you with the initial learning curve and focus on the process of nailing your footwork, the hand eye will come!

US Football OR Rugby

Another contact sport?! This suggestion is sans contact. These sports have a low buy in (football $30 / rugby ball $40) and there is ample public space to work in pairs or in a group.

The most relevant training here is a mix of cardio, lateral bursts and juking and that combination makes this a nice little multi sport for jammer training.

If you have a field and a group to train, there’s no reason why you can’t incorporate a soccer ball, football and rugby ball into your practice, breaking off into more specialized training or just cycling through the activities to get what you can out of each.

Youtube is full of passing drills for both sports which can help get your started.

Golf

The least derby relevant in terms of movement on this list, Golf barely sneaks in because its competitive and because it’s something derby leagues can use to fundraise. Arizona Roller Derby have already been ahead of the curve on this, but there’s room for lots of other leagues to incorporate a Golf tournament into their fundraising for a return.

The buy in level is high if you are starting from scratch, but it’s a sport most can play this summer at whatever level of return to play, you get those competitive juices flowing and you get your step count up taking in some nice views.

Although not the most relevant physically, Golf can also be a great mental test in terms of the pressure you place on yourself and the frustration of a bad shot or tough hole.

4 Sports Roller Derby Can Embrace in a Multi-Sport Return to Play was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Every tournament season, without fail, twitter lights up with questions every time a team uses their hands to brace each other.

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Someone explain this hand bracing thing to me. #talk2wftda #wftdaplayoffs

We do a cycle of a) I could never do that/injury concerns b) awe at how others make it work c) some brief mention that it’s actually been around for a while. Rinse and repeat.

I’ve always been interested in a deeper dive on hand bracing because some of the connections between teams who use it are just so obvious — like 2x4’s Papap and her sister Manija who plays for Dublin, who both play for Team Argentina.

Although hand bracing has had a wide cross pollination — from Helsinki to Edmonton to Chicago and with pretty much every single derby league for at least a couple of practices — we will bring our focus down to three leagues who effectively used the style and added to its development.

London Brawling

The earliest example of really predominant hand bracing, or at least the earliest I’ve tracked so far, goes back to London Brawling’s flirtation with the bracing style in the 2014–2015 seasons.

Kid, formerly Kid Block, says that hand bracing was already a thing within the program before her transfer from Tiger Bay to London in September 2014, but it was something which immediately impressed her, “It was the first time I’d seen anything that looked quite so organized — I remember watching them using it against Windy at Playoffs and being very impressed.”

The team had used Brawling-only August Playoff training aka “Brawlgaust” to workshop different bracing styles and hand bracing won out. Brawling began to drill it extensively and use it with intention.

One of the best contrasts for that early era of bracing comes during the 2014 Champs match up between Victorian Roller Derby and London Brawling. The first ever game between these teams, you can easily pick out Brawling’s hand bracing set against VRDL’s two pair shoulder bracing, which would grow into VRDL’s own unique take (aka The Cube).

The early benefits were easy to see on the track for London, in 2014 they were able to return to Champs and this time win a game, climbed to their all-time record high of 3rd in the WFTDA rankings and added +38.1 to their FTS rating and +180.95 to their WFTDA average.

For Kid, the bracing style played to London’s strengths at the time, namely their individual skills and mobility, “…skaters felt like they could cover more track hand to hand. Hands keeps your weight centred for snappier individual movement, rather than the limited movement they felt when arm to arm. Extra length in arms at the top of the formation meant more consistent movement patterns and again less reliance on someone else moving you into position and more reliance on your own skills and agility.”

With a blocker core that include a heavy rotation of — Shaolynn Scarlett, Juke Boxx, Lady Go-Go, Olivia Coupe, Hell Vetica Black, Kristen Lee, Lorrae Evans, Raw Heidi, Stefanie Mainey, Kid Block AND Die Die, it’s obvious why London Brawling would adopt a bracing style which stressed individual skills and mobility. Of that group you have a future Hydra winner (Lorrae Evans), the best European derby player of all time (Stefanie Mainey), a 3x World Cup Champion (Juke Boxx) and a 8 more blockers any Coach would love to have.

Kid also thinks hand to hand bracing helped Brawling effectively counter offense, giving Brawling an early advantage that other shoulder braced walls didn’t have, “ I do think arm to arm has got way smarter since we initially had those conversations though so that’s not quite as obvious now, but at the time I remember the offence avoidance aspect of hand to hand felt like a really big tick.”

Alongside the success, however, came injuries, “By the end of 2014 some Brawling skaters had injured fingers and thumbs due to this method of bracing.” The injuries split the team over its use after that 2014, with one line favouring hand to hand, Diamond Pack (Arocha, Juke Boxx, Olivia Coupe and Die), and the other, Pack Cube (Kid Block, Raw Heidi, Katie Black and Just Jess), moving to shoulder bracing.

The split between the lines became a strength in itself though, making for more versatile training and increasing difficulty for opposing teams who had to play a Brawling team that was comfortable moving between two different styles of bracing.

Brawling’s tripods have evolved since then, moving to a very solid shoulder braced tripod in recent years, but these early adopters were able to use the disruptive power of a new technique and really maximize its potential. Raw Heidi credits Gotham’s early tornado blocking for the inspiration, but it was London Brawling and their dedication to workshopping the technique that really put it on the map.

Mighty Dublin 🏰

One of the more recent and prominent examples of hand bracing has been Dublin Roller Derby bringing the technique back and adding it to their arsenal. I noticed it more over their 2018–2019 seasons, but it’s something Dublin had also used in the past. Their use has been tied to jamming styles, with a focus on palm bracing and no interlocking fingers as a way to reduce hand and finger injuries.

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Whoa, has @DublinRD always hand braced or was this a thing picked up from 2x4? I don't remember hand bracing? @ValyWanKenobi @binncheol @elliebeating @violent_bob @elainesnowden

The introduction of bracing style vs jammer style is an interesting wrinkle on hand bracing — with a shoulder brace offering more stability and strength against more physically opposing, but less mobile, jammers and hand bracing offering more mobility and line coverage for more agile and less physical ones.

For Dublin, outright refusal of techniques like hand bracing is too limiting. If they have use they should be a part of a toolbox that the team can draw upon.

Their skill base, like London and 2x4, also lends to at least being open to different bracing styles. Their quasi-snack pack line of Manija, Val, Stabba and Bruisey will typically give up size to opponents, but make up for that with increased mobility and skating skill.

2x4 Roller Derby

The Argentinians have been the Gold Standard of hand bracing to date, effectively using a technique which plays to their dominant strength — their extremely high baseline for track mobility and speed. It’s been part and parcel in their meteoric rise within WFTDA.

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Nobody puts on a better hand-bracing clinic than 2x4. #talk2WFTDA

2x4 is likely to give up the size advantage to every team that they play, so any kind of restrictive bracing saps their ability to effectively use their mobility play around their opponent. The extreme cost to travel means 2x4 never has the bench depth that London had in 2014, however, their superior endurance means they are able to continue to flex their agility late into a game even with a short bench. It is extremely impressive to watch.

All of the strengths of hand bracing that Kid mentioned above apply to and are heightened with 2x4. Using a palm hand brace, 2x4 can match the added mobility with their speed and low centre of gravity, making effective offense especially difficult for opposing teams. It is nearly impossible to locate them AND get lower than their centre of gravity. Their 2019 Champs clinching game against Rainy City stands as a masterclass in offense avoidance.

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How much faster do you think 2x4 is able to remake their formations because of the extra distance/flexibility from hand bracing? Also, HOW DO THEY MANAGE TO GRAB HANDS SO ACCURATELY? #talk2wftda #wftdaplayoffs

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The hand-holding bracing by 2x4 is pretty amazing to watch. #talk2wftda

Training under an over pass in Buenos Aires, 2x4 have kept hand bracing alive and pushed its use to new heights. It may be unconventional, but that’s how this league thrives. If your league has any interest in testing the technique out, 2x4 is your home work.

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Missing @2x4RollerDerby so bad. 11 months without derby so far... Here is the home of Team Osom, Pibxs and Team C in case you heard about it but never seen it ❤️#derbytwitter pic.twitter.com/kLRsgY6PDW

The development, decline and re-emergence of hand bracing in roller derby have all largely come in a 6 year span from 2014–2019 and although abandoned by many over that stretch, there are examples of leagues who have been able to successfully use the bracing style to their advantage. It may not be for everyone, but it can be effective. Charting a bit of its history hopefully gives a bit more insight into its use and an even greater appreciation for its place within derby.

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A Brief History of Hand Bracing 🤝 was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

WFTDA’s First Black Championship MVP

When the final whistle blew at Championships in Montreal, no one could have anticipated that we’d soon be going years between WFTDA postseason games. With this extended offseason, still without an end in sight, there is lots of room to look back on the first Championship tournament hosted outside the US and some of the highlight performances of the weekend — including Gotham’s Bonita Apple Bomb’s historic MVP award.

The first black skater to win Champs MVP, and one of the few skater of colour to win MVP (MVP’s Rice Rocket — Texas, 2009 and Whippity Pow — Rocky Mountain, 2009 ), Bonita’s road to that award was long and arduous.

Starting with her rookie season with the Gold Medal winning Gotham Girls All Stars in 2013, she has had a history of performing in big games though. Playing 4 jams off the bench in that first Gold Medal game appearance, Bonita grew that to a mid rotation 16 jam, +5 performance in Gotham’s 2014 come from behind win in Nashville, including that game high 29–0 jam to start the 2nd half for Gotham.

Losing the 2015 season to injury and a long rehab, Bonita returned triumphant in 2016 with another 19 jam, +5 performance in Gotham’s 188–168 Hydra loss to Rose City.

In 2017, she helped ensure Gotham’s medal streak survived, putting up a 17 jam, +30 game alongside 0 penalties. Her +1.8 per jam differential leading all blockers.

2018’s Bronze medal rematch vs Denver saw Bonita finally have a track minus game (-16), but her 2 penalties and bend-but-don’t-break penalty kill jams against Scald Eagle helped Gotham hang on.

Taking on Co-Captaincy with the All Stars in 2018, and holding the Gotham home team Manhattan Mayhem Captaincy, Bonita entered that Montreal Championship with serious hardware and experience — 2 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals. Alongside Violet Knockout, Bonita is the only remaining All Star from the 2013 Gotham Charter.

Her veteran experience has also meant that each year her role expands, either through adding or increasing roles like pivoting, increasing leadership, and building on the flexibility to change and play across lines — in 2019 she moved from her line with Roxy Dallas and VKO to help anchor a new line with Fast and Luce, new transfer pivot Yeti and Livvie.

One of the most decorated and tenured blockers in WFTDA, Bonita played the 4th most jams (240) for Gotham in 2019 and held down a 13% penalty percentage in her 9th season and 7th on charter. She posted a +40, 23 jam and 3 penalty game in their opener against host Montreal, but the clutch performance came in the biggest game of the year, to that point at least, in the semi final.

Gotham struggled in season 2019 with roster turnover and major injuries. They hit a low point at Thin Air Throwdown, dropping a 71 point loss to VRDL, the team’s first ever loss to the Australians. They needed no extra motivation for their rematch in Montreal.

Bonita delivered again, a 17 jam performance with a +9 track rating in the 6 point win, second only to her line mate Fast and Luce (+23). The win ensured Gotham’s medal streak would live on another year, now sitting at an impressive 10 years before the pandemic break, and the Co-Captain was part of the leadership that returned Gotham back to the Sunday night Hydra bout and back to a silver medal.

Her WFTDA highlight reel from Montreal is a great representation of her skill set — tight, positional blocking with great versatility and communication. She absorbs contact, sucks away any potential space a jammer could use and flips seamlessly between roles on the track while staying calm and in control. She is not a flashy skater, any big hit you see will be with purpose and well timed, but she is a winner — consistently prepared to do what it takes for her team to have success.

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Bonita is the 2019 WFTDA Championship tournament MVP. 🐝🐝🐝 #DerbyTwitter

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The @gothamderby watch party went wild when we found out Bonita got #WFTDAChamps MVP. So, so deserved. We love her more than words can say!!! #WFTDAChamps #talk2wftda #DerbyTwitter pic.twitter.com/1WI5qwsthB

Bonita’s MVP win was celebrated by her teammates and league mates, but her trajectory and story is an inspiration to many. The first black skater to win Champs MVP, she’s a clear inspiration to black skaters who are under represented in the sport and who experience racism and white supremacy.

Bonita is also an inspiration to skaters who have faced down serious injury, rehab and return. A lost season didn’t deter her, she came back stronger and continued to build on her skill set.

Veteran skaters rarely win MVP awards, especially blockers, but Bonita’s career has been about getting better every year, adding on greater and greater responsibility and returning her team to medal year in and year out. 2020 would have been her 10th season, and a big season for Gotham who looked to build off of their 2019 Silver Medal performance with a healthy squad. We will never know what that 2020 Gotham team could have achieved, but we can all look back on Bonita’s 2019 MVP win and find inspiration.

Every single jam counts.

This article was made possible with the help of Flat Track Stats, the WFTDA Stats Repo (RIP), the WFTDA Youtube Channel Archive, the WFTDA Sports Information Booklet, and Nate who always answers my emails.

Revisiting Excellence: Bonita Apple Bomb’s 2019 WFTDA Champs MVP Award was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Writing a 2020 derby recap is painful for a lot of reasons, but a big one is that we are very much still stuck in a “long” 2020. A miraculous change didn’t happen with the New Year and without an actual season, there’s very little that neatly fits within the package of a yearly review. Struggling with how to deal with that, there were still bright and important moments last year that should be marked regardless of the fit.

It was without a doubt the most challenging year for the sport of roller derby since its resurgence in the early 2000s. Many leagues have lost members, lost venues, and many more finished the year in a serious financial crunch. It couldn’t all be bad though, there were small victories to celebrate and an intense period of internal struggle and growth that could potentially alter the sport in ways which bring it closer to its stated ethos.

No one would blame you for burning this after reading, never looking back on 2020 again, but it definitely happened and it changed our sport.

It is not an easy time to be a captain or board member, #derbytwitterSend your leadership some love. We wish everyone could keep having fun always, but we want you safe and healthy too, and all of our finances are gonna be hard this year.

At Least We Got BOTAS

The one big North American roller derby tournament that actually happened this year, Battle of the All Stars (BOTAS) snuck in pre pandemic in February and everyone who took a year off, or pushed an appearance down the road to next year, probably regrets it. It feels like it happened years ago, but I promise you it was in 2020!

Team Pennsylvania recaptured Gold, after a threepeat from Team New York, beating Team Florida 141–134 in the final. The impressive showing from Team Florida, which included a dominant 154–91 win over reigning Champions Team New York in the semi-final, came in their tournament debut.

Team New York held onto their medal streak, beating Team Massachusettes 191–143 in the 3rd Place game.

Team Mass didn’t medal, but they did flip a 6th seed into a 4th place finish. Team Mass blocker Wednesday Atoms also secured Tournament MVP with her performance.

The tournament also saw Team Montana, 7th to 6th, and Team Kansas, 15th to 9th, make big improvements on their seeding. Team Montana’s run included an impressive 160–115 win over 2 seed Colorado and the closed out the tournament with a tight 30 point loss to Texas.

An improved format saw closer games and lots of great in tournament drama — like who remembers the Louisiana crawl?

Here's that crawl #botas2020 #DerbyTwitter pic.twitter.com/cdFXmD9PQN

The games are all up on @NERDerby’s Youtube Channel and it’s always a great tournament to rewatch. You can find the old spreadsheet schedule and scores here if you want to go hunting for the close games first.

Team Black Diaspora Roller Derby

2020 saw the launch of a new team with the February reveal of Team Black Diaspora Roller Derby. Coinciding with Black History Month, the team builds on, “the spirit of Black Roller Derby Network” and aims to bring that representation “outside the convention walls of Las Vegas.” Their mission being, “to provide a positive and safe space in roller derby for Black people” with a focus on gender inclusive derby and inclusion within the Roller Derby World Cup.

Their debut game, versus Team Indigenous and scheduled for Udder Chaos, was a game I had circled in my calendar and was excited to see in person. Unfortunately the pandemic cancelled those plans, but although Team Black Diaspora didn’t get to play in 2020, they did build on a platform for black skaters to increase their visibility, share their joy for the sport and hold the community accountable for anti-black racism.

Birds of Prey

Roller Derby got a major motion picture in 2020, with Birds of Prey featuring roller skating stunts by one of our own — Angel City’s Pearl Jam. The film sparked a lot of interest in roller skating and roller derby, and although leagues couldn’t capitalize on it, that kind of background interest to uninitiated people is huge. There’s also a lot of people who wanted to see MORE derby in the film. It’s not very realistic, but it’s definitely cool as hell.

I wish we could've more Roller Derby Harley in Birds of Prey pic.twitter.com/7T75yfhZ4s

Also S/O to Rachel Rotten, our 2018 Team Player of the year, for being one of the most helpful people in derby again in 2020 — seen above helping teach Margot Robbie skate, she also spent time in 2020 keeping me stocked with important WFTDA COVID updates.

The @birdsofpreywb teams represent so many parts of roller derby, and people I've been with for the past 10 years. Current teammates, former teammates, super sweet banked track pickup teammates, former Juniors I've coached, officials. #birdsofprey #derbytwitter #rollerderby pic.twitter.com/CQbh2RodY1

Boston Roller Derby and the WFTDA COVID Return to Play Saved Lives

Boston Roller Derby’s decision on March 11th to cancel 2020 Lobstah Roll was the kick off point for North American Roller Derby taking COVID-19 seriously. It was one of the first cancellations, and the first major one, from which almost every other league took stock and started to wind down their own training.

We make this announcement with heavy hearts. Unfortunately we have to cancel Lobstah Roll. Please read the letter for full details 💔#derbytwitter pic.twitter.com/bCfxfpCTBb

The move and its ripple throughout the derby world, almost certainly saved lives. It also set the stage for a larger and coordinated response from WFTDA, who quickly went from tracking cancellations to organizing a working group to build their response to the pandemic.

What came of that, the WFTDA COVID Return to Play released in May and various committees, have been widely praised outside of the derby community for its commitment to community health.

This return to play guideline also punches well above the weight of this sport and people who were involved in crafting it should feel very proud.

It is a new high water mark for the capabilities of the derby community to recruit and build on strengths and provided a template to recreate while tackling other issues within the community, something which also influenced the development of the Anti-Racism ART Project which came later in the year.

Although I can’t give out a full section of awards this year, the 2020 Derby Ambassador Award definitely gets shared between Boston Roller Derby and the WFTDA COVID Task Force and Medical Team.

I also have to S/O our site sponsor Frogmouth we were very early adopters of face masks. So early I remember people actually giving them shit, lol. They managed to not only be an early promoter of masks within the derby community but they also made and donated tons of masks to schools and hospitals that needed them.

Reusable Face Mask: Buy One, Donate One - Frogmouth

The Roller Skate Emoji

It feels like people have been begging for a rollerskate emoji for a long time, but the actual process from submission, to acceptance, to appearance on people’s phones was pretty quick.

Raphaël Vandon reached out on New Years Day 2019 wondering if I had interest in helping with a proposal for a roller skate emoji. We recruited Twixxi Indigo and after a 19 hour train ride Raphaël had a draft proposal that we worked into a submission that was sent off on January 4th, 2019. After some back and forth and resubmission, the application was accepted in April 2019 and was later successfully added to the Unicode 13.0 2020 update.

🛼 I need to take the roller skate emoji for a spin.😹 🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼🛼

Derby didn’t get the full promotional use of the emoji in 2020, but knowing that it is there is helpful for when we get back. Oh and everyone owes a huge thank you to Raphaël who is actually an inline speed skater! When the chips were down and the committee would only accept one emoji, he backed the submission for quad skates. Truly legendary inline and quad unity moment!

The Roller Skating Trend

Roller skating made the front page of TikTok and the algorithm, matched with a lot of other factors, led to a mass amount of quad skate purchases and renewed interest in roller skating in 2020. Long time skate company Riedell actually had to open up a second facility to face demand and anyone trying to buy new skates right now can speak to delays.

Coverage was widespread and continued throughout the year, first marking the trend and then marking issues with the trend — namely, algorithms prioritizing whiteness and the erasure of black skate culture.

Although the trend was driven largely by fairly basic short jam and trail skating clips and it is unclear how much of this will translate to derby, it has pointed to the inability of the existing derby community to bridge this gap between the sport and the black jam skating community.

If the trend does lead to large intakes, it adds more priority to ensuring that intake programs are inclusive along strong understandings of the current Code of Conduct.

Atlanta Roller Derby

Atlanta Roller Derby have long been vocal about black visibility and anti-black racism in the derby community and the continued their vocal leadership in 2020 urging WFTDA and member league to look inward in their responses to the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the killing of black people in America.

We think that WFTDA can do more to support Black skaters. In this open letter, we share our ideas for where to start.@WFTDA , we want you to get into the weeds with us. Help us fight for racial justice in roller derby.#talk2WFTDA #derbytwitter https://t.co/vEwPVi0SQw

Atlanta’s open letter provided a template for leagues to take back with them, alongside specific asks from our sports governing body,

“For leagues asking where to start — the good news is there are lots of places to start. Recruitment is not the only answer, nor should it be your first step. Take the time to review your policies and culture before bringing new recruits into a potentially harmful environment. The silver lining of forced quarantine is having more time to get your house in order before you go out to recruit new league members.”

It is important that leagues revisit and recommit themselves to this process as they return to play.

An open letter to WFTDA leadership and membership from ARD

REAL Roller Derby (Jumping the Apex / Queens of Pain / Hell on Wheels Season 2)

Me waiting for an accurate depiction of flat track roller derby in large or traditional media pic.twitter.com/PxVVnvwUrI

Birds of Prey was great and so was that banked track episode on Netflix’s series “Home Games” but after both, and in the absence of actual derby, I was craving some real authentic depictions of flat track roller derby. My cup ran over as the year went on, with the “Jumping the Apex” docuseries, the “Queens of Pain” documentary and Season 2 of “Hell on Wheels.”

“Jumping the Apex” followed Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) Anchor City Harbour Grudges for their 2019 season, the debut season as a full fledged WFTDA member. It is a pure and honest look at a small and isolated league taking a big leap and embracing a host of new challenges. It is not universally available, but fingers crossed it will be soon.

The “Queens of Pain” documentary tells the story of the 2018 Gotham home season through the eyes of WFTDA legend Suzy Hotrod (Queens of Pain), veteran skater Evilicious (Brooklyn Bombshells) and rookie skater Captain Smack Sparrow (Diamond District). Selected for the Austin Film Festival, the film was made by two sisters who wanted a high production and authentic look at, “communities of women who empower each other.” It’s an amazing record of what it takes to play derby in New York City and a great derby documentary. Look for it as it continues the festival circuit and fingers crossed is picked up for streaming.

“Hell on Wheels” returned for another season to cover the 2019 season of the Tiger Bay Brawlers as they battled injuries and roster instability trying to get back to the podium in the European Continental Cup. This one is a bit close to home, I uh love Tiger Bay, and made all the more emotional after the passing of beloved Tiger Bay blocker NitroJen. It’s a tough and emotional watch, but it is very worth it and all the tears you will cry. It’s not widely available outside the BBC iPlayer yet, but you can do a lot of things with a VPN.

Thank You New Zealand

NZ, and RollerDerbyStreamingNZ in particular, came up big in 2020 providing the lion’s share of live derby streaming content from March to the present.

So many ppl had an absolute normal one last night just happy crying watching live roller derby in New Zealand. What a community, what a sport.

Those games provided a much needed sense of hope, but also introduced many people to beautiful world of New Zealand Roller Derby. I got a new favourite NZ announcer — HI SNEAKS! — some new favourite NZ skaters to watch, Cuzzy and Furious George, and a new favourite NZ Coach in Big Dippah.

If I made toe stops I would sponsor Cuzzy from Swamp City rn.

A lot of those games have made it over to the RollerDerbyStreamingNZ Youtube Channel and I would highly recommend Regional Rumble which gave us our only streamed, competitive knockout bracket tournament this year after BOTAS.

2020 also saw Team Aotearoa Roller Derby return to Team New Zealand Roller Derby, a move to acknowledge and make space for a new Mana Tangata o Aotearoa Roller Derby team made up of Indigenous players and representatives. Mana Tangata o Aotearoa, who competed at Regional Rumble, has a mission statement to, “unite the Indigenous Roller Derby Community in Aotearoa. We are here to shine a spotlight on decolonisation and simultaneously encourage Pacific Nations and other Indigenous communities to celebrate their cultural identity.”

The End of Mandatory MSR’s (and Hopefully 27/5)

The end of the year brought the end of WFTDA’s Mandatory Skill Requirements (MSR’s). After listening to concerns about the MSR’s effectiveness and its central role in allowing for gatekeeping within the sport, WFTDA developed an MSR task force and began the work of completely breaking away from Mandatory Skill Requirements and moving towards as curriculum model that allows for greater league autonomy.

t's the end of the year gift you didn't know you needed!The MSR Task Force lead by MSR Curriculum Director Maha El Nassar & WFTDA Education is proud to release the beginner curriculum for participants new to the sport. pic.twitter.com/Wiib4MFtVW

MSR’s, mandatory only for sanctioned play, were being applied league wide in many places and specific requirements, like 27 laps in 5 minutes, were a major barrier for many skaters otherwise deemed safe and capable to play.

I'm a fat athlete who passed the min skills after over a year struggling with laps, but I did do it, and the stress of testing anxiety and continuous failing despite being a solid body gave basis to more fatphobic people in leadership basis to deem me unsafe and hold me back

The new WFTDA beginner curriculum looks to increase resources for coaches and trainers and includes a transition plan as leagues return under a new system.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Eds Note: The derby community lost a lot of people this year. I’ve tried to mark each loss, but I don’t want to attempt a memorial post here for fear of leaving people out. It was an extremely hard year and with one of our biggest support groups upended, it is easy to feel like we are going through this alone. I hope you all still find ways to stay connected to your league, this sport, or places like #DerbyTwitter and that you reach out to others when you are struggling. I know how hard it can be to ask for help, but it is important.

2020 Roller Derby in Review: Burn After Reading was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

3 days. That’s the amount of notice Rainy City got this week to pack up and move out of The Thunderdome, a place they’ve called home for almost a decade. After 9 months of continuing to pay rent, without relief, their landlord advised them negotiations on a renewal were off and Oldham Council had instead decided to demolish the building as part of a regeneration scheme.

So sad to see the end of @wearerainycity's home The Thunderdome as it's getting demolished. Here's my ode to the special place that was the backdrop for countless incredible moments. https://t.co/OLFjZlGNZe #derbytwitter

Although one of the most flagrant cases to date, the move is part of a worrying trend that is escalating as this pandemic continues — the longer it lasts, the less leverage derby leagues have over venues, the less ability they have to renew leases in the face of the unknown and the more dire their economic situations become.

Last week Roc City Roller Derby made the decision to not renew and moved out of the House of Bruise, their longtime practice venue. Another gut wrenching decision that became a necessity as the pandemic wore on.

It was a very cold space in winter, but it was our space. I'm terribly sad to see @RocDerby without a home right now. But this decision was made for the future of the league, and it was the right one. I know many other leagues are making similar choices

Fellow New Yorkers, Gotham Girls Roller Derby publicly announced their decision to not renew on the iconic Crash Pad back in September of this year. Sending the 3rd ranked league and one of the largest leagues in the world back into a venue search, during a pandemic, in an unfavourable market.

Boston Roller Derby, who kicked off the COVID response within Derby in March by cancelling Lobstah Roll, announced they lost their practice space back in October. They are fundraising and on the search for a new venue.

There are more leagues to add to this list, Naptown moved out of their practice space early on, Salt City moved out in October, and many more have quietly exited without acknowledging it publicly. Other leagues like Wasatch have been open about their struggle to continually fundraise for a space they can’t use.

What can feel like an individualized and separated league-level-process is actually a connected event, as this pandemic continues the strain on this sport increases.

Even leagues with solid venue situations are experiencing this in different ways. Many leagues are struggling to recoup what they are owed from the ticketing site Brown Paper Tickets, including Arch Rival Roller Derby who have gone public in their fight to get paid. Sonoma County Roller Derby’s Board has had the uneviable task of both hunting down Brown Paper Tickets for money owed, while also leaving their space “The Oven” in August. Luckily, they’ve since been paid out by BPT.

Fundraisers and early season home team games, typically a large source of revenue for leagues starting the year, are largely what is being withheld. Early season tickets sales have also been an issue, with fans bearing those losses and having even less leverage than leagues.

The larger the league, the greater the overhead, the larger the problem. Rose City, the largest derby league in the world and current Champions, had already projected a $100,000 loss on the season back in May.

This financial strain is also pushing outward regionally and beyond WFTDA — The Thunderdome was the only dedicated derby venue in the UK, the Crash Pad was an East Coast hub and vital to the Gotham Girls Jr Program, Boston organizes the annual Lobstah Roll tournament and Rose City’s impact on the West Coast and internationally is massive.

The parent organization, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) faces its own impending number crunch as insurance renewals are drastically down, while WFTDA relies on $350,000–400,000 dividends annually from WFTDi as part of its operating.

The WFTDA response to COVID and its Return to Play has worked, with Executive Director Erica Vanstone (Double H) relaying in the November Skate of the Union that although they know of members contracting COVID, none have done so in a derby setting. The issue instead has largely been everything else outside of WFTDA’s control, as half hearted lock down attempts, a priority on business and mixed messaging have all deepened the severity of the pandemic and added to its length.

This can feel catastrophic, this is easily the most depressing thing I’ve ever written about derby, however, I also hope that this encourages more leagues to be more public about their struggles, to connect with others and look for support. There are so many leagues right now full of dedicated board members who feel like failures because they didn’t foresee a once in a lifetime pandemic and can’t control the lack of response. We gotta help them shake that feeling. The latest Skate of the Union stressed “community over competition” and that’s becoming more of a survival statement than a goal. We need to work together.

Active League Fundraisers From Above

We can't give everyone a real piece of the Thunderdome to take home, but for those who lived the Dome experience, or wish they could have, we're doing pre-order run of a v cool commemorative t-shirt over the next week.More info @ https://t.co/yqGrl2Agey pic.twitter.com/iDdD7saOlE

• Boston Roller Derby Needs Your Help!
• Support Roller Derby in Salt Lake!

Roller Derby Is Losing Venues At An Alarming Rate was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The dream of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) celebrating their 15 year anniversary back in Austin, Texas, where the sport was revived, was cancelled back in May of this year by the pandemic. However, derby will still happen in Austin, Texas this year as the documentary “Queens of Pain” has been selected for this year’s virtual Austin Film Festival.

The 75 minute documentary follows three Gotham skaters Suzy Hotrod (Queens of Pain), Evilicious (Brooklyn Bombshells) and Captain Smack Sparrow (Diamond District) through the struggles of the 2018 Gotham home season. With the city as the backdrop, the film highlights the extreme level of sacrifice and personal toll needed to play this sport in New York City. As Suzy Hotrod points out in the film, “The people who come here and do it, they are all in.”

Directed by Cassie Hay, a former Gotham skater herself (Haulin’ Cass) and her sister Amy Winston, the film follows on Cassie’s SXSW nominated documentary “The Liberators” (2016). Inspired by the #MeToo movement, the sisters wanted to, “shed light on communities of women who empower each other.” With Amy as a non-derby outsider, the pair have struck a perfect balance between an in depth profile and a story that will also resonate with the uninitiated.

Originally centred on Suzy Hotrod, the scope of the film grew to include Gotham’s former PR head and new mother Evilicious and rookie Captain Smack Sparrow. The film is fuller for it, piecing together various different experiences, perspectives and struggles of three skaters all focused on the same goals. From one of the sport’s longest tenured and most familiar faces, to a rookie who grew up just minutes from Gotham’s Crash Pad, the stories are unique but complimentary. These are three people, at various stages, all committed to making this sport fit in their life.

Made by a patchwork crew flying into New York from Austin and San Fransisco on weekends in 2018, the filming process wasn’t impacted by the pandemic, but the production and film festival process has been. Winston and Hay both wanted to stress positives, the virtual aspect of the film festival allows for a greater global audience and a lack of content currently may help the film. Matching the resilience of their subjects, Hay, who was part of the original Gotham search for the Crash Pad, also has high hopes that Gotham Girls Roller Derby will rebound after the recent loss of their practice venue.

No spoilers, but the film is a new high-water mark in terms of the production quality of a derby documentary. There are shots in the film which leave a lasting impact, long pre and post game shots capturing faces and reactions in ways which perfectly illustrate the tension, nerves and passion of this sport. For many people, after seven months without derby, those shots will take you right back to those emotions.

The film debuts at October 24 at 5:45 PM Central Time and you can purchase tickets here for $10. The film will also be up for an Audience Favourite award, which you can register after screening.

Best of all for derby fans, there are no location restrictions, so you can tune in from anywhere in the world!

Like what we do? Consider chipping in a few bucks.

The Derby Apex is creating Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Media | Patreon

There Will Be Derby in Austin This Year: “Queens of Pain” to Premiere Saturday at Austin Film Fest was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The WFTDA ranking algorithm came into effect in February 2013 with the first release of WFTDA rankings. Although that algorithm may not survive into a full worldwide return to play, it was a significant upgrade on a regional voting system that had some very serious deficiencies.

This was a super different time in WFTDA play. Rankings were done by leagues voting on teams in the region. Literally each league would rank each other league in their region 1-x. pic.twitter.com/Ni4TXv94Sh

The current algorithm has captured growth from 149 ranked leagues to 367 before the shut down, with massive growth coming from outside of the US. That first release saw just 14 leagues outside of the US; 7 in Europe, 6 in Canada and 1 in Australia. By comparison, the current “European” division within WFTDA includes 69 ranked member leagues. Asia/Pacific includes 17.

We have seen adjustments to the algorithm over that time (removing tournament weights, adding strength factor challenges), adjustments to scoring (removing the jammer lap point) and a handful of different post season configurations. However, the algorithm has consistently opened up room for broad growth by using a weight system which allows for teams to play opponents and see progress beyond a simple win/loss system. I’ve argued that growth has potentially reached its limit in terms of positive effect, but any change is likely to hold onto the core element of an algorithm and total points % scoring because of the positive elements it had already unlocked. It allows for a larger pool of teams to play than a simple win/loss system would.

Although the current algorithm is so central to WFTDA, it is not commonly understood either in terms of what predated it, its legacy or how it has shaped game play. The algorithm has always been publicly available on WFTDA’s site, but how that translates into gameplay or comfort level with the algorithm is team by team or even year by year in some cases. There is a need to increase literacy on the algorithm though, as playing to the algorithm also increases the effectiveness of the ranking system to properly rank teams.

I’ve written some basic attempts at simplifying the algorithm and how it impacts gameplay, especially when teams find themselves in situations when they are down big. Although awareness of this kind of situation seems more widespread than it was in 2016, there are still lots of examples of teams still defaulting instead to “hit and quit” strategies instead. The 2019 post season, which represents the top 60 teams in terms of skill, will still provide lots of examples of this.

I’ve had a piece on total points in my drafts for a long time, but Boop’s post on Twitter the other day was the motivation for a deeper dive. Even if the algorithm doesn’t survive in its current form, I think there is a big benefit to understanding how a total points % algorithm impacts gameplay. Understanding it and implementing it can make your team smarter, more versatile and more resilient.

Gonna attempt at explaining (simplified) rankings maths to inform game strategy at team training tomorrow. Wish me luck that I don't bore them to tears haaa #derbytwitter pic.twitter.com/bIriQItqVi

Hit and Quit The “Gotham Effect”

Although “hit and quit,” the strategy of getting lead and calling a jam before your opponent can score, predates the algorithm; I still chart its widespread acceptance as a default strategy to the historic 5 year, 67 sanctioned game, Gotham All Stars win streak that surrounded the algorithms release (November 7 2010— November 7 2015). Gotham was remarkably dominant over this stretch, capturing 1st place in the initial February 2013 ranking and holding it until April 2017.

Bonnie Thunders and OMG WTF, then with Gotham, were part of the committee which created the current algorithm and Gotham was elite at maximizing it, holding onto the top spot for a year and a half after their win streak was ended.

Playing the most popular games, broadcast around the world, it’s not surprising that leagues all over the world would try and replicate that success. The problem with replicating Gotham’s gameplay strategies is there may never be another Gotham. Over this stretch they had no rival.

Even Rose City, who currently look unbeatable and I think would have comfortably won a third straight Hydra in 2020, had only won 12 straight sanctioned games coming into this year. If Rose’s current trajectory matched, or even surpasses that Gotham run, the point remains the same — your team is not 2010–2015 Gotham or 2018-Current Rose. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a wealth of knowledge to pull from these teams, it just means that how they relate to total points % and game play strategy is different for them than any other team. The further you are from them in the rankings, the more that is the case.

Luckily there are other simple ways to break down and understand how total points % can effect gameplay.

The Basics of the 33/66 Rule

I have always believed that the simplest breakdown of total points % to gameplay is to break up gameplay into three separate categories — Below 33%, Between 33% and 66% and Above 66%. Although I will add filters to this later, this is the base level of understanding that could be widespread and it is still largely applicable even pre weights/time/score, etc. The % are easily identifiable — does the other team have double the amount of points as us (Below 33%), do we have double the amount of points as the other team (Above 66%), does neither team have double the amount of point as the other (Between 33% and 66%). Although it can vary, as you will see below, the longest you would want to wait to apply this would be 15 minutes into the game. Adjust as the game progresses.

Below 33%

If you are below 33% total points, then you need to maximize any lead you grab and the lower your number of total points %, the longer you need to run your jams. If your opposition is controlling leads and total points, hitting and quitting you to death, then there is no benefit to calling a jam in which you obtain lead. The likelihood is that time will otherwise roll off the clock without you scoring at all.

This is what I would call “scoring potential.” It can feel counter intuitive to run a jam 2 minutes if you are losing that jam 12–20, but if you are sub 15% leads and sub 20% scoring, then you need to maximize your scoring potential and that score above will almost certainly increase your game score. Even if this gamble doesn’t pay off, you need to maximize your ability to score before the clock simply runs out.

One big adjustment in this range is pace. You need to make the opposing team’s points available and again that may mean a counterintuitive move to set up in back. If you try and “pull away” or skate the pack, you are shooting yourself in the foot and negating your scoring potential. It’s more important that you keep points available for your team. Set up in back and play a slower game i.e. “Points Back.”

You also need to increase your level of contact, and take more risks to secure leads, because without leads you are in danger girl!

Between 33% and 66%

This is the space where the majority of sanctioned WFTDA games are played, largely because it is advantageous to schedule against opponents of a similar rank and strength. Your gameplay in this range has to be driven by your ability to a) know your team, and b) know your opponent. Teams that consistently win games or over perform in this range do so because they are better at capitalizing on mistakes and maximizing opportunities. In order to do that, you need to know the team you are playing.

Match up derby is about taking away opponents’ strengths and stressing weakness. A shifting gameplay strategy can help you do this by being unpredictable. Running specific jams long, ones in which you feel you have a distinct advantage, can be the difference maker in a close game — especially if the opposing team continues to default to “hit and quit.” Increasing and decreasing your level of contact, adjusting to officials, will also make it harder for your opponent to adjust. Deeper and more versatile teams thrive in this range because they simply have more options to go to and can match a larger and more varied style of play.

Above 66%

Look at you, you are killing it! This is where watching all of those old Gotham games can come in handy. It’s time to be positional, disciplined and hit and quit your opponent to death. Adjust your contact levels to a lower number, take fewer risks and limit your opponent’s scoring potential. This is the range derby is most accustomed to, so it is the one that needs the least amount of explanation. If the other team does get lead, encourage them to skate with you i.e. “points forward.” If they take the bait, you may end up negating their lead anyways.

The 33/66 Rule + Weights

Although the majority of WFTDA sanctioned games occur within a fairly normal range in terms of weights, there are scenarios where a massive weight disparity can significantly shift your game play.

The High Weight Opponent

Although also not unheard of in the regular season, the WFTDA post season used to present massive weight disparities in tournament play. For a low weight team playing a high weight team, the important thing to grasp is that every point you score is simply worth more. This is how the algorithm adjusts, for fairness, to allow you to play a team that it would not make sense to play in win/loss or any other scenario.

For example, if my 2.7 weight team plays a 4 weight team, below are the scores I would need to pull a larger score off of the algorithm than my opponent.

100v148 — 483.87/ 483.38.

That remains constant, so if I score 200v296 or 300v444, the result is the same even though the margin has grown. In a game against a more skilled opponent, where I am unlikely to control the majority of leads, the algorithm incentivizes that I maximize my scoring. For this reason, I’d extend my 33 and below range to 50% and below and shrink my match up range to just 50% to 66%. The more drastic the weight disparity, the greater the focus on running leads long and scoring, and the earlier I’d start running my leads.

Some great post season examples of this include

2x4 v Rose in 2017

Charlottesville v Montreal 2017

Queen City v Arch Rival 2017

Minnesota v Rat City 2019

In all of the examples above a long jam strategy netted these teams a better game score than if they would have called their leads in a traditional hit and quit way. C-Ville increased their total points from 18.05% to 22.85% and a game score from 261.67 to 331.2 (+69.53 increase). 2x4 increased their total points from 12.62% to 18.18% and a game score from 292 to 420.54 (+128.5).

The most extreme example I’ve ever seen of this was Twin City’s 703–166 loss to Houston in 2018. With a weight disparity of 1.06 to 3.68, Twin City focused almost exclusively on offense and did not call leads. Although it is admittedly hard to watch, Twin City salvaged a 177game score, only 34 below their incoming average, in a game which could have been a bloodbath in the rankings.

The Low Weight

Against a much lower weighted opponent my team needs to extend that point denial range, focus on clean play and keep our points forward. Our points are worth significantly less than our opponent’s, so we need to control leads, not give up power jams and negate our opponent’s scoring ability. Because my points are worth less, I may actually call jams with the opposing jammer on initial if it will set up lead control in the following jam. Lead control negates their scoring potential, and to some degree becomes more important than my scoring as I push higher in total points.

This is a style of gameplay which is less developed because a) games with this kind of disparity are rare and b) the majority of low weight teams just end up playing hit and quit to their own detriment. There is lots of room to experiment here — calling any lead when you have pack advantage, a lead jammer returning to the pack in order to keep opposing blockers busy, playing 5 D with lead to run down clock once we have the total points % we want, etc. It’s hard to want to risk experimenting when you already have a high % of total points, but the goal is also always to shut your opponent out completely (100% total points!). Even with an absolutely massive skill disparity, you will have to take some risks to do that.

The “We Are In Trouble Game” (Severely Under Ranked Opponent)

What happens when you are playing a significantly under ranked team? Adjusting your gameplay to their weight won’t always give you the best results because their weight is the problem. Two of the best examples of adjusting to this came in the same tournament — Rocky Mountain v Canberra and Tucson v Canberra at the NA West Continental Cup in 2018. #2 seed Canberra entered the tournament severely under ranked, playing much more like a mid 10’s Division 1 team than at a Continental Cup level, winning the Championship game by a huge 243–80 margin.

Tucson focused on playing 5 D off the line, looking to run down Canberra’s available scoring time. If the probability is that Canberra would dominate lead, ensuring they have significantly less time left in the jam to score is one way to restrict their scoring. Tucson’s veteran jammer Mystery Meat was the perfect jammer to pull this off and as a result Tucson held Canberra to 208 points and salvaged a 179.82.

Rocky Mountain focused on playing all O off the line, looking to grab as many leads as possible. With the strategy they managed to scored 80 points on Canberra and salvage a 250.4 game score.

If either team waited 15–20 minutes into the game to adjust their gameplay they would likely already be seriously out of the game. If they played to their opponent weight, they would still be stuck thinking about hit and quit or match up derby. Instead, because the skill gap was so extreme, they started the game with gameplay strategies that matched their opponent’s actual skill instead of their weight or game score.

Wildcards

Even though 33/66 can be a good basic rule, there are lots of other great examples of people using dynamic game play strategies to their advantage. Once you leave the cult of hit and quit, a world of possibilities opens up!

Make This End

One of the most common divergences from a 33/66 strategy, especially during the post season or elimination tournaments, is running second half leads long to take time off of the clock. Sometimes you just need to help make a game end. Playing down the clock can backfire, you are adjusting away from the things that brought you success, but it can still be a worthwhile strategy to end a close game.

Long to Start, Hit and Quit When We Say

2x4 does not have the depth to sustain against constant long jams. Montreal knows that and can use these long jams to set up pack advantage. I imagine they will adjust to point denial later, but only once they've hit their score/time goals. Same strategy they used at Playoffs.

The 2019 Montreal New Skids had amazing depth and they matched that depth with gameplay strategies that flexed their ability to run full 5 jammer / 10 blocker rotations. They would intentionally look to start the game running leads long, using the chaos to control pace and force opponents to field tired/more penalized skaters. After about 15–30 minutes, they would adjust to 33/66 strategies, shifting to hit and quit if they had their desired scoring ratio. Their depth allowed them to use advanced gameplay strategies that controlled the pace and forced opponents to be constantly adjusting to. It was a brilliant use of their strengths.

Sarah Hipel Says Keeping Going Jill Rookard

Detroit Roller Derby had a great 2019 season and a lot of that had to do with the level of team buy into a long jam/set up in back strategy. With one of the most dynamic jammers at the Continental Cup level, keeping Rookard on the track for 2 full minutes puts extreme stress on opposing defenses and all of Detroit’s jammer rotation knows to stay in bounds and push should they not grab a lead. A bit unconventional, but it played to their strengths — physical jammers who are hard to hit off of the track, an extended blocking zone for their defense, and a smart veteran team with a clear game plan. It was extremely difficult for teams to adjust.

It’s Me, Again

One great back and forth of the 2019 postseason was the NA West Championship game between Detroit and Sailor City. Finding themselves down and against a tournament MVP jammer in Jules, Detroit shifted to 5D off the line and looked to limit Jules’ track/scoring time, hoping to grab leads against other Sailor City jammers and run those leads long to close the gap. Instead, Jules used the opportunity to conserve energy and run time off of the clock. Who would be fielded in the following jam? Jules again. If Detroit wanted to see another jammer, they were going to have to play against their MVP jammer straight up. Someone had finally forced Detroit into an awkward adjustment after a season of them tormenting opposing teams.

It was brilliant. Detroit went 5D off the line to kill Jules available scoring time (as they should). Sailor let them - to kill clock with the lead - and it allowed Jules to conserve energy and just go again. Completely negated what Detroit was trying to accomplish. https://t.co/0ckCMq9A4X

How to Train Various Total Points Gameplay Strategies

In order to be able to successfully implement different gameplay strategies, beyond hit and quit, you need to incorporate them into practice. Whether it is with specific gameplay scenarios that you drill repeatedly, or by incorporating them into your scrimmages, you need to use these spaces to play with different strategies. Very few people will fully understand how to implement this stuff, simply by reading about it or by understanding the math and ultimately you will struggle to adjust your gameplay if half of your skaters understand what is happening and the other half are just trying to follow their lead or the bench.

Tonight we are scrimmaging for (fake) ranking points pic.twitter.com/RmwNRk9Lki

One main suggestion from me is to start keeping score during your practice scrimmages (including B and league!) and work with either side, during stoppages, to talk about how we should adjust our gameplay given the score and opponent. One of my favourite moments this year, pre-pandemic break, was one of my jammers signalling off my call off, feeling like the match up was favourable given the time/score that they faced. They gambled and it paid off! Getting a team to the point where they feel comfortable making these decisions in real time is the ultimate goal, that’s when everyone truly understands total points %.

Also, the delivery is very important. New gameplay strategies can be FUN! Opening up a whole new world beyond hit and quit derby can fire new parts of your brain and body. It can breathe new life into a veteran’s skates and reinvigorate programs that feel stalled. It’s a challenge, but make sure it is a fun challenge!

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The Derby Apex is creating Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Media | Patreon

Understanding WFTDA’s Total Points % and Effects on Gameplay was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In a joint release this week Team Aotearoa and Mana Tangata o Aotearoa announced that Team Aotearoa while be changing back to Team New Zealand Roller Derby, the team name they held prior to the 2018 World Cup.

The release on Facebook, in English and Māori, details the decision behind both changes. This latest change comes to honour a request made by the Mana Tangata o Aotearoa Roller Derby, established in 2019, “Mana Tangata o Aotearoa requested for the established ‘“Team Aotearoa” to repatriate the name “Aotearoa” to the people of the land, the indigenous players and representatives. Team Aotearoa supported the request and became Team New Zealand. We have both made assurances to work alongside each other in support of all players of New Zealand/Aotearoa.”

Mana Tangata o Aotearoa Roller Derby’s mission is to, “unite the Indigenous Roller Derby Community in Aotearoa. We are here to shine a spotlight on decolonisation and simultaneously encourage Pacific Nations and other Indigenous communities to celebrate their cultural identity.”

The release was celebrated by fans of both teams.

Mana Tangata o Aotearoa Roller Derby is currently fundraising for skaters who are travelling to “Regional Rumble” to compete. Their roster is below.

Māori Vixen #28, Ngā Ruahinerangi; Te Ātiawa
PARORE #666 , Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Kahu
O’Carroll #17
Diamond #229
Lanes #1234
Whakintawh@ #40+
La Bomba #24
Witoko #13
Venus Thightrap #14
haRURU #97, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri (Chatham Islands)
ma-fi-a-boss #101, Nga Rauru / Ngati Maniapoto
Tantrum #114
Woodford #5012, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungungu
Flirty Harry #94, Ngāti Raukawa (waikato region)
Pare Rocker #121
Wonder Wahine #420, Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Waitaha, Rabuvai, Moriori
PARORE #64, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi & Ngāti Kahu
X-Ray -Bench
maDD Honour -Bench
Tino -Bench

Regional Rumble, October 24–25th, will be live streamed by twitch.tv/rollerderbystreamingnz.

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The Derby Apex is creating Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Media | Patreon

Team Aotearoa To Change Back to Team New Zealand was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Currently Available in Canada. New Zealand and South Africa Soon!

While roller skating is having a moment during this pandemic, and banked track derby still pulls the lion’s share of representation in derby media, I have been starved for good flat track derby media. No more goofy “watch this person learn to skate” segments, “this isn’t your grandmother’s roller derby” pieces, or “girl on girl action!” I just can’t take it!

Me waiting for an accurate depiction of flat track roller derby in large or traditional media pic.twitter.com/PxVVnvwUrI

Thankfully, my prayers have been answered by the good folks at Alright Pictures who have provided “Jumping the Apex.” Released on Out.tv, the show is an ambitious in-depth-season-long-6-episode look at the Anchor City Harbour Grudges, from Halifax, Nova Scotia as they embarked on their first ever Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) season.

The best part? The series was filmed almost right up til the pandemic and covers right up to the beginning of the 2020 season. It is extremely rare in flat track derby media for a project to have that kind of accelerated timeline. I am used to watching documentary footage covering 2–5 seasons ago. The timeliness of this show is a huge strong point for a sport which changes so quickly. It feels very relevant.

Aside from the fast release, the series also has great production value. Game footage is crisp and the interview segments are phenomenal.

Filmed for Out.tv, a “lifestyle television channel for the gay and openminded,” the series is rooted in the queer culture that surrounds the team. It’s a familiar story for many roller derby leagues, but it develops within its own arc within this league as Halifax becomes a landing point for people from all over.

The game by game, or tournament by tournament, coverage is great and even the most jaded derby veteran will be touched by the nerves and passion of the Grudges as they break out of their Maritime Derby bubble and join WFTDA competition. The team crosses off so many firsts and you can see that constant tension of accepting a rapid amount of change within a short period of time.

As per Flat Track Stats, in the 8 years prior to this season the Grudges had never travelled or played a game against anyone outside of Canada and their game history is a steady diet of Fog City (Saint John, NB), Muddy River (Moncton, NB) and Capital City (Fredericton, NB). The quality of the production and the team’s skill can fool you, but the impressive landscape travel shots should pull you back in. This is an historically isolated team venturing into something completely new.

No spoilers but the team fairs well throughout the season, holding their own against teams from as far away as Oslo, Norway, establishing their first ever WFTDA rank and working through obvious growing pains. The vulnerability and willingness to let a camera into their struggles, is a highlight and should be commended. The series does get a bit too on the nose though in Episode 5 when the Grudges face off against the Penn Jersey She Devils. Penn Jersey, who started last year in 130th and finished it in 89th, had their own goals and motivations going into their match up in Quebec. Not every game will be upbeat, not every team will be looking to make friends.

The show gives a lot of time and effort to the common struggles each charter team faces — how to run a tryout, how to structure practice, how to construct lines, how to make a roster and decide playing time, etc. The minutiae will be identifiable to anyone within roller derby, but it’s also handled in a way that’s compelling to the uninitiated. The series also, almost magically, was able to capture an EXTREMELY RARE double overtime jam.

It is easy to get caught up and start cheering for your favourite skaters. Again no spoilers, but the power of the series for me came in seeing one of my favourite skaters grow and find the space to finally take a step back. A long time former Captain and clear leader on the track, who played through injury because they felt like they had to, uses the growth of that season to refocus and find peace. It’s a beautiful personal document and the series includes multiple storylines like this that are easy to identify with. It’s a special piece of derby media and a great snapshot of a team embracing the challenging and opportunity of growing beyond their bubble.

Episodes air every Thursday at 8pm ET on Out.tv. The full series can also be streamed on Out.tv. More Information on release in the US and UK will hopefully be coming in August. We will update this piece as that happens.

Like what we do? Consider chipping in a few bucks.

The Derby Apex is creating Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Media | Patreon

Jumping the Apex — Maritime Derby Gets Its Moment was originally published in The Apex on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.