Roller Derby Disorder

Sh*t Derby Girls Say from the DC Rollergirls

2012-01-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

Sh*t Derby Girls Say from the DC Rollergirls.

Hello there

2011-08-10T14:42:00.000-04:00

So... I guess it's been a year since I wrote on this blog. How sad. I have no good excuses. Anyway.... what has brought me out of blogger retirement? This:

"Impact! Miniatures is pleased to release its first set of 28mm scale roller derby miniatures. The set includes a jammer, pivot and three blockers. This represents the first of three different team sets that were created as part of Impact's upcoming game Impact City Roller Derby. The game is currently in beta testing and is expected to be released in 1Q12. The other two miniature sets will be released in the coming weeks. "

The miniatures were sculpted by Patrick Keith, and painted by Laughing Ferret Studio. You can purchase them here

"This is my church, and these are my vestments."

2010-08-02T20:17:00.000-04:00

Dreadnought's roller derby quilt, and related personal posts, are making me cry.

Protect your Bearings

2010-06-04T14:01:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you, but our practice floor is filthy. Does anybody have a practice floor that isn't? I recently discovered a new item that has helped a lot with keeping my bearings clean for a longer period of time. They are called Grind King Rims Bearing Protection or Grind King Rims Axle Thread Saver. There might be other brands, as well. I got mine at a skateboard shop, but you can also buy them online. They come in funky colors, too.

How to fix skates that are loose in the heels Part II

2010-05-12T17:04:00.002-04:00

Yes, those are bungee cords.

How Roller Derby is Different from 2 years ago

2010-02-10T01:22:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit: James Calder

I had a couple of comments on an old post "How Roller Derby is Different from 3 months ago" which has finally gotten me to write a new post. Let's call it "How Roller Derby is Different from 2 years ago."

Roller Derby is A LOT different then it was when I first started. At a practice a couple of weeks ago a new freshmeat skater asked me if it got any easier. In retrospect I'm not actually sure what she was referring to, but my answer was that it gets easier in some ways and it gets harder in other ways. I think that physically it gets easier because your body has gotten used to this whole crazy derby thing. Which isn't to say that derby is easy, just that it now feels like a normal physical activity that I do, and not like the most incredibly difficult thing my body has ever even contemplated doing, which it was in the past. It gets harder in terms of time commitment. When you're just starting out no one expects you to do anything except learn to skate better. Once you get decent at that, a whole new world of committees and responsibilities opens up. A person could spend an infinite amount of time on derby work. The more involved you get the more opportunities there are to spend more time on derby and the more people will start expecting you to spend more time on derby.

So how is it different specifically for me?

New Stuff

as you get better, you want new and better stuff. I just bought new bushings. 2 years ago I couldn't even tell you what bushings were, let alone known when I needed new ones. I also just bought some replacement axle nuts, cause apparently those wear out. Who knew? I would love love love to buy new skates, but I can't afford that now, so they will have to wait. I have had many many different wheels. I was skating with Atom G-Rods for the longest time but have just switched to Sugars.

New aches and pains

There's always something, it seems. 2 weeks ago my back suddenly went out on me in the middle of practice. Nothing particular happened -- I didn't fall or get hit -- I was just skating in a paceline and my back suddenly felt like it fell somehow. I thought I just needed a stretch but within a few minutes I was unable to stand upright. I spent the next 5 days lying on my back and unable to do much of anything. But, hey, I'm fine now.
Some people seem to go their entire derby careers without a single major injury. Then there are folks like me. To date my injuries include a broken arm (L), torn PCL (R knee), torn MCL (L knee), several broken ribs, bruised tailbone, sprained MCL (R knee), and a separated shoulder (R). And that's just the major stuff that kept me from skating for more than a week or two.

New friends

The best difference between then and now is how much more comfortable I am around people and how much more accepted I feel in my derby family. Part of that is just time, but I think a lot of it has to do with transferring to a new league. The DC Rollergirls are made of awesomeness.

New Responsibilities

I was just recently voted in as co-captain of my new team, the Cherry Blossom Bombshells. This turn of events came as a bit of a surprise to me, but I am excited and gratified to have this opportunity and I am really enjoying my new responsibilities.
I am also now a WFTDA rep for my league, which is a whole other level of derby involvement. I love being able to see some of what goes into making roller derby run and being a part of shaping the future of our fabulous sport. What an amazing opportunity!

Check out all this DC Rollergirl goodness

2009-11-26T21:52:00.000-05:00

Photo: Tony Richards (that's my teammate Miso Knotty!)

Tony Richards Photography

November 2009

http://tonyrichardsphoto.blogspot.com/2009/11/dc-rollergirls.html

Hell on Wheels: Roller Derby in Washington
By Gwendolyn Purdom
Washingtonian, December 2009
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/14157.html

The District Body Slam: DC Rollergirls
by Kate Michael
The District Dish, November 2009
http://www.kstreetkate.net/2009/11/district-dish-dc-roller-girls.html

Hell on Wheels: D.C. Rollergirls Play Hard, Fight Harder
By Veronica Macias
NBC Washington, Nov. 17, 2009
http://www.nbcwashington.com/around-town/events/Hell-on-Wheels-70289597.html

Helmet design contest

2009-11-20T02:22:00.000-05:00

From Triple Eight:

Triple Eight is launching a ground breaking global contest today and we're inviting you to participate and help spread the word. We are giving our customers, friends, and anyone with some design chops the opportunity to work up a design that could adorn one of our signature helmets; the Triple Eight Brainsaver Skate Helmet and our Old School Audio Snow Helmet! The winner of the contest, chosen by the Jovoto community (www.jovoto.com), will receive $1000 cash. Even if you don't win the cash prize, if your helmet design is chosen to be incorporated into our product line, you'll receive 5% of the wholesale price of each helmet sold, with the potential to have your design rocked by athletes from around the world.

You can sign up for the contest through http://www.triple8.com/helmet-design-contest/.

Please forward this to anyone you know that might be interested. Feel free to post it to your website, social network pages, blog about it, write about it, print and hand it out, etc. We're super excited to get our customers and friends involved in the design of a new product and are looking forward to seeing what the community develops!!

Updates and Links

2009-11-19T15:10:00.000-05:00

Wow. It has been so long since I wrote in here that I'm not really sure where to start. Here are some highlights:

I crashed into a wall and separated my shoulder (Boo!)
I was teamed and am now a Cherry Blossom Bombshell! That means pink pink pink! (Yay!)
My shoulder is all better (Yay!)
But then I sprained my MCL (Boo!)
I went to Eastern Regionals (Go Boston!) and Nationals (Oly crap!)
I'm starting to think about doing some coaching (Yay?)
I'm thinking about buying a heat press (Umm...)
I'm really tired of not skating (Duh)

And, here are a couple more links of roller derby goodness:

zebra huddle (http://www.zebrahuddle.com/)
derby helper (http://derbyhelper.blogspot.com/)
your mom likes roller derby (http://www.yourmomlikesrollerderby.com/)
flattrack (http://flattrack.blogspot.com/)
derbuy (http://www.derbuy.com/)

Moves and changes

2009-09-16T13:09:00.000-04:00

Big changes in my life mean big changes in my roller derby life. Mr. Mayhem got a job in Washington DC, so that means we have moved to our national's capitol. And what is the first thing I did? You guessed it! I got in touch with the DC Rollergirls and was at a practice 2 days after arriving. Yeehaw! Can I just say how awesome derby is? I've been in town only a couple of weeks and I already have a bunch of new friends. The DCRG girls have been super awesomely welcoming and I can't wait to get on a team and start kicking ass!

Just thinking out loud....

2009-07-09T13:47:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure about the fashion merits of this Jean Paul Gaultier ensemble but it looks like it would be mighty useful on the track.

East Coast Derby Extravaganza 2009

2009-07-03T13:03:00.004-04:00

Last year I tore my PCL just before ECE and wasn't even sure I was going to go. I went anyway, and had a great time watching, but of course I wished I could have skated. This year I wasn't going to let anything stop me. Luckily, I ended up on 3 challenge bouts. Unluckily, all three were scheduled back to back to back. First up: Superheroes vs. Villains. My name is probably more suited to the villains, but I always try to use my Mayhem Mojo for good, so I skated for the superheroes. Sadly, evil won over good, but we gave them a run for their money. Next up was Rice vs. Beans, which was definitely my favorite bout. Everyone on this team was super awesome and I had a great time skating with them. And, of course, Rice kicked ass (see score in photo). Last up was Babes in Skateland vs. Bruisejolais Nouveau. I was a Babe and was super psyched to rock my new baby blue ruffle butt panties for this bout. Babes won. Good times.

Oh, yeah, there were some WFTDA bouts, too. Sadly I was not able to watch the Boston v Carolina game (which happened at the same time as my challenge bouts), but I was there for all of the Boston v Windy City bout which was amazing. Also, there was a girl from Windy City who had a spectacularly sparkly shiny glittery silver helmet, which I covet.

Can't wait for next year!

Boston Derby Dames at the Boston Pride Parade 2009

2009-06-13T23:36:00.004-04:00

The Boston Pride Parade was wicked awesome fun. It's nice having everyone yell and cheer for you. It was also nice when the rugby players in front of us gave us a lift up Beacon Hill (Thank you!).

More photos here.

Keeping all your derby crap clean

2009-06-05T23:29:00.001-04:00

Promise of Derby has a nice post on how one keeps all of one's roller derby pads and gear clean and fresh-smelling. Or at least how to minimize the nastiness as much as possible.

Here are some other hopefully helpful links:

Derby Laundry (Promise of Derby)
Roller Girls Yahoo Group discussion on Derby Laundry
Why your pads smell like Doritos -- here
advice from brawlinbettys here
advice from hip domestics here
advice from Derby Nation here
advice from the Gotham Girls board here
WIN high performance sport detergent
Penguin Sport Wash

Roller Derby Injury Reporting Form

2009-06-02T17:07:00.003-04:00

Awhile ago I created an injury report form for my league, to help us keep track of our injuries, and hopefully help prevent them in the future. It is a form created with Google Docs which can be submitted online (which people seem to find easier to do). I thought I would post a generic version here in case anyone else is interested in using it as a template for their own league.

Generic Roller Derby Injury Report Form:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rG6K629ny2yXoCicZGydZ_A&hl=en

If you are not familiar with Google forms, you should follow the link above, and then create a copy. Once you have your copy you can edit the form for your own particular needs. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to help.

Sweet DIY Roller Skates from CRAFT Magazine

2009-05-14T09:13:00.004-04:00

I'll never forget being in Chicago years ago, scoping someone rolling by in some awesome platform roller skates, and wondering where she had found such a rare score. Well, we all know the best way to originality and customization is DIY! Enter CRAFT Volume 07, our Shoeware issue. What issue on shoes would be complete without DIY Roller Skates? This how-to is written by none other than the fine folks over at skates.com, retailers of roller skates and skateboards since 1975. The step-by-step build was done by Richard Humphreys, who has been a professional skater since 1978 and is the creator of rollerdance.com. Needless to say, the man has mad skills!

Check out the full article from CRAFT here along with a video podcast demo below.

Boston Derby Dames Bout #4

2009-05-08T13:43:00.002-04:00

DOUBLE HEADER

Bout #1, 5 pm: Boston Massacre vs. Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (Denver, Colorado)

Bout #2, 7 pm: Cosmonaughties vs. Wicked Pissahs

Halftime sets by The Downbeat 5

After party in the Fez Room with DJ John Barera

Doors at 4 pm, Bout #1 at 5 pm, Bout #2 at 7 pm
Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA
No car? Commuter rail, Zipcar, and ride sharing suggestions
Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door
VIP tickets $20 online only—Available until midnight on Saturday, May 9. Includes guaranteed seating between turns 1 and 2, merch goodies, and skating waitresses so you'll never have to wait in line for concessions.
Bring a canned good to be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank and get derby swag including pins, stickers, and signed posters.

Bout #1: At the June 2008 East Coast Extravaganza, the Massacre took on the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls and lost by just 18 points as RMRG pulled away in the final jams. Will home rink advantage turn things in the Massacre's favor this time? Or will Rocky Mountain's high-altitude endurance give them an insurmountable edge? Read a recap of the June 2008 bout.

Bout #2: It's been 11 months since the Cosmos and Pissahs last took the track together in the Season Two championship bout. Both teams have lost top players to the Boston Masscre roster, with the Cosmos missing star jammers Claire D. Way and Maura Buse, and the Pissahs now minus Shellby Shattered and 2008 Wicked Pissah rookie of the year KrushPuppy. But in the meantime, new stars are emerging: keep your eyes on Cosmo co-captain and jammer Mrs. Dash as well as Varga Bomber, co-captain of the Pissahs and making her mark as a fearsome pivot.

Oh, yeah, and I'm skating in this one! Whoohoo!

Hell on Wheels showing in Boston this Friday!

2009-02-19T19:54:00.003-05:00

I have one thing to say about this: If you play roller derby, you need to watch this movie.

From the Boston Derby Dames website:

Friday, February 20, 2009
Regent Theater, 7 Medford St., Arlington (map)
Wheelchair and MBTA accessible
Free parking across the street
$8 online, $10 at the door . 8 pm

BDD is proud to sponsor a screening of Hell on Wheels--a documentary of the birth of modern day roller derby in 2001 in Austin, Texas--at the historic Regent Theater in Arlington.

What began with plans of creating a circus-like spectacle on skates has spawned more than 200 skater-run leagues in North America and Europe, as entrepreneurship and serious athleticism have become just as big a part of the roller derby revival as campy pseudonyms and sassy uniforms.
Catch scenes of BDD's recently relocated General Lee Feisty in her days with TXRD's Rhinestone Cowgirls. Read more about the movie at the Hell on Wheels site.

Derby season is here!!! Boston Massacre vs. Maine Roller Derby Port Authorities

2009-02-17T16:29:00.002-05:00

Boston Massacre vs. Maine Roller Derby Port Authorities (Portland)
Doors at 5 pm, Bout at 6 pm
Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA
Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door
SEASON TICKETS now available! 9 nights, 17 bouts for $117 — just $6. 88 per bout!

Season Three kicks off with a single-header bout between the Boston
Massacre travel team and our northern nemesisters, the ever-ready
Maine Roller Derby Port Authorities. The Port Authorities wrapped up an
undefeated season in October 2008 after scoring victories against Long
Island, Connecticut, Montreal, and Providence Roller Derby.

Countryfried metal at halftime by Slim Jim & The Madcows.
After party in the Fez Room with DJ Sir Trix-a-Lot, until midnight.

Bigger isn't always better

2009-02-17T16:01:00.003-05:00

Roller Derby Diva has a useful post about skate boot size. I think a lot of skaters (myself included) make the mistake of buying too big because our shoe-shopping experiences have told us that, when in doubt, it's better to have the shoes fit a little big than a little small. When it comes to skates, the opposite is true.

It shouldn’t fit like a normal shoe. It should fit more like a sock, a really expensive leather sock. Maybe this is common knowledge to other skaters who might be reading this, but it sure wasn’t to me.
--Lauren Bishop (Roller Derby Diva)

And then you've gone and bought an expensive pair of skates and by the time you realize they're not fitting right, you can't afford to buy another pair. Blah. This is where I am right now. Really wanting a new pair of boot. And I still haven't found a beer koozie to cut up....

Derby Haiku

2009-02-15T11:24:00.000-05:00

LOOK! up in the sky
Megan skates the tightrope, YO!
foes fall 2 their doom
--from Derby Haiku

Just found out about Derby Haiku via Roller Derby Diva. I love all the myriad ways that people find to express their derby love. In the words of the author:

WHAT'S DERBY HAIKU?

pop culture poems
roller derby finds its voice:
haiku 4 tuff girlz

WHY HAIKU?

short & 2 the point
snippets slam, bam, thank u, ma’am
poet’s power jam

Check it out here

Rank and File: How roller derby teams get ranked

2009-02-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

Many people seem confused about how roller derby teams get ranked. I would count myself in that group. Part of the problem (for me at least) is that roller derby is really the first time I have ever followed a sport closely enough to care about rankings or how they are determined. Derby News Network has a quick explanation of the systems that currently exist, and adds their own system to the list:

1) WFTDA rankings. These are determined on a quarterly basis by a vote of WFTDA member leagues, one vote per league. Starting with the 2008 fourth-quarter rankings, each league votes only to rank teams within its own region -- WFTDA no longer ranks teams quarterly on a national basis. Leagues that have not met minimum participation requirements to support the organization's operational upkeep lose eligibility for ranking in the WFTDA system.

2) Flat Track Stats. These are calculated continuously, based on a carefully crafted algorithm which is routinely tweaked as shortcomings in the system manifest themselves. Flat Track Stats is driven purely by math, removing the possibility of judgment bias but increasing the difficulty of determining which bouts are most indicative of a team's actual skill.
3) DNN Power Rankings. These will be determined by the consensus of Derby News Network principals Gnosis, Justice Feelgood Marshall, and Hurt Reynolds. And by consensus, we mean each of us cooks up our own take on the rankings, then we compare them, marvel at the parts where our conclusions were identical, accuse each other of possible mental disorders where we differ, and eventually find common ground. Through it all, our guiding principle is simply this: If two given teams meet today, which one do we think is more likely to win?

Fishnet Burnns: A Guide to Effective Blocking

2009-02-13T01:43:00.004-05:00

I just found this excellent article on how to block from Fishnet Burns:

"In roller derby, the jammers may be the 'stars' of the show, but we all know where the real excitement is: Big. Fat. Hits.

It's what birthed our very sport, it's what the fans came to see, it's the blocker's bread and butter and it puts the quake in a jammer's knees on the start line.

So how do you hit really hard? Particularly if you're small? With the help of some other skaters, I've broken down the key elements of effective blocking for you.

Find your center

First and foremost, you've got to get balanced, and balance comes from two things: proper skating stance and core strength.

A proper skating stance is one that's low and wide. You knees should be deeply flexed, your ass should be down, not up in the air, and your torso should not be hunched over your thighs. You should always be centered in relation to your skates. You'll notice that if you ever get the majority of your body weight in front of your toes, behind your heels, or past your outside wheels on either skate, you become unstable. So first, make sure your stance is solid, and that you're comfortable staying centered, even when you are putting more weight on one skate than the other.

The second element of balance, and the one that tends to get overlooked is core strength. What is your core? Simply put, it's the very center of your body and the power source behind any thing you do that transfers momentum. Your body core is made up of the muscles in your abs, hips, glutes and lower back.

Consider a baseball player throwing a ball, a golfer swinging a club, or a soccer playing kicking a long pass. The power for these actions doesn't come from the arms or legs alone, or even primarily. The power comes from the core. Twisting the torso, driving the hips and contracting the abdominals all provide the necessary force.

The same is true for blocking in roller derby. You don't hit someone with your shoulder, you hit them with your whole body, contracting and expanding your core like spring to put the 'pop' in a J-block. The power to veer into a check doesn't just come from your legs, it comes from driving your hip toward your target.

You can build up your core by working your abs, your lumbar region, your glutes and your hip flexors and abductors. There's plenty of info on the net about how to do this but a sampling of effective exercises would include crunches and side crunches, leg lifts, back hyperextensions, seated rows, kickbacks, side lunges and wide-legged squats. A personal trainer would be a huge help in targeting these areas, but with some preparation and discipline you can also do it effectively on your own.

Bodybuilding.com is an awesome resource to find exercises that target specific muscle groups and the options run the gamut from body weight and free weight exercises to machine exercises.

Don't sweat the technique

Make sure you know your basic blocking form. Familiarize yourself with the J-block (rising into a block from a squat when using the shoulder), the correct form for a hip check (more on that later), and how to properly execute a can opener. Have an advanced teammate or coach watch you and critique your form so you're not wasting energy practicing the wrong moves.

Be light on your feet

Footwork is probably more important to effective blocking than size. No matter how big you are, if you skate like a bus low on steering fluid, you probably won't hit anyone because they'll have all day to get out of your path.

Blocking power can come from speed instead of mass, so use your skating skills to your advantage. You have probably done drills where you cut from one side of the track to the other, or where you veer through cones placed in a wide zig-zag pattern. That's the move you need to use, that quick cut from one side of the track to the other.

Make sure you lead with the foot that's on the same side you are blocking toward. Turn that toe and knee out toward your target and focus the weight on that foot into the outside of your heel. You should be able to lift your front wheels clear off the floor once you get comfortable with it. At the same time, dig in with your other foot and carve a half circle toward the side you are blocking on, like when you skate with all eight on the floor. The weight in that skate should be focused on the inside edge and you should push through the heel, almost pivoting on the front wheels.

Really drive your hips into it like you're skiing and remember that the deeper you scissor your legs from front to back and from side to side, the faster you can cut. Lead into it with your hip and really commit to the block.

Again, make sure you are skating in a proper stance. This makes you hard to knock down, and when you're hitting someone, most of the time it's the lower, more stable skater who will stay on their feet.

Good footwork is not just important in performing a block, but in strategically lining one up as well. If you can intersect a skater much faster than she can anticipate, you will have the upper hand. Work on moving around the track quickly, by veering, hopping, crossing over and running through corners to build the type of explosive agility that will catch opponents by surprise.

Block smarter, then harder

Use the corners to your advantage. When you block with a quick cut from the inside of a corner to the outside, where centripetal force is on your side, you don't need a ton of power to knock down a larger skater, and a smaller skater is often easily floored.

Watch for the way the pack often stretches out into a near line around corners, particularly with newer leagues/skaters, exposing an irresistible hole to a jammer taking the outside. Meet her in the middle of this gap and give her your regards.

If you're smaller, don't forget you can work with your teammates on whipping and pushing you into blocks for more power. This is especially effective if you have a 1-2 blocker combo where you have a larger, power hitter, and a smaller, agile blocker. The power blocker can take on the big girls and focus on forceouts, and the agile blocker can move quickly for surprise hits or to get in front of a jammer for a positional block, lining her up for a takeout by the power hitter. The bigger skater knows to whip and throw the smaller skater into the jammer, and the smaller skater knows to use the bigger skater as a screen and line up hits for her.

Less can be more

I love putting girls on the floor as much as the next derby player, but don't forget that as a blocker, your job is not always to knock opponents down, nor is it always the best use of your energy. If you can distract an opposing blocker or draw her out of position with a quick jab of your hip or shoulder so your jammer can sneak by, then save your steam for when you really need to make somebody polish the sport court.

Use 6.2.10 to your advantage

Make the opposing skater, particularly the jammer, cut the track by blocking her to the inside, especially on the corners where she can easily re-enter illegally before she can stop herself. I've also seen lots of blockers hit a jammer out of bounds and then slow almost to a stop, making her wait to re-enter or get the penalty. Although personally, I think it's a rule loophole that will likely be fixed in a future revision, you will usually get away with it.

Be sneaky

The hardest hit is the one you don't see coming. So hit girls on the side they aren't looking on. A great place to do this is on the corners when blockers look over their left shoulders for the jammers. As soon as you see the back of an opposing blocker's helmet, knock her into the infield.

Be unpredictable

Don't telegraph your block by looking at the girl you want to hit, tensing your body, and lining her up. She will see it coming a mile away and you'll whiff the block big time. Use your peripheral vision and work on your timing, so you can move at the last second and still connect.

Be ruthless

Use your strongest weapons against their weakest points. In roller derby that usually means a hip check to the mid thigh. You'd be surprised at how many skaters you can take out with a hard block, low in the legal zone, when you could shoulder check them all day and just bounce off.

A great way to use a hip check is actually to aim for the inside of the opposing skater's thigh, on her outside leg. So you actually cut in front of her body and hit on the inside of her leg instead of hitting her in her side. Time it right and it will usually take a skater right out.

Take that, rewind it back

If you want to take your blocking to the next level, do yourself a favor and learn to block backward. Not only in the sense of blocking to the front of the body, but in the sense of making a quick and very sharp veer that carries you at a 90 degree angle toward another skater. Master this move so that you are just this side of actually skating clockwise to block and savor the surprise of your enemies.

Charge the front line

I can't stress enough how important blocking to the front of the body is. I don't even try to check girls shoulder to shoulder anymore because it's a waste of my energy. Instead, I focus on using my shoulders to hit girls in the chest, or if you get low and swoop upward, in the solar plexus, which is even better. For hip checks, hit them in the front of the thighs, crotch, or stomach, which will really mess up their skating stance and force them out of balance. The can opener (using your shoulder to strike backward against the front of an opposing skater's body) is an absolutely indispensable move that every skater should master.

Bring the pain

Lastly, don't be afraid to hurt somebody. Legally, of course.

Far too many new skaters under-commit to blocks, pulling back at the last second. If you've never practiced checking a blocking pad, try it. It helps let go of the anxiety of injuring someone and lets you feel the full power of your efforts and determine where you need more follow through. Borrow a little wisdom from martial arts and imagine your target on the other side of the skater or blocking pad you are hitting. Don't strike at your target, strike all the way through it for maximum power.

Excluding scrimmage and drills where you are told to block at low power, don't be scared to open up your entire can of whoop ass and serve it cold with a straw. It's a great compliment to another skater to clean her clock, and to borrow a bit more from martial arts, kendo practitioners talk about the zen involved in receiving a really hard hit, because for one second, their mind is completely clear. Make 'em say 'om'.

Portions of this article were originally posted in a thread on the Skatelog forums. Special thanks to the participants of that thread, some of whose ideas have been incorporated here."

Medical Mayhem

2009-02-13T01:24:00.003-05:00

I am fairly sure someone out there has got it in for me. I have been out of commission for awhile with severe bronchitis and something called hyper-reactive airway syndrome, whatever that means. I spent 2 days in the hospital and am currently working from home because doing things like going outside in the cold distresses my lungs. At what point did I become an old person? I am hoping to be well enough to skate a bit on Monday. Wish me luck.

How to fix skates that are loose in the heels

2009-01-05T17:00:00.010-05:00

It seems the occupation for all roller derby girls is a constant search to make your skates fit right and work well. I feel your pain. Of late I am thinking about my heels, which don't fit very well in my skate and are always coming up off the footbed when I skate. This seems like a bad thing. A couple of solutions I have found (but not yet tried):

Powerslide ankle stabilizers:
(available from several places including Connie's Skate Place)

The DIY beer-solves-all-problems solution:
originally posted on the SkateLog Forum.

Perhaps a combination of the two?

Anybody else out there found other solutions?

Roller Derby Helmet Cam - Eastern Regional Tour

2008-12-24T08:01:00.000-05:00

Just heard about this video via the rollergirls yahoo group and Hurt Reynolds. Very cool footage. I would love to see more of this!

"If you've seen helmet cam footage shot by competing skaters, you've probably noticed that it can be hard to follow because any alert skater keeps her head on a swivel at all times. Refs, though, are watching the bigger picture, and the change of aspect yields a much better result. Interesting to think what a dedicated camera-skater might accomplish this way."

National Medical Roller Derby Research

2008-12-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Photo: K. T. Ryder Wilkie, 10-14-07

From the rollergirls yahoo board comes this interesting post about a new medical study being done on injuries in roller derby. I think this is so fantastic. Good solid research will eventually help us to be safer. More safety = Less injuries = More kicking ass! I have already filled out this survey and I think you should, too. Right now.

Injury Experience in Roller Derby Athletes

Attention Roller Derby Girls!

Roller Derby is moving fast! Media exposure is expanding.

The next step is medical research! Sports medicine doctors at the University of Utah are studying Roller Derby injuries. By studying how athletes get hurt, they hope to figure out how to prevent future injuries and keep Derby Girls safely rolling.

Everyone's experience is important. Be heard by helping with this nationwide study. Follow the link below to answer some questions. Even if you haven't been injured, please fill out the survey. It will only take five or ten minutes, and we aren't collecting any names. We will collect your year of birth, insurance status, and description of non-Derby and Derby related injuries.

Your information is safe and will only be used for this research project. All data will be password-protected on a University website and database. However, with everything there may be risk- a potential risk may be loss of confidentiality. There is no reward for completing the survey; but, everyone's experience is important! Be heard by helping with this nationwide study.

Do you have any Roller Derby friends that didn't get this link? Please send this link to them – we don't want to miss anybody!

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints or if you feel you have been harmed by this research please contact Dutch Plante (Research Coordinator, Division of PM&R, University of Utah) at 801 585 6998.

Contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) if you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant. Also, contact the IRB if you have questions, complaints or concerns which you do not feel you can discuss with the investigator. The University of Utah IRB may be reached by phone at (801) 581-3655 or by e-mail at irb@hsc.utah.edu.

Participation in this study is voluntary. You can choose not to take part and you can also choose not to finish the questionnaire or omit any question you prefer not to answer without penalty or loss of benefits.

By completing this questionnaire at the below listed web link, you are giving your consent to participate.

https://securembm.uuhsc.utah.edu/ESurvey/index.cfm?event=Run.Open&Run.RemoteKey=060105677678756371037467790F701170750416727B05657071021073797461

Thank you for your participation,
Ethan Colliver, D.O.
Stuart Willick, M.D.
University of Utah

Dreadnought and her Derby Quilt of Awesomeness

2008-12-22T19:03:00.000-05:00

Dreadnought's roller derby quilt has taken on a life of its own and decided to move to a new blog. Check it out at http://rollerderbyquilt.blogspot.com/. There are rumors of a magazine article and a possible senate seat. Stay tuned for more details!

We season our lobster with the blood of our enemies! Yummm

2008-11-17T18:24:00.005-05:00

The Weekly Dig came out with its Dig This Awards 2008 and guess who was voted Best Citizen's Militia? You guessed it!

Best Citizens' Militia
Boston Derby Dames

"Anyone who's been to one of the league's roller derby bouts wouldn't mind getting "blocked and rolled" by the Boston Derby Dames. Fueled, no doubt, by some combination of petrol and bourbon, they season their lobster with the blood of their enemies and look hotter on wheels than any girl in stilettos. What began in 2005 now boasts three home teams - the Cosmonaughties, Nutcrackers and Wicked Pissahs - and an all-star traveling team, the Boston Massacre. With handles like "Pussy Venom" and "KrushPuppy," the Dames would likely jump at the chance to defend the People's Republic. As one classic derby adage goes: "Skate faster, pussycat! Kill! Kill!" [bostonderbydames.com]"

How to protect your toes!

2008-11-16T00:30:00.000-05:00

It is amazing to me that companies like Riedell have not caught on to the fact that roller derby utterly and completely destroys the toes of your skate boots. Very quickly. Those toe guard things they sell do not do the trick. If you look at the toes of roller girls you will likely see a lot of duct tape. Some folks do get more creative. I've seen bike tire tread, for instance, which is pretty cool.

Right now my skates look like this: I have the traditional Riedell toe guard (black) over a hand made leather toe cover (blue) that I bought at ECE. The toe covers looked cool but did not last very long, although I heard that they were selling versions with more durable leather, but had sold out by the time I got there. So there is a lot of duct tape in addition to those two things. And I can tell that this won't last very long either. So I am in the market for new toe protection.

Here are some other options I have found:

A couple of enterprising souls have made their own wrap around toe covers. Dandelion Factory has some handmade toe covers for sale at Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16986912) that look pretty good.

I found this interesting toe cover from Skechers (http://www.skates.com/Skechers_Toe_Covers_p/sctc.htm) that I might try out:There are also a couple of products out there that you can brush directly onto your boot that are supposed to create a hard layer on your boot toe. For instance, A.L.21 Sports Toe Guard Hockey Skate Protector and Pro Guard Hockey Skate Toe Protector. I don't know anyone who has tried these, but at around $5 it seems like it might be worth a try.

Anyone else out there found a better (or cooler) way to protect yor toes? I'd love to hear about it.

Start checking off your Christmas list -- BDD 2009 Season passes are here!

2008-11-03T16:32:00.002-05:00

Season Passes to Boston Derby Dames' 2009 Season!
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/46105?prod_id=2585

Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door (good for both bouts of the double header)
Season tickets now available! 9 nights, 17 bouts for $117—just $6.88 per bout!

*February 28th - Boston Massacre vs. Maine
*March 21st - Boston Massacre vs. Charm City and Nuts vs. Cosmos
*April 18th - Nuts vs. Pissahs and Boston Massacre vs. Philly
*May 16th - Boston Massacre vs. Rocky Mountain and Cosmos vs. Pissahs
*June 20th - Nuts vs. Cosmos and Boston Massacre vs. Texas
*July 18th - Boston Massacre vs. Duke City and Nuts vs. Pissahs
*August 15th - Cosmos vs. Pissahs and Boston Massacre vs. Detroit
*September 19th - Boston Massacre vs. Pikes Peak and Home team
Playoffs (Team #2 vs. Team #3)
*October 10th - Season 3 Championships and Team #3 vs. TBD

All bouts held at Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington MA.
February bout: Doors at 5pm, bout at 6:00
Doubleheader bouts March - October: Doors at 4pm,
1st bout at 5:00, 2nd bout at 7:00
DJ
Awesome half time shows
Family friendly
Bar and concession stand on premises
After party on location, directly following each bout

***You must provide an address in order to get your season pass***

Notes
Directions: Shriner's is located just 15 minutes north of Boston at
exit 39 on route 93. There is FREE PARKING on site.

For purchasing tickets for individual bouts see the following link:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/2585

Pizza, Buns, and Roller Derby!

2008-10-19T13:09:00.004-04:00

People who know me know that there are three things that I am crazy about: Roller Derby, Ants, and Bunnies. I have finally managed to find a way to combine at least two of those passions:

The House Rabbit Network (HRN) is a rabbit adoption and rescue organization of which I am very familiar with as Mr. Mayhem and I often have them bunnysit our two adorable buns. On Tuesday, October 21st from 4-9 pm they will be holding a fundraiser at Flatbread restaurant in Bedford. Order pizza and Flatbread will donate a percentage of their profits to HRN. In addition, you can buy tickets for a menagerie of auction items including a facial rejuvenation treatment ($450 value), a pair of ski passes good for skiing at Wachusett Mountain ($98 value), Legal Seafood gift card ($50 value), an autographed photo of Kevin Youkilis at bat, and ...... wait for it...... 2 tickets to a Boston Massacre bout! Oh yeah. More info here.

And now I have an excuse to put up some photos of my bunnies:

POWER JAM!

2008-10-19T12:59:00.001-04:00

Boston's own Jeff da Reff explains what a POWER JAM is:

Roller Derby Power Jam Explained

Not Boston's year for nationals, but stellar nonetheless

2008-10-15T15:49:00.003-04:00

Via Boston Derby Dames:

"In the 2008 eastern regional tournament, the Boston Massacre found themselves on both sides of the coin in the two closest bouts of the weekend: losing by two to Carolina only to beat Madison by two later in the weekend.

After rolling over Grand Raggidy Roller Derby 130-32 (holding GRRD to two points in the entire second period and turning in the largest point differential of day one), the Massacre missed a berth at nationals by just two points with a 77-75 defeat at the hands of 3rd-ranked Carolina Rollergirls.

In the consolation bout rounds, the Massacre defeated Cincinnati for the second time this season, sending them home with a 131-76 loss. And in what many skaters called the toughest bout of the tournament, the Massacre turned in another nailbiter with a 90-88 victory over the hosting Mad Rollin’ Dolls to end up fifth in the tournament.

As they did in 2007 with an overtime loss to Detroit, the Massacre turned in the closest, hardest-fought bouts of a weekend that saw many runaway victories. Doubters be damned—Boston is undeniably on the national flat-track map!

Check out archived boutcasts at Derby News Network and check back there later this week for more full recaps of the weekend’s highlight bouts."

Oh, yeah... did I mention I got teamed?

2008-10-09T23:53:00.004-04:00

Queen Kamayhemayhem is now officially a member of the Cosmonaughties!

new regions!

2008-10-08T08:39:00.003-04:00

Next year WFTDA will go from being a 2 region system to a 4 region one. There are a lot of good reasons for this to happen but one downside is that the 12 top teams will advance to regionals, which means (in our region) every single league but one. Sucks to be that league! Although I suspect no league will stand to be in the bottom two years in a row. Should mean some awesome bouts towards the end of the season!

I'm Afraid to Tell my Roller Derby Team

2008-10-06T18:17:00.003-04:00

This was spotted by one of my league-mates on PostSecret. I find it rather heart-wrenching and poignant.

Foot pain -- how to tie your laces

2008-08-17T09:01:00.000-04:00

What do all roller girls have in common? Well, lots of things. But today we're talking about foot pain. Here is a nice blog about how to tie your laces to alleviate foot soreness. Be sure to click on the followup post for further modifications that can be done to your skates. This looks like a good blog for foot issues. There are posts about heel slippage, blisters, and the dreaded top of the foot bump. For extra bonus fun, check out this site on many and various ways to tie your shoe laces.

3.1 is here: WFTDA Releases Rules Update

2008-08-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

What do you call a group of roller derby referees? I'm sure there's a cool word we could come up with. Like a murder of crows. Perhaps a judgment of referees? Or we could just stick with the zebra theme and go with a herd of referees. Anyhoo...

Derby News Network has a nice overview of the rules changes. Most are fairly minor, but one change that will be most obvious to fans is how periods end. Previously, the period would end as soon as the period clock hit zero, even if that occurred in the middle of a jam. Now, the final jam will be allowed to continue to completion.

Get 3.1 here.

New Hampshire Double Dose of Derby

2008-08-05T22:04:00.005-04:00

Saturday I skated in my first public scrimmage. It was totally awesome and I want more more more. My favorite pic is above. That's me yelling at my teammates that the jammer is coming up.

This is me in the penalty box. My first major! I got called for cutting the track and passing the last opposing blocker in the pack. I'm actually kind of proud of this because I was trying to get up there so that my fellow blocker, who was up ahead blocking the opposing jammer, wouldn't get called on a 20ft. So my execution wasn't super, but I knew what was going on and what I needed to do to help.

More photos are below:

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/NHRollerDerby/Unicorns%20Dragons%20Jesus%20Satan%20Aug2%2008/?albumview=grid
http://www.flickr.com/photos/queen_kamayhemayhem/sets/72157606536660541/
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS01/900604735/-1/OPINION02
http://www.bostonderbydames.com/index.cfm?cd=MAE&cdid=11088&pid=10200
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgray1205/sets/72157606551674139/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15921553@N05/sets/72157606527050552/
http://sanborn.smugmug.com/gallery/5608171_nKwhG#344250833_x7WGm

Jammin' for Jesus! I love how everybody looks so sweet and I just look like a goofball.

Skatin' for Satan! That's Mini-Bloodbath on the right as the team mascot. So adorable. Of course, we had Jesus rooting for us, and you can't beat that!

Aside from actually skating, my second favorite thing was seeing someone wearing one of my t-shirt designs from my cafepress store. This is the first time this has actually happened and was wicked cool! Big thanks to Dee Stortion and the entire Skate Free or Die Rollergirls for putting on an amazing event that I know everyone had a great time at. I want to do it again right now!

Photos: top two courtesy of Kysa and Jeremy, bottom two from angie_phoenix

August 9, 2008: Boston Massacre vs Dallas Derby Devils

2008-07-26T22:59:00.002-04:00

Image: designed by Rocky, photo from ECE by Mayhem (that's me!!)

Saturday, August 9
Boston Massacre vs Dallas Derby Devils
Doors at 5pm, Bout at 6pm
After party with DJ Sir Trix-a-Lot
Tickets available online at BrownPaperTickets.com.
$14 in advance, $16 at the door

"After a brutal smack-down of the Ohio Roller Girls (183-5) in July, the Boston Massacre gets ready to host the Dallas Derby Devils, currently ranked 21st in the nation and 10th in their Western division, in their last home bout before the 2008 regional tournaments.

Boston has lost only one bout since their overtime loss to Detroit at the 2007 regionals—a well-matched bout against Rocky Mountain Roller Girls at ECDX in June 2008—racking up decisive wins against Dominion, Gotham Girl's Bronx Gridlock, Cincinnati, Houston, and Ohio. Meanwhile Dallas has hung tough in '08 against opponents including Albuquerque's Duke City (losing by just one point in a low-scoring 63-62 game) and Charm City (a 117-89 loss for DDD). They've also decimated opponents from northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma, and LA's Angel City.

On paper, these two teams seem able to give each other a run for their money. Will Dallas shake the Massacre's at-home winning streak, or will the pantsless militia send another Texas team packing?"

Boston Derby Dames recruiting skaters and referees

2008-07-18T08:20:00.000-04:00

For all you girls out there who have been dying to become a Dame, now is your chance. BDD is hosting informal skate clinics throughout the summer and fall, leading up to tryouts on Sunday, November 2. And if you think wearing stripes and having the power to send a Dame to the penalty box is more your style, referees tryouts will happen at the same time.

All of the information is online here, and in PDF form here. So download it, print it out, and commit it to memory. Then beg, borrow, or steal yourself some skates and start practicing! If you have any questions, email freshmeat@bostonderbydames.com

The Uneven Playing Field -- women and ACL injuries

2008-07-17T23:22:00.001-04:00

"If girls and young women ruptured their A.C.L.’s at just twice the rate of boys and young men, it would be notable. Three times the rate would be astounding. But some researchers believe that in sports that both sexes play, and with similar rules — soccer, basketball, volleyball — female athletes rupture their A.C.L.’s at rates as high as five times that of males."

I just read a fascinating article in the New York Times the other day about ACL injuries in female athletes. Really interesting (and scary) stuff. It mostly focuses on adolescent girls, but most of the stuff in it applies to adult female athletes, too. Not only does it talk about the physical risk factors that make women more susceptible to ACL injuries (looser ligaments, more flexibility, greater propensity to be knock-kneed, a more upright running posture), but it also talks about the emotional and social issues which may also have an impact -- the relative newness of women's athletics in general (Title IX is only 36 years old), the feeling women often have that they need to "tough it out" to prove they belong, the strong social bond they feel with their teammates that they don't want to give up for an injury, and the political touchiness of people who think that focusing on a woman's propensity to be injured will set back their work to put men's and women's athletics on an equal playing field. Read the full article here.

The Marriage of Queen Kamayhemayhem and her King

2008-07-17T12:37:00.000-04:00

This is my anniversary present to my husband. Happy 6th Mr. Mayhem!

The Slay Ride & Keeping your Eye on the Jammer

2008-07-08T13:51:00.004-04:00

Photo: Charm City v Houston, East Coast Derby Extravaganza 2008 (©K.T. Ryder Wilkie)

If you were at ECE (or even if you weren't), you know about the gigantic block Beyonslay laid on Rice Rocket during the Gotham v Texas matchup. Punchy O'Guts has a nice blog post where she not only gives this block the props it deserves, she also comments on the smart play involved:

"What's really notable - besides the giant, most incredible hit I've ever seen - is the smart play.
1. Beyonslay easily moves Rice Rocket out with a booty block. She pays attention to the track boundary and lets up at just the right moment.
2. As the pack moves toward the outside Beyonslay sneaks through the inside - as Rice Rocket does - and prepares for her hit.
3. If the team hadn't raced back up with Beyonslay she wouldn't have been able to legally lay on on her.
4. Rice Rocket took the biggest hit I've ever seen and hopped back up as if nothing ever happened. And this was after another blocker gave her a sternum block. Most jammers would probably lie there in utter shock. Rice Rocket is incredible."

All nice points. I went back and watched the video a couple more times just to see the strategy going on. Really interesting stuff. Going through my bazillion photos from ECE one of the things that struck me is how you can tell the good teams just by looking at the photos because everybody has their eye on the jammer. No matter what was going on in the pack or how far away the jammers were, they all had their eyes on a jammer. Which is a lesson I shall try to take to heart.

Inspirational Roller Derby Posters

2008-07-03T08:55:00.003-04:00

Photo by SmoPho

I've been doing a lot of physical therapy of late, and as a result have spent an inordinately long period of time staring at the three inspiration posters that have been hung on the wall there. You know the kind I mean. A picture of a rock climber dangling off the side of a cliff with the word PERSEVERANCE under him, and some pithy quote underneath about believing and achieving. Which is all well and good, but where's the fun in that?

Here's the fun: Roller derby photographer extraordinaire SmoPho has a set of inspirational roller derby posters up on his Flickr page. I love the concept! Also, I really want to make a set of my own, with Boston girls, of course.

June 14, 2008: Season Two Championship, Cosmonaughties 58, Wicked Pissahs 69

2008-06-26T13:01:00.003-04:00

So it seems like it was ten thousand years ago, but in fact it was only a couple of weeks ago that the Cosmonaughties faced off against the Wicked Pissahs in the season championships. Mr. Hits did his usual awesome job of recapping the bout:

"Meet the new champs. Same as the old champs. In the business of Boston roller derby, nobody does it better than the Wicked Pissahs, and this revered squad has now added a second championship trophy to their mantle. Saturday, June 14 marked the Boston Derby Dames’ Season Two championship bout, and the favored Pissahs dodged an upset and capped off their perfect season by beating the Cosmonaughties in an epic nailbiter. To the casual observer, the lack of back-breaking collisions may have proved surprising, but for superfans like Papa Fevah, it was glorious derby from both sides: lots of controlled skating and mid-stream adjustments, and a complete unwillingness to quit. The Cosmos, this year’s playoff Cinderella story, worked their magic again and almost engineered an unlikely win. The bout’s outcome remained in question even in the final few minutes, but the Pissahs were a team of destiny this season, and they ultimately locked it down to finish with a 69-58 victory."

Read more here.
(update: photos can be found here)

East Coast Extravaganza 2008

2008-06-25T07:56:00.003-04:00

Photos from top: Boston B Party, Sugar Hits gets a whip from Triple Deck-Her against Houston, Sarah Doom attempts to pull her way through the Rocky Mountain Pack with Shellby Shattered's shirt (successfully, I believe).

I can't even believe how much derby I just witnessed. I cannot even deal with how much stuff I just saw and want to write about, which means I probably never will, so just a quick summary:

Boston Massacre v Rocky Mountain Roller Girls (111-93). Boo!
Boston Massacre v Houston Roller Derby (114-38). Yay!
Boston B Party v Steel City Demons Steel Hurtin (not sure, but it was definitely a Boo!)

Recap from Ruby Khan's blog can be found here.
Recap from Derby News Network can be found here.
Tons o' Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
Videos (courtesy of Mr. Mayhem) can be found on my YouTube channel.
While you're there, be sure to check out this video of Beyonslay taking out the opposing jammer. A-frickin-mazing! Be sure to click on the "watch in high quality" link. The big moment happens at 0:41.
Photos from Xena Paradox.
Lots o stuff from Derby News Network.
east coast extravaganza -- 2008 Flickr group -- not to be confused with the Official East Coast Derby Eztravaganza Group. At the moment, the former has only a few hundred photos from 10 or so contributors and the latter has no photos at all. But hopefully that will change soon, so keep checking back.

And if anyone else has any more photos, videos, updates, etc. please send them along!

East Coast Derby Extravaganza!!

2008-06-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Even though I can't skate this weekend, I did decide to make the trek over to Philly for the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. Boston Massacre is playing in 2 WFTDA bouts and Boston B-Party is playing in a challenge bout, so I will be sure to cheer them on. I was also scheduled (before the injury) to be in two challenge bouts -- Geeks vs. Beauty Queens and Jews vs. Goys. Although I won't be skating, several other Boston Derby Dames will be in these scrimmages, so I will definitely be cheering from the sidelines. I wasn't sure I was going to go because I thought I would just be too depressed that I wasn't skating; but as the weekend draws near I find that I am more and more excited. It will be so amazing to see so many different leagues all together in one place! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and will hopefully have some interesting blog posts when I return. If you see me hanging out, feel free to say hello. Hope to see you there!

PCL Injuries in Roller Derby

2008-06-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

Molly Python, in the process of tearing her PCL.
Photo by L.J. McAllister, posted on the Jet City Rollergirls Flickr site.

Having a PCL tear has been an interesting experience as a patient because it is apparently not a very common injury. My original doctor had never seen one before and was pretty pleased with himself for diagnosing it correctly (later confirmed by the MRI). He's still talking about it. The orthopedist I was referred to gave me a little pamphlet entitled "You and your knee injury" or something similar, where the only line in it about the PCL is that it is injured much less frequently than the ACL. Not too helpful. He only gave it to me for the drawing in it that showed where the PCL was located. When I went to my physical therapist, he called in his student to check it out because she wasn't likely to get another chance anytime soon. Which I find fascinating because it seems to be fairly common in roller derby.

Apparently people tear their PCLs mostly from being in car accidents (when they're shins hit the dashboard) or playing football (when they are tackled from the front while planting their feet). How common it is in the general populace is not really known, but studies of National Football League (NFL) pre-draft physical examinations showed 2% incidence of PCL injuries where the football player didn't even know he had ever torn his PCL. PCL injuries which were known about, operated on, or combined with other ligament injuries ranged from 3.5-20%. That seems fairly high to me, but we're talking about professional-level football players, so it doesn't seem ridiculous.

What about roller derby? WFTDA conducted an injury survey last year whose results are available on the WFTDASafetySquad Yahoo Group. Here's a bunch of disclaimers: This is in no way a scientific study. Responding was voluntary. I have only skimmed the surface of these results and could easily have made mistakes. That being said, I think there are some interesting trends to be found:

Out of 1070 respondents, 574 (~54%) reported an injury that kept them from participation on one or more occasions.
Of those 574, 262 (~46%) report a knee injury (more than any other type of injury by far)
Of those 262, 36 (~14%) specifically mention the PCL in their description of their injury. This does not count all the people (20) who said they had injured their knee ligaments but were not specific as to which ligaments, or the many others who said they had injured their knee in some unspecified manner.

that's a pretty high percentage.

Can we do anything to prevent them? I'll save that for another post.

Answers on demand from the WFTDA Rules Committee

2008-06-15T23:08:00.002-04:00

Are you confused by 3.0? Have a question about the rules and want the official answer? Well, you're in luck! The WFTDA Rules Committee has come out with a web page just for you! Answers on demand straight from the horse's mouth. I think this is a fabulous example of an organization using the internet in a simple but highly effective way to reach out to its members. There are only 3 questions up there now, but hopefully more will come. I know you have questions. Come on. You know you want to. What happens if the jammer panty falls off the jammer and then a dog runs onto the track and scoots away with it? What happens if a referee falls onto the track and takes out a jammer? Is it legal to wear an earpiece so your coach can give you advice while you're jamming? I'm not sure. Let's find out!

WFTDA Rules: Questions, Clarifications & Answers

Boston Derby Dames Season Two Championship Preview Podcast

2008-06-12T17:05:00.003-04:00

Mr. Hits is my new favorite person. Not only does he do bout recaps, but now he is doing bout previews -- on a podcast no less! Check it out here. Oh yeah, and come to the bout! It's going to be a-mazing!

This isn't skating, this is roller derby! -- knee injury update

2008-06-07T07:00:00.001-04:00

So, I saw the orthopedist on Thursday. He said that I had definitely torn my PCL, probably a complete tear, but that nothing else was injured (Yay!). He estimated a recovery period of 6-8 weeks (Boo!). He says he sees this kind of injury a lot in football players and car accident victims! Generally from a hard blow to the shin (which is definitely what happened to me). I probably won't need surgery (Yay!). Apparently the PCL ligament will probably not heal itself but most people compensate for a torn PCL by strengthening the surrounding muscles and never need surgery. I asked, what about skating? He said, that should be fine. To which my husband said, wait a minute -- she's not talking about skating, she's talking about roller derby! Unfazed, the doctor cited a study of knee injuries in college football players who have been scouted and are thought likely to be drafted by the NFL. Apparently a lot of them are found to have had PCL injuries which they either didn't know about or never told anyone about. Which means that even with the PCL injury they were still able to compete at a very high level with little or no problems. Which was exactly the right thing to say to my husband. So.... that's the news from Mayhemlandia. Let's see if I can shorten that recovery time a bit!

Flames shooting up every time someone gets knocked on their ass!

2008-06-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

One of the things I love about roller derby is the creativity it seems to produce in people. One has only to look at a list of roller derby names or see a photo album of skater and ref uniforms to realize we are one creative bunch! Check out this article in Make Magazine on wireless motion sensing in roller derby. Not sure it would work very well to actually keep track of hits, but the author envisions something much more fantastic --

"If the skaters wore motion sensors, I figured, you could make things react to the action. Sound effects on every hit! A synchronized soundtrack! Flames shooting up every time a player gets knocked out of bounds! The possibilities are endless."

I like the way he thinks! Check it out here or go buy Volume 14 at your local bookstore.

BDD Season Two Championship Bout -- June 14th

2008-06-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington
Doors at 5pm, bouts start at 6pm
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Live music by Campaign for Real Time
After party with DJ Boo Boo Danger
Don't miss the Digital Automagic Audience Participatory Photo Booth in the Fez Room

It's a re-match of Season One's championship bout, with the Cosmonaughties once again taking on the Wicked Pissahs for the BDD crown.

Last year the Pissahs kicked their game into high gear midway through the season and after one tie (against the Cosmos) and one loss (to the Nutcrackers), they turned it around to beat the Nuts in the playoffs and skate past the Cosmos in the championships.

This year the Cosmos are the ones entering the championship bout with a shaky season record: only one win, a well-timed victory over the Nuts in the playoffs. Will they bounce back from a 1-2 season to hand the Pissahs their first loss of the year, or will the tough-girl townies take the trophy twice in a row, with an undefeated season to boot?

"Lick my Skates" anytime you want!

2008-06-04T14:06:00.000-04:00

Speaking of the CCTV documentary, if you really enjoyed the soundtrack song, it is now available to download for free from the CCTV website:

"Lick My Skates" (theme from The Dames)

Length: 1:28 minutes (1.68 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)

The theme song from CCTV's Project Documentary production, The Dames.

"Lick My Skates" was written by Eli Kao
Performers are-
Eli, guitar, additional instruments
Shaun Clarke, bass
Justin Vassallo, drums
Galaktika Cheer Squad (Therese, Larisa, Lina, Lizzie and Bob), vocals

This track is free to distribute with following restrictions- Attribution required, no commercial use allowed. Direct link HERE.

The Dames is a short documentary that profiles the Boston Derby Dames, Boston's first and only women's flat track roller derby league.

too much kicking puppies apparently

2008-06-04T11:27:00.001-04:00

Tragedy strikes again in Mayhemlandia as our erstwhile hero (that's me) is once again plagued by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I tore my PCL at practice last Wednesday and will definitely be off skates for awhile. I mean really, doesn't that just seem a little too ridiculous? I've been skating for almost exactly a year now and I have 1) broken my arm 2) torn my MCL 3) gotten pneumonia, 4) fractured a rib, and 5) torn my PCL. What's up with that? I gotta find out who's sticking needles into a doll of me. I have an appointment tomorrow with the orthopedist, so hopefully will know more soon.

Second (and third and fourth) chance to see "The Dames"

2008-06-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

If you missed CCTV's screening of "The Dames" in Feb or if you saw it and want to make your unenlightened friends come with you this time, now's your chance! There will be three more screenings. Admission is free. I highly recommend it!

Thursday June 5th, 8:00pm, Middlesex Lounge. (315 Mass Ave in Cambridge)

Wednesday June 18th, 6:30 + 8:00pm, Enormous room. (567 Mass Ave. in Central Square.) It is on the Red Line Central Square T stop. Right upstairs from the train. The only sign is a red elephant. Look for Central Kitchen and climb on top of it. Wow. Now is your chance to hang out somewhere so hip that you need to know a secret sign to find it! How can you say no?

some great roller derby videos

2008-05-19T18:23:00.000-04:00

A couple of great videos have recently been floating around the web. They are all worth a look.

First up we have Ninjas of Knowledge from KCK Public Library. This video features roller derby, ninjas, and libraries. I really don't think I have to say anything else. Except this one thing: how come I didn't know there was a kick-ass rollergirl with one arm? That frickin' rocks.
Via Pigeons Playing Roller Derby.

Next up: Roller Derby PSAs from the Minnesota Rollergirls. "Remember, it's okay to call a foul. Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed. They know what they did. " So awesome. Speaking of, I got called on a head-butt at yesterday's scrimmage. For some reason, that made me really happy.
Via Roller Derby Diva.

Lastly is Roller Derby Revival, a nice little video from ESPN (Yay!) about, duh, the roller derby revival.
It's nice to get a little mainstream recognition, and it's nice to see something professionally done, but I gotta say, I found it kinda lacking. And what's with the pillow fights? Who does that? I much prefer the CCTV documentary.

Roller Derby Party Bus

2008-05-17T18:45:00.000-04:00

I saw this flyer on the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls website. What a fun idea! I think this would work especially well for BDD since our venue is not easily accessible to folks without cars. Throw a couple of non-skating derby dames on the bus with the fans, some free-flowing sponsor provided alcohol, fun music, maybe some roller derby trivia, give everyone some free merch, roll it up into an all-inclusive price that includes admission, and I think you'd have a hot ticket.

Bout Recap: Boston B-Party v Connecticut and Boston Massacre v Cincinnati Rollergirls

2008-05-16T17:58:00.000-04:00

The final scores were Connecticut (85), Boston B-Party (44) and Boston Massacre (87), Cincinnati (42)

Bout recap by Mr. Hits can be found on the Boston Derby Dames website.
Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
More photos can be found here and here.
A kind of crappy video can be found here.

The Beehive opening postponed to May 24th

2008-05-15T18:30:00.000-04:00

I just realized that my previous post about the BEEch did not actually mention when this event would be happening. Good thing, because it has been postponed and is now happening on May 24th. Be there or be square.

Roller Derby Blogs -- RinkTime

2008-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Rink Time has a nice listing of roller derby blogs. It not only includes Roller Derby Disorder (Yay!) but also a bunch that are new to me:

Boston Derby Dames Paper Doll

2008-05-09T12:00:00.001-04:00

I made these quite awhile ago and always meant to write a post about them, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I always imagined these as magnets so you could put them on your refrigerator and dress your derby dame up in different outfits. One of these days I would like to add another sheet for Boston Massacre and Boston B-Party.

Roller Derby Quilt

2008-05-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

Dreadnought, my fellow Derby Dame, is working on a roller derby quilt for her Issues in Contemporary Art course, which she is hoping will be a collaborative project between herself and other skaters and refs. She is working on a bunch of squares of her own, of course, but is also hoping that other folks will contribute their own versions to be included in the quilt. I had high aspirations but eventually decided to just give her one of my old T shirts (with my skater name on it) to make a square out of. Here are some of the squares (still in progress) that she has been working on:

Square number one is dedicated to rink rash and is made out of old torn fishnet stockings from actual rollergirls!

Next up we have a square dedicated to bandages, which is, of course, made out of bandages.

Quilt square number three is dedicated to booty blocking. Or possibly cute undies with words on them. Dread hasn't decided yet. I say, why not both?!

Then we have the cupcake square. What do cupcakes have to do with roller derby? I'm not sure, except our league always seems to have cupcakes at events and fundraisers. I offer as proof the following two photos -- a bunch of cupcakes from our Roller Boogie fundraiser (my cupcakes are the ones that look the yummiest!) and this awesome photo of Dreadnought enjoying a cupcake!

Think this is awesome? Want to be a part of the awesomeness? You can contribute a square of your own! It just needs to be 8" x 8". What says roller derby to you?

BDD helps The Beehive open The BEEch

2008-05-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

The BEEch = "an 80 seat outdoor dining addition on the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza. It will focus on an “urban picnic theme” in which diners will be seated and handed a menu of freshly prepared casual gourmet items to choose from. Once customers have selected their items, the wait staff will return with these culinary treasures in packages and jars along with fresh bread tucked in picnic baskets to share." --A Passionate Foodie

The Beehive = "The Beehive at the BCA is a neighborhood cafe des artistes. Located in the underbelly of the Cyclorama building, the former boiler room has the look and feel of an artist's studio, complimented by works of art and musical entertainment (mostly jazz) of local artists. The "starving artist" bar offers a college rustic, artisinal fare from Europe, the Mediterranean, and America."--The Beehive website

helps = co-promotes / shows up in derby attire / signs autographs / makes more interesting

BDD = Boston Derby Dames

Pre-bout eating

2008-05-07T23:43:00.000-04:00

During bouts the Shriners Auditorium offers a variety of food choices -- mostly of the hot dog/pretzel/soda variety. Before the bout, though, food is a little hard to come by unless you know where to go. Luckily your friendly neighborhood derby dames created this lovely Google map to let you know where all the food is. Check it out here.

Double Header: Massacre vs. Cincinnati + B-Party vs. Connecticut

2008-05-07T16:17:00.000-04:00

Saturday is bout day here in roller derby land and it looks like a good one. First up will be the Boston B-Party vs. the Connecticut Rollergirls. As one might suspect, the B-Party is our B-team, which is not so much a team as all the girls that aren't on the all star Massacre. We haven't had many opportunities to practice as a team, and we've only played a couple of scrimmages, but they have been some of my favorite times since joining BDD. Also, we have a logo! I've been a little less than excited about this matchup because I can't skate in it (booo!), but I think it should be pretty exciting. It will also be the first time the B-Party has played for an audience, which I hope will be a big rowdy one!

Next will be Boston Massacre vs. Cincinnati Rollergirls. It's so hard to make predictions about upcoming bouts in roller derby. Teams play each other so infrequently (I don't think we have ever played Cincinnati) and team dynamics can change so quickly that knowing how a bout will turn out is more of a guessing game than a science. Nevertheless I shall venture to predict that although Cincinnati has generated some momentum in recent months and will no doubt give us a good run for our money, Boston's experience will prevail. Of course, I'm a little biased.

Saturday will also mark the first full-length double header with both bouts having two 30-minute periods. My friends in the audience found the last time (with one full length bout and one exhibition bout of two 20-minute periods) to be a bit long, so I don't know how it will go. If anyone has any opinions out there, I'd love to hear them.

The announcement:

DOUBLE HEADER
Boston B-Party vs. Connecticut Rollergirls
Boston Massace vs. Cincinnati Rollergirls

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington, MA
Doors at 5pm, bouts start at 6pm
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Music by DJ Boo Boo Danger and live sets by While Rome Burns

The all-star Boston Massacre (ranked 9th in the east by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association) host the Cincinnati Rollergirls (14th in the east) in the last Massacre bout of the regular season. The Massacre recently pummeled both Maine Roller Derby and the Bronx Gridlock, and are looking toward this fall's eastern and national tournaments, so they're sure to bring their A game.

Before the Massacre takes the track, the league's "junior varsity" Boston B-Party makes its hometown debut against the Connecticut Rollergirls. These scrappy newcomers fell to their CT sisters in the winter, but are coming off an exhilarating scrimmage win against Providence Roller Derby's JV Killer Bees.

Walk for Change

2008-04-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

Sunday was the Walk for Change to support the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. The Boston Derby Dames teamed up with the New Hampshire Skate Free or Die Roller Girls and had a great time navigating the stairs and brick sidewalks of the walk route. Thank you to everyone who donated! You are all awesome!

Roller Derby Videos on the web

2008-04-07T14:52:00.000-04:00

Roller Derby HowTo: How to conduct a chair fight on skates. Video forthcoming.

A couple of quick links to some new roller derby video resources. It's amazing how many sites have cropped up that didn't exist when I started roller derby not that long ago. Here are a couple of sites I have recently discovered:

Expert Village has a series of videos on YouTube about roller derby basics -- skating posture, blocking, how to choose roller skates, etc. I distinctly remember deciding to purchase some skates before trying out for roller derby (a crazy extravagance considering I'd been to all of two bouts and could barely skate without falling at the time) and realizing that I didn't even know if I should be looking at those skates with the tall boots that looked like ice skates or those skates with the low boot that looked more like sneakers. I'd been to several bouts but never thought to look. I waited until the next bout and tried to surreptitiously check out what the girls were wearing without looking like an idiot. I could have used some of these videos.

Expert Village also has a series of videos (which is on their main site but not on their YouTube site for some reason) called How to Start a Roller Derby Team. This series is narrated by Jerry Seltzer, son of Leo Seltzer, the man who created roller derby back in the day. I haven't actually watched these videos but they look great and include some great how-tos like How to hold tryouts, How to promote roller derby events and How to book roller derby arenas. These are nice because they recognize that new leagues need advice just as much as new skaters.

Roller Sport TV has a small (but quickly growing) collection of bout videos.

Via Derby has a video site called Real to Reel with a nice collection of videos. I am especially fond of the video explaining how to clean your bearings. I also could have used that the first time I cleaned my bearings (only a few months ago!) with no freakin' idea what I was doing.

MavTV has full bout coverage from Heartland Havoc and Texas Shootout. Check out the round 1 thriller between Boston and Detroit. It totally rocks!

And don't forget the Boston Derby Dames YouTube group, which is a collection of everything BDD related on YouTube. If that's too chaotic for you, try my YouTube channel playlists, which has all the same videos, but nicely organized into categories (I can't help it -- I'm a taxonomist).

Cheers!

B. Good video -- We're really very nice people

2008-04-04T15:24:00.000-04:00

On Monday night a gang of Derby Dames descended on B. Good's Brookline location to wreak havoc and have their way with the place. I am happy to report that I was one of the gang, which also included Sheryl Crowbar, Frances of Assassin, Maude Forbid, Triple Deck-Her, Wynonna Thudd, Varga Bomber, and Etta Maims. A video was shot to promote their new salad, the Hatchback (which I am also happy to report is named after a guinea pig). A good time was had by all. I think I had the best part, though, cause I got to throw a hamburger at the wall, and didn't even have to clean it up afterwards. Please note the pickle, which embedded itself into the wall and never made it to the ground, poor thing. Fun fun fun.

B. Good video
Photos from event

Season 2 Playoffs and Toy Drive!! April 12

2008-04-04T15:17:00.000-04:00

Nutcrackers vs Cosmonaughties
Wicked Pissah Expo vs Charm City Rollergirls' Night Terrors (from Baltimore)
Music by The Swinedells
Toy Drive to benefit Children's Hospital Boston

Saturday, April 12
Doors at 5 pm, Bout at 6 pm
Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Delinquent Dames in a mad race to capture the title! The Nutcrackers' dance school dropouts take on the Cosmonaughties, BDD's resident Reds, for the chance to yank the Championship crown from the Wicked Pissahs teased tresses.

The Nutcrackers found themselves stuck in neutral against Wicked Pissahs in the first bout of Season Two and suffered an ignoble 142-41 defeat, but rallied to speed past the Cosmonaughties 69-42 in their next outing. When it was the Cosmo's turn to take the line against the Pissahs, they brought high octane derby energy, but still fell victim to townie teamwork with a 103-64 loss.

Now the Nuts and Cosmos are revving their engines, greasing their wheels, and sharpening their nails as they prepare for a match-up that will send one team to the championship and one team back to detention.

With hell-on-wheels jammers like Sarah Doom and Baby Fighterfly, and hard hitters like two-time MVP Quick Sandy, the Nuts can taste the super unleaded tang of victory. But with the mighty whomp of Cosmo blockers Anna Wrecksya and Pussy Venom, and the all-around awesomeness of Tiny Twins Claire D. Way and Maura Buse, the Nuts might end up with little more than a mouthful of space dust.

Not content to sit back and watch, the Wicked Pissahs (whose undefeated record gives them a bye for the championships) have invited the Night Terrors from Baltimore's Charm City Rollergirls for an expo bout to kick the night off.

Halftime music by Boston's own Swinedells:

1 part R&B
1 part Rockabilly
1 part 50's Rock and Roll
1 part punk rawk
6 drunken buffoons
a dollop of pomade

Combine ingredients with a washtub full of Miller High Life and set it in the garage till it starts to stink.

The legendary Fez Room after party action continues, with DJ Boo Boo Danger keeping the dance floor hot and sweaty until midnight.

Toy Drive for Children's Hospital Boston

We're trying to help fill the wishlist of the kids and staff on the 10th floor, the Surgical Transplants and Implants department. The items on this list are things that the children use on a daily basis. All the items are cleaned and sterilized after each use, which really shortens a toys life.

Drop off new and gently used, clean toys at the merch table and receive a BDD sticker, plus our sincere thanks. We'll be making a donation in person, and invite you to sign a card to the kids from all of us.

Kids' scissors
Playdough
Bubbles
Markers
Crayons
Play trains
Dumbo infant seat
Globe
Mobiles
Chinese checkers
Mancala
Band in a Box kid's musical instrument set
Chunky puzzles
Rattles
Board books
Little People for farm, circus, etc.

Young adult movies
Books with interactive buttons/music
Yarn
Colorforms
Wii (Mario Brothers)
Guitar Hero
New strollers to push infants and toddlers around the hospital
Baby swing
Beads and elastic
Flat screen TV
PS2 systems (There are 24 rooms with only 15 furnished with PS2 systems, which leaves 9 to reach their goal; BDD's refs have already secured donations of 3 PS2s!)
PS2 games

Making Injury Stats Happen

2008-03-31T22:12:00.000-04:00

Here is a comment that Dreadnought left on my last post about injury stats:

I definitely see how seeing the numbers over time would help. However, I wonder how it could be put into practice. Would a simple form for each injury be be enough (date, type of activity, type of drill, coach name, etc.) and how minor an injury would need to be considered? I would imagine that doing this well would be a bit of an undertaking, so I would imagine that the next logical step would be to consider the "hows" after thoroughly canvasing the "why's".

I like the way you think! So, just off the top of my head, here is one way that this could be carried out.

Make a blank form that can be easily photocopied and keep a bunch of them in your coaching bag or wherever it will always be at your practices/bouts/events
Come up with some sort of rule about when to record an injury. This can be tricky because what seems like a minor injury at practice may turn out to be something more serious and skaters sometimes don't want to make a big deal. If you have a rule, then you're never in a situation where you are asking the skater to tell you whether the injury is serious or not. I suggest recording any injury that takes a skater out of a drill or jam, that requires ice, or that involves blood.
I also suggest making sure it is clear who is in charge of recording this info. The coach might be a good start, but coaches are often super busy during practices and may not have the time to do this. Maybe an assistant coach, a manager, or whoever wants to be in charge.
You could have the form only be filled out when there is an injury. This is clearly more convenient (and easier to convince people to do). It would be better, however, if data was collected for every practice, even those when no injuries occur. This would insure consistency in your records. If someone has to sit down after every practice and spend 15 seconds checking a box that says "no injuries," then there will be less of a chance for injuries to be missed when practice runs late and everyone has to run out the door afterwards. And it is much more convincing evidence if there is ever a problem with insurance or what-have-you.
Follow-up is also important. Include something on your form that has to be filled out a week later (or whatever) to check-in with your skater and make sure you've recorded the outcome (thus far). Did they see a doctor? Did it get worse later on? Are they missing practice because of it? Do they have any restrictions? This is the sort of thing that a good coach would ask about anyway, but having a record of it will come in handy later on (when you might have forgotten the specifics). For instance, if the skater needs to fill out some form for their health insurance, they can go back to that record and get the details that may have been forgotten.

That's about it. I was going to try and make up a sample form that people could use, but it's taking too long and I thought it would be better to just post this first.

While I was meandering my way through the internet, I found a website that sells some kind of sports injury management software to keep track of this sort of thing. And they had a very nice summary of why keeping track of injury statistics can be helpful, basically saying the same things I said in my last post, but a little more concisely:

Provide information about the nature and amount of injury within a sport
Identify those sub populations competing who are at greater risk of injury e.g. different playing positions may have differing risks for certain injuries
Produce information to allow for the planning of resources needed to manage and treat Sports injuries
Evaluate risk factors for injury
Show the differences in injury incidence and injury severity for a variety of different sub sets of the athletic population
Allow a Governing body to demonstrate their commitment to participant safety by monitoring and analysing the injuries encountered
Be used as a starting point for a more system tailored to a specific situation. For example looking at the effect, playing surface has on injury incidence for the same athlete exposure.
A specific SIS system can
Look at the impact of athletic equipment on injury incidence / prevalence and or severity.
E.g. the impact of different shoe wear on running injury
The impact of ankle braces on ankle injury etc
Examine the effect of different playing maneuvers on injury incidence e.g. spear tackling now banned in American Football following an injury surveillance program
Provide information to implement injury prevention strategies aimed to improve participant safety but not reduce sporting enjoyment
Give a closer understanding of the etiological factors responsible for changes in incidence and prevalence of injury providing controls are in place
Allow guidelines of good practice to be generated improving athletic injury management
Evaluate economic results of athletic injury
Direct costs = (cost of x-ray specialist time operations etc)
Indirect Costs = Expenditure incurred due to loss of productivity (5 fewer goals scored during season) or athlete now at potentially greater risk of re injury (less time spent competing)
Be tailored to any particular user requirements providing adequate controls can be put in place

Walk for Change

2008-03-31T17:44:00.000-04:00

On April 6, the Boston Derby Dames will be participating in the Walk for Change to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. We will be LEADING THE WALK this year, which is a huge honor. I'm not sure I have walked for anything since I walked for the whales in seventh grade! You can support us (and BARCC) by donating or walking with us! Visit my fundraising page and help me make it look a little less sad (so far I have raised zero dollars).

Slugs and Kisses,
~Mayhem

Positions - How to play them

2008-03-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

Punchy O'Guts of Maine Roller Derby has a blog which I just discovered. I found this old post about player positions which I found very helpful. Plus she has a cool roller derby photo, which I secretly yearn for.

PIVOT - paces the pack, knows when to slow or speed up in regards to jammer positions.
1. Always help your jammer. If you are in the very front of the pack give her a whip. If you can't whip her, push her. She needs all the momentum she can get to make it back around. If you're a little behind and can't reach her, speed up to give her that push - you can slow down and rest for a minute in the pack, whereas she cannot.
2. Push the opposing jammer out and around you. She won't score on you if you push her out of bounds and let her skate in front of you. You've protected you're point and not wasted too much energy.

INSIDE (I don't play this often, so I know very little.)
1. Look around. Always. You must know when to hold the line and when to move for your jammer.
2. Push opposing inside player off the line to make a hole for your jammer - keeping in mind where the opposing jammer is.
3. If your skate isn't holding the line, make sure your butt is.
4. Play cat & mouse. Open the inside line while the opposing jammer is about three feet behind you. She'll quicken her stride to get through and you can close the gap and push her inside and out of bounds and around you. She won't score on you and you protect your point.

OUTSIDE - Works with pivot and covers outside of pack.
1. If you can skate up with your pivot and build a wall, do it. But don't at your jammers expense.
2. If your pivot is chasing down the jammer, make sure you skate 9 feet in front of the pack to give her more time to catch the jammer. Also call your pivot back once she's about to engage out of bounds.
3. If not up front with your pivot. Move inside the pack to push opposing blockers toward the outside for you jammer to get through on the inside - always ready to block opposing jammer is she chooses the path you made for your jammer.

BACK - skates in the back of the pack. main communicator.
1. Because you are in the back. You can see everyone and communicate to your players where everyone is. TALK! Delegate where your blockers should go to create a path for your jammer. Delegate where blockers should go to hit the opposing jammer.
2. Once the jammers have passed you. Skate up to opposing blockers and push them into other blockers or the jammer. You have the most advantage in the back because you can see everyone. Don't forget it!
3. As the opposing jammer approaches, keep an eye on her and booty block her. It slows her down, distracts her, and kills all momentum - physically and mentally.
4. If you're jammer is through, replacement block. Get up there and take out the opposing jammer.

JAMMER - (I am not experienced in this position, but have found a couple things that work to my advantage.)
1. Instead of plowing through the pack and getting penalties for back-blocking and cutting the track, allow the other jammer to go through first. Being patient gives you a chance to watch the pack move to either help or hit the opposing jammer. Most often a hole is created. (The disadvantage is that by holding back a little you may be giving up lead jammer status.)
2. Hit your way through. HIT 'EM! You can make your own holes. Get low and hit shoulder to thigh to push opposing blockers out of your way.
3. If you can hit the opposing jammer, do it! It gives you time to clear the pack, earning four points and calling it off before she can earn another four points.

How injury statistics can help prevent injuries

2008-03-19T14:52:00.001-04:00

photo from ntiscol's flickr photostream

So I was thinking the other day about skater safety and bouts vs. scrimmages. There is an assumption (at least on my league) that bouts are inherently more dangerous than scrimmages. As a result, skaters are allowed to participate in scrimmages for a very long time before they are put onto a team and allowed to bout. As a scientist, I wondered if there is any actual data to support this assumption. As an unteamed skater, I secretly believe they can't be that different, and hoped to find some data to support that. I also don't want to work on my thesis, so I spent a good deal of time this morning researching the subject. I didn't really expect to find any data for roller derby, but I thought perhaps there would be something for other sports. I found a few studies that sort of got at the issue, but not very well. I also posted a message to the rollerderbystatsgeeks yahoo group asking if anyone kept track of injury statistics. Very few leagues did (we don't either) but what really surprised me was how little value people seemed to think the idea had. So I wrote up this little post about how keeping track of injury statistics could be useful. The real question is, why can't I be this productive writing my thesis?

****************************************************

I think there are five general ways in which injury statistics can be useful. 1) They can highlight areas that you might not be aware of, 2) they can help improve bout success, 3) they can dispel previously held assumptions, 4) they can be part of your arsenal when dealing with skaters or outside parties, and 5) in the long term, they can be used to help shape decisions about the direction of the sport.

Highlighting problem areas

Keeping track of injury stats can highlight problem areas in your training. For instance, are skaters more likely to be injured:

When one person is coaching?

During a particular drill?

On one floor surface over another?

At one venue over another?

While wearing certain equipment or clothing?

During a certain period of training?

When returning from a leave of absence?

Before or after assessments?

Before or after being teamed?

To skaters of certain experience levels?

On one particular team?

During certain types of practice?

Off skates vs. on skates?

Contact vs. non-contact or partial contact?

Scrimmages

If the data shows one of these trends, you can use that information to make changes to your training regimen or setup. If one drill is more dangerous than others, maybe it’s time to re-jig or remove it. If there is an upswing in certain types of injuries, you might want to change your training to emphasize drills that would prevent those injuries (more emphasis on falling drills, for instance, or stretching or strength training). It’s one thing to think that you really ought to be stretching more (or whatever). It’s another thing to see the facts and know that people are being injured because you’re not stretching enough. If one venue is more dangerous than another, maybe you should be putting more effort into finding a new one or at least taking steps to increase the safety of that venue. If skaters are more likely to be injured while wearing certain equipment or a certain brand, that would be a pretty good reason to change the equipment. Having this information from other leagues could help you make these changes before injuries occur.

Of course, you also have to look at the reasons behind the results. For instance, there could be many reasons why girls are more likely to be injured before being teamed (this is just a hypothetical example – I have no idea if it is true). Perhaps they are simply less experienced or have less overall fitness. Perhaps they are trying too hard to impress the coaches, taking unnecessary chances or pushing themselves when they are ill or hurt. Maybe the injuries are occurring when they are practicing on their own without the support of a team. Maybe they just didn’t know enough to put their skates on the right way or have the right safety equipment. Knowing why something is the way it is would help you make the right response and increase the safety of your skaters.

Improving bout success

During bouts, you could find out if skaters are more likely to be injured

During their first bout? Or the first bout of the season?
During a bout than a scrimmage?
When there are more or less refs?
During a 30 minute period vs. a 20 minute period?
If your team (or the other team) is acquiring a lot of penalties?
If it is a high scoring bout or a low scoring bout?
If skaters skate in two bouts in a row during a double header?
If they skate more than a certain number of minutes during the period?
If they are skating with new members of their team?

Having this data can help you make decisions about how you structure and organize bouts and lineups. This will not only increase the safety of your skaters but the success of your bouts!

Dispelling assumptions

There are a lot of assumptions out there about safety and roller derby. For example: Less experienced skaters are more likely to get hurt (or to cause others to be hurt); Bouts are more dangerous than scrimmages, which are more dangerous than full contact practices, which are more dangerous than non-contact practices. Leagues make decisions based on these assumptions. For instance, on our league, un-teamed skaters are not allowed to participate in bouts, but are allowed to participate in scrimmages. The assumption is that bouts are more dangerous than scrimmages. But there is no actual data to support that assumption. Having that data could bolster a league’s policy or allow them to reconsider it.

The results of your analysis may not be what you expect. For instance, a study of inline skating injuries from 1999 showed that 55% of injured skaters classified themselves as Intermediate or Advanced (compared to 45% who classified themselves as Novice or Beginner). This doesn’t necessarily have any relation to roller derby, but the point remains that the assumption that more experienced skaters are less likely to be injured doesn’t necessarily hold true. Another study looking at injuries in Big Ten football showed that there were relatively more injuries during spring scrimmages than during the spring game. Again, this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with roller derby, but the fact is that there is no data for roller derby. (I can provide the citations for these studies if anyone wants them)

Increasing your arsenal

Roller derby is often perceived as a violent and dangerous sport. This can be appealing to some folks but not to others. Owners of potential venues or practice spaces, possible sponsors, or insurance companies, for instance, might be put off by the threat of major injuries. Having solid statistics about injuries (both for your league and for roller derby as a whole) can help put their minds at ease. It also shows that roller derby is a serious, organized sport that is taking safety seriously and is taking steps to keep their skaters safe. This makes you more appealing as an organization to be dealt with.

Shaping the direction of the sport

In the long term, injury statistics can be used to help make decisions about the direction of the sport as a whole. These sorts of statistics have been used in the past to change equipment requirements and rules for many sports. Why not roller derby?

Boston Derby Dames on Sunday with Liz Walker

2008-03-17T20:27:00.000-04:00

Check it out here:
http://wbztv.com/video/?id=60600@wbz.dayport.com

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T11:51:00.001-04:00

Even though I have lived in Boston (with a few overseas hiatuses in between) since 2000, I've never been to a Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade until yesterday. It was a good time, although I felt like an idiot when I realized I wasn't wearing any green. Sometimes I just don't think! I wish I had been wearing this cute outfit. Actually I wish I just had a bunch of fliers with this lovely pic on it to hand out. That would've rocked! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Boston Massacre vs. Bronx Gridlock and Maine Port Authorities

2008-02-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

-- Saturday, March 8
-- Doors at 5 pm, Bout at 6 pm
-- Tickets $14 in advance/$16 at the door
-- Ticket sales have been brisk; we advise ordering online and arriving early to avoid lines and get the best seats

The Massacre warms up by taking on Maine Roller Derby's Port Authorities, in a one-period mini bout. BDD has tangled with the Port Authorities (formerly the Vacationland Vixens) before and so far we've always come out on top, but they get faster, stronger, and tougher every time. Will this be the bout that gives Maine a hard-won victory over their southern sisters?

In the main event, the Massacre takes on the Bronx Gridlock of Gotham Girls Roller Derby in a full two 30-minute period bout. New York's Gotham Girls were the hands down dominators of the Heartland Havoc eastern regional WFTDA tournament in Ohio last August, and BDD has been dying to take them on. The Bronx Gridlock, one of GGRD's four home teams, heard the challenge and vowed to untangle themselves from the traffic long enough to come up here and show us how it's done. The Dames have mad derby love for GGRD. What better way to show our respect than by delivering a thorough ass kicking?

Music by The Beatings, featuring BDD's own amazing EZ Bake Shovin'!

As always, DJ Boo Boo Danger spins the tunes throughout the bout and at the public, on site after party. With Maine, Gotham, and the Massacre's pantsless militia in the house, this promises to be the baddest after party we've ever had.

Boston Intraleague Recap: Wicked Pissahs 103, Cosmonaughties 64

2008-02-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

Bout recap from Mr. Hits:

"Gashes are red, bruises are blue, Cosmos play great, but Pissahs pull through. It's Valentine season in Derbyland, and thoughts of love and lust are everywhere. But for two hours this past Saturday, February 9th, warm, fuzzy feelings gave way to cold-blooded competitiveness when the Wicked Pissahs and Cosmonaughties mixed it up in the final regular season bout for the Boston Derby Dames. A record crowd of over 1,600 fans piled in to Shriner's Auditorium, packing the stands and arena floor to capacity in anticipation of derby fireworks. Never a group to disappoint, the teams delivered an adrenaline-fueled, high-octane facemelter that evidenced the long hours of hard work these women invest in their sport. And although the Pissahs ultimately won by a healthy margin, 103-64, the story runs deeper than the score; indeed, the journey of this bout was far more significant than its destination.

Read more at the Boston Derby Dames website.

Team stats
Wicked Pissahs:
Lead jammer in 19 of 37 jams
Highest scoring jammer (single jam): Triple Deck-Her, 11 points in period 3, jam 2; Tootsie Pop, 11 points in period 3, jam 11
Highest scoring jammer (overall): Krushpuppy, 36 points
Most penalties: Harlot Fevah, 14 minors and 1 major
MVP: Evilicious #420

Cosmonaughties:
Lead jammer in 16 of 37 jams
Highest scoring jammer (single jam): Maura Buse, 8 points in period 1, jam 7; Sheryl Crowbar, 8 points in period 3, jam 6
Highest scoring jammer (overall): Claire D. Way, 29 points
Most penalties: Claire D. Way, 10 minors and 3 majors
MVP: Anna Wrecks Ya #101

Derby Artist Whiskey 7 Portrait Fundraiser

2008-02-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

Over at Derby News Network I heard about an interesting opportunity to get a custom made derby portrait created for you by Whiskey 7, aka Athena Barbital of Sin City Rollergirls:

"So I broke my leg and ankle in 3 places playing derby and I’m thousands upon thousands of dollars in the hole. It happened RIGHT after the company I was working for closed and I had a lapse in insurance (of course)!

I can’t walk (or work) until April and I need your help!

Donate $100 and I will create a custom portrait of you, your friend, or teammate!

Your portrait can contain any catchphrase, be in your team colors, or include any particular quirks, character traits, or props that capture who you are!

You will need to:

-submit a high res (300dpi) photo of yourself

-and any other ideas that makes you (or your friend) who you are!

Each portrait includes an 8.5″x11″ and a 4″x6″closeup.

You will get a nice little package to download that includes high res files to print, and also formatted for use on the web.

Help a sista out! If you’re interested please drop me a line. Thanks!

Whiskey/Athena
Any donations, of any size are welcome!

Paypal email address is:
double_whiskey7@yahoo.com

Her first custom portrait (above) looks awesome, as do her past posters. Hmmm.... I'm thinking about it.

"The Dames" Premieres at CCTV on February 21st

2008-02-12T21:51:00.000-05:00

THE DAMES: THE STORY OF THE BOSTON ROLLER DERBY LEAGUE

Premiere of a short documentary produced by Project Documentary at Cambridge Community Television

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 – 9:00pm
Cambridge Community Television
675 Massachusetts Avenue
(entrance on Prospect Street)
Cambridge, MA 02139
ALL AGES, FREE!

Check out the trailer here!

From the CCTV website:

The Dames is a short documentary that profiles the Boston Derby Dames, Boston's first and only women's flat track roller derby league. This documentary introduces viewers to a fast-paced, full-contact sport, where they can watch players like Claire D. Way and Shelby Shattered hip check, booty block and skillfully skate their teams to victory. While the sport attracts fans through its aggression and sex appeal, it also promotes women's empowerment in its most literal form: through physical strength and ownership. The documentary chronicles the birth of the league in interviews with two of its founders, Ivana Clobber and Sarah Doom, as well as the league's growth over the past two years. The film also gets up close and personal with some of the league's stars, like Harlot Fevah, Triple Deck-Her and Maura Buse. Viewers will experience the dedication and passion which drives these funky, outspoken, edgy women to play derby, even with the long hours of practice, serious injuries, and hurdles of trying to balance their day-to-day lives while running a do-it-yourself business.

The filmmakers are Sarah Brett, Ann Cowan, Darcie DeAngelo, Quentin James, Amy Steptoe, and Rebecca Yadegar. The production was facilitated by Shaun Clarke, Amy Mertl, and Jason Ong.

Send a Boston Derby Dame Valentine's

2008-02-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

Pussy Venom, Etta Maims, and Krush Puppy made these sweet Valentine's Day cards for all those derby dame fans out there. Send one to your favorite honey.
BDD Valentines pics (Flickr) (pdf)

Wicked Pissahs (103) vs. Cosmonaughties (64)

2008-02-12T18:12:00.000-05:00

I dragged my sorry sick self (and sore side) to Saturday's bout and was rewarded with a fabulous show, a record turnout, and some scary drama. The Cosmos played a strong first and second period, but were unable to hold back the Pissahs. An in-depth recap should be available soon at the Boston Derby Dames website. The crowd was unbelievable -- over 1600 fans! The scariest moment occurred towards the end when Evilicious ran into the bleachers and didn't get up. I didn't see it happen but I heard the thud, which happened right in front of us, but below our field of vision. So we couldn't see her at all, but we could very clearly see the looks on everyone's faces as they came running to help, and they scared the crap out of me. The word on the street (the street being the BDD website) is that she's "at home sipping martinis through a straw while recovering from having broken her nose in four places and getting more than 30 stitches in her face. Broken and bruised, but more evil than ever." No doubt she will be back kickin' ass soon.

Click here to see photos I took from the bout.
Click here to check out the BDD Flickr pool.
Click here to see the post-bout photo booth slideshow.

Fantasy Roller Derby!

2008-02-10T09:48:00.000-05:00

I received some exciting news this morning from the Roller Derby Stats Geeks Yahoo Group. Check it out:

"Some of you may be interested to know that TXRD has refined their statistics
to the point that "fantasy derby" is possible, at least in a "beta test"
version.

Please see here for the format for the exhibition All Scar Army - Holy
Rollers bout in January:

http://www.txrd.com/20080127-asa-hr-stats.php

Details of the fantasy derby 2008 is available on their message board under
various categories. Rules here:

http://www.txrd.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=2722
http://www.txrd.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=2721

The main play has been moved to a separate thread on the board:

http://www.txrd.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=88

I believe that you can view the thread without a member ID nor logging on;
only if you want to post.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the firt time that fantasy roller derby has
ever been attempted."

Willy Callit
Seattle WA

Another roller derby writing contest

2008-02-08T14:23:00.000-05:00

Write an essay answering the question: "Why do you think roller derby has made a come back in the US and do you think it is here to stay?"

"Entrant must be a member of MySpace and of a female roller derby league within the United States. A cover sheet MUST include: birth name and home address of entrant; entrant's email address; entrant's MySpace URL; entrant's phone number; name & address of entrant's roller derby league; and entrant's derby name & number. If any information is missing the entrant's essay will be void.

Essay must be fewer than 800 and no more than 1,600 words in length, and must be type written and submitted either as a Word or pdf document via email to sales (at) head-block.com.

One entry per skater, please. Essay must solely be the work of the entrant. Essay must be mailed no later than midnight on March 31, 2008. Decisions of the judges are final. All entries become the property of Head-Block and will not be returned.

Winner and other participants will be notified by May 31, 2008.

The winner will work with a Head-Block designer in creating their custom painted helmet. Head-Block only uses new Pro-Tec helmets and the winner will need to choose their size. Any team or skater logos wanted within the design must be provided ad a high resolution Illustrator or Freehand .eps file. If the winner wishes for Head-Block to create a skater or team logo design they will be billed separately and upfront. The Head-Block logo will be a prominent piece of art within the overall helmet design. Total prize worth over $350.

Q. Who is Head-Block?

A. Owned by a roller girl, Louie Low Ball #00100 of The Charlotte Roller Girls, we know how important it is to look the part of a derby girl! From fishnets to booty shorts your look needs to be your own and why not top it off with a custom painted helmet!"

www.head-block.com

Trouble in Cincinnati

2008-02-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

There seems to be some discontent brewing over at the Cincinnati Rollergirls. It seems that all skaters (new and old) were required to pass the WFTDA minimum skills assessment and a written rules test. Those that did not were told that they could no longer skate with the league, even at practices, but that they would have an opportunity to retake the test mid-season. Wow. I gotta say that's pretty harsh. I'm all for everybody having to pass a minimum skills requirement, but how are people supposed to improve if you don't let them practice with the league? I don't get that. It just seems like a good way to piss off a bunch of people. Read about it here.

I think every league has issues like this (we certainly do) where policies are supported by some girls and not by others and because it is roller derby (roller derby = life) it can get very contentious very quickly. I know WFTDA likes to let all the leagues come up with their own policies, but I wonder if some sort of standardization in (at least some of) these policies might help resolve these issues. What do you think?

Roller Derby Writing Contest

2008-02-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

Barrelhouse magazine is sponsoring a roller derby writing contest. Poetry, essays, fiction, non-fiction, whatever. Check out the announcement here. Deadline is March 17th. Go write something fabulous!

Cosmonaughties vs. Wicked Pissahs, Saturday February 9th

2008-02-04T22:35:00.000-05:00

Cosmonaughties vs. Wicked Pissahs
Saturday, February 9, 2007
Doors at 5 pm, Bout at 6 pm
Shriners Auditorium Wilmington, MA
Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door

The first time they met, things ended in an unprecedented tie. Their second match-up was for the Season One trophy. Come see what the Cosmo's space brains have cooked up to defeat the Wicked Pissahs.

BDD favorites Slim Jim and the Madcows provide the countryfried soundtrack to what will surely spell Valentine's Day heartbreak for one of these fierce teams.

Season tickets also available! Pro-rated based on the number of remaining bouts in the season.

Lungs are important

2008-02-04T22:26:00.000-05:00

Here are some new things I have learned about myself in the past couple of weeks:

I do not have

Tuberculosis
Whooping Cough
Legionnaire's Disease
confidence in my healthcare providers
a healthy immune system
a chance in hell of being in a bout any time soon

I do have

pneumonia in both lungs
chronic sinusitis
possible asthma
small veins
a lot of catching up to do

It seems like every time I feel like I am making some real progress in my skating, something happens to set me further back. Grrr!

Project Documentary: Roller Derby Trailer

2008-01-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

From the Cambridge Community Television's website:

Check out this trailer for the upcoming documentary produced by the Project Documentary class. This documentary features the Boston Derby Dames! Boston's only all-female, flat-track Roller Derby league. Stay tuned for a our screening date in February 2008.

another update

2008-01-15T11:13:00.000-05:00

I have been so absent on this blog lately. The past several weeks in derby can be summed up as follows:

Spent a couple of days at the World of Wheels event smiling a lot and handing out flyers. We did little mini demos on a teeny tiny track
Liquid band-aids rule
I love love love scrimmaging!
I've been skating with outdoor wheels (indoors) and I really like them. Nice and grippy.
I really need new pads
skating with the knee brace has been fine -- i hardly notice it now
The Boston B Party had their first scrimmage against CT. Mr. Mayhem drove me and my sorry ass (and three other skaters) two and a half hours there and two and a half hours back, and spent the entire scrimmage cheering loudly and enthusiastically for us. He was basically our entire cheering section, and was greatly appreciated.

Post holiday catch-up and Honolulu Derby Girls

2007-12-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

I am finally back to blogging after an extended illness and ten days in Hawaii for Christmas (sadly, these two events overlapped significantly). Here are the things I miss about Hawaii --

chocolate popsicles -- don't even get me started
teri chicken plate lunch
my cat Aengus -- 15 years old and still more fun at a party than me
the weather -- where even the rain seems pleasant
the mountains, the plants, the birds, the beaches
the fact that I look just like everybody else
how everybody is in a good mood all the time

Things I do not miss about Hawaii:

my allergies to just about everything in Hawaii (including my fab cat Aengus)
the traffic -- worse than Boston, I am sure
the fact that Hawaii is a rock in the middle of the ocean -- people are always asking me why I would want to leave paradise. The truth is you can only take paradise for so long before it starts to bother you that you've basically done and seen everything. You can drive around the entire island in a couple of hours and you'll just end up back where you started. Everything is expensive and a lot of things never make it to Hawaii at all (think movies, plays, concerts, products in stores, ideas for chrissakes). It's like the little town you grew up in where everything is safe and familiar but all you want to do is get to the big city and pursue your dreams. Except you can't take a Greyhound out of town or hitch a ride with some likely stranger -- you have to buy an expensive plane ticket. Yup. Nice place to visit. Hard to live in. At least for me.

So the holidays were nice if short and a bit stressful. I was able to visit my grandmother on Maui, who just had a stroke, which was a good thing (the visit, not the stroke). Spent some time with my Mom and caught up with a couple of old friends. Spent exactly ten minutes at the beach (Waikiki Beach, which hardly even counts - plus I was wearing sneakers, which makes it count even less). Witnessed the Christmas miracle of Taz (my mother in law's dog, who has been quite ill, and who was so sick that we all thought he was going to die that night -- shaking uncontrollably, unable to get up, not responding -- who got up the next day, bouncy and happy, demanding to be taken for a walk and given treats! Yay!).

As for roller derby, I missed the first practice because I was too sick (flying + head cold = bad) but was able to hook up with the wonderful Honolulu Derby Girls for two subsequent practices. They practice at Kaneohe Marine Corps Station at an outdoor hockey rink. Did I mention how nice the weather was? The Honolulu Derby Girls are all super wonderful people and I had a great time skating with them. I also met Sassy Chassis (Rat City Rollergirls) and Bea Attitude (Texas Rollergirls) who were also in town. Hooray for derby! I brought my new outdoor wheels with me but never even took them out of the package -- my blue Fugitives were awesome on the cement floor. A good time.

Rotating my wheels

2007-12-11T21:52:00.001-05:00

So when my knee was messed up I decided it would be a great time to clean out my bearings and rotate my wheels. I thought I remembered that there was a specific way to rotate your wheels so that they were evenly distributed over time, but was unable to find it online. So me and my husband, being the big nerds that we are, created the above chart in order to rotate the wheels based on their wear pattern. The wheels with the most wear would be exchanged with wheels with the least wear. This turned out to be more difficult than it seemed, because the wheels were actually worn down in two different ways: the wheel tread and the edge wear. And the wheels with the most edge wear were not necessarily the wheels with the most tread wear. It was actually very interesting to contemplate what the wheels were telling me about how I skate. Anyway, just thought I would share my craziness.

"Whip It" to be directed by Drew Barrymore

2007-12-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Via LeadJammer:

Production Charts and the Hutchinson Leader (MN) note that the upcoming roller derby film Whip It will be directed by Hollywood star Drew Barrymore. Whip It's screenwriter, L.A. Derby Doll Shauna Cross, is also the author of Derby Girl. The Leader article states that it's unclear if the movie is an adaptation of the book or just something similar. This will apparently be the first time directing for Barrymore. That's cool, but who will play K.C. Carr? Note to Barrymore: if it's set in the mid-west, go flat track for extra derby cred. And shoot the big climax bout scene at the Roy Wilkins.

Summary: "A Midwestern, small-town, teenage girl discovers the high-energy world of roller derby and must decide if she’s willing to go against her parents and friends in order to pursue the sport she loves."

December 8 -- Bout time in Boston, plus a winter food drive!

2007-12-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

Nutcrackers vs. Cosmonaughties

Saturday, December 8, 2007 Doors at 5 pm, Bout at 6 pm Shriners Auditorium Wilmington, MA

Tickets $14 in advance, $16 at the door

It's dancer grace versus outer space when the Nutcrackers meet the Cosmonaughties at the second home team bout of Boston Derby Dames' Season Two. The Nutcrackers, BDD's badass ballerinas, are sharpening their elbows and perfecting their sneaky pirouette punch. Meanwhile the Cosmonaughties have spent all summer in their Vulvatron lab, constructing bionic parts and cyborg teammates from Sputnik-grade steel.

Boston punk favorites Darkbuster play during halftime, and DJ Boo Boo Danger spins through the bout and into the night at the on-site after party.

SEASON TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE! Pro-rated as the season progresses, but always the best roller derby deal this side of the Charles.

First Annual Winter Food Drive: Bring a non-perishable food item to the merch table at the December 8 bout to receive a free Boston Derby Dames sticker.

We are holding our first annual Winter Food (and other items) Drive at our December 8th bout. Everyone is encouraged to bring items to donate. In exchange for one's donation, participants will receive a BDD sticker.

All items are being donated to Rosie's Place (www.rosies.org). The mission of Rosie's Place is to help women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives. Please see their website for more detailed information.

Rosie's Place is always in need of the following items:

• Clean, in-season women's clothing, particularly nightgowns, slippers, new underwear, bras and socks

• Toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes; regular and travel sizes are appreciated

• Non-perishable food items, particularly canned vegetables and fruits, cereal, peanut butter, pasta, non-refrigerated juices and rice

• Children's books

• Buttons and jewelry

• Playing cards

Honolulu Derby Girls League on KGMB (I'm so happy!)

2007-11-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I'm more excited about going home for Christmas now that there is a roller derby team in Hawaii. Maybe I can practice with them! I just watched this nice news piece on them which made me so happy (and jealous that they are getting free practice space). I never thought about a military base as an option. Too bad we don't have any military brats on our team. Via KGMB:

Written by Ramsay Wharton - rwharton@kgmb9.com

Some of our viewers may remember the heyday of a hugely popular sport here in the islands. No, not wrestling. We're talking about roller derby.

In the 50's and 60's, it drew thousands to nightly shows at the former Civic Auditorium. Many of those broadcast here on KGMB9.

In the 70's, television shows like "Charlie's Angels" fed off the popularity of the fast-moving, often bruising antics of roller derby teams. Skaters, decked out in protective gear, roughed it up as they tried to score points by lapping opponents on a banked roller rink.

On the mainland, roller derby continues today and now a group of young women are trying to bring the once popular sport back to Hawaii. This summer, frustrated by the lack of skating venues and roller derby in Hawaii, Melissa Rosen decided to revive the sport of roller derby and found the Honolulu Derby Girls League. This fall she and coach, Natalie Hancock, started recruiting women over the age of 21 who want to have fun and skate in sport that requires skill and bravery. Rosen says roller derby has changed over the decades. And while there are still colorful skaters with names like "Ballbreaking Becky," the races are geared more toward the sport than the rough-neck style entertainment that looked like wrestling on wheels.

The girls are practicing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii's roller hockey rink. Military dependent and Honolulu Derby Girls Coach, Natalie Hancock of Texas, escorts the girls on to base for practice.

The next Honolulu Derby Girls practice is scheduled at MCBH on Wednesday, November 28 at 4:30 p.m. and then Sunday, December 2 at 3:30 p.m.

The league is looking for more players and Honolulu Derby Girls Tryouts will be held at MCBH's Roller Hockey Rink, Saturday, December 8, at 4:30 p.m. To sign up, practice and get clearance to enter the base, contact Melissa Rosen at honoluluderbygirls@yahoo.com.

The upside to not being able to skate

2007-11-20T12:19:00.000-05:00

The bright side of not being able to skate for awhile:

your body finally gets a chance to heal itself. Not just the big injury that has sidelined you, but also that nagging pulled muscle in your ribcage (for instance) that keeps getting better until the next practice when someone slams into you in just the right place.
there is way less laundry to do.
You don't have to keep spraying your stinky pads with Febreeze every other day and air out your skates and your skate bag. And you don't have to deal with the smell when you forget to do that.
you don't have to lug around that gigantic bag of gear when you go to practices or scrimmages.
Instead, you can bring a camera and focus on taking awesome shots of your fellow skaters.
You can actually focus on your real job.
you can spend more time with your honey.
You can spend more time with other skater's honeys -- not like that! I just mean when you're sitting on the bench you get to have conversations with other folks on the bench, folks you might not get a lot of hang out time with. It's a nice chance to make new friends!
You can get more involved with other aspects of your league -- people always need more help doing committee work -- just ask around. Or try your hand at coaching or managing or whatever. You may find a hidden talent.
Depending on your league, you don't have to pay dues if you're injured!
If you are having problems with people on your league, or politics, or whatever crap goes on in everybody's leagues, it's a nice time to take a break from all of that or at least take a step back and re-examine it from a different perspective.
You can find a whole new group of people to talk about roller derby to -- your doctor, your nurse, your physical therapist, the people in the waiting room, etc. etc. Don't forget to bring flyers with you!

Okay, that's all I got. That said, it is frickin' awesome to be back on skates!!!

Rollergirls: Media darlings (by day and by night!)

2007-11-20T00:10:00.000-05:00

Via Roller Derby Diva:

Almost every day, I get word of a newspaper article or TV news spot about some roller derby league somewhere in the world. On Saturday, the New York Times ran an article (with a front-page photo) on the Gotham Girls Roller Derby's intra-league championship. The Times has written about Gotham Girls and other leagues before, but I believe this is the first time they've done video too. Derby News Network managing editor Justice Feelgood Marshall is on a crusade to get journalists to avoid the "(insert occupation here) by day, rollergirl by night" cliche in their coverage, but sadly, it has yet to be realized, even by the Times. Oh well. In defense of my profession, I think most reporters (and most people) are still struck by this dichotomy upon first learning about modern-day roller derby. I'm not defending the use of cliches, which any Journalism 101 professor will instruct you to avoid; I'm just pointing out that the average writer might not realize that this particular description of a rollergirl has become cliched (that said, all writers should always read other articles about a subject before tackling it themselves and avoid describing things the same way others have). Anyway, assuming derby continues to grow, I would hope that you'd see less of these kinds of descriptions, just as you don't really read articles anymore that say things like, "She's a woman -- and she's a C.E.O.!" We shall see...

(Thanks to RollerBuzz for the page scan)

Cutest. Rollergirls. Ever.

2007-11-20T00:08:00.000-05:00

Via Roller Derby Diva:

OK, I think this video will make up for the ones I posted earlier today -- this is the Tootsy Rollers, a pee wee roller derby league in Seattle and a division of the Seattle Derby Brats. (There are also junior derby leagues in Tucson and Orange County, Calif.) In pee wee derby, apparently the blockers' goal is to grab flags off the jammer's waist rather than knock her down. They don't look too different than we did a year and a half ago!