Roller Derby Videos on the web

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!