For Love of the Skate

Heeeey so I’m hopping a plane tomorrow to head to Manchester, England where I shall be joining Team Announcer for the Roller Derby World Cup! I AM EXCITED. Also, I have a head cold, so that’s fun.

Anyhoo, will I see any of y’all there? I’ll be werkin hard most of the time, but am thrilled to meet and work with fabulous humans from all across this beautiful planet of ours - and watch/call some derby in the meantime, too. ;)

I’ll be doing some interviews for future podcastin’ use, which is also exciting. Anything/one you’d be particular keen to hear from or about?

Here’s hoping I don’t screw up anyone’s names, and that jet lag doesn’t make mince meat pie of me.

Happy early episode release day!

It’s episode 2 of our new podcast, the S. S. Roller Derby, and we’ve got an awesome interview with two longstanding refs/officials about all things zebra, exclusive news about Summer Affair in Cleveland next August, some preview excitement about WFTDA Champs, music from a roller derby band, and more!

Happy National Coming Out Day! I am a genderqueer, bisexual, poly human. My pronouns are she/her. I'm out because I can't imagine living any other way, and because I've never been a particularly subtle person. I'm also out because I have the privilege to be. I don't face immediate bodily or emotional harm for being open and honest, both because I'm lucky about where I live and who I get to call family and friends, but also because I am a white, reasonably middle class, educated person. I have access to quality resources and support.

Not everyone has that. Too many people are still unable to live authentic, open lives, because too many other people have been taught to hate and lash out at anything that's perceived as different or "abnormal." Because we live in a deeply racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic society. Because we live in a culture that still embraces toxic ideas of masculinity, and is run by a violent patriarchal system.

But that's why it's all the more crucial for those of us who can be out, to be not just out, but OUTSPOKEN. To be visible. To be beacons, imperfect though we all are, for those who are still forced into dark closets.

This morning I had a stark reminder of this truth: I went to leave my house and found a young man hiding on my front porch. He was soaked through, covered in burrs and other debris, and clearly shaken. He apologized immediately for being there, but explained that he had been jumped by a group of men, beaten up, and chased for quite some distance before he'd been able to outrun them and find that hiding place. Why had he picked our porch, of all places? "I saw the rainbow flag and the Black Lives Matter sign and I thought this would be a safe place to wait."

I put the Pride flag and the sign on the porch back in June, to celebrate LGBTQ Pride month. Even then, I had to stop and think about how doing so might put a target on our house, that it would make it somewhat more likely someone would vandalize it or even harass us because of it. But I did it anyway, in spite of that, as a "fuck you" but also as a beacon. It's hope. That we can and will be better, as a society, as more and more brave people come out and live authentically and with love. I have to believe that. I've seen it.

If you can't be out, because it isn't yet safe, do what you can with you what you have, and know that you are loved, and your feelings and your identity are real and valid and valued. If you *can* be out, know that even the most mundane seeming existence is revolutionary as long as it's honest, and that you are a role model, a beacon of hope and possibility to someone else, whether you know it or not.

So I may be a little biased here*, but I was SO PROUD of this moment between MRD jammer Mack the Knife and (super great) Rat City pivot Cee Cee. Mack just manages to see the big hit coming and begins to pop back to avoid it, but Cee Cee still manages to make perfect contact with Mack’s thigh and send her flying.

What could have been a devastating hit that laid out Mack and maybe took the wind out of that jam ended up being an opportunity for Mack to show off her ridiculously good recovery time and strength, instead. That, kids, is why you cross train for better upper body and core strength.

Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. Jam on! (see the whole game here)

So after we posted our first episode of our new podcast, Something Something Roller Derby (now available on iTunes, too!), Dolly Rocket herself reached out with a very nice email and has since given us some extra (awesome) history behind the track cut/draw-back penalty innovation.

We talk about this a bit in the episode itself, and it’s why we named the episode “We Still Blame Dolly Rocket” - she has largely been credited with being the first person to introduce the track cut strategy/draw-backs in a WFTDA game (at ECDX, then called ECE, way back when). Turns out, even Dolly picked up the trick from someone else, and she gave us the story in her email, which she gave us permission to reprint:

“Anna Wrecks'ya taught me how to drop back and draw a cut; I didn't make that up. It was before cut tracks were penalties, when derby was single-pass scoring and it was called 'protecting your point.’ I actually sent her these trophies THIS PAST WEEK to commemorate her derby contributions (grandmas gotta stick together!), so this is weirdly timely. She also kinda invented defensive walls...”

“Here's the original email I sent her along with the trophies: You deserve many awards for your contributions to Providence and Boston Derby as well as derby at large. I can't even begin to speak to your accomplishments in the last 8 or so years since I wasn't around, but I can talk about some of the things you perhaps unknowingly invented, that were very influential to me personally as well as all of derby.

“1. Cut track penalties. In our first ever game together as OMH's, I distinctly remember you inventing this. It was before cut track penalties were majors, and it was still single pass scoring, so it would not have been called that... But, Picture it: Providence, 2006.

“We are playing the stinky ass rats (gross). You knock the jammer out of bounds on her second scoring pass on the straight away between turn 4 and turn 1 (before those terms existed), and then pull Maim West backwards by the waist of her tennis skirt, allowing the jammer to pass the both of you and only get two points for the entire pass. At the end of the jam you came up to me to tell me what you did, you were SO EXCITED about this new concept of letting a jammer do something wrong to not get points, and that you were able to bring a less strong skater along for the ride so they weren't an easy point. That's where you became the queen of low key being the best but without anyone noticing or even understanding what you were doing... simply letting someone go by you isn't flashy, but it was genius!

“This concept eventually manifested itself into the main skill of derby defense today. You were the first chick on the east coast that thought of this and it frankly blew my mind with it's simplicity. This strategy eventually came to a head at BBD's first Bumber Bout, where the Rat City Ponytail Sisters intentionally cut track left and right so as not to lose speed, much to the frustration of every team they played. Shortly after, the WFTDA made cutting track on on 2 or more skaters and/or the pivot a major, changing the face of derby defense strategy forever by slowing it down and forcing defenses to focus on skating technique and coordination rather than racing. “2. Defensive Walls. When I moved to CA I unpacked a bunch of boxes and found an old VHS tape of PRD's first ever came against Carolina. Obviously I found a VCR and watched it, and it was hilarious. Remember when it was in our bout contracts to require the host team to mail the visitors a VHS of the game? Anyway, there was a pretty well informed fan commentary throughout the whole tape as it was recording the audio of the people around the camcorder, and for most of the game they're talking about how INSANE it is that PRD is clumping together in front of the jammer and slowing down, rather than trying to just hit her as hard as possible. They had never seen or thought of this before. I believe this is a direct quote: 'It's like they're making a wall of bodies in front of her... smart.'

“Keep in mind that at the time Carolina was one of the best teams in the world. While the west coast was inventing waterfall defense, your little derby brain was inventing this. Being the only person on our league with any actual skate training, your ability to modulate your speed was mind blowing and really influential to all of us. This seed of an idea has turned into the crux of roller derby defense.   “Anyway, I'm sure no one remembers most of this, but I do. We don't do a great job as a community of recording milestones or celebrating achievements and accomplishments which is a shame. Your storied career may have never won you a medal and like everyone else except the Bonnie Thunders' of the world you will retire and eventually be forgotten. But, your contributions to the sport will be felt for generations to come. You've got the heart and the brains! “

ANNOUNCING yet another roller derby podcast!

My teammate and fellow announcer, Allie Gator, and yours truly are teaming up to bring you a bi-monthly production: Something Something Roller Derby (or S.S. Roller Derby for short - all aboard!). Our first episode drops August 28 and will feature an interview with our own OG skater, Mouse, about derby history, plus an advice column and other fun stuff!

I had the pleasure of leading one of our summer training sessions last night for a newer group of skaters (my fav), with a focus on jammer skills and jam starts.

These are both things that, I find, we don’t always do a particularly good job of taking time to really teach. Jammers are often just thrown to the wolves to figure it out on the fly, and sometimes even blockers are tossed into scrimmage or games without ever really going over the various strategies for where and how to line up, and why.

I did my best to go over some basic meat-and-potatoes for all of that, and it seemed to really resonate and make a difference. One of the trainees asked me to write some of it down, specifically the stuff about jam starts (for blockers and jammers), so I thought I would share it here, too.

First a caveat: These are not hard-and-fast rules so much as general best practices, and good starting places. There are lots of nuances and reasons to change these things up depending on what’s happening in-game, or who’s on the track, etc. But we all gotta have someplace to start from!

Lining Up (Blockers): Generally, if your pack is in the back/on the line, you want to be in a braced 2/2 (sometimes called a W) formation - two people (butts) facing forward, at the middle of the track (they can make a seam), and two people facing backwards to brace them (and move with them! butts should always catch jammers first - it is not ideal to catch jammers on your chest as a bracer). If your pack is in the front, a 3 wall with one brace is a good option. When you line up in the front, too, you want to make sure you suck all the way back to practically sit on the opposing pack in the back - don't give them any extra room to maneuver. This can also help in terms of having one person play some quick offense by sitting back on someone, or posting up, or even quickly sinking back and creating a hole.

If your pack is on the line/in the back, you want to hold your position as strongly as possible, even if the team in front is sitting on you. That means getting and staying low and long, especially the braces.

When you are down blockers in the box / you have fewer players on the track than the opposing team, you almost always want to line up in the front. You can use the other pack, then, to help create more of a wall and are also less likely to have the larger pack swallow you.

As a jammer, the above points are things to note when you're lined up. Also look for: my team is on the line, so they can let me through quickly (and then close that hole!) and I can attack and try to push/spread out the opposing team and either get through, or push them until there's a no pack and they have to let me go.

If my friends are lined up in the front, I can look for someone on the wings to play quick offense for me, or hit an uneven seam at a 45 degree angle and try to pop through (oftentimes that means hitting and hitting again, back and forth, until the blockers start to move, and then taking advantage of holes or open lines). The benefit here is that my friends in the front can keep an eye on me, and once I'm through I'm home free.

Another thing to think about when your friends are in front: Get your friends to hold the opposing jammer in a cluster and toward one line or another (not in the dead middle of the track). Then, you push toward the opposite line, forcing the pack defending you to cluster up there, until eventually the two packs are even with each other. Then, make a quick lateral move to the opposite side of the track/where your friends are, and go around them on the line. Basically, you can use your own pack to be a giant screen to hide behind and get around the opposing blockers.

Have fun! Always be looking and thinking at least two steps ahead / like you're already out of the pack, and move aggressively, constantly moving your feet forward!

Sandrine Rangeon’s “Jammer Decision Tree” flowchart is still pretty dang relevant. Take a look.

So today is the THIRTEENTH anniversary of the founding of the Mad Rollin Dolls roller derby league here in Madison. We were the fourth in the WORLD to form in the modern derby era, and the fifth to become a WFTDA member (making us a "grandmother" league, hee). My how time flies. I remember being an eager fan at those first games, packed into Fast Forward Skate Center like sardines, hoping no one got clotheslined on the rope lights they used to use for a track boundary.

I am ridiculously privileged to have been able to join and come up/learn in this league, frankly. Having visited and met so many other people from different leagues across the world, I realize just how good we have it here (especially in the form of the incredible United Derby Officials Local 608 and all of our non-skating volunteers - seriously, at last count we had the second largest volunteer force IN THE WORLD, and they are amazing).

And think about it: this was a totally grassroots, sprouted-from-nothing, no-playbook effort by a bunch of women who wanted to create a sport and community for people who had never had something like it in their lives. Through ups and downs, plenty of trials and tribulations, a bunch of dedicated volunteers from all walks of life managed to pull together and create something truly revolutionary (many thanks in particular go to Crackerjack and Pam Demonium, our league's co-founders).

So I just want to boost the signal on this as much as I can - because we should all be looking for these types of positive community building efforts and throwing all of our support behind them (whether it's roller derby or theater or burlesque or activism or whatever). And also, MRD is amazing.

And if you haven't seen roller derby yet, I truly do not know what you're waiting for. Madison: home season starts January 13. You've got time to plan and no excuse not to be there. ;)

Noticed Miracle Whips and friends filming *something* next to the pool last weekend at ECDX. Turns out this is what it was. Great tips for blockers!