This changes everything

Last wed I skated with the Gotham Girls of NYC. It was incredibly different from what we are doing in the Bay Area. Not because of anything more then them having been around for a year longer... but drastically different none the less. I hardly know where to start.

First. They have refs. The refs are unpaid volunteers who come to every practice and set up the track, they ref the practice jams, they are willing derby-man-slaves. This may seem like no big deal, but having refs at practice *defiantly changes everything*. At B.A.D. we have to set up our own track, and we have to use cones. Not only does this take about 20 minutes out of our practice time, you can skate in and out of a cone track with ease, creating a breeding ground for accidental-out-of-bounds-cheating. We set the track up after we do drills, so our drills are rarely preformed on the actual track.

Second. They have very (it seems) established chain of command. Not necessarily hierarchical. But there are girls in charge of specific departments. The girl who is head of coaching was conducting stretching whilst in the foreground there was a girl having a mini-meeting about having roping on the outside of the track. If girls started slacking off with the stretching you heard: "Stretch while you talk ladies!" Not that we don't have a chain of command... but the Gotham Girls seem to have it more honed then we do... they seem to be able to multi-task in ways we can only dream of.

Third. They have teams. We just formed teams... so I barley understood what that could mean. As it turns out--if we can do it like the GGRD, it's going to be awesome. During the scrimmage part of practice, each team and their captain went into a huddle of sorts. We worked out who was playing what for the next jam. After each jam the captain told her girls what she saw they could improve on and what she saw they did well. Having this kind of feedback made a world of difference.

Forth. They have positions. I had just spent a long time on the phone with Ivanna Spankin from Sin City, learning about tactics and positions, how to run a line-up, how to handle a bench. It was awesome. All I needed was to see it in action. And that was exactly what I got from GGRD. I skated with the Brooklyn Bombshells for the evening. Aside from being a total unmitigated liability as the #4 skater... I think I did ok.Har.

Positions change everything. All of a sudden, instead of just skating around in a pack--you've got a specific job to do... you've got to stay on the inside (for example), stay with your pivot, and work together in very specific ways-- to accomplish much more specific goals. I know that sounds vague. I will post more on strategy as I learn it. But the basics are there are four positions in the pack assigned by numbers 1-4, with 1 being homologous with the pivot position.

Surley Vixen Kicked my Ass

Kicked my ass last Thursday.

She was sneaky--she hovered on the outside of the track, just behind me (we
were both playing pivot). As her jammer rounded the pack, and I
was guarding the inside, she swooped in and with a full head of steam, plowed into me.

It was awesome.

I went flying into the inside of the track. Her plan backfired a
little though: I was such a "no-contest" when she delivered her blow, that
she went flying through me like a paper wall--and herself landed inside the
track right along beside me.

Beware of the surely vixen.

p.s. I got up before her and proceeded to kick her jammer's ass.

Kitt the Captain?

I was selected by Stitches Stew, head of the coaching committee, to be the captain of one of our two teams. I am now the proud captain of the San Francisco Shevil Dead. I am so excited I could pee my pants.

As it turns out, however, this entails a lot more work than had I originally thought. Even with Sassy Slayher as my fabulous co-captain--it's gonna be some work. We have to split up our girls into levels of play, forming some semblance of strings (first, second, third). We have to consider what positions each girl would be best fit playing. We have to organize an extra weekly practice (and imbibe-ment session) in order to work on tactics and strategy.

All in all: Me = superpsyched.

Violet Temper and the League Rules

Violet Temper from Philly Roller Girls was at practice last night! She skated super. And she reminded us that we need to work on pack formation during lineup and we need to concentrate on skating within arms-reach during the entire jam.

I am on the coaching committee and last night we had a meeting to discuss rules for our first bout. (Which is going to be awesome and is going to be October 22nd at Dry Ice in Oakland.) We are looking at different sets of rules from other leagues across the country. Of our major points of contention are:

• Jammer re-engagement
• The ability to skate back up to the jammer even after she has passed you in the pack, without incurring additional points against you when/if she passes you once more. This makes it much harder for the jammer to get out of the pack--potentially making for a more interesting spectator sport--more physically violent, and less an all out speed race.
• The con of this is that the jammer could literally not get out of the pack for the entire jam if her blockers don't help her out.
  
• This would make the sport so much more interesting for me.
  
• Length of jams
• Single jams 2 minutes to 90 seconds, but in most leagues the "lead jammer" can "call off the jam" after she successfully laps the pack twice. (which she would do if the other jammer hadn't gotten to the pack a second time, thereby securing her hold on twice as many points.)
• Number of periods
• 3, 4 or more periods?
• I think we are going with 3 15 minutes periods, for our first bout.
• Legal blocking
• Use of the arms will be limited to above the shoulder. You can not use the arm in any kind of swing. The arms are basically an extension of space... at least that's my understanding so far.
  
• We haven't even gotten to scoring yet--I think it goes like this:
• Score a point for every person in the pack you pass *after* you've lapped the pack once.
• Score a point if/each time you lap the other jammer.
  

Anyway. We have to read up more on everyone's rules. The ULC (united leagues commission) is working on nation-wide rules but they will not be completed until after our first bout. When they are we will adopt those. Then IT'S ON BITCHES! INTER LEAGUE BOUTS!

In the meantime come out our benefit on the 17th at Studio Z, in San Francisco to raise money for the bout!

Roller Con 2005!

So there I was--at RollerCon.
In Vegas, for only the second time of my life. And there I was, surrounded by awesome, strong-hearted, strong-willed, strong women (with a lot of ink). The women of roller derby's future. I met girls from all over the place. I had the best time.

You remember roller derby.

While our new derby nods in approval at the retro-stylings, there are a few differences: First, and most importantly, the new leagues making up the National League Coalition are women-only and skate on flat tracks only. We do however use only quad (not in-line) skates. There are defiantly D.I.Y. and punk rock underpinnings.

Anyway, I hope to post here more about derby, how I got started, current happenings, photos... etc. So stay tuned. Rock on roller girls.

In the meantime, listen to this NPR coverage of RollerCon and the resurgence of derby.