All things roller derby

[Clem Snide]

It's kind of weird to me that you see porny subtext, as we most certainly are not trying to create any. Is it because we're not wearing standard sports uniforms? I don't see it at all, but maybe that's because I know all these people and know that that's the furthest thing from anyone's mind.

For instance, the team in my area have posters all over the place with a heavy contingent of cartoon cleavage and short skirts, and similar imagery crops up elsewhere, at least in my limited experience. Also their website says: "Hot pants, short skirts, tights and stripey socks are encouraged"

Not that I'm criticising this necessarily, just wondering why it is so, since I can't see the link between roller skates and sexiness (possibly due to failure to get lucky at the roller discos of my youth.)

http://www.sheffieldsteelrollergirls.co.uk/

[FormicaLinoleum]

Ah, I thought you meant in the video I posted.

There are some leagues who take the "sex sells" approach to trying to promote a sport that's new and largely unheard of. This was somewhat common in the very beginning of the revival (as slodki said, in the early 2000s) and is sometimes adopted by newer leagues, but is relatively uncommon among more established leagues.

However, hot pants, short skirts, and tights being encouraged for training isn't necessarily a 'sexiness' thing. Because we wear knee pads, it's impractical to wear any kind of trousers, including track pants or other things people might think to wear for other sports, so tights or leggings are pretty much standard for derby. Long skirts would be too restricting, so if you're going to wear a skirt over your tights/leggings, it should be short. Those who don't wear skirts usually wear skorts or shorts. Most people also wear knee socks to cover the lower parts of their legs. (Having any part of your legs bare means you're somewhat likely to get a burn if you fall.)

[8ball]

I have post-traumatic coccyx area tissue pain from some falls over 8 months ago and can't sit for very long without it hurting. I'm currently waiting for physio on that although I have no idea what they're going to advise.

We're scrimmaging with Dolly Rockitt Rollers tonight. They're a bit more advanced than us so we will just have to see how it goes - El Viscious is on the case with lineups etc so it should be good!

[FormicaLinoleum]

Cool--good luck! I'm sure El will have some good ideas for you.

I'm very happy that my knee held up through the Tattoo Freeze tournament (with help from lots of ibuprofen), and we won all our games and the overall trophy!

This weekend I'm off to Berlin to rep LRG at the European Rollerderby Organsational Conference, and to eat lots of yummy vegan food!

[Darcy]

FormicaLinoleum... was I in a jacuzzi/pool with you on the Saturday night!?

[FormicaLinoleum]

Haha! Probably so--I was in one! Who are you (what's your league and skate name)?

[Darcy]

ARRG (Edinburgh)/Bruise Leigh. I wasn't skating though I was doing line-ups.

[FormicaLinoleum]

My league has a big-deal tournament coming up this weekend: http://www.londonrollergirls.com/anarchy-preview

I'm so excited about it! These will be the first WFTDA-sanctioned bouts outside of North America. I'm on the travel team squad of 20, but as each game has only 14 players, I don't know yet whether I'll be skating. We have been training really hard in preparation for this, and regardless of whether I get on the track, I've really enjoyed that.

[FormicaLinoleum]

Exciting times for our league and me! We have been ranked number 10 in our region (East Region) of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, which means we are going to the East Region Playoffs in September. And I'm on the roster for the tournament! We, and I, are training extra hard for this. Top three teams from the playoffs go to the Championships. Going in as #10 we have very little chance of emerging top 3, but playoff will be amazing anyway.

We also recently played the reigning champions, Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. We lost 229 - 49, but against such a tough team, we were quite pleased by that result. Here's video of the last three jams of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7x36T8E ... e=youtu.be. I'm in the first jam on the video (#410).

[soniczip]

welldone and good luck with the playoffs!

[loveliberate]

My daughter gotten into doing junior derby here in Portland. I have been encouraging her to join VeganFitness and will be sure to point out this thread to her!

[Heinrich]

Congratz.
I hope the rest of Europe gets bigger in Derby, too. I love watching the Bombshells.

But get rid of the minor fouls. No one in the audience can follow them and they require so much attention referee wise. Rather focus on correct point giving. Because thats annoying when the referee points dont match what the audience saw.

[FormicaLinoleum]

It's definitely growing really quickly in Europe. It will just take a little while for all the leagues that are popping up to get to the point of having public bouts.

I'll be over in October to play the Bombshells. I'm looking forward to it--I love Berlin!

The minors thing is under discussion. There have recently been some games testing a no-minors ruleset. We'll see where that goes. http://wftda.com/news/wftda-no-minors-beta-testing

[FormicaLinoleum]

Our team did really well in the tournament. We went in seeded 10th, but won 3 out of 4 of our games (beat 7th, 6th, and 5th seeds and lost against the 2nd seed) and came out of the tournament #5. Considering it was very controversial among derby fans/nerds that we were even raked #10 and invited to the tournament, we are really pleased with the outcome.

I didn't get to play, though. I'm one of the weaker players on the team, so warmed the bench.

Here are writeups of our three wins.
http://derbynewsnetwork.com/2011/09/east_playoffs_10e_london_upsets_7e_carolina_160_67
http://derbynewsnetwork.com/2011/09/east_consolation_10e_london_drops_6e_boston_142_95
http://derbynewsnetwork.com/2011/09/east_5th_place_10e_london_holds_5e_montreal_137_135

[loveliberate]

I made it out for my first bouts yesterday: http://www.rosecityrollers.com/events/u ... le-header/ as it was also my daughters first bout. The Good: The derby itself was fun & it was great to see my daughter out there. Not so Good: Being surrounded by lots people in close quarters, sitting on uncomfortable bleachers & dealing with overzealous security staff...

Chances are I will go out again - anyone want to join me next time?