Fresh Meat Derby Dos and Don’ts

DO:

  • Wear a sports bra!
  • Practice outside of practice
  • Have a positive attitude
  • Drink electrolytes
  • Wear tights under your shorts - rink rash is not fun
  • Hydrate properly
  • Cut back on junk food
  • Watch REAL roller derby - and no not Whip It!
  • Ask questions
  • Talk to the vets
  • Let your gear bag air out after practice
  • Take care of your gear

DON’T:

  • Worry about looking stupid
  • Give other skaters attitude
  • Eat a huge meal 10 minutes before practice
  • Talk during instruction
  • Wear a lot of makeup - you’ll sweat it all off
  • Avoid going to the doctor when you’re injured
  • Leave your gear - ESPECIALLY your mouth guard in the car
  • Get discouraged - we were all new once
  • SMOKE!

Q:I'm stoked for the recruitment in October! Is there any way I can get a heads up on what the practice schedule will be like? The practice times kept me from joining the year before last, but I'd really like to make another attempt. Thanks!

Anonymous

Recruitment practices will be held on Sundays from 2:30-5:30pm and Mondays from 8:15-10:30pm. Once you are accepted onto the league practices switch To Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:15-10:30pm. Hope to see you this time

Q:What do you take into consideration when choosing who to recruit for the team/refs/Nso's?

Anonymous

We will train anyone who would like to be an NSO or a ref. To be either one of those things does require your time however. You can e-mail games@orlandoderbygirls.com for more information on how to get involved in either of these areas.

To become a skater one must go through our recruitment process. We actually have a recruitment coming up this October and you can find out more about it here: http://www.facebook.com/events/461726367185563/. During recruitment we teach you everything you need to know to pass the required skills test to become a skater on the league. We also take your dedication, attendance, and attitude into consideration as well before extending an invitation for you to become a league skater. If you have any additional questions you can e-mail recruitment@orlandoderbygirls.com :)

Q:What tips would you give someone who really wants to join the team but needs a lot of training?

Anonymous

“DONT GIVE UP! It doesnt matter how long it takes, as long as you want it you will eventually get exactly where you want to be.”

-Roxxy Harlot


“Showing up is half the battle. Come to recruitment. Go to open skates. Just start skating!”

-The EmPaleHer


“We ALL need a lot of training. Just come out and try it. You’ll see that we cheer for each other, help each other to strengthen our weaknesses, and give words of encouragement when it’s needed most. Poking fun at crummy skaters isn’t tolerated or accepted, it’s all about positive “you can do it!” attitudes :)”

-Spikey Blows-Whales


“There are lots of girls that play and even some of the girls on the travel team that could barely skate when they started! You never know what you are going to be like in 3 months or even in 2 weeks!”

-Killa Belle Lecter


“Be patient with yourself!”

-Raquel ‘Kitty’ Welts


“I couldn’t skate when I started! You will be surprised what a few months, good coaches and hard work accomplish!”

-Broozed Ego


“Never ever give up! Believe that you can do this…believing in yourself is really half the battle. At first it will really suck and you will completely doubt that you can come back! Listen to your body and your coaches and you will be just fine!!”

Green Bay Smack-Her

Q:How long did it take you to perfect your Tomahawk turn, when you first started skating?

cherrylisa

“I’m still working on mine. Turning around smoothly takes alot of practice.”

-Terra Tombstone


“I still want mine better…it took me about a month to actually get it. Something that needs to be mastered first is transitioning from front to back, I have spent more time in just transitions, then tomahawk.”

-Killa Belle Lecter


“It took me about a month to get the groove of it… Still working on it. Definitely helped upgrading my toe stops though. But skaters can still do it without super spiffy toe stops.”

-Roxxy Harlot


“Doing short sprints (suicides) really helped me get the hang of them quickly, and now I can do them all the time. However, I still need to work on not needing to slow down before tuning if I’m going fast. Hips of Steel makes it look so easy!”

-Alexis Delarge


“Learn to transition front-to-back first because if you try to turn and go straight into a tomahawk you’re going to fall almost every time!

It took me a month to be able to learn to transition and then tomahawk. I still have trouble doing it to the left, but I’m really good at turning to the right :)”

-Spikey Blows-Whales


“After you learn to transition turning to your left or turning to your right it’s all a mental game. Going down on your toe stops at that kind of angle can feel super weird. Practice with your toe stops slightly lower than you normally would and progressively raise them to the perfect height that is comfortable for you! Seriously, they are so fun to do.”

-Anita Priest


“Remember to turn then stop. It came really quickly when I figured that out.”

-Jam Adams


“It finally clicked for me when I realized that you had to put the right amount of weight on your toe stops. The more you lean forward and the more pressure you put on your toes, the faster you’re gong to stop. Once you’ve stopped you should look like you’re almost in a runner’s stance. some people put both toe stops down at the same I time, but I find that difficult and put one down first, put my weight on it to slow myself down, then put the other down to stop. 

As for doing them while going fast: part of that is just getting over the fear of transitioning, like the other girls had mentiond. the more comfortable you feel going faster and just turning backwards, the easier it’ll be to put your toe stops down to stop yourself.”

-Shod N. Froyda


“It took me about a month to get my Tomahawk stop down and then another month or so to nail it at full speed. One thing that really helped me was mimicking the the motion you make to do a Tomahawk stop in everyday life - without skates on. We don’t normally turn into a stop like that during our daily lives, so doing it on skates can feel incredibly uncomfortable at first. This can be applied to any derby skill pretty much. If you can’t jump, leap, or turn on your toes in everyday life it’s gonna be much more difficult to do it on skates.”

-Chainsaw Chelsea

Q:What are the rules that you have when skating in bouts? How do you make sure that the girls who skate are as safe as possible (for roller derby standards I mean)?

iloveyoujc

We were skating under the OSDA rule set, but we’ve recently switched to the WFTDA rule set. These rules do not allow elbowing, hitting above the shoulders or below the knees, tripping, back blocking, and other dangerous actions. Skaters are required to take a skills test that assesses their skills as well as how safe of skater they are.

Q:What are the workouts like? Is there anything I can do at home to get ready for try outs?

Anonymous

“Practice involves plenty of cardio, so it wouldn’t hurt to jog or run. You’re gonna learn to fall properly, so work out your legs. Beyond that, skate and get comfortable moving on wheels. We’ll do the rest in October.”

-Ivana Crushyu


“The workouts are similar to a boot camp-style total conditioning class. Be prepared to take lots of epsom salt baths to help with the muscle soreness because there will be days where you can hardly get out of bed. The best thing I did was skate as many open sessions as possible to work on basic things like balance on my skates, endurance, and of course dodging children for agility and plow stops.”

-Alexis Delarge


“Squats and cardio interval training”

-The EmpaleHer


“go to an open session :)”

-Spikey Blows-Whales


“Work your core with ab workouts.”

-Ruby Ruff n’ Tumble


“I do planks, squats and lots and lots of crunches at home when I’m not skating.”

-Roxxy Harlot


“Skate, skate, skate. Endurance is everything!”

-Broozed Ego


“To get comfortable on your skates try wearing them while you do housework. This helps you get used to moving in different directions while getting a feel for your skates. Workout in your skates. Do planks, squats, different variations of leg lifts, and other core exercises. There are also a bunch of workouts on youtube for speed skaters that would also benefit you greatly. Really, crosstraining of any kind is beneficial - you can do soccer agility drills, speed skating strengthening exercises, pilates, yoga, biking, dancing, etc. Exercising in any form is not going to be detrimental. I also highly recommend dancing, especially if you never do. You use your hips a lot in roller derby, so being able to move them is important. When a skater is struggling with moving her hips and loosening up I usually ask if they dance - the answer is typically no.”

-Chainsaw Chelsea

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