Roller Derby Disorder

Boston Derby Dames recruiting skaters and referees

2008-07-18T08:20:00.000-04:00

For all you girls out there who have been dying to become a Dame, now is your chance. BDD is hosting informal skate clinics throughout the summer and fall, leading up to tryouts on Sunday, November 2. And if you think wearing stripes and having the power to send a Dame to the penalty box is more your style, referees tryouts will happen at the same time.

All of the information is online here, and in PDF form here. So download it, print it out, and commit it to memory. Then beg, borrow, or steal yourself some skates and start practicing! If you have any questions, email freshmeat@bostonderbydames.com

The Uneven Playing Field -- women and ACL injuries

2008-07-17T23:22:00.001-04:00

"If girls and young women ruptured their A.C.L.’s at just twice the rate of boys and young men, it would be notable. Three times the rate would be astounding. But some researchers believe that in sports that both sexes play, and with similar rules — soccer, basketball, volleyball — female athletes rupture their A.C.L.’s at rates as high as five times that of males."

I just read a fascinating article in the New York Times the other day about ACL injuries in female athletes. Really interesting (and scary) stuff. It mostly focuses on adolescent girls, but most of the stuff in it applies to adult female athletes, too. Not only does it talk about the physical risk factors that make women more susceptible to ACL injuries (looser ligaments, more flexibility, greater propensity to be knock-kneed, a more upright running posture), but it also talks about the emotional and social issues which may also have an impact -- the relative newness of women's athletics in general (Title IX is only 36 years old), the feeling women often have that they need to "tough it out" to prove they belong, the strong social bond they feel with their teammates that they don't want to give up for an injury, and the political touchiness of people who think that focusing on a woman's propensity to be injured will set back their work to put men's and women's athletics on an equal playing field. Read the full article here.

The Marriage of Queen Kamayhemayhem and her King

2008-07-17T12:37:00.000-04:00

This is my anniversary present to my husband. Happy 6th Mr. Mayhem!

The Slay Ride & Keeping your Eye on the Jammer

2008-07-08T13:51:00.004-04:00

Photo: Charm City v Houston, East Coast Derby Extravaganza 2008 (©K.T. Ryder Wilkie)

If you were at ECE (or even if you weren't), you know about the gigantic block Beyonslay laid on Rice Rocket during the Gotham v Texas matchup. Punchy O'Guts has a nice blog post where she not only gives this block the props it deserves, she also comments on the smart play involved:

"What's really notable - besides the giant, most incredible hit I've ever seen - is the smart play.
1. Beyonslay easily moves Rice Rocket out with a booty block. She pays attention to the track boundary and lets up at just the right moment.
2. As the pack moves toward the outside Beyonslay sneaks through the inside - as Rice Rocket does - and prepares for her hit.
3. If the team hadn't raced back up with Beyonslay she wouldn't have been able to legally lay on on her.
4. Rice Rocket took the biggest hit I've ever seen and hopped back up as if nothing ever happened. And this was after another blocker gave her a sternum block. Most jammers would probably lie there in utter shock. Rice Rocket is incredible."

All nice points. I went back and watched the video a couple more times just to see the strategy going on. Really interesting stuff. Going through my bazillion photos from ECE one of the things that struck me is how you can tell the good teams just by looking at the photos because everybody has their eye on the jammer. No matter what was going on in the pack or how far away the jammers were, they all had their eyes on a jammer. Which is a lesson I shall try to take to heart.

Inspirational Roller Derby Posters

2008-07-03T08:55:00.003-04:00

Photo by SmoPho

I've been doing a lot of physical therapy of late, and as a result have spent an inordinately long period of time staring at the three inspiration posters that have been hung on the wall there. You know the kind I mean. A picture of a rock climber dangling off the side of a cliff with the word PERSEVERANCE under him, and some pithy quote underneath about believing and achieving. Which is all well and good, but where's the fun in that?

Here's the fun: Roller derby photographer extraordinaire SmoPho has a set of inspirational roller derby posters up on his Flickr page. I love the concept! Also, I really want to make a set of my own, with Boston girls, of course.

June 14, 2008: Season Two Championship, Cosmonaughties 58, Wicked Pissahs 69

2008-06-26T13:01:00.003-04:00

So it seems like it was ten thousand years ago, but in fact it was only a couple of weeks ago that the Cosmonaughties faced off against the Wicked Pissahs in the season championships. Mr. Hits did his usual awesome job of recapping the bout:

"Meet the new champs. Same as the old champs. In the business of Boston roller derby, nobody does it better than the Wicked Pissahs, and this revered squad has now added a second championship trophy to their mantle. Saturday, June 14 marked the Boston Derby Dames’ Season Two championship bout, and the favored Pissahs dodged an upset and capped off their perfect season by beating the Cosmonaughties in an epic nailbiter. To the casual observer, the lack of back-breaking collisions may have proved surprising, but for superfans like Papa Fevah, it was glorious derby from both sides: lots of controlled skating and mid-stream adjustments, and a complete unwillingness to quit. The Cosmos, this year’s playoff Cinderella story, worked their magic again and almost engineered an unlikely win. The bout’s outcome remained in question even in the final few minutes, but the Pissahs were a team of destiny this season, and they ultimately locked it down to finish with a 69-58 victory."

Read more here.
(update: photos can be found here)

East Coast Extravaganza 2008

2008-06-25T07:56:00.003-04:00

Photos from top: Boston B Party, Sugar Hits gets a whip from Triple Deck-Her against Houston, Sarah Doom attempts to pull her way through the Rocky Mountain Pack with Shellby Shattered's shirt (successfully, I believe).

I can't even believe how much derby I just witnessed. I cannot even deal with how much stuff I just saw and want to write about, which means I probably never will, so just a quick summary:

Boston Massacre v Rocky Mountain Roller Girls (111-93). Boo!
Boston Massacre v Houston Roller Derby (114-38). Yay!
Boston B Party v Steel City Demons Steel Hurtin (not sure, but it was definitely a Boo!)

Recap from Ruby Khan's blog can be found here.
Recap from Derby News Network can be found here.
Tons o' Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
Videos (courtesy of Mr. Mayhem) can be found on my YouTube channel.
While you're there, be sure to check out this video of Beyonslay taking out the opposing jammer. A-frickin-mazing! Be sure to click on the "watch in high quality" link. The big moment happens at 0:41.
Photos from Xena Paradox.
Lots o stuff from Derby News Network.
east coast extravaganza -- 2008 Flickr group -- not to be confused with the Official East Coast Derby Eztravaganza Group. At the moment, the former has only a few hundred photos from 10 or so contributors and the latter has no photos at all. But hopefully that will change soon, so keep checking back.

And if anyone else has any more photos, videos, updates, etc. please send them along!

East Coast Derby Extravaganza!!

2008-06-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Even though I can't skate this weekend, I did decide to make the trek over to Philly for the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. Boston Massacre is playing in 2 WFTDA bouts and Boston B-Party is playing in a challenge bout, so I will be sure to cheer them on. I was also scheduled (before the injury) to be in two challenge bouts -- Geeks vs. Beauty Queens and Jews vs. Goys. Although I won't be skating, several other Boston Derby Dames will be in these scrimmages, so I will definitely be cheering from the sidelines. I wasn't sure I was going to go because I thought I would just be too depressed that I wasn't skating; but as the weekend draws near I find that I am more and more excited. It will be so amazing to see so many different leagues all together in one place! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and will hopefully have some interesting blog posts when I return. If you see me hanging out, feel free to say hello. Hope to see you there!

PCL Injuries in Roller Derby

2008-06-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

Molly Python, in the process of tearing her PCL.
Photo by L.J. McAllister, posted on the Jet City Rollergirls Flickr site.

Having a PCL tear has been an interesting experience as a patient because it is apparently not a very common injury. My original doctor had never seen one before and was pretty pleased with himself for diagnosing it correctly (later confirmed by the MRI). He's still talking about it. The orthopedist I was referred to gave me a little pamphlet entitled "You and your knee injury" or something similar, where the only line in it about the PCL is that it is injured much less frequently than the ACL. Not too helpful. He only gave it to me for the drawing in it that showed where the PCL was located. When I went to my physical therapist, he called in his student to check it out because she wasn't likely to get another chance anytime soon. Which I find fascinating because it seems to be fairly common in roller derby.

Apparently people tear their PCLs mostly from being in car accidents (when they're shins hit the dashboard) or playing football (when they are tackled from the front while planting their feet). How common it is in the general populace is not really known, but studies of National Football League (NFL) pre-draft physical examinations showed 2% incidence of PCL injuries where the football player didn't even know he had ever torn his PCL. PCL injuries which were known about, operated on, or combined with other ligament injuries ranged from 3.5-20%. That seems fairly high to me, but we're talking about professional-level football players, so it doesn't seem ridiculous.

What about roller derby? WFTDA conducted an injury survey last year whose results are available on the WFTDASafetySquad Yahoo Group. Here's a bunch of disclaimers: This is in no way a scientific study. Responding was voluntary. I have only skimmed the surface of these results and could easily have made mistakes. That being said, I think there are some interesting trends to be found:

Out of 1070 respondents, 574 (~54%) reported an injury that kept them from participation on one or more occasions.
Of those 574, 262 (~46%) report a knee injury (more than any other type of injury by far)
Of those 262, 36 (~14%) specifically mention the PCL in their description of their injury. This does not count all the people (20) who said they had injured their knee ligaments but were not specific as to which ligaments, or the many others who said they had injured their knee in some unspecified manner.

that's a pretty high percentage.

Can we do anything to prevent them? I'll save that for another post.

Answers on demand from the WFTDA Rules Committee

2008-06-15T23:08:00.002-04:00

Are you confused by 3.0? Have a question about the rules and want the official answer? Well, you're in luck! The WFTDA Rules Committee has come out with a web page just for you! Answers on demand straight from the horse's mouth. I think this is a fabulous example of an organization using the internet in a simple but highly effective way to reach out to its members. There are only 3 questions up there now, but hopefully more will come. I know you have questions. Come on. You know you want to. What happens if the jammer panty falls off the jammer and then a dog runs onto the track and scoots away with it? What happens if a referee falls onto the track and takes out a jammer? Is it legal to wear an earpiece so your coach can give you advice while you're jamming? I'm not sure. Let's find out!

WFTDA Rules: Questions, Clarifications & Answers

Boston Derby Dames Season Two Championship Preview Podcast

2008-06-12T17:05:00.003-04:00

Mr. Hits is my new favorite person. Not only does he do bout recaps, but now he is doing bout previews -- on a podcast no less! Check it out here. Oh yeah, and come to the bout! It's going to be a-mazing!

This isn't skating, this is roller derby! -- knee injury update

2008-06-07T07:00:00.001-04:00

So, I saw the orthopedist on Thursday. He said that I had definitely torn my PCL, probably a complete tear, but that nothing else was injured (Yay!). He estimated a recovery period of 6-8 weeks (Boo!). He says he sees this kind of injury a lot in football players and car accident victims! Generally from a hard blow to the shin (which is definitely what happened to me). I probably won't need surgery (Yay!). Apparently the PCL ligament will probably not heal itself but most people compensate for a torn PCL by strengthening the surrounding muscles and never need surgery. I asked, what about skating? He said, that should be fine. To which my husband said, wait a minute -- she's not talking about skating, she's talking about roller derby! Unfazed, the doctor cited a study of knee injuries in college football players who have been scouted and are thought likely to be drafted by the NFL. Apparently a lot of them are found to have had PCL injuries which they either didn't know about or never told anyone about. Which means that even with the PCL injury they were still able to compete at a very high level with little or no problems. Which was exactly the right thing to say to my husband. So.... that's the news from Mayhemlandia. Let's see if I can shorten that recovery time a bit!

Flames shooting up every time someone gets knocked on their ass!

2008-06-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

One of the things I love about roller derby is the creativity it seems to produce in people. One has only to look at a list of roller derby names or see a photo album of skater and ref uniforms to realize we are one creative bunch! Check out this article in Make Magazine on wireless motion sensing in roller derby. Not sure it would work very well to actually keep track of hits, but the author envisions something much more fantastic --

"If the skaters wore motion sensors, I figured, you could make things react to the action. Sound effects on every hit! A synchronized soundtrack! Flames shooting up every time a player gets knocked out of bounds! The possibilities are endless."

I like the way he thinks! Check it out here or go buy Volume 14 at your local bookstore.

BDD Season Two Championship Bout -- June 14th

2008-06-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Shriners Auditorium, Wilmington
Doors at 5pm, bouts start at 6pm
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door

Live music by Campaign for Real Time
After party with DJ Boo Boo Danger
Don't miss the Digital Automagic Audience Participatory Photo Booth in the Fez Room

It's a re-match of Season One's championship bout, with the Cosmonaughties once again taking on the Wicked Pissahs for the BDD crown.

Last year the Pissahs kicked their game into high gear midway through the season and after one tie (against the Cosmos) and one loss (to the Nutcrackers), they turned it around to beat the Nuts in the playoffs and skate past the Cosmos in the championships.

This year the Cosmos are the ones entering the championship bout with a shaky season record: only one win, a well-timed victory over the Nuts in the playoffs. Will they bounce back from a 1-2 season to hand the Pissahs their first loss of the year, or will the tough-girl townies take the trophy twice in a row, with an undefeated season to boot?

"Lick my Skates" anytime you want!

2008-06-04T14:06:00.000-04:00

Speaking of the CCTV documentary, if you really enjoyed the soundtrack song, it is now available to download for free from the CCTV website:

"Lick My Skates" (theme from The Dames)

Length: 1:28 minutes (1.68 MB)
Format: Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)

The theme song from CCTV's Project Documentary production, The Dames.

"Lick My Skates" was written by Eli Kao
Performers are-
Eli, guitar, additional instruments
Shaun Clarke, bass
Justin Vassallo, drums
Galaktika Cheer Squad (Therese, Larisa, Lina, Lizzie and Bob), vocals

This track is free to distribute with following restrictions- Attribution required, no commercial use allowed. Direct link HERE.

The Dames is a short documentary that profiles the Boston Derby Dames, Boston's first and only women's flat track roller derby league.

too much kicking puppies apparently

2008-06-04T11:27:00.001-04:00

Tragedy strikes again in Mayhemlandia as our erstwhile hero (that's me) is once again plagued by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I tore my PCL at practice last Wednesday and will definitely be off skates for awhile. I mean really, doesn't that just seem a little too ridiculous? I've been skating for almost exactly a year now and I have 1) broken my arm 2) torn my MCL 3) gotten pneumonia, 4) fractured a rib, and 5) torn my PCL. What's up with that? I gotta find out who's sticking needles into a doll of me. I have an appointment tomorrow with the orthopedist, so hopefully will know more soon.

Second (and third and fourth) chance to see "The Dames"

2008-06-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

If you missed CCTV's screening of "The Dames" in Feb or if you saw it and want to make your unenlightened friends come with you this time, now's your chance! There will be three more screenings. Admission is free. I highly recommend it!

Thursday June 5th, 8:00pm, Middlesex Lounge. (315 Mass Ave in Cambridge)

Wednesday June 18th, 6:30 + 8:00pm, Enormous room. (567 Mass Ave. in Central Square.) It is on the Red Line Central Square T stop. Right upstairs from the train. The only sign is a red elephant. Look for Central Kitchen and climb on top of it. Wow. Now is your chance to hang out somewhere so hip that you need to know a secret sign to find it! How can you say no?

some great roller derby videos

2008-05-19T18:23:00.000-04:00

A couple of great videos have recently been floating around the web. They are all worth a look.

First up we have Ninjas of Knowledge from KCK Public Library. This video features roller derby, ninjas, and libraries. I really don't think I have to say anything else. Except this one thing: how come I didn't know there was a kick-ass rollergirl with one arm? That frickin' rocks.
Via Pigeons Playing Roller Derby.

Next up: Roller Derby PSAs from the Minnesota Rollergirls. "Remember, it's okay to call a foul. Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed. They know what they did. " So awesome. Speaking of, I got called on a head-butt at yesterday's scrimmage. For some reason, that made me really happy.
Via Roller Derby Diva.

Lastly is Roller Derby Revival, a nice little video from ESPN (Yay!) about, duh, the roller derby revival.
It's nice to get a little mainstream recognition, and it's nice to see something professionally done, but I gotta say, I found it kinda lacking. And what's with the pillow fights? Who does that? I much prefer the CCTV documentary.

Roller Derby Party Bus

2008-05-17T18:45:00.000-04:00

I saw this flyer on the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls website. What a fun idea! I think this would work especially well for BDD since our venue is not easily accessible to folks without cars. Throw a couple of non-skating derby dames on the bus with the fans, some free-flowing sponsor provided alcohol, fun music, maybe some roller derby trivia, give everyone some free merch, roll it up into an all-inclusive price that includes admission, and I think you'd have a hot ticket.

Bout Recap: Boston B-Party v Connecticut and Boston Massacre v Cincinnati Rollergirls

2008-05-16T17:58:00.000-04:00

The final scores were Connecticut (85), Boston B-Party (44) and Boston Massacre (87), Cincinnati (42)

Bout recap by Mr. Hits can be found on the Boston Derby Dames website.
Photos can be found on my Flickr site.
More photos can be found here and here.
A kind of crappy video can be found here.

The Beehive opening postponed to May 24th

2008-05-15T18:30:00.000-04:00

I just realized that my previous post about the BEEch did not actually mention when this event would be happening. Good thing, because it has been postponed and is now happening on May 24th. Be there or be square.

Roller Derby Blogs -- RinkTime

2008-05-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Rink Time has a nice listing of roller derby blogs. It not only includes Roller Derby Disorder (Yay!) but also a bunch that are new to me:

Boston Derby Dames Paper Doll

2008-05-09T12:00:00.001-04:00

I made these quite awhile ago and always meant to write a post about them, but haven't gotten around to it until now. I always imagined these as magnets so you could put them on your refrigerator and dress your derby dame up in different outfits. One of these days I would like to add another sheet for Boston Massacre and Boston B-Party.

Roller Derby Quilt

2008-05-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

Dreadnought, my fellow Derby Dame, is working on a roller derby quilt for her Issues in Contemporary Art course, which she is hoping will be a collaborative project between herself and other skaters and refs. She is working on a bunch of squares of her own, of course, but is also hoping that other folks will contribute their own versions to be included in the quilt. I had high aspirations but eventually decided to just give her one of my old T shirts (with my skater name on it) to make a square out of. Here are some of the squares (still in progress) that she has been working on:

Square number one is dedicated to rink rash and is made out of old torn fishnet stockings from actual rollergirls!

Next up we have a square dedicated to bandages, which is, of course, made out of bandages.

Quilt square number three is dedicated to booty blocking. Or possibly cute undies with words on them. Dread hasn't decided yet. I say, why not both?!

Then we have the cupcake square. What do cupcakes have to do with roller derby? I'm not sure, except our league always seems to have cupcakes at events and fundraisers. I offer as proof the following two photos -- a bunch of cupcakes from our Roller Boogie fundraiser (my cupcakes are the ones that look the yummiest!) and this awesome photo of Dreadnought enjoying a cupcake!

Think this is awesome? Want to be a part of the awesomeness? You can contribute a square of your own! It just needs to be 8" x 8". What says roller derby to you?

BDD helps The Beehive open The BEEch

2008-05-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

The BEEch = "an 80 seat outdoor dining addition on the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza. It will focus on an “urban picnic theme” in which diners will be seated and handed a menu of freshly prepared casual gourmet items to choose from. Once customers have selected their items, the wait staff will return with these culinary treasures in packages and jars along with fresh bread tucked in picnic baskets to share." --A Passionate Foodie

The Beehive = "The Beehive at the BCA is a neighborhood cafe des artistes. Located in the underbelly of the Cyclorama building, the former boiler room has the look and feel of an artist's studio, complimented by works of art and musical entertainment (mostly jazz) of local artists. The "starving artist" bar offers a college rustic, artisinal fare from Europe, the Mediterranean, and America."--The Beehive website

helps = co-promotes / shows up in derby attire / signs autographs / makes more interesting

BDD = Boston Derby Dames