This is roller derby.
How do the top teams in WFTDA stack up financially? After a couple weeks digging through the data, namely 2013 public tax documents that all nonprofits file, I have the answers for you. Make your bets now. Continue reading “Roller derby finances: Comparing the top nonprofit leagues in WFTDA”
Oh hey. I’ve had a lot of big changes in my life, but thanks for the encouraging comments and emails asking me to blog more/again. I want to. I plan to. As a way to ease back in, here’s what I recently posted to our own fresh meat’s page. I think it’s always, always true:
Roller derby drills are hard. All of them. Even things like stepping side to side, which could seem rudimentary. Plow stopping is also rudimentary, but our travel team (and top-ranked travel teams across the world) practice them every week. It’s important to find goals, fun and fulfillment from even basic drills because that’s a lot of what roller derby is – getting the “easy” stuff down (muscle memory) so we can do it flawlessly in combination with lots of other cool shit when we play the game.
Here’s some things you should consider before ever thinking, “this is boring” — and not just next week or next month, but four years from now :
If you can do the drill backward on one leg in perfect form better than any other skater, then you can be bored 🙂
p.s. stepping side-to-side on one leg in perfect form is flippin hard.
This summer I helped coach Rose City’s Derby Daze — an intense weekend of skate clinics — and Rose’s travel team coaches, Rob Lobster and Mike Chexx led a lunchtime talk on coaching. What Mike Chexx said blew my mind.
Specifically, he told me that he categorizes his players into certain groups. When he mentioned the groups I immediately knew I was a positional communicator. My best friend and another skater I work extremely well with are hitters (who don’t communicate as much). Blam. Puzzle pieces. You can put me with another communicative positional blocker, but we’ll just yell and never hit the jammer out. Everything about how I work with other skaters suddenly clicked. So, I asked him for an interview. Aside from being an amazingly calm, smart bench coach Mike Chexx is a derby announcer.
Here’s Mike Chexx:
Can you tell me more about how you think about skaters in positions? What are the positions? (Are there more than communicator, hitter, positional?)
Rob and I finally committed to changing our approach to how to work with our bout rosters late this past season. As part of that, we did develop some classifications (or positions) for skaters: communicator, hitter, positional, clean and offense are the big ones.
We found it extremely important to know which two blockers (if we were in a situation that allowed us only two blockers on the track) were the least penalty prone, but that could also work together and communicate well with one another to help stop a penalty parade*. Nothing takes away momentum in a bout faster than a penalty parade that isn’t ending.
How many of each position would you have in a line-up, in your ideal world? (I know you said you like to have two communicators)
We didn’t really have hard and fast requirements as to how many of each skater-type we wanted in a given line-up. I was always looking for pairings or groupings of skaters that could communicate well with each other, that shared some traits, while being opposite in others (think Belle Starr and Scylla Devourer, or Mercy and Penny Dreadful). In short, I was looking for ways to maximize efficacy on the track at a higher level than the sum of the individual parts.
We prefered to have two communicators in each lineup when possible, but that wasn’t always available. When we started running the two-line-up system, we tried to keep one line-up as a more physical, faster paced, hitting style of lineup; while the other was a slower, more containment focused, positional blocking type of lineup. What we learned in Fort Wayne – and in retrospect, what should have been more obvious to us – were the impacts of moving skaters in and out of those line-ups from bout to bout. Not so much from a skill based on-the-track output, but more from a cohesive mental game standpoint.
What’s the most important thing a bench coach does?
I don’t even know how to begin answering this.
In game time, the way Rob and I worked together, my most important job was to keep the bench (and sometimes Rob) calm and focused. Though I am not foolish enough to believe that by only keeping a bench calm and focused we would be guaranteed victory, I do think the mindset of the team greatly influences the outcome of the bout.
The best example of this I can think of was during the WoJ v Gotham bout from ECDX in 2012. Losing a key jammer early in the bout, and losing another key jammer for a number of jams in the middle of the bout would have severely shaken most other teams in the WFTDA – especially when bouting Gotham. But the bench stayed calm, JK and Acid stepped up huge, and we gave Gotham their closest bout in years. In fact, thinking back, the bench was so calm that KicKassedy (a skater) actually calmed me down at one point, and got me refocused on keeping the bench calm and focused.
When not in game time, studying game footage and statistics were my main focus. The combination of stats and footage were instrumental in constructing lineups and assessing how to work with a roster during game time. Whether or not this would be the most important thing I did when we weren’t bouting could be debated, but I feel like it was.
How do you influence the culture/attitude of your bench?
I try my best to lead by example. I feel that has the most impact on a bench and a team. I try to keep calm, try not to lose my shit when multiple things go sideways at once, and I try to treat everyone with respect. When I coached AoA (B travel team) with Firecrotch, we required that the team thank the officials after a bout, as we had done all season. I also try and hear everyone out, whether I agree with them or not. The key to learning is listening. It is amazing what you can learn when you intently listen and think about what is being said, and the context of the conversation’s content.
What common things do you see skaters do/say that you’d like to see less of? More of?
I will try and keep my answer to this as short as possible. I look forward to the time when derby is truly treated like a sport — both by the public, as well as its players. Speaking specifically in regards to the players, I wish there was more of a team-first mentality. I understand you want to be rostered, but there are only 14 spots for 20 chartered skaters in any given bout. I know you want to play more when you are rostered, but there are only five skaters allowed to participate in each jam. I know it is cliche, but the “W” is the most important thing, an individuals play time and stat line are secondary.
What I have seen more of that I like is the dedication to training during the off-season. We have an incredibly athletic, fit and talented team. And it gets better every season. I also appreciate the level of attention being paid to stats and standings. Not that it wasn’t a focus in seasons past, but again, it gets better every season.
I also appreciated that more skaters supported Rob when he was coaching strategy, as opposed to questioning him. As a team, it was important that we had a cohesive approach and strategy when different things would happen on the track. Most often, when things started to go awry on the track, it was because skaters had different ideas about what should be done in those situations, and wouldn’t back down from their opinions. That has been a weakness in Rose City for years, sadly.
How do skaters earn game time, in your mind?
First and foremost, be at practice. Especially endurance practice. I could give you half a dozen examples of how our endurance training won bouts for us the past two or three seasons.
Second, clean up your game play. Penalty prone = less playing time, or less rostering.
Third, keep it positive. Toward your teammates, your league mates, your coaches, your officials, fans, volunteers, etc. Toxic attitudes on a bench/team are worse than smelly gear trapped in a closed up car on a ninety degree day, and are equally hard to remedy.
*Someone make the man a .gif. Put a link in the comments.
Roller derby has changed and changed and re-changed my body.
I got skinny, I got bigger in some areas (welcome back, awkward teenage years), I got skinny and worried about myself, I got some nice abs for a minute, my thighs bloated when nothing else did, my calves eventually joined in for the ride, my arms shrunk, my face fat went away sometime, my butt joined my thighs and calves … In roughly that order in the two years and nine months I’ve been playing the sport.
I put a slideshow above with updates for just about every six months.
Sometimes the physical changes have been awesome. Sometimes it’s been hard to deal with. I’ve been socialized as an American female. When your thighs bloat out, it can be hard to be enthusiastic. Even when I felt otherwise “skinny.”
I feel (the very feminine need) to buffer here. Arguably, I’m a skinny bitch whining about gaining muscle. However, I feel my perspective is one that’s felt more widely in the derby community: As a woman, it’s not always easy to accept getting physically larger, even when you’re getting fitter.
I’ve come a long way on this — I had to — and I thought I’d share my story:
I never thought I was fat. I also wasn’t skinny. Being not-fat didn’t make it easy, coming to terms with my changing body (Whoa, hello puberty book). At first, I lost weight, mostly from my stomach and face. After a few months and a couple bouts under my shrinking belt, I kept losing weight.
I knew it was food related. I was eating the same (a bagel for breakfast, maybe some spaghetti for dinner and some days nothing in between), but my activity was dramatically increasing. I wasn’t eating much (if any) meat. My body was starved for protein and calories and it was shrinking. It scared me. But my teenage, anorexically-inclined insecurities kept rising up when I tried to eat more than usual. I had to face that. I had to talk kindly to myself. I had to try to think of food as fuel. It’s difficult. But I wanted to get better at this sport and I knew I couldn’t do that and not eat enough. So, I had a long think, reconciled with myself and made the changes I needed to.
That got harder when my thighs suddenly (add animated plomp plomp plomp noise) — it seemed sudden anyway — bulked up. My pants still fit because I’d been wearing loose pants. My teammates were starting to say that their calves couldn’t fit into their skinny jeans and I was jealous. Calves are cute, I thought, thighs are thunderous*. But in derby — and in life — you don’t get to pick and choose your body parts.
My stomach was staying the same and I was beginning to feel muscle developing under a thin layer of fat. That was encouraging. My calves started developing too.
So then I moved from my small league to Portland, Ore.
This forced a massive attitude change. I attribute this to a few things:
1. Roller derby here sucks up so much of my life that skaters make up about 90% of the people I see in a day. Surrounding myself with beautiful, strong women makes me want to be a strong woman, not a skinny woman***. I don’t compare myself to the thin women in movies, magazines and at the mall — mostly because I don’t have time to read magazines, watch movies and go to the mall. I normalized muscle as beauty by consuming images of that instead.
2. My goals need me to fully dedicate myself to my workouts and that means I can’t have these anxiety hangups about food. I do not have the time and I no longer want to expend the energy on thinking about how much two eggs, a bagel, a fruit, my coffee with too much cream, etc “costs” in calories.
3. I skate so much it doesn’t matter what I eat. With up to 15 hours of derby a week when it’s home and travel team seasons, ain’t nobody got time for that [food worry].
So, changes since the move: I went from the fresh meat pool to home team to travel team in six months. So when I say I ramped up my training, I mean three times (little league>FM>home team>travel team). I ate more meat, more beans, more bread, more fro yo (there is so much of it here.), more vegetables, eggs … I just eat more.
That much ramp-up in activity changed my body all over. My abs, which I felt were cute now bloat my stomach. I feel like that’s a thing the Cosmo magazines, etc don’t tell you: Abs are not flat. Abs don’t make your stomach go in. Real abs, if you have more than 7% body fat, bulk out your tummy and make you look a bit bigger. I had to accept that.
My thighs developed more. Thanks, endurance laps. That muscle on top of my thighs exploded (no, not literally. Gross.) and I have this muscle on top of my knee** now. When I stand straight up and look down at my toes, I can’t see my shins anymore because they’re blocked by my derby thighs. I’m elated. My calves are following suit, especially with off-skates footwork training.
My body has gone through a lot of loss, gain, gain, loss in ways I didn’t expect. I assumed that I wouldn’t change because I was already “average” and so roller derby couldn’t affect me this much physically and psychologically, but it has. It’s a whole process of re-adjusting, changing expectations, changing goals and self acceptance.
Some things that have helped me along the way are:
-I don’t use a scale. Ever. That number doesn’t matter. How fast my laps are, how many points I score, how many points I stop — those numbers matter.
-I now know my body is going to continually change depending on my needs and my training. Whatever my body does is what I need.
-Eating more meat. It’s the easy way to get protein.
-Protein shakes. Same.
-Judging my strengths in non-body metrics. Speed, agility, stopping power.
-Changing my image consumption from main stream to athletic.
-Not reading those “fitness” magazines if they have “10 Ways To Lose That Stubborn Belly Fat” or “Three Ways to Make Him Squirm****” cover stories
It’s been difficult at times. I’m happy with myself and my body now. I don’t focus much on the details of what’s changing month to month. If I see a new muscle, I welcome it. If I continue to grow into a larger human being, all the better to block you with. I expect my struggle now to evolve into keeping this muscle now that travel team season is over. It took a long time to get to this level of acceptance. And some days it’s still hard.
I’d love to open up this conversation in the comments. I’ll watch the conversation and chat with y’all. How has derby changed you, physically? Have you had to readjust your thinking? What has helped/hurt? If you only lost weight, was it a nice experience or was there turmoil too?
*Thighs are wonderous. I know this now.
**What the hell is that about.
***This is where I validate the public and say all bodies are OK and it’s OK to be skinny. Whatever.
****How is that fitness.
This is the last installment of the Grim D Mise series. I’ve followed the Maine Roller Derby player through her Team USA tryouts since May. A preliminary roster of candidates was published on the team’s Facebook page and Grim wasn’t on it.
Here’s what she had to say about it:
How are you feeling?
After the Seattle tryouts, I had almost immediately began preparing myself for disappointment. The whole experience of trying out for Team USA twice was something I really needed to help bring me to the next level though. I knew I’d be better athlete having had that experience. It’s really hard to feel disappointed when I can’t stop feeling grateful for the chance to tryout and all the support that came along with it. I’m proud of myself for chasing something that means a lot to me, and it won’t end here. There’s always the next World Cup and another shot at Team USA.
How was the tryout in the West different than the East tryout?
During the East Coast tryouts, there was a wide separation in skill levels between a majority of the skaters. At West Coast tryouts, about 95% of the women that tried out, were very high level derby athletes*. I was pretty blown away. I was looking forward to sharing the track with women I’d idolized from my computer monitor for years, but I did not expect to leave Seattle a fan of so many ladies I’d never heard of.
Did you learn anything about West Coast derby?
West Coast derby is no joke. I got to watch the Rat City vs. Gotham bout while I was in town and had the opportunity to sit with some retired Rat City skaters during the bout, and listening to them talk about what it takes to earn play time on an All Star team out there. It really convinced me that the competition is taken seriously. In addition, learning more about Rose City and exactly what there league does to foster a highly competitive environment was a lot of food for thought.
Who was the funnest to play with/against?
Oh my gosh. I can’t even decide. I will say this, Onda Sligh cracked some funny jokes on the bench.
Do you feel there was anything else you could have done in preparation?
Yes. I wasn’t successful this go around, which means I didn’t do everything I possibly could have. Lesson learned.
Do you feel like there was anything else you should have done at tryouts?
I’m not sure. I followed directions, I tried my hardest and I listened to my teammates. There are definitely things I could have done better, but that’s a given.
What are you proudest of?
I’m really proud of myself for putting a lot of time and energy into something I have an unwavering passion for. I feel like the sport Roller Derby has so much to do with the person I am today. The Team USA tryout experience taught me that although I may have a mild fear of heights, a severe fear spiders and a satirical fear of hicks (like from the movie, “Wrong Turn”**), I have a complete fearlessness on the track and Team USA tryouts brought that out in me. So yeah, I’m pretty proud of that.
How will this experience change you and how you skate?
I need to learn teamwork. I have been competing on my home league for so long primarily as a jammer that I lack the “pack mentality” most veteran blockers seem to have. I’m confident that with more opportunities to scrimmage and bout as a blocker, I’ll get there.
What’s next?
Competing with The Port Authorities and growing Maine Roller Derby. The more our All-Star team improves, the better chances we’ll have competing against higher ranking teams and that will grow us all as athletes. I mean seriously, look at New Hampshire Roller Derby! They are a perfect example of hard work, dedication, focus and improvement. MRD is lucky to have them in our backyard.
–
That’s the end of this series. I hope you enjoyed it. I plan to … someday … write up my account of how the Team USA tryout went. Plan to see that in the coming weeks when the team posts the final roster.
*Of the 46 people on the Team USA roster (which will be cut) right now, 19 of them were at the Seattle tryout. That’s 41% — a very high figure when there were three tryout locations, plus video submissions.
**So with you there.
It happens in leagues all over the world. A jammer comes out of a drill, sweaty and breathing hard, pulls the panty off her head, smiles and waves it in the air.
“Who wants to jam?”
Happy, huffing jammers approaching the bench with their sweaty panties reminds me of my cat, arriving victoriously at my feet with a bird head. So proud. So happy to share their victory. And frequently, their enthusiasm is met with disgust and resistance.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” is something I hear a lot.
“Oh hell no. I’m a blocker,” is something I hear a lot that pisses me off.
Here’s something I heard once that is entirely true: A jammer is just a blocker in a fucked up situation.
This is a list of things blockers are supposed to do: roller skate, stop, move laterally, hit with power and in good form, control their speed, control the opposing jammer’s speed, communicate, play clean, be strategic and know the rules, otherwise crush the opposing jammer’s soul.
Here is a list of things jammers are supposed to do: roller skate, stop, move laterally, hit with power and in good form, control their speed, communicate, play clean, be strategic and know the rules, evaluate a pack upon approach, otherwise crush the opposing jammer’s and all opposing blocker’s souls.
Not so different.
It’s rare, if ever, that I see a relief jammer goated. When there is a goat on the track, it’s almost always the “oh hell no. I’m a blocker”-skater. Why? She didn’t practice being a blocker in a fucked up situation. She didn’t practice hulk-smashing walls, juking, pushing walls and other totally-necessary derby skills that jammers practice all the time. Her footwork is probably slower. If she hits the jammer out, she probably can’t run backward as fast as the jammer can. Being a jammer is (often) about urgency. It’s a good thing to always practice. Further, I’ve never met a great jammer who can’t block.
Don’t be scared. Realize it’s important at practice to try new things and that putting on a star once in a while translates directly into being a more effective blocker.
Here’s what you need to know before your fresh meat tryout:
You should definitely roller skate first
It’s pretty essential.
In August 2010 I felt comfortable in my new career, but needed something physical. It was my first time trying out adulthood and thought I’d like to maybe be a runner. That seemed adult. So I tried that. Running blows. (Although you should totally read this blog, which is about running, but not at all painful) I’d heard about Maine Roller Derby — a 2-hour drive away — and thought that would be a good fitness goal. Obviously, I wouldn’t join that league because four hours of driving a night is unreasonable, but I thought making the team would be a fun goal. And boy am I goal-oriented.
Anyway, here is what I did before the November tryout (and I was offered a spot in that league, before making a new league in Maine):
-I bought $49 skates* and the cheapest pads I could.
-I started roller skating around my neighborhood after work. I was not good. But you don’t have to be good to start roller skating. You just have to do it. (I didn’t even know they made outdoor wheels. By the way, they make “outdoor wheels.”)
-I found a community center that would let me skate for an hour on Sunday mornings so I could try skating in circles, not on tar.
I worked on these skills:
T-stop
Stopping by dragging my toe stop (I don’t recommend learning this. It’s very hard to un-learn and eventually you’ll have to)
Crossing over — I did this in both directions because I didn’t know if they played roller derby in both directions. (We don’t, by the way. But it’s good to be ambipedal)
One-foot glides (be able to glide on only your left foot, then only your right foot for 30 feet each)
Squatting through one straight away and one turn (because they told me I would have to)
Did I say you should roller skate?
You should really roller skate. One thing I don’t think beginners understand is that the more time you put on your skates, the more comfortable you look. The more balanced you get. The more confident. Faster. You begin to feel your edges (it’s OK. You don’t have to know what that means). Your crossovers get less awkward. You learn that falling is OK.
If I were your coach, I would probably want you just to skate in circles (both directions) for the first month. You’d hate me. And then you’d be good at roller skating and have some confidence and be so ready to add on skills.
Find out if you can go to a clinic first
Many leagues have pre-tryout bootcamps, which will be of great help. They can help you work on your fledgling skills. If you’re in a city, there might be Derby Lite or Derby 101, which will get you some derby experience before you commit. If you know a derby skater, maybe just ask her to go to the rink with you some open-skate night. She will have pointers**.
Watch a bout first
Ideally you’ll watch the league you’re trying out for. In person. Before the tryout. But if you can’t, at least visit http://www.wftda.tv and click “archives” and pick the video with the funnest name. Don’t expect to understand it all. It’s sort of complicated. But just watch it and listen to the announcers. You’ll learn something and that will help. Becoming a roller derby fan makes you a much smarter derby skater.
Research
Go to the league’s website and learn all you can about the tryout and what you will be asked to do. Email the tryout coordinator to get this information (if possible) before the tryout if you can’t find it. Don’t be pushy or annoying. These people are volunteers.
Have an achievable goal
I recommend going into the tryout with a goal that isn’t “make the team.” I also suggest it not be, “don’t fall.” Pick a goal that’s positive, so instead of “don’t cry” make the goal be “have fun, smile at least twice.” If you’re going to go far in roller derby, you’re going to have to learn how to celebrate small victories. It’s all we get. So if you have a great T-stop, get excited about it.
Try to learn all you can
If a coach offers you a tip at the tryout, take it. Try it. Try new things. Look at how veteran skaters perform a skill. Question them if you can about their style. Know you can have your own style — but that if they have been skating a while, there might be a reason they skate the way they do.
Eat like a normal person
You do not have to eat four lunches on the day of your tryout. Get some carbs, get some protein. Try to eat 2-3 hours before your tryout and not much after that. By hydrated. A suggested day-of menu might be: eggs and toast with a fruit for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch, a burrito for dinner (so long as it won’t upset you). With lots of water.
Be nice
Be nice to the refs.
Be nice to the veteran skaters.
Be nice to the other people trying out (they might be your teammates soon).
Be nice to the people who own/run the roller rink.
Be nice to any coaches.
Most importantly, be nice to yourself. You’re learning a new thing that is hard. It’s OK to not be great at it.
Fall, then get up so fast
Just accept that both in practice and at the tryout, you will fall. Everyone falls. It’s OK. Just don’t make a big deal about it. Get up so fast. Everyone falls — not everyone can get up quickly and with a smile. Be that person. Skaters love that person.
Have the best attitude
Some fresh meat are picked because they’re ripe. Some fresh meat are picked because the veteran skaters look at that skater who is smiling, joking, having fun, loving life and roller skating, getting up fast when she falls down and they think, “Oh man. I want her on my team.” Regardless of skill. I was the head of tryouts and fresh meat training for my last league. Trust me. For every nine skaters I wanted on my team because of skill there was one I wanted only because of her attitude.
Go for drinks after
If others go out after the tryout, go with them and grab a cherry Coke. Derby is about making friends and laughing about the “mistakes” you made.
*This ended up being a bad long-term financial decision. I made it worse later by upgrading to another bad skate before investing some real money into my current skates, which have lasted
**In reality, she’ll probably just tell you, “it’s OK, just get lower. Bend your knees more.”
Last weekend* I helped coach Derby Daze, a weekend of roller derby workshops put on by the Rose City Rollers’ travel team.
It gave me a lot of perspective. Aside from a lunchtime strategy lecture** I was lucky enough to float to other skaters’ clinics and help newer skaters master the skills, one-on-one. Interacting with newer skaters reminds me why I skate derby. And how far I’ve come. That’s one thing I don’t think new skaters understand: When a veteran skater smiles at you — or can’t help but laugh a bit — they’re (probably) not laughing at you; they’re laughing at a previous version of themselves that they see in you.
On the first day of the workshops, I asked a skater in our rec league, “what’s been the best part about Derby Daze so far?” She said, “I’ll tell you tomorrow.” I didn’t meet with her again because she was in the advanced class and I tried to stay in the beginner and intermediate-level workshops, so I could be of the most help.
To close the weekend, travel team members scrimmaged with all the skaters. As a special prize, a line-up of black-shirted advanced-level skaters got to scrimmage a white-shirted travel team line up for one jam. My line was Havana Good Time, Belle Starr and Skeeve Holt and they handed me the jammer cap. In that quiet moment before the jam whistle, my opposing jammer tapped my shoulder.
“Hey Dash.”
“Hi.”
“Remember when you asked me what my favorite moment of Derby Daze was? It’s this. Right now. This is one of the best moments of my life***.”
*You: “Dash, why are you writing about last weekend when you still haven’t written about Team USA tryouts, which you went to?” Me: “…(guilty face)…”
**and by lecture I mean theatrical performance/sideshow/comedy schtick.
***Way to melt my heart, wrecker. Jerk. (wipes tear) I love your heart, jerk. You probably thought it was a big deal wearing a star next to me because my star was purple, but you were the most inspiring skater.
Yes, I’m comparing roller derby to prison*.
Feel free to add how else roller derby is like the amazing Netflix series Orange is the New Black in the comments at the end of this post.
You get a uniform
And sometimes they’re ugly**.
You don’t choose your teammates (but you do choose your friends)
You’re all in the same place, but for different reasons
Your family no longer understands your actions
Getting here is scary
And after a while things get easier. You move up in the ranks. Maybe one day you can run the kitchen. I mean jam.
It’s full of lesbians (Or people who at least temporarily express their queerness)
It’s awkward to run into your derby-skating ex. Or be on the same team with her
Small victories can mean everything
You sacrifice for your teammates
Family visitation
Sometimes, on a weekday in-season, a roller derby skater gets time to see her family or friends. It’s a special, rare moment where the inmate/skater can ground herself in her support system. If only for an hour or two.
And these
*This is the truth disclaimer. I was the statewide prison reporter for my last newspaper. Roller derby is exactly nothing like real prison. But this TV show is fun and roller derby is fun and I’m fun, so here you go.
**But they’re worn by good-looking women, so there’s that.
All images from http://orangeisthenew.tumblr.com/
This week roller derby got fair news coverage. That, my friends, should, in and of itself, not be news. But it is. And it’s great news. Here’s the story, written by James Dator for SB Nation and picked up by the Philadelphia inquirer.
What’s different about this article is that it is about the legitimacy and growth of the sport without screaming, “This is real, you guys!”
I talked with Dator about his coverage of roller derby. As a journalist myself, what was the most interesting was how he threw out objectivity. And how doing so allowed him to tell a truer story.
Here’s what he said about that: “I feel it would have been disingenuous to try and depict something as important as the legitimacy of female contact sports through derby without believing in it too; I think readers would have seen right through that.”
The result has been a lot of Facebook shares, clicks and chatter in the derby community. So I had to see what the North Carolina league he covered thought too.
“It feels like an article about any other sport. This may seem a silly thing to be so excited about but anyone who’s involved in roller derby knows it’s kind of a big deal,” Alexandroid said. “He captured all the passion, the triumph, the heartbreak, the hard work and the time that goes into being a part of a roller derby league.”
In a previous post on The Dashboard, I wrote about how journalists always miss the real derby story. I focused on money, but in a later post clarified that that post went viral because we’re sick of cliche “isn’t this quirky!” coverage and because we know this is a huge global movement.
As a skater-journo, I get both sides. Journalists need objectivity. Skater-writers can’t write about derby for a newspaper for the same reason journalists don’t interview their dads for stories. Also, by the nature of traditional media, journalists don’t have time on tight newspaper budgets to delve deep, so they end up seeing fishnets and knee-high socks and going with that. I get it. Lastly, daily papers usually restrict stories to between 500-1,200 words. (Dator’s was more than 5,500.)
And as a skater, I get why all of that blows. Dator broke the barrier that prevents traditional journalists from reporting about our sport truthfully. That barrier is “objectivity.”
I also talked with the league he covered about their side of things. Here it is (Read Dator’s story first). So, on The Dashboard today are two consecutive interviews, first with the writer, then with a skater from the league.
For background, you should know that Dator’s publication, SBNation has this to say about how it covers sports: “SB Nation was born through the passion of a frustrated sports fan who used to be a print reporter. He felt like no traditional media outlet was covering his team the way that he wanted, which was with a passionate, authoritative voice that would also remain true to a lot of the journalistic principles. In short, professional quality, fan perspective. We firmly believe that sports objectivity is a myth. We’ve always been forthcoming about the fact that we’re relentlessly passionate about the teams and sports we cover.”
Here’s my interview with James Dator:
Were you familiar with derby before reporting this story?
Not outside of the stereotypical view. I, like many still had this perception of the neon-clad, 80’s WWE style derby — not the sport it is today.
Why did you choose to do derby as a story?
Covering professional sports can be draining because of the overwhelming negativity. Seeing my first derby bout was a rekindling of what I love so much about sports in the first place, away from the big-money and extreme fame. A group of people who are in love with a game, and get to share that love with like-minded people. It’s not about having the perfect physique, or the ideal height — it’s about wanting to compete, and willing to sacrifice yourself for it. That’s why it’s so compelling to me.
What surprised you most about the sport?
There was something pure about derby that I haven’t seen in other sports. Perhaps it’s a byproduct of being in a smaller town, but it’s rare to see people play so hard against each other with no jealousy or resentment. The final whistle sounds and it’s all over. The competitors who were trying to obliterate each other are taped up with an ice pack, and having a drink later that night. The mutual support was refreshing, and rare.
How long did it take to report it and how did you go about it?
Roughly five months from first bout to final product. I attended four bouts, roughly 10-15 practices, as well as one team meeting and a conducted a score of interviews — most of which were left out of the piece when I chose to narrow the focus to Susie “Miller Lightnin” Williams.
How did you approach your reporting of this?
Ultimately I think it was pretty simple: The exact same way I approach covering any sport. Typically my work involves NFL coverage, so I took the skills I use to diagnose a practice, or see where a play went wrong and applied that to a new medium. Changing my approach would have done derby a disservice.
Why did you choose to report it this way?
It was hard because there were enough compelling storylines that I could have gone 20 different directions. The interpersonal relationships between skaters, husband/wife teams who both are a part of GSORD, referees who give up hours of time for their role in the sport. The common thread every skater wanted was simply the opportunity to be taken seriously.
Yup.
To that end Susie Williams was the epitome of someone who straddled the line between the fun/community aspect of derby, and the seriousness of wanting the sport to take the next step. She’d been with the league since the very beginning, and was one of the few skaters left who was there for each of the league’s milestones.
How did being a newer, less traditional form of media change the way you covered derby?
As a writer it’s about having the support of editors who are willing to move outside the mainstream, and who have the faith in telling a story that wouldn’t fall inside the traditional 24-hour news cycle. I think traditional sports media is stuck within traditional thinking, and doesn’t give an audience enough credit. Yes, people want to hear about the latest professional sports news — but there’s room for that coverage, and pushing the envelope with subject matter that speaks to the core reasons sport is loved in the first place.
Can you touch on objectivity? You aren’t objective. I’ve seen your Tweets. (ex: “Give derby a chance. I guarantee there’s a team wherever you live, and it a fantastic sport.”)
I certainly didn’t walk into the piece thinking “I’m going to fall in love with this sport,” but here we are. The notion is to serve the story, and to tell that to the best of my ability. I’ll be honest, it’s hard to spend so much time with these women and not inherit some of their passion for roller derby. That said, I think I had the luxury where accurately telling their story, and being a fan of derby weren’t mutually exclusive.
Do you think you not being objective matters? Do you think it allows you to tell a truer story?
The story could have had a very different ending if WFTDA didn’t approve their membership, and Susie’s retirement came well after the piece was written. If this was a different piece, then yes — I think objectivity would be important. However, I feel it would have been disingenuous to try and depict something as important as the legitimacy of female contact sports through derby without believing in it too; I think readers would have seen right through that.
Woah. (If this blog had a glitter font, I would have made that last sentence be glitter. Moving on.)
Why do you think so many other publications often fall into that cliche “By day Heather Steeves is a journalist for an upstanding newspaper, but by night she straps on eight wheels and is a rough and tumble roller girl …” sort of story?
I think it’s because they don’t properly respect roller derby as a sport. The ‘by day, by night’ conceit is set up if the punchline is “ISN’T THIS ZANY?!” I find those piece immensely condescending. If someone works a day job, and plays rec-league soccer afterwards it’s not quirky, so why should derby because of skates and nicknames and the culture behind it?
How and why did you pick the WFTDA recognition as the engine of your story?
It was serendipity really. I think the best stories happen organically like that. Derby itself is interesting, but to arrive right as Greenboro was getting ready to take the step from WFTDA apprentice league to fully-fledged member was too perfect not to be the underlying story behind the league’s growth.
Were there parts you left out that you didn’t want to? What were they?
It’s less that there are parts I wanted in, and more that there are five more stories waiting to be told — they just didn’t fit in this piece.
How is the story being received?
The reception has been very good, and what’s most satisfying is seeing leagues all over the country telling their followers that my story was accurate, or did the sport justice. In the end that’s all I wanted, to tell a story I found compelling as accurately as I could. This wasn’t something that needed to be embellished, because the sport is interesting enough itself.
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That’s the end of my interview with the writer James Dator, your new favorite guy. But it got me curious about how the league, Greensboro Roller Derby, felt. I talked with Alexandroid, a skater there. Here’s our interview:
Why did you let James have the access he did?
When James contacted us, he let us know he wanted to tell the story of the sport of roller derby, not the novelty or the shtick as is so common with a lot of the coverage we get. He’d gone to a bout of ours previously and told me he was immediately hooked. We read his other pieces and were familiar with the site and knew the kind of stories they run, knew they take sport seriously, and were confident they could do the sport we all love so much justice.
I saw you guys had coverage by your local TV station, which did the cliche derby story — did you know this would be different?
We hoped it would be but there’s always that lingering apprehension. We’ve been on the morning news four or five times and while beyond grateful for the exposure and despite the fact that most reporters really have made the effort to research the league and ask about game play, a lot of it has been “lawyer by day, roller girl by night” coverage that is so common. I think going into any kind of potential news coverage, you always hope this is going to be the one that covers it like an actual sport. We knew James was a legitimate and talented sports writer which we felt would immediately give the article more weight than being just a story in the lifestyle section.
Did James treat you differently than other reporters you’ve dealt with?
He treated us like athletes instead of oddities which we’re thankful for more than he can possibly know.
He took a very different approach to telling derby’s story — what did your league think of the final article?
It was better than we could have imagined. It feels like an article about any other sport. This may seem a silly thing to be so excited about but anyone who’s involved in roller derby knows it’s kind of a big deal. He captured all the passion, the triumph, the heartbreak, the hard work and the time that goes into being a part of a roller derby league. The picture he paints really is honestly and truly Greensboro Roller Derby and we feel like he’s done a great service to our league and to our sport.
Anything you wish wasn’t in there? Anything you wish he’d added?
There are always some nerves involved when waiting for a finished piece of media on your league because you never know how it’ll turn out. This was a big deal for us so the stakes were a little higher. Without sounding like we’re sucking up, we really feel like it’s perfect.
Do you think that using your WFTDA approval process was newsworthy?
I do. Besides lending a narrative to the piece, the fact that roller derby has a governing body makes it more able to be related to other sports. Being able to say “we’re getting/we got accepted into the NHL or NFL of roller derby” I think will make people realize roller derby is a permanent, legitimate sport.
Do you think the story reflected on derby as a whole?
All leagues are different and have their own paths but we all have the same struggles and issues and victories, no matter how big or small. Telling our specific story is obviously going to be different from other leagues’ but I think there are parallels that tie us all together. He highlighted not only the athleticism but also the community and the importance of charity work. The fact that James takes the sport and its players so seriously reflects well on roller derby and I hope others agree.
Anything else you want the derby world to know?
We know we were ambassadors for the entire sport in the article and hope we did roller derby proud.
The Dashboard 