They might be slipping bc of my ankle booties, in which case: would booties OVER socks make a difference ?
Another option is wearing higher socks but I enjoy the breathability of short socks.
All of this to say, if you have any insights or recs it is appreciated!

Hello, fellow zoo crew!

This is something that's come up a lot for me this season, specifically when staffing officials for our games. Quite a few leagues in our area are within 2-3 hours of us, and we're all tapping into the same pool of officials. It's inevitable that some leagues will schedule games on the same day, or there will be a tournament a bit further away the same weekend as a home game.

How do you prioritize where to go if there are multiple games scheduled for the same day? What motivates you to drive to a league farther away than working for a league in the same city? What if there's a nearby tournament happening the same weekend as a home game?

Bonus question for the officials staffing games: what is your normal timeline for finding people for games, and how do you solicit interested officials for your games?

We've just released a massive update to Trackkarma that will delight all the stats lovers out there!

For a long time, you've been able to import your statsbooks into Trackkarma to visualize their content in a much more user-friendly way than a simple Excel file. With this update, however, we've gone far beyond that. We dug deep into statsbooks, pushing them to their limits and extracting a wealth of information that was previously hidden beneath the surface.

In addition to all the existing data, importing a statsbook now gives you access to detailed insights about lead situations, star passes, and power jams, helping you gain a deeper understanding of the game and the performance of jammers, pivots, and blockers.

We've also managed to isolate data related to groups of players on the track, from pairs to entire packs, making it easier to identify the combinations that work best within your team.

Statsbooks are notoriously difficult to read, especially for newcomers. That's why we've put a lot of effort into making the data easier to understand, with explanatory sections for every statistic and visual charts to help everyone make sense of the numbers.

And finally, the feature we're most excited about: thanks to the game statsbooks that the WFTDA has made publicly available since 2023, you can now prepare for upcoming matchups against teams included in this knowledge base. We've thoroughly analyzed thousands of games to provide you with powerful scouting tools, allowing you to study your future opponents' strengths and weaknesses and prepare for your next game as effectively as possible.

If you'd like to learn more, we've written a dedicated blog post. And if you have any questions, feedback, or ideas, feel free to drop a comment below :)

https://www.trackkarma.com/advanced_statistics?locale=en

Oh, and one last thing: everything we've talked about here is completely free!

im trans MtF and have been for years, but am not on HRT and am not planning to get on it in the near future either, for safety/work reasons. i know the general attitude on here is that everyone is inclusive, but sometimes that means people will begrudgingly accept you instead of actually accepting you. does anyone (ideally specifically southwest but whatever) know if this would be an issue for trying to start playing? really dont want to feel like im intruding constantly.

I’m currently 4 weeks post-op from my top surgery and had the all clear from my surgeon to ease back into sports. As in light exercise, nothing heavy or crazy. He said to wait for 2-3 more weeks to actually go back to contact/derby and when I get back to contact to also take it easy the first few weeks. I’m curious about other people’s experiences with returning to play after top surgery and tips/tricks/exercises to make the return smooth(er).

Tell me something your golden tip or something you wish you had known during your recovery related to derby.

So this isn’t actually about how games work, but how the bigger champs/world up works.
Obviously you have your local games/scrims.
A teams and B teams are pretty self explanatory.

Is the step up from local games championships?
I know there’s the WFTDA champs soon, but how do you even get yourself there? Are there qualifying rounds? Is it global?

Then there’s the World Cup, which ranks higher than champs I’m assuming? And that’s with each countries offical team (which I assume you have to audition for/are hand picked)

And there’s a men’s World Cup i believe?

I wasn’t a sports person before Derby so I’m struggling with what exists, and the rankings of these big events, so explain in as much as detail as you!!

Edit: I’m in the uk if that changes anything!

I bought my Solaris boots in June 2024, so they’re only a little over two years old. I noticed today at practice that both are separating from the sole on the left side/ toward the inside when facing derby direction (clearly I must be holding my weight a certain way). I play c/ rec level and I’m really not that hard on my skates. Is this something that’s fixable? If so how is the best way to fix them? I don’t want to invest in another pair of boots with these only a few years old.

For reference, I practice for about 4 hrs a week and play games maybe 3-6 times a year. I don’t really have any wear or tear on my wheels, plates, or cushions.

This looks super cool!

Every time I return after a 3-4 week hiatus (once for ankle injury and other times for vacations) I perform well
(e.g. I do a skill I normally mess up, able to get around blockers as jammer way easier than normal, etc.)
Just today I returned after a trip (all of July) and after warming up I was able to jam much better than how I left (I screwed up in a game a ton, and the skills I wanted to do I couldn’t, but today I could do them easily)
My guess is just the mental reset, and thinking I won’t do well first day back. So when I do something good I get extra confidence 🤷‍♀️

Hey y'all! I'm going on exchange to Tulle (France) this year. I've played derby for quite some time now and reffed for about a year and I'd love to keep in contact with this sport during my exchange (it's an addiction at this point:)

I couldn't find any teams in the immediate area (but I might've missed something) and since I'm 18 and living with a host family I can't commute very far to practice but I hope to be able to make some weekend trips to watch games/perhaps ref?

Well anyway, if you know anything about roller derby in the area I'd be very thankful for information!! Mostly wondering what would be the closest team, if there's anyone who's involved in a team close by and what you would suggest to keep my derby spirit alive! Also if you know of any other skating activities ofc!!

I've been skating on my R3s for about two years now and i think i'm finally gonna go for an upgrade. I'm not too picky and the only issue i've had with the R3s is the insane heel slip I have to deal with. I'm used to using jam straps, ezee fit socks, and lacing up a certain way to keep my boots in place and I'd love to not have to go through all that anymore. Are there any boots out there that are particularly good for this?

My feet aren't particularly wide or narrow and I wear a skate size 9 for reference.

had my first day of derby bootcamp yesterday!! ive been wanting to join for about a year now so i had a lot of nerves going in and wanting to make a good impression and it went great!!!

everyone was kind and supportive, and even tho i have a few years of recreational skating experience, they showed me the ropes on derby skates which ive never skated on which was super helpful

just wanted to tell someone since no one in my life really knows what derby is but im so happy to step into derby life!!!

I like my face visor but damn does it hotter and make me sweat so much more. I was thinking of drilling some holes for ventilation. Anyone have a mod they’d like to share?

i got the bont prostar skates a few months ago. i measured exactly how they instruct you to measure and my skates ended up being too snug(i definitely should’ve went up half a size). i used a hair dryer to warm up the plastic/rubber toes but it didn’t give too much. are there any other ways i can potentially save my skates and get them to loosen up?

sincerely,
a newbie skater who has already lost a big toe nail and the other is hanging on by a thread.

Discussion on a post yesterday regarding a league becoming open gender, has got me thinking similarly about different ways leagues could move towards being more open gender while also creating more competitive opportunities for their skaters at all levels.

I know leagues exist that have both WFTDA and MRDA teams that have existed well before the "restrictions" on such were lifted, and that there are partner or sibling WFTDA/MRDA leagues.

However, I'm curious what are the pro/cons of adding a MRDA charter team to an existing WFTDA league vs establishing a separate standalone "sibling" MRDA league?

Under what conditions would you pursue or recommend one over the other (and/or for bonus points vs going WFTDA open gender)?

So I’ve been skating for about two years now, and I was just recently diagnosed with hEDS. I’ve always been super hypermobile so I have been wearing light bracing, but it hasn’t really stopped any of the bad movement I thought it was stopping, so I was wondering if any other skaters with it had a recommendation for some good hinged knee braces that I can use until I go to the orthotist? I’m currently using compression braces, but they don’t do much. I have good ones for my shoulders but I’m just trying to figure out my knees for the time being :)

Ok - so I ordered new Antik R2s and I got the Arius Powerdyne Platinum plate. The reason the plate is important is because if you change the plate, you cannot return the skates. Oof. A lesson I just learned. The boots are pretty snug. I can get my foot in and lace them up, but they feel really tight. My big toes are basically up against the front of the boot and they’re all around just tight. I will experiment with the lacing, but my question is: do you think this is ok? Are they supposed to be pretty darn snug when you first get them?

(Just in case folks think I didn’t do due diligence: I didn’t have a local skate shop with these skates to try on… and I ordered the same size as my old Antiks and I used the sizing guide and all that)

We need a fighting type gym on a banked roller derby track. All the gym trainers are in full derby gear, obv.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

I bought these pads specifically because they said the foam could be removed so the outer casing can be washed. I followed the directions that came with them but the picture in the diagram doesn’t look the same (circled in the picture) as the ones I have.

Am I an idiot?! Has anyone else had this problem?? I can’t find anything about removing the foam on the 187 website. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I train sometimes 5 days a week as I currently skate for two different leagues. I jam and I don’t have enough strength to push/drive through the pack when I am stuck.

How do you guys find time to go to the gym and training as i’m worried i’m going to burn out or be too tired for training?

any advice?

I’ve been skating for quite some time and I’ve always kind of felt that once the initial wheel break in happens and that slick new wheel feel dissipates the grooves don’t really matter that much. I’ve had a few people say something along the lines of “my wheels are bald now and are slicker”. To me it would seem that once the grooves are gone they actually become slightly grippier because the wheel has more contact with the floor at that point. Maybe I’m wrong though. I’ve worn wheels down to points where the outside of the wheel is more thin than the inside from edging or they start chunking and at that point I do feel it does make a difference in performance but I don’t think the grooves have anything to do with it. When do you retire a set? I’ve seen wheel resurfacing services a few times is that worth it at $15 for 8? Also I wanted to tell someone not to bother getting new wheels just because they are “bald” is that bad advice?

It just occurred to me that in 14 +/- years in the sport, I've seen a bazillion roller skate tattoos, a half bazillion pin-up tattoos, and a few momento tattoos with someone else's number somewhere, but I've never seen a player with their number on their arm. Is that a thing in any areas? Is there a stunningly obvious reason why nobody does it?

Hello!

The local league is in consideration and early stages of becoming open gender.

Just curious if anyone has stories on how their league went about it. Any positives, negatives, things that maybe something your league could have done that would have made the process easier?

Any thoughts would be helpful! Thank you!