fiveonfive | issue 41 | Fall 2018

WOMEN’S FLAT TRACK ROLLER DERBY MAGAZINE ISSUE 41, FALL 2018

proud partner of the WFTDA

fiveonfivemag.com

fiveonfive contents

26-27

4-5

advice ask swede hurt and midge mayhem!

WFTDA This year WFTDA partnered with Chicks in Bowls (CIB) to strengthen both sports and diversify any skater’s skills.

6-7

business building derby-centric business relationships

14-19

games and coaching new position? no problem! tournament analysis

20-21

gear leather repair and maintenance

30-31

Tony McKay Photography

8-11

health and fitness evaluating nutrition information on the internet

34-35 Starting a Chicks in Bowls chapter in your town Whether you’re a vet or a new skater, if you’re interested in skating Chicks in Bowls style and want more people to join you in shreddin’ your city, here are some tips on starting your own local chapter!

junior derby junior derby: a life changing experience

32-33 rookie

38-39

fresh meat advice

Building our own venue

42-45 art and media

No place to skate? No problem!

The Albany Roller Derby League of Australia built their very own venue.

editor phoenix aka stacey casebolt castle rock ‘n’ rollers art director assaultin’ pepa rocky mountain rollergirls

from the editor Welcome to the 41st issue of fiveonfive!

It’s hard to believe it’s almost fall with the scorching heat we have had here

contributing writers swede hurt stockholm roller derby

in Colorado! I hope your season is successful, safe, and in full swing!

midge mayhem denver roller derby

In this issue we’ll talk more about bowl skating with an article on Chicks in

slamabelle lee jersey shore roller girls

Bowls, and how to start your own chapter. You’ll learn about building

grand theft autumn roe city roller derby catholic cruel girl rocky mountain rollergirls

relationships with some allies you might not have considered aligning with to further your influence, marketing, and advertising. Grand Theft Autumn will challenge you to rethink your internet nutrition sources, and Slamabelle Lee

lindsay gypin denver roller derby

shares her experience in moving from the blocker position to being a full time

ilana gordon queen city roller girls

jammer. You’ll have to read the rest for yourself, but don’t miss out on the

skaro boston roller derby

Cozy Pumpkin Soup recipe!

sarah-cidel team canada junior roller derby

Happy Fall, y’all!

petronous peaches connecticut roller derby shoreline roller derby nox arch rival roller derby sean hale gotham girls roller derby splats albany roller derby league judge booty cassie hay kevin “twitch” borke atlanta rollergirls cover photo Joe Mac MidnightMatineePhotography.com fiveonfive magazine info@fiveonfivemag.com facebook.com/fiveonfive fiveonfivemag.com

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the contributing writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of fiveonfive magazine.

Phoenix aka Stacey Casebolt Castle Rock ‘N’ Rollers editor@fiveonfivemag.com

contributors

Many thanks to our contributors who come from all over the roller derby community and share their knowledge based on their countless hours of dedication to this sport!

Check out additional contributors at fiveonfivemag.com.

Grand Theft Autumn Autumn Benson is a Registered Dietitian that specializes in women and children’s nutrition and is working on becoming a Board Certified Sports Dietitian. She has over four years experience in medical nutrition therapy and helping clients meet their goals despite chronic conditions and income.

She has been a member of Roe City Roller Derby since 2015. She has also taught nutrition classes at RollerCon and was featured on a roller derby wellness podcast.

Lindsay Gypin A jammer for Denver Roller Derby’s Mile High Club, Lindsay Gypin works in the library at the University of Denver, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Library Information Science with a focus on Research and Data Management.

She’s always found game stats interesting, and enjoys analyzing them to see the how they tell the story of how different games unfold.

Slamabelle Lee

Chris Loupos

Slam skates for the Jersey Shore Roller Girls based out of Toms River, NJ. She’s a jammer on their charter team, and also their current interleague coordinator. In her non-derby life, she’s a nursing student and a tech at an inpatient psychiatric hospital. She also loves long skates on the trail and re reading the same books over and over again.

Jeremy Wren

Kevin “twitch” Borke

Sarah-Cidal

mjs photographics

Atlanta based Emmy Award winning producer, videographer and editor who’s been creating derby videos with the Atlanta Rollergirls for eight years and the WFTDA for six. From highlight reels, player and team profile vignettes, recruitment videos, ESPN packages, promos and even puppy roller derby videos, there’s not much derby content he hasn’t made. The tightknit community spirit inspires him to bring his talents to hopefully attract new fans.

Sarah-Cidal lives in Regina, Saskatchewan and has played roller derby for five years. She is 16 years-old and plays for the Pile O’ Bones Miss Demeanors, the Pile O’ Bones Sugar Skulls and for Team Canada Junior Roller Derby. Outside of roller derby, she does cross country, and track and field. She loves to write, create art, and hang out with her dogs.

Midge Mayhem

Swede Hurt

Denver Roller Derby Denver, Colorado

Stockholm Roller Derby Stockholm, Sweden

dear blocker and jammer, I am not on my league's travel team and I want to be extra supportive during WFTDA tournament season. What can I do to help my teammates who are on the travel team prepare (and be less stressed) during tournament time?

C Tasmin Brown Photography

-SUPPORTA SISTA

dear SS, Great question! The two aspects travel teams lack, especially come WFTDA tournament season, are time and money. Fundraisers go full steam ahead when seeding is finalized, meaning the planning and preparation needs to be conducted one to two months prior, and often last another month or so. Helping with both planning and executing a fundraiser is a huge help. If you’re able to travel to the tournament, being a support can mean: helping sell merch during your travel team’s games (or swapping with another team so you can actually watch your team skate... that’s a whole separate topic), running to the store to grab last minute food or snack items, changing the bearings on a wheel during the team's warmups. Just being around and willing to help any unexpected occurrence that may come about is more help then you’ll know, perhaps even calming. But, if you’re still not quite sure how you can be supportive, the best thing to do: ask.

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dear SS, Tell them they are awesome and frankly, ask them! I think the best way to be helpful is to let them know you are there and willing to help. Different teams have different needs, and in general I think that there are always things that they might need help with.

Everything from throwing a fundraiser to booking hotels, or maybe just some help with their regular leauge work. And honestly, sometimes they just need to hear that they have the league’s support and that you are cheering for them.

dear blocker and jammer, What’s the best way to prepare physically and mentally for a big tournament?

Joe Mac

-TINA TOURNEY

dear TT, Preparation varies from person to person. However, there are some common practices among athletes because at the end of the day, we’re all humans. The three things I try to keep in mind are: sleep, fuel, and mental expectations. If you’re thinking, “I eat pasta the night before every game and clean my bearings!” that might be beneficial, but doesn’t quite encompass everything you can do. For example, everyone needs to fuel their body appropriately. Eating a bunch of carbs the night before won’t do much if you’ve been quenching your thirst with coffee and vodka all week.

Here are some basic principles you can try to follow the week or two prior to a tournament weekend: • Eat well. Ensure you’re fueling your body appropriately with the right amount of carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables. And ensure you’re eating enough throughout the week.

• Hydrate sufficiently. Drinking two large water bottles full of water (surprise!) daily is a good baseline. Remember, just because you’re consuming a liquid doesn’t mean you’re hydrated.

• Mentally prepare. Whether you’re going to be playing a non-sanctioned tournament or Championships, there are a number of things you can prepare for mentally: the venue (size, track, acoustics, etc.), the teams you’ll be playing (watch all the footage!), you and your team (watch all the footage!).

Ideally, you should be preparing much more than just the one or two weeks before a tournament weekend. Cross-training for at least three months prior to a tournament weekend, along with constant footage watching, and healthy eating will prepare you to play as best as you can.

Remember, at the end of the day, each athlete is different, meaning training will vary some for each athlete. Learn what works for you, what fuels your body best.

dear TT, Mentally: Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, remember that roller derby is a team sport, and you are all in this together. It doesn’t matter if you are a jammer or blocker, you are all cogs in the wheels that will make the team successful. Set goals for the team, realistic goals, but always play to win. It sounds contradictive, but it is really not, it is more about your mindset. Practice listening to your team, and see what your teammates need, more than focusing on the other team. As an individual skater I’ve learned to phase out the opposing team’s talk, I never hear what the other team says to me. I know skaters that get super annoyed and start to engage verbally. Don’t! Remember that it’s all about your team, and not what the other team does, keep together and trust each other. This is why you spent all those countless hours together practicing. Also, REST... you need to rest your brain to be able to focus. Do what works for you to let your brain relax, read a book, stare at the clouds, do a mindfulness exercise, paint a chair, take a deep breath... think about something that is not roller derby.

Physically: Eat, sleep and drink (not alcohol).

It is pretty basic, don’t exhaust yourself at the gym or running, etc. the week before the tournament. Drink plenty of fluids and sleep! Don’t go to a crazy party or stay out late and eat! Food is important! Both your body and brain needs it!

need advice? email advice@fiveonfivemag.com fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

5

building derby-centric business relationships SLAMABELLE LEE, JERSEY SHORE ROLLER GIRLS

I have worn many hats since I became involved in roller derby. and with the young athletes programs, giving us the opportunity I have been fresh meat skater, veteran skater, jammer, blocker, to work firsthand with the athletes SONJ benefits throughout pivot, impromptu coach, captain, interleague coordinator, and the year. events and community service coordinator. I’ve juggled a lot of By involving ourselves with such a great organization, we were moving parts in different ways to get things done effectively, able to elevate ourselves within the community as well. When we and the skills I’ve utilized serve me well in derby, as well as in give back, we show that derby is more than just a sport – we are my professional, educational, and personal lives. active, involved members of the communities where we live and As Events and Community Service Coordinator, one of my most we skate. important duties was building functional professional relationships While SONJ was the organization we paired up with the most, between our league and other local/national non-profit they were not the only organization we worked with. At our home, organizations, as well as local businesses whom we partnered intraleague bouts, we held two fundraisers in the last home with for promotional events and fundraisers. season. We held a food drive/fundraiser My two and a half year tenure as Events in conjunction with Move for Hunger NJ, Coordinator helped me (and therefore, my and a fundraiser/animal adoption event with By involving league) cultivate many valuable relationships SAVE Animal Shelter in a themed Team Cat

ourselves with that were mutually beneficial for both our vs Team Dog bout. We have also, in the past, league and the organizations in question. worked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, such a great One of the most prolific organizations my a thrift store which directly benefits the organization, we league was able to partner with was Special mission of Habitat. By pairing our relatively were able to Olympics New Jersey. I had initially reached unknown league with big names in out to SONJ to have league members non-profits, we were able to show elevate ourselves volunteer at the annual Polar Bear Plunge – how far roller derby is able to reach. within the a fundraising event that takes place each In partnering with these organizations – community as well.

February, where participants run into a as well as pairing up with restaurants to have freezing Atlantic Ocean. While none of the Dine to Donate fundraisers (where a portion league members actually took the plunge, we of sales is returned to the league) – one spent an early morning checking in registrants and handing out thread holds it all together. That thread is communication. To be swag to those who were brave enough for the freezing water. successful in these sorts of ventures, you need someone strong Later that same year, we volunteered at SONJ’s Great Coaster at the helm of your organization in an Events Coordinator-type Race. We stamped coaster “passports” at the exits of roller position. You need someone who isn’t afraid to contact someone coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure (in Jackson, NJ), another who they think might be in charge. In my tenure, I made a few great fundraising event put on by SONJ. On smaller scales, several missteps. I contacted people who didn’t work for certain of our skaters volunteered during the spring and fall sports league companies anymore. I missed an important contact’s maternity To be successful in these sorts of ventures, you need someone strong at the helm of your organization in an Events Coordinator-type position

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leave and thought we no longer had a presence with a certain organization. I’ve tried to schedule things too late and ended up missing the boat completely. The good news is – especially in dealing with other volunteer organizations – is that people understand. When we are all volunteers, it seems that mistakes get forgiven a little more easily. We tend to have jobs and lives outside of this crazy volunteer side gig. Be prepared to make mistakes and own them, and make sure that you keep communication open all the time. When you’re working on these types of business relationships, constant communication is the key. You need to constantly remind people that you’re there to help them. You want to prove your organization as one that can show

up in droves to volunteer for a good cause. In the same vein, you have to show that the relationship will be mutually beneficial. For example, when we do a Dine to Donate, we make it a practice to patronize that restaurant to show that we want to help the business do well. When they support us, we support them.

To wrap up, in building beneficial business relationships outside of the immediate derby world, open communication and mutual beneficence are the two main keys. Focus your sights on organizations that match how you want your league to be perceived and go from there. Persevere if your first path doesn’t work out and continue the hard work to build lasting relationships.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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evaluating nutrition information on the internet G R A N D T H E F T A U T U M N, R O E C I T Y R O L L E R D E R B Y

Did you know that not everything that you read on the internet is true? Shocker, I know!

So how do you determine the validity of nutrition information on the internet? With so many popular sharing websites like pinterest and facebook and even personal blogs and nutrition dedicated online forums it seems like anyone can be a nutrition guru.

While some of these sites can be helpful while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle or lose weight, it is important to evaluate whether or not the material you are reading is reliable. Here are some questions to ask when determining whether or not this information should be trusted.

1. Who runs the website, what makes them an authority on nutrition?

Do they have schooling or credentials such as RD or MD after their names or are they self-claimed. Many people claim to know a lot about food and diet but few actually have taken the courses required to make them be considered an expert.

Did you know that in many places a “nutritionist” is not a legally defined term? It simply means a person interested in nutrition. The guy bagging your fries at the drive thru can call himself a nutritionist, if he wanted. As a side note, it is important to always vet your medical professionals.

Doctors often don’t take a lot of nutrition courses in school.

Depending on specialty, they sometimes can give advice not backed up with scientific evidence, and some are just trying to sell you something. I think we can all recall a certain daytime television doctor that comes to mind.

I think another source of misinformation comes from other athletes or fitness industry people, especially in the beautiful grassroots movement that is roller derby. Just because they have a set of rocking abs or kill it on the track every year for the Hydra, doesn’t necessarily mean that they should be giving nutrition advice.

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2. Where does this information come from?

Is this information anecdotal or based on an opinion or is there research to back their claim? I have seen a lot of posts of athletes talking about their diet or how lack thereof has helped them. This is called anecdotal and isn’t a reliable way to assess information, because a lot of other factors come into play that cannot be controlled as in a clinical study or captured like in a longitudinal study. If there is research to support the claim, do they list references? Make sure information is based on scientific fact and check their references to make sure they are reliable. Two quick reliable sources for screening a diet or diet information are: cdc.gov/nutrition and health.usnews.com/best-diet.

3. What does the website want from you?

Are they advertising a product or service? Many companies will sponsor a website to promote weight loss products and services. Even some medical professionals or medical offices may be trying to sell a product to you. We have all met that nurse and/or teammate selling a pyramid scheme weight loss product, am I right? Another example would be a weight loss clinic website advertising a certain diet or product rather than individualizing eat plans to your needs.

4. Do they make larger than life claims or use emotional wording?

We have all read these lines before: “Drinking lime water will “burn fat”, “Good fat burns bad fat”, and “The grapefruit diet will cause 10 lbs of weight loss in two days.” Remember if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

5. Do they promote an eating plan that is not balanced or eliminates/vilifies one type of food group?

Remember most nutrition experts recommend a diet be balanced and full of fruits and vegetables. JUST BECAUSE A DIET LEADS TO WEIGHT LOSS DOES NOT MEAN IT IS HEALTHY. If any website claims that you must cut out something completely, be wary. Ketogenic, Whole 30, Atkins, and paleo are a couple of examples. Very little studies have been done on diets like these, and the majority of studies often focus on efficacy for weight loss, not health and longterm effects. If you are a little older you probably remember the low-fat diets of the ‘80s and ‘90s. There is current research starting to be conducted that shows that, those types of diets may have contributed to the surge in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be part of the group that gets to find out what cutting out all carbs from my diet or tripling my protein intake will do to my body in 30 years.

6. Does this information or diet focus on my activity level?

Remember that you are an athlete, and you need to fuel your body like one. Even though some diets like “medifast” or “ideal protein” are overseen by an M.D., they often require that one does not exercise during them. Super low calorie diets will definitely influence your performance in training and on the track. If the person you are reading about is not at a similar activity level or activity level is not accounted for at all, you can’t truly evaluate whether this information is relevant to you.

Lastly, know that online information is never a substitute for medical advice. No two people’s bodies work the same, and different medical conditions can affect your macro or micro nutrient needs. If you have any questions about what you hear or read on the internet get a second opinion. Don’t be afraid to contact a doctor or Registered Dietitians for more nutrition information.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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Cozy Pumpkin Soup C AT H O L I C C R U E L G I R L , R O C K Y M O U N TA I N R O L L E R G I R L S

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harvesttotable.com

Cozy Pumpkin Soup C AT H O L I C C R U E L G I R L , R O C K Y M O U N TA I N R O L L E R G I R L S

ingredients: 2 lb sweet pumpkin 3 tablespoons your choice of butter or butter substitute 1 yellow onion, sliced thin 1 clove garlic, crushed 3½ cups vegetable broth ½ teaspoon ground ginger 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 3 thinly pared slices of orange rind 2 bay leaves 1¼ cup unsweetened coconut milk garnish: Swirl of coconut yogurt 1. Peel pumpkin and remove the seeds. Cut into cubes.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, add onion and garlic sautéing gently until soft. Add pumpkin. Continue to sauté for a few minutes.

3. Add the vegetable stock, ginger, lemon juice, orange rind and bay leaves. Cover and simmer until pumpkin is tender.

4. Remove orange rind and bay leaves. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool for 10 minutes or so. Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

5. Pour the mixture into a clean saucepan, add the coconut milk and stir while reheating gently.

6. Garnish with a swirl of coconut yogurt.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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new position? no problem! the training switch from blocker to jammer SLAMABELLE LEE, JERSEY SHORE ROLLER GIRLS

I can’t remember exactly how many times I jammed at practice before I played my first game in the jammer rotation. I can tell you this though – it wasn’t many. I could probably count it on two hands with fingers leftover.

2017 was a weird season for my team. A spat of pregnancies had left us extremely short-handed in the jammer department. Add to that a slew of injuries and bout unavailability, and our coaches were struggling to find anyone to put on the star and act like they knew what they were doing in a game. While I was proficient at pretending well enough around my teammates at our weekly scrimmages, going up against another team scared me beyond belief. Let me caveat that by saying that I am generally not a scaredy-cat. I’ll generaly accept any challenge as it comes along. But jamming against unfamiliar players in a competitive environment? Nope.

No way. Not happening.

But it happened. There was a game where my captain said to me, “Well, we might need you to be a relief jammer.” That shifted when I heard the first three lineups being read out by my bench coach and heard my name to jam in one of the first three.

Immediately, I felt nauseous and sweaty and nervous all over. This wasn’t what I asked for or wanted.

But, being who I am, I decided to buckle down and bear it.

The game didn’t end in my team’s

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favor. We lost, pretty badly. But me personally? I won. I took home an MVP Jammer award (obviously my first one), and more importantly, I proved to myself, my team, my captains, and my coaches that maybe I could do this thing.

When I feel like I’ve latched on to something good in my life, I tend to go hard at it. Therefore, I decided to change my training style to go along with my newfound jamming skills.

This required not only an overhaul of my physical training, but it required me to employ mental training for the first time ever. When I was a primary blocker, my mental game wasn’t a huge concern. However, jamming opened a whole new world for me and required me to really hone in mentally.

Jamming can be very lonely sometimes. There’s a lot of times where it’s 1 on 4, and your offense is nowhere to be seen. Maybe your pivot is in the box. Maybe the track opened up and and swallowed your wall whole. Whatever the case is, you can end up alone on the track very quickly.

Just you and the other team, and they’re out there trying to make your life a living hell for those two minutes.

Your mental training has to adapt to focus on the now. You can’t worry about the previous jam or the one coming up or even the next scoring pass. You have to focus on the hole that you have to find in the wall in front of you. Everything else is

secondary to that. However, the only way to develop that mental strength is to practice that with your jamming.

Don’t just practice the physical movement of breaking apart a wall – visualize it happening as well. It really helps the movement come to life and makes it a little easier to make things happen.

As far as physical training, I experienced a total turnaround. As a blocker, I would do low reps, high weight, and cardio was merely a necessary evil. However, when I switched to jamming, I ramped up my cardio game, switching to HIIT training as much as possible. When I ran or skated outdoors, I did sprint intervals followed by a short period of recovery. When I lifted, I did high reps and low weight in order to lose weight, tone and tighten muscles, and move quicker throughout a bout. By training physically in this type of manner, I guided my body more towards jamming. The 30 pounds I dropped on the way definitely didn’t hurt.

My training schedule as a jammer looks like this: Monday – Endurance/Skills practice Tuesday – Interval Run Wednesday – Rest Thursday – Scrimmage Practice Friday – Interval Run or Skate/Lift Saturday – Lift/HIIT Workout Sunday – Rest Taking two rest days per week became really important when I was

David Dyte

taxing my muscles with HIIT and interval runs. It caused a lot of spasms in the beginning, and I needed to take more rest days than that at first just to let my body recover. Now that I’m adapted to this training style, I can stay pretty consistent in my scheduling, but it’s still an uphill battle as I seek to get better and better at jamming.

Jamming hasn’t been an easy road for me. It’s been a struggle, especially as I seek to move higher within my league and as a competitor. The transition has taught me a lot, however, both about my capabilities as an athlete and my ability to believe in something bigger than me – that is, scoring points for the sake of my team. I now never hesitate to grab

the star. In fact, someone is going to have to pry it from my cold, dead hand. I love what I do as a jammer, and I don’t really ever want to transition back. However, if I do, I know I have a solid plan in place.

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tournament analysis L I N D S AY G Y P I N, D E N V E R R O L L E R D E R B Y

2017 International WFTDA Championship Tournament Analysis: Game 15 Denver Roller Derby vs. Gotham Girls Roller Derby Assessment of Penalties Last quarter for graduate school, I took a course called “Scripting for Large Databases” and learned to use a plethora of data analysis and visualization tools including python, SQLite, mongodb, JSON, and matplotlib. For our final project, we were to analyze data publicly available online; naturally, I chose to analyze roller derby game statistics from champs.

Roller derby aficionados comb the WFTDA Stats Repository to determine how well certain players performed in WFTDA sanctioned roller derby games. The WFTDA Stats Repository provides some interesting data – the “Diff/Jam” columns on the “Skater Stats” tab divides the points scored while a given skater is on the on the track by the points given up to the other team, broken down by position (jammer or blocker). Many in the roller derby community use this number to assess how well particular skaters performed in games.

However, this data does not account for the number of skaters on the track at a given time. Theoretically, skaters will perform better when their team has all five skaters on the track and the other team has several skaters sitting in the penalty box serving time for committing a penalty. What is the correlation between number of skaters on the track at a given time and point differential? I used Pandas, Python, Matplotlib, and Seaborn to attempt finding and visualizing the answer in the 2017 International WFTDA Championships Game 15: Gotham vs. Denver game. data: After downloading and reformatting the game data from the WFTDA Stats Repository, I first created a dataframe that provided a count of the number of penalties each team had accrued per jam. jampenalties=pd.merge(jams, penalties, left_on="id", right_on="jam_id") jampenalties2=pd.merge(jampenalties, skaters, left_on="skater_id", right_on="id") jampenalties3=pd.merge(jampenalties2, teams, left_on='team_id', right_on="id") df=jampenalties3[["jam_number", "name", "position", "team_name"]].sort_values("jam_number") dfgroup=df.groupby(["jam_number", "team_name"])[["name"]].count() df1.columns = ["jam_number", "team_name", "penalty_count"] Figure 1 Penalties Code

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Then, I graphed the information using Seaborn: redblue= ["red", "blue"] sns.set_palette(redblue) f, ax=plt.subplots (figsize=(15,8) ) sns.barplot(x="jam_number", y="penalty_count" , hue="team_name", data=df1 ) ax.set_yticks([0,1,2,3,4]) ax.legend(title="Team Name") ax.set_ylabel ("Number of Penalties") ax.set_xlabel ("Jam Number") plt.title('Denver vs. Gotham Penalties Accrued Per Jam') Figure 2 Penalties Graph Code

Figure 3 Denver vs. Gotham Penalties Accrued Per Jam

This barplot illustrates that Gotham had a significant number of penalties right out of the gate – fifteen in the first fourteen jams of the game, but only accrued eleven more penalties the twenty-seven remaining jams of the game.

Next, I isolated points scored per team on individual jams, to see if jams with many penalties led to many points scored for the opposing team. points=skater_jams.loc[skater_jams["points"]>0] points1=pd.merge(points, skaters, left_on = "skater_id", right_on = "id") points2=pd.merge(points1, teams, left_on = "team_id", right_on = "id") points3=points2[["jam_id", "skater_id", "name", "team_id", "team_name", "points"]] points4=points3.sort_values("jam_id") Figure 4 Points Scored Per Jam Code

Donna Olmstead

In order to differentiate Gotham’s points from Denver’s points, I created separate dataframes for each team’s points.

GJPoints=points4[["jam_id", "points"]].loc[points4["team_id"]== 2] Figure 5 Points Scored by Gotham Per Jam Code DJPoints=points4[["jam_id","points"]].loc[points4["team_id"]== 1] Figure 6 Points Scored by Denver Per Jam Code

Once I had the points isolated, I used matplotlib to create a scatterplot of points per team, differentiating each by color. f, ax=plt.subplots (figsize=(15,8) ) ax.scatter(x=DJPoints["jam_id"], y=DJPoints["points"], label= "Denver", color="blue") ax.scatter(x=GJPoints["jam_id"], y=GJPoints["points"], label= "Gotham", color="red") ax.legend(title="Points" ) ax.set_ylabel ("Number of Points") ax.set_xlabel ("Jam Number") plt.title('Denver vs. Gotham Points Scored Per Jam') Figure 7 Points Scored Per Jam Graph Code

This scatterplot clearly illustrates Denver had several high scoring jams early in the game, coinciding with Gotham’s high penalty accrual. Denver scored thirteen points in jam one, when Gotham had three penalties, and thirteen points in jam three, when Gotham had another two penalties. Additionally, Denver scored fourteen points in jam thirteen,when Gotham had another three penalties, and Denver had their highest scoring jam of the game in jam fourteen, with sixteen points, where Gotham had another two penalties.

Clearly, accruing penalties negatively impacts a team’s ability to defend against points in individual jams, but how do penalties affect the overall outcome of a game? To find a correlation between game outcome and penalties, I added the cumulative summary of points to the team points dataframes, and created a line graph of the results using matplotlib.

GJPoints["GScore"]=GJPoints.points.cumsum() Figure 9 Amended Points Scored by Gotham Per Jam Code

DJPoints["DScore"]=DJPoints.points.cumsum() Figure 10 Amended Points Scored by Gotham Per Jam Code

Figure 8 Denver vs. Gotham Points Scored Per Jam

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Laurent Robert – Laurentrekk

Figure 11 Denver vs. Gotham Score

It is immediately evident from the line graph that something changed in jam fourteen. While Gotham’s score steadily creeps higher and higher, Denver’s comes to an abrupt halt in jam fourteen.

It takes Denver another eleven jams to get additional points on the board – after jam fourteen, Denver does not score again until jam twenty-five.

Looking back at the penalties barchart, one will note that Gotham gets themselves out of penalty trouble at jam fourteen, accruing only two penalties between jams fourteen and twentyseven – one of them in jam twenty-five,

when Denver gets themselves back onto the scoreboard.

Denver took advantage of Gotham’s early penalties in their matchup during the 2017 International WFTDA Championships Tournament. Denver scored twenty-six points in jams one and three, when Gotham accrued five of their total penalties, and another thirty points in jams thirteen and fourteen when Gotham accrued another five penalties. The games tenor shifted after jam fourteen when Gotham stopped heading to the penalty box, and Denver stopped scoring. In this game, a clear correlation between point differential

and penalties accrued (or skaters on the track) exists.

The statistical game data provided online by WFTDA provides insight into team’s strengths and weaknesses, but there is so much more interesting analysis that can be completed.

Hopefully the future holds an avenue where anyone can ask a complex data analysis question about a roller derby game, and find the tools to visualize the answer. What questions will you ask about game data?

Check out my code on GitHub: github.com/lagypin/WFTDA_Analysis

References (2018, April 15). Retrieved from stats-repo.wftda.com/bout.jsp?boutId=1455 Appendix A Online Supplemental Material Github Repository github.com/lagypin/WFTDA_Analysis Stack Overflow Graphing Question stackoverflow.com/questions/50659030/matplotlib-graph-alignment

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DRILL

drill courtesy of allderbydrills.com

drill: two-point touch

purpose: to practice touching each other as much as possible; to practice effective blocking while going slow; to practice using each others’ bodies and senses on the track; to practice team-blocking; to practice communication

Jules Doyle

In this drill, skaters will go in groups of three onto the track and work together to block one opponent. Start by getting all of your skaters into four lines. Three of the lines are for blockers, and the last line is for the opponent. The first skater from each blocker line will get onto the track and form a tight-knit group of blockers, and the first skater from the opponent line will start just slightly behind the blockers and try to get by them. The blockers have one lap in which to work hard to block the opponent and really slow her down. When the lap is complete, they get back into line, making sure that they practice team-blocking 3 out of 4 times, and that they act as the opponent 1 out of 4 times (hence the four lines).

The main idea of this drill is that while they are blocking they should be constantly touching – a minimum of two points of each blockers’ body needs to always be touching another skater. That could mean you touching someone with both hands, someone else touching you with both hands, or one person touching you with one hand while you touch someone else with your other hand. Either way, two points on your body should always be touching another blocker. The blockers are also to use each other, use each others’ bodies, and use each others’ senses.

That could mean pushing your body off another skater (while remaining in contact with them), holding on to another skater’s hips and acting as the group booty while said person is acting as the eyes forward, pushing a teammate’s body into the way of the opponent (while still remaining in contact with them, of course) – basically you use each other and thus all together become one super-human (or super-blocker, really).

While touching each other and using each others’ bodies, verbal communication is key. The blockers should be constantly telling each other where the opponent is and what direction they are going in. When skaters practice using both verbal and physical communication at the same time like this, it really improves their teamwork and team-blocking skills.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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Email advertising@fiveonfivemag.com for more information!

leather repair and maintenance I L A N A G O R D O N, Q U E E N C I T Y R O L L E R G I R L S

If you are like me, your first pair of “real” derby skates are the first set of quality leather anything you’ve ever owned. You’ve probably heard the basics, such as, don’t leave them in the car or get them wet, but how do you really maintain those boots?

restoration and repair 1. Clean • Remove laces and wheels. Duct tape residue can be removed by going slowly up the scale of solvents – very carefully using a wrung out soap and water rag, and then citrus solvent, finally a tiny bit of goo-gone if you can’t get it off.

• Use a very lightly damp cloth to remove any dirt. You can add light soap and water if your boot is very dirty or you

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are doing a restoration. Lastly, you can also use a toothbrush or gentle brush to remove any stubborn dirt.

• Clean with a leather conditioner like Lexol. Apply lexol to a paper towel and rub it all over the boot.

2. Polish • Working with black boots allows you to take advantage of boot polish, which can almost act to heal the leather itself.

• Apply polish all over the boot.

• If you are working with white boots you may need to get boot paint to cover any scuffs, white polish will not cover up scrapes in the leather sufficiently.

• Brush boot with a very light brush, preferably a boot brush. You can get a basic shoe kit at any general store with boot polish and a brush. Boot should now look shiny.

• But wait! I have a suede boot, such as a moxi. How do I polish that? The answer is DON’T. Polish and water will kill suede. Suede can be maintained by gently brushing with a shoe brush (or a very gentle brush) to remove dust. Be sure that you are going with the grain and not scraping the suede. Suede can be waterproofed to protect it from dirt and damage. I recommend Atsko Silicone Water Guard.

Be sure to silicone spray the inside of your boots as well, which cannot be polished. This will keep harmful sweat moisture away from the lining.H

Gregory Scott Baxley

moisture is the enemy of leather Let’s face it, leather is dead cow (sorry vegans). Dead cow is flesh, and what does flesh do when it is kept dark, damp, and moist... like all formerly living things? It decomposes.

Keep them dry. Don’t treat your skates like toys, treat them like an essential tool. Find a place where you can hang them up and dry them out after every practice. No, your car doesn’t count. If you think you are going to forget, a Skate noose might be right for you.

This goes for non-leather skates too. If you get them wet skating outside, dry them off (heck it doesn’t hurt to dust off your wheels and bearings now and again either). Then leave them in a dry area in your house with the tongues open so the inside can dry out.

Another important upkeep tip is to protect the toes of your boots. Since roller derby skaters do a lot falling drills and aggressive maneuvers, we have to prevent scuffs and scratches. No duct tape. If you absolutely cannot stand a toe cap, use hockey tape, not duct tape, it will remove the top layer of leather (or vinyl).

fiveonfivemag.com | Spring 2016

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CIB at playoffs/champs S K A R O, B O S T O N R O L L E R D E R B Y P H O T O S B Y T O N Y M C K AY P H O T O G R A P H Y

WFTDA was proud to kick off a tournament partnership with Chicks in Bowls at this years’ Playoffs and Championships weekends. For years, CIB founder and CEO Samara Pepperell, better known to derby fans as the one and only Lady Trample, has been organizing open skatepark meet-ups at WFTDA tournaments. This year, WFTDA was thrilled to sponsor the organization’s presence at Playoffs and Champs to provide private skate park access for beginners and experienced skaters alike.

“Chicks in Bowls is firstly a community, a collection of skaters spread out across the globe who spread the stoke of roller skating in skateparks,” Lady Trample said. “Skaters set up and join chapters, which run regular skate sessions to help grow their local core of quad skaters.”

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Each CIB-partnered event at Playoffs featured two to three coaches, including Bomba Hache, Octane Jayne, Bambi Bloodlust, and Lady Trample herself. They offered workshops geared to challenging experienced skaters, training opportunities for skaters new to bowls and plenty of free skate time for everyone to experiment as they pleased.

“Anyone can be a park skater, just like anyone can play roller derby,” Lady Trample said. “It’s really easy to look at all the crazy slides, grinds, flips, and spins that skaters are doing and be disincentivized because it seems so out of reach, but we all started somewhere, and you can choose just how far you take it.”

For Lady Trample, that start came in 2012 when she was first introduced to park

Anyone can be a park skater, just like anyone can play roller derby...

skating by a fellow skater, Cutthroat.

“I was instantly hooked, and found myself in the skatepark any given opportunity,” she said.

Within a few weeks, they had amassed a group of ten skaters who would regularly go to their local skate park together to practice the bowls and ramps together. Lady Trample started a webpage to document their journey into this side of skating and found an overwhelming response from other skaters around the world.

“We’d discovered this underground scene of skaters... but better yet, we started to see people wanting to learn,” she explained. “A year later the [CIB] website was launched.”

Today, CIB has developed into an international brand,

with 295 affiliated chapters across 38 countries. The CIB shop produces quad skates tailored to the skatepark experience and other merch.

By bringing CIB to WFTDA events, Lady Trample hopes they’ve inspired more skaters to break out of their comfort zones and take to the parks.

“Learning to ramp skate is the most rewarding thing I’ve done,” she said. “It’s a personal adventure where the goals are set by me and the only benchmark for success is enjoyment.”

She added that time at skate parks can be incredibly valuable for expanding on derby skills, too, as more time on skates in any capacity will improve your strength, footwork, confidence and muscle memory.

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“Park skating is all about patience and commitment,” she said. “If you can learn the skills and build up to tricks, the only difference between nailing or failing is the ability to commit to it. I’ve learned a lot about myself as a human and developed myself as a skater because of the time I spend in transitions.”

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For anyone interested in trying park skating for the first time, or expanding their current involvement in it, visit chickinbowls.com/chapters to find a local group near you, where you can find outstanding resources and eager skatepark vets who can’t wait to help you learn the ropes.

Lady Trample advised that anyone new to this type of skating treat it just like roller derby – taking their time to learn and master the basics before just diving right in. Skaters who don’t have access to a local CIB chapter should take some time to watch online tutorials for extra support first.

WFTDA looks forward to working with CIB on more events in the future.

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junior derby: a life changing experience SARAH-CIDAL, TEAM CANADA JUNIOR ROLLER DERBY

mjs photographics

mjs photographics

After five years of literal blood, sweat and tears I thought it was time to ask myself, why do I do this? What am I getting from all of this? Roller derby is anything but easy, it is both physically and mentally draining; however, for me at least, roller derby has so many rewards that override the difficulties and it has taught me so many valuable lessons that I will be forever grateful for. I consider myself lucky because I found roller derby at such a young age, I was eleven years old when I started and I had no idea the effect roller derby would have on my life.

Growing up I was never shy, but I lacked confidence. I would only do things if somebody else did it first or did it with me and I would always do projects in partners because I doubted my own work. Roller derby gave me confidence and taught me to believe in myself. One of the first things I was taught in roller derby is that when you fall you always get back up. This lesson proved to be crucial in every aspect of roller derby and in every aspect of my life. If I am able to get back up after being literally knocked down, there is no reason at all that I shouldn’t be able to get back up after being figuratively knocked down. Because of my lack of confidence trying new things was something I avoided; however, in roller derby trying new thing cannot be avoided at all. Roller derby is constantly evolving which forced me to try new things and in turn, made me more comfortable with doing this both in roller derby and just in life in general, this really helped my

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confidence and continues to do so today.

School was always hard for me, I never really fit in, but when I was eleven it was probably one of my hardest years.

I had short hair, I dressed differently from all of my friends and people did not like my personality.

People at my school weren’t very accepting of that at all, so I was teased and called names. At my first practice, I noticed that none of the kids were the same size, had the same hair, wore the same clothes, they all had very different personalities and nobody cared. It was refreshing. I have played a lot of other sports and everybody on the team always looked and even acted relatively the same. Roller derby taught me that I do not have to look like anybody else and that I do not have to care what other people think. Seeing a bunch of girls with no physical similarities allowed me to feel comfortable in my own body and comfortable with who I am.

During my second year of playing junior roller derby, I remember one of the coaches talking about how they were working on their plow stop, I was a little confused as this person taught me how to do a plow stop. At this moment roller derby taught me yet another valuable lesson, that you can never stop learning.

I quickly learned that each and every skater no matter how good, always has something they can do to better even the simplest skills. Once again this lesson applies in both roller derby and in everyday life and I am so grateful to have learned it at a young age.

Jeff Ostrander

Besides all of the lessons roller derby has taught me, it has benefited me in so many other ways. Because of roller derby, I have a gained a second family. It sounds very cliche, but it is the only way to describe it. The bond I have created with my team is like no other bond that I have with anybody else. They have seen me at both my highest and lowest points and have stood by me through it all. When I joined roller derby I had no idea how many amazing friends I would make and I honestly don’t know where I would be without them.

Roller derby has also provided me with so many amazing opportunities. I recently got back from the JRDA World Cup and had the amazing opportunity of representing my country.

I would have never been able to say that I represented my country without this sport. I’ve met people from all over the world and made friends with people who live all over Canada which is something that again, would have never happened if I didn't join this sport. I live in Saskatchewan which compared to other places isn’t very exciting. Before roller derby, I had barely traveled around Saskatchewan and now I’ve been to so many different states and provinces. I crossed the border for the first time because of roller derby, without it, I would probably still be wondering what the rest of Saskatchewan looks like.

Roller derby has changed my life in more ways than I would have ever imagined.

In just five years I have gone from a small eleven-year-old with low self-esteem to a sixteen-year-old who sometimes feels like they can take on the world, I think that's pretty amazing. I have gotten so many opportunities to travel, I have made so many friends, I have learned so many valuable life lessons and to top it all off, I have been saved from so many potential struggles that I could have faced if I never found roller derby. I strongly believe that if I didn’t find roller derby when I did, I would be a completely different person, still struggling to fit in, sad and hopeless. Junior roller derby is absolutely life changing, everyday I am so grateful that I found roller derby when I did and I hope that many other girls who are struggling to fit in, will find this amazing sport and have their lives changed for the better as well.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

Jeff Ostrander

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fresh meat advice P E T R O N U S P E A C H E S, C O N N E C T I C U T R O L L E R D E R B Y A N D S H O R E L I N E R O L L E R D E R B Y

Hi friends, my name is Jonna Appleby aka Petronus Peaches and I am fresh meat. I was finding that there is no manual when it comes to roller derby so this is my attempt.

choose from, which is a good thing because there are many types of bodies playing derby.

mouth guard In order to play one must have a mouth guard. I like SISU, but any type will do. With SISU, you can talk and drink with

It was a cold February 2, 2017, when I had tried out in

them in.

Waterbury CT for CTRD, The largest turnout in their history with over 30 people trying out. You geared up (more on gear in a sec) and sign waivers so they aren’t responsible if you break something attempting to skate. And from 30 we were 15 and from 15 three groups of 5. I was super pumped that A) I didn’t die and B) I was included.

skates Ohhh yeah, I almost forgot the most important thing!

Yes, get some quad skates. Reidell has some entry-level ones so does Sure Grip. My first were Rebels. Skates can be very personal and pricey. After a season of being in, I had decided I needed better skates if I was to be serious about

gear

this sport. I got Antiks phantoms black on black. I also opted

Gear is a very personal thing, what works for one skater can

for the updated plates in Titanium with a 45-degree angle.

be very different for someone else. For instance most skaters

Most entry level are 10-15 degree plate so it took some time

love 187 killer pads. They didn’t work for me because I am

getting used to. I also wanted something to support

five foot tall and couldn’t do any crossovers with them. Here’s

my ankle. The most important thing about skates is that you

the breakdown of what is needed to keep you safe. I mean

should try them on in person. When the derby bug bites

after all one must realize it is a full-contact sport.

(and it will!) you have to try to save money when you can.

Facebook is also a great resource, there are many online skate shops with knowledgeable people more than happy

helmet Every player needs one. I like S1, but Triple 8 makes nice ones too.

to help you with making an informed decision.

Most of all have fun, make friends, and be present. Skate as much as you can to learn as many skills that you can.

Understand this is a huge undertaking as well as all the other

pads Elbow and knee pads are a must. Some good brands are 187 killer pad, Smith Scabs, and Atom. Triple 8 makes a budget-friendly one and many come in a fresh meat package. Wrist guards are a must as well. I have Triple 8 again it’s personal preference. There are many brands to

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responsibilities one has and try to stay as safe and injury free as possible. Now once you’re in a league things are much bigger than you alone. Everything you do or don’t do affects the team. One must always eat well, sleep well, stay hydrated, and cross train with weights, cardio and or yoga, or any combo of the three.

RULES TO LIVE BY 1 DON’T BE A DOUCHE TO OTHER PLAYERS, REFS

3 GET INVOLVED. THERE ARE PLENTY OF COMMITTEES

OR OFFICIALS. NO ONE IS GETTING PAID HERE

TO BE ON AND EVERYONE’S HELP MAKES THE LEAGUE’S

SO BE NICE, SO THAT THE LEAGUE CAN RETAIN

DAY TO DAY BUSINESS RUN SMOOTHLY.

ITS MEMBERS. TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK.

4 TRAIN HARD IN THE OFF SEASON AND AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. FIT INTO A SCHEDULE THEN FIND A BUDDY

2 DON’T PET THE DRAMA LLAMA. LET’S FACE IT, ON

AND MAKE HER ACCOUNTABLE AS WELL.

A LEAGUE WITH 30 PLUS WOMEN THERE’S BOUND TO BE DRAMA. TRY NOT TO FEED INTO IT AND IF THERE

5 BE THERE FOR ONE ANOTHER. YOUR LEAGUE WILL

ARE PROBLEMS DEFINITELY GO TO A BOARD MEMBER

BECOME YOUR EXTENDED FAMILY. THAT LITTLE NUDGE

FOR A LITTLE CHAT.

MIGHT HELP A FELLOW TEAMMATE GET TO THAT NEXT LEVEL. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: HAVE FUN!

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starting a chicks in bowls chapter in your town N O X , A R C H R I VA L R O L L E R D E R B Y

Whether you’re a vet or a new skater, if you’re interested in skating Chicks in Bowls style and want more people to join you in shreddin’ your city, starting a local chapter is a great start! You will be connected with so many skaters in your area and all learn from each other while having fun!

The official Chicks in Bowls mission statement is “Our entire motivation is to encourage and inspire skaters of all identities to hit the streets and skateparks on their quad roller skates.”

Skateparks can be intimidating for new skaters, especially for women and non-binary skaters. Having a group of encouraging, positive skaters can give someone the confidence to put skates on for the first time or try ramps for the first time!

If you’re interested in being a part of this movement and starting a Chicks in Bowls chapter, here’s my guide: understand running a chapter is work Chapters are intended to be “community run pages that encourage and inspire local skaters to take it to the parks with their quad roller skates.

The Chapters work to host local meet-ups, events, share tips, blogs, videos of successes, bails, learnings and more.”

It isn’t rocket science, but running a chapter does take work and time. Scheduling meetups that work around the derby and other events in your area, running social media on multiple platforms, promoting chapter and events around town and online, moderating your chapter FB group, making additional content or programs like Trick of the Month, organizing venue rentals, and, that’s not even including the time spent teaching and mentoring incoming members.

It can be a lot, but it is definitely worth it. I recommend finding other interested people to get on your admin team to share the work. Now our chapter has five ‘admin’ members who share responsibilities but all try to be at every meetup we can. Ramp skating can be a solo sport

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but running a chapter works best as a team effort. know your area What is the situation like in your neck of the woods?

I recommend spending some time gauging interest and resources before committing to a chapter.

If there are multiple derby leagues nearby you have a good chance of having a lot of interest right off the bat. If not, you’ll need to figure out another way to find potential skaters. Do your research on your local skate scene and where to find skaters. Is there a skateboarding scene? Is there jam skating or artistic skating at your local rinks? What skate options do you have in your area? Are there public parks or private skate businesses? Are they safe? Affordable?

Getting to know your area will help you recruit skaters, find skate spots, find other skate communities to engage with, and give you a ton of ideas for when you have your first meetups. make it official To be a Chapter and use the CIB logo/name and all that jazz, you need to make it official with Tramps herself. Visit chicksinbowls.com/apply-to-start-a-chapter/ to fill out the paperwork, read the legal stuff and they will send you what you need to start your Chapter and chapter page.

Sometimes it can take a hot minute before you hear back from the CIB Officials, but please be patient and know you’ll be receiving an email from Lady Trample herself. Ahh! Your inbox just got so much cooler.

in the meantime, GO SKATE Practice the basics, bring your friends, share your progress you’ll already have folks interested to join your first meetup.

Whether you’re new to park skating or vert vet, being chapter head means you’ll be getting a lot of questions so you’ll want to have worked some things out on your own before sharing with others. I recommend doing some research, including surfing the Chicks in Bowls website and Youtube.

They have awesome video tutorials for all the basics and even a Trickionary. Familiarize yourself with the basics as you’ll probably be teaching them to others at your first few events. schedule first meetup(s) After you’ve made it official and have made your social media pages, it’s time to schedule your first meetup(s). This is where all that time researching your area and getting the basics down will pay off, because there is a lot to think about when scheduling your first meetup(s).

As you start out, most of your skaters will be brand new to ramps. This means they’ll need the time, space, and guidance to get started. For your first events you’ll want to pick a park that has good beginners ramps and transitions. For outdoor parks you have to think about weather, other skaters, sunset, etc. You’ll also probably have a better turnout if the park is free or cheap. It’s good to schedule around any derby practice or

events in your area, as those skaters will probably be your membership backbone at least starting out.

Also be ready to teach more, skate less for the first few meetups while you get everyone started on the basics. promotion Now that you have your event set, it’s time to spread the word.

I highly suggest making a Facebook event and inviting every skater you know. Most of them won’t come, sure, but getting the word out that there is a space and opportunity for park skating with a great group.

Don’t forget to talk to your league and surrounding leagues, skate shops and rinks about your chapter and event and ask them to share the info. The more people who know you exist, the more skaters you’ll get. have FUN Remember that ramp skating is suppose to be fun. No competition for roster spots, no volunteer or committee hours, no big traveling, or the other things that can make derby less than fun. The best part of your chapter is finding new skate buddies, learning new things, and encouraging each other.

Starting a Chicks in Bowls chapter is all about creating the space for all these awesome things to happen. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, visit chicksinbowls.com to learn more.

fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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be your own (super) hero ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY SEAN HALE, GOTHAM GIRLS ROLLER DERBY

A passion that can take over your life. were given new storylines with the sport.

A community, at its best, that is open to all.

In 2016, Marvel updated the character A place where you’re likely to be called by Dazzler, a mutant who could be found in many any name that’s not your government one. of the different incarnations of X-Men comics While all of these could apply to someone’s and off-shoots, to include a new storyline that roller derby experience, so to, they can apply to had her as a roller derby banked track skater. the world of cosplay – and DC Comics, we are starting to see a meanwhile has great intersection of the had one of their two cultures. most popular Cosplay, (“costume characters, Harley play”) is the passion of Quinn, involved in creating costumes, artfully roller derby since back applying makeup, and in 2013, with the first sharing your joy of a issue of her self-titled character from movies, stand alone series, video games, shows, playing for the Coney comics, or your own Island Roller Derby. imagination. While much of Roller Derby’s toe cosplaying can be found at dips in the water of comic / media conventions cosplay at many (i.e. San Diego Comic Con, events, but none so New York Comic Con, much as at DragonCon, etc.), people RollerCon’s challenge now do it at the opening of games and themed Ginger Ail as Jean Grey blockbuster and niche’ parties. Just from the movies, on “Dapper Days” at the Disney theme 2018 sampling alone, RollerCon has given us parks, and even at certain sporting events. the following challenge games that have allowed skaters to dress up for the following games: a shared history, a shared present Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw As with roller derby, cosplay has been making a Scott Pilgrim vs Evil Exes push into the mainstream culture for the past Fury Road vs the Matrix fifteen years. Just as the Texas Rollergirls began Moana vs Frozen creating their own new names and new looks in Scooby Gang vs Fake Monsters 2003, in that same year, the cosplay community Rebel Alliance vs Galactic Empire had their first World Cosplay Summit held in Rick vs Morty Nagoya, Japan.

Suicide Squad vs Justice League Crossover between the two cultures have been numerous, but arguably two of the most confidence and acceptance significant events happened when two comic Today’s pop culture often highlights a myopic book characters, one in Marvel and one in DC, definition of beauty and fitness. From Wonder

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Brittany Freese as Spider-Gwen

Double Tuf Oreo as Okoye

The Hound as Beast

While the majority of roller derby has streamlined their gear and uniforms to be the most conducive to their gameplay as possible, the creative and artistic athletes have refocused their artistry toward off-track opportunities like cosplay, encouraging even more time in their schedule being devoted to empowering their own hero-and-superhero selves.

Ms. Frost as the White Queen

Woman to Venture Bros.’ Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (not a typo) to Resident Evil’s Alice, there is an overwhelming number of characters whose physiques and outfits can be beyond the great majority of people to match.

Even with the cosplay community’s efforts to promote people dressing as whoever and however they wish, there can still be pressure from without and within that keeps people from cosplaying their favorite characters.

Roller derby’s push for body positivity, and its call for inclusiveness among all body types has been a boon to those who have gone on from roller derby to cosplay.

While Legs R Us has been cosplaying even longer than she has been playing roller derby for New Jax City, her involvement in derby has been a mental boon, “I have definitely become more confident in my own skin because of derby, I wasn’t ever comfortable wearing small or revealing cosplay before. Things are looking more open and confident in the future outfits.”

Boku No Pico, of Diamond State Roller Derby, echoed Legs’ sentiment, “Derby has given me more body confidence to cosplay a wider variety of characters. I used to cosplay shy quiet girls only now its mostly bad ass heroes and athletic people.”

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building our own venue S P L AT S, A L B A N Y R O L L E R D E R B Y L E A G U E

How many times do we groan ‘I wish we had our own space!’?

It’s a constant battle of securing a venue that doesn’t complain about our wheels damaging their floors and then securing times to train and have games. Every derby person I know has had this same struggle. Secure a recreational center venue (or similar), then winter sports start, and the venue alters your booking or more common sports take the space. About two years ago our league started seriously looking for a private space to train; a warehouse or shed somewhere in our town.

We went to view many old warehouses and industrial spaces; they were either too narrow for a track or way too expensive for us to use as a training venue only.

Our town, Albany, is located 400km south of Perth in Western Australia. Perth is the most isolated capital city of any mainland country. Being on the south coast means cold. And rain. Albany is known for its rain... and its rainbows! We receive an average of 44 clear blue sunny days per year so you can imagine it’s not the place for a lot of activities like outdoor skating. Albany is also a regional town with a population of 35,000 people. The main industries are farming and tourism.

Consequently, we have a demographic that is generally made up of the older population and young families... definitely not your typical location for a roller derby league! There has been

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no dedicated roller rink in Albany since the 1980s. Albany Roller Derby League started four years ago and is the newest league in Australia.

Before building our own venue, we had trained at the local recreation center. It was great when we first started and had 10-20 people skating, but we routinely got our booking times removed, had to deal with dirty and sticky floors and we even had our storage area, full of gear, flooded one winter. We started hosting our games here and were able to accommodate a crowd of 500. The downside was that this came at a massive cost as the recreation center knew they were the only place in town that suited our needs.

Our games had always attracted a crowd of around 500 people, and we couldn’t fathom affording a space that was big enough to host games. We kept looking for a space about 600 square meters just for training purposes. At this stage, our league was beginning to grow with more interest from juniors as well as us wanting to run Learn to Skate programs for potential Freshies (Fresh Meat). We had more and more desire for skating and roller sports but no real capacity, financially and logistically, to run these programs.

One day, two members (Sugalumps and Stax) went to meet a local business owner regarding the use of their shed space for training. As many previous viewings, this ended up as another ‘possible unlikely maybe’ for both them and us.

Afterwards, Stax drove by a vacant lot. The ‘For Sale or Lease’ sign showed three large warehouses proposed for the site. Stax insisted Sugalumps immediately called the developer, which she did; and this started the road to building The Track.

We had many productive meetings to alter the existing plans and design a building that would suit both our sport and the builder, as well as both budgets. Our Executive Committee spent a lot of time preparing financial spreadsheets to work out the viability of the project. We concluded that we would need to raise membership fees, increase the volume of fundraising

activities, maintain a set amount of sponsorship and look at a certain level of grants being obtained. In short, it would be a lot of work for a long period of time. We needed to raise some initial money, so we ran a crowd funding campaign, which helped to generate money for essential items like signage and track painting. We also knew that starting a crowd funding campaign would help spread the word about The Track far and wide. At all stages the whole league was involved in the big decisions; for example, the membership fee increase was passed unanimously at a general meeting.

plans to make sure this surface was perfect for derby. The only challenges with both local council and state government related to obtaining our liquor license.

We have now had the Track open for six months. We’ve hosted four games with visiting leagues, we run social skating sessions and hire out The Track for everything from birthday parties to dog training space. Additionally, we have casual hire from schools using the space for sporting programs. We are keeping our rent paid and our lights on.

Even though it is an ambitious task to ensure that this money

We received a lot of support from the community when we reached out and asked for help. We’ve received over 250 chairs from the local high school that were looking to upgrade.

We’ve also received furniture from local businesses that were upgrading and donations from small businesses and members of the league.

The first proposal document and meeting is dated February 8, 2017 and The Track Open Day was held on February 10, 2018. Just one (long) year! Our league had input in every stage of the building and many times went over the concrete flooring

is made every month so that we can meet rent and financial obligations, ARDL have robust processes and strong-minded women making sure that each and every detail is attended to.

The key factor in the success of this project has been the dedication of our volunteers. Each person gives many hours each month to help run events, clean, coach and promote both Albany Roller Derby League and The Track.

We are incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to achieve and have a great reputation in our small town of achieving the goals we set for ourselves.

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helmets of RollerCon PHOTOS BY JUDGE BOOTY

RollerCon brings all the derby skaters together, and with that, comes a variety of styles. Judge Booty captures some of the various helmets seen at RollerCon this year.

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queen of pain documentary C A S S I E H AY PHOTOS BY CRAIG FOSTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Hi, I’m Cassie Hay and I’m a recovering rollergirl.

Like all women, I’m many other things at once: a documentary filmmaker, a mother of two boys, a Texan, and a tortilla-chip enthusiast. But roller derby is in my blood.

For nearly five years, I skated with the Gotham Girls Roller Derby in New York City. And though I had never made my seventh grade track team (or volleyball, or tennis, or basketball for that matter) from 2008-2011 I was featured in Sports Illustrated, CNN, The Today Show, The New York Post, and The New York Times as an athlete.

I am not at first blush what you’d call “a hard-ass mother fucker.”

Nor was I close to being the most talented on the team. But, I worked in local news long enough to learn how to speak in sound bites, and so I ended up as a talking head in many, many news stories before, during , and after the era of Whip It, when

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news coverage of the sport reached a fever pitch.

Bruce Willis came to our games. Mike D from the Beastie Boys, too. And though Gotham has always been home to many highly talented skaters worth interviewing, the secret sauce to our media coverage was this: we were convenient.

To skate in New York is to live amongst the newspapers, the networks and the celebrities. When a quick human interest story needs to be turned around in twenty-four hours, who ya gonna call?

Ghostbusters – or the girl hitting a jammer with her eyes closed, I suppose.

Because of this, I am intimately acquainted with the familiar stories reporters tell about the roller derby community. The most common by far was the favorite trope: “By Day, By Night.” As in “By Day She’s a Number Cruncher, By Night She’s a Bone Cruncher!” This narrative is so convenient, so easily digestible, so perfect a headline of fluffy news that it’s still used today. It’s also still silly and utterly fails to capture what it was like to really be a skater.

Because for almost every skater I know, roller derby isn’t a “By Night,” kind of thing. It is an all-encompassing thing. An inspiring, challenging, athletic, frustrating, glorious thing.

A Dance-OffPants-Off kind of thing. A derby wife kind of thing. A world

that we created for ourselves that is weird, wild and wonderful. Derby is more than just a sport; it’s a community, and even though I formally retired almost six years ago, I still feel very much a part of it.

Since retiring, in those intervening years where I wasn’t skating ten to twelve hours per week, I’ve had a lot of

time for other pursuits. Among them: I worked on a Scorsese film. I popped out two kids. I moved to Austin. And I directed my first feature film, launched with the help of my sister, Amy. The Liberators was in the documentary competition at SXSW and now lives on Amazon Prime.

So when it came time to make my second film, Amy said, “How about roller derby?”

It should have been so logical, a subject about which I knew so much.

But I found it almost painful to think about making a film about derby. What if it had changed? What if it showed how much I had changed? How easily could I fuck this up? How painful if I made just another stupid piece of fluff?

So at first I said no.

Amy and I sat around drinking beers,

trying to think of alternatives. A film about the origins of Muzak. Sure, that’s fine. But would I really like to spend up to two years filming it? Snooze.

As we kept asking each other what kind of movie we’d like to see, roller derby kept coming up. Strong, female protagonists? Check. Fun, fast-paced footage? Check. We wanted a film that showed real women pursuing their dreams, facing the struggles of life, and still kicking ass every time they lace up their skates. Checkmate, mothafucka.

Full of beer and short on excuses, we decided to make the best damn derby film we could. And seven months later, we are well on our way. We assembled a badass team of passionate people (who care about this story enough to work for free).

We raised over $30,000 dollars on Kickstarter, and we’ve been following three incredible, inspiring women who makes us feel honored to be able to do this in our spare time.

We are telling the story of real women who face real challenges in their lives that we can all relate to – raising children, self-discovery, building

relationships, developing a career, and more. Roller derby is what connects them. And, in many cases, roller derby is what sustains them, offers an escape, provides release, and becomes a source of connection and community when life opens a can of whoop-ass.

In our documentary, it’s been important to us to let these women speak for themselves. We leave it to them to tell us what they get out of roller derby and why it’s important. But one thing is for certain, none of these women see derby as something they do “by night.” It’s an integral part of the way they choose to live their lives. And

Joe Mayo

we’re excited to capture that and share it with the world.

Amy and I promised each other we would make this fun. And we promise you we will show the athleticism of the sport and the strong, vibrant women that make it so special. We promise to go deeper, and we want to leave the fluff to the dilettantes. We promise to work hard every day to try to make a film that is deserving of this community.

Because derby, I can’t quit you. fiveonfivemag.com | Fall 2018

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derby videos K E V I N B O R K E , AT L A N TA R O L L E R G I R L S

Derby videos: We love ‘em, but honestly in the marketing realm they’re an underutilized medium. You’ll find some one-off, highly produced videos that we all love, share and watch in awe, but there’s not enough local video content. Video production should be an essential arm of any league’s marketing strategy, but often times it’s ignored. Most leagues probably don’t realize they have someone who could take a stab at it with the gear they have (looking at you, photogs... try moving into the 20th Century!).

Let’s ignore high concept stuff and just concentrate on making the simplest type of sports video: the highlight reel.

Pair some awesome action with a cool music track and then throw on some graphics to promote your next bout! Right off the bat, your league needs to realize you’re not showcasing the event you shot. You’re promoting the NEXT event. Don’t worry if different teams are playing at the next game, you’re league is selling the derby experience to the new audience.

With that, we’re going to go fast and dirty from here on out.

GEAR Camera: Doesn’t have to be fancy. A DSLR works or any video camera from the past five years is sufficient.

Lens: Something to zoom in a bit – you want options when you shoot.

Tripod: You don’t have to use one but shaky footage sucks.

Computer: Most recent machines can handle HD video fine.

Editing System: Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere, DeVinci Resolve (free), HitFilm Express (free), Lightworks (free).

SHOOTING Camera Settings: If you don’t know what you’re doing just set it to auto. Most modern cameras actually do pretty well with adjusting as needed. I will say shoot in 60fps – this means badass slow-motion shots.

Location: Just shoot on each corner of the track for about 10-15 minutes and make sure to get a variety of shots. Closeups, medium shots... wide shots suck though, they take viewers a while

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to figure out what to look at, so it slows down the energy.

I prefer Turn 1 and 3 since the skaters are coming towards you, which just looks better.

What to Shoot: Jammers... if someone gets hit, jumps an apex or does some cool juke then it’s the jammer. I know, blockers are important to the sport but for a promo video a tight tripod wall is boring. Great athleticism and teamwork, but lackluster promo excitement. We’re selling to non-derby people, not avid fans. Those fans have already bought tickets.

Add in closeups of skates, crowd shots, bench interactions and you’re good to go. You only need 60 seconds of usable footage, so experiment.

EDITING Take some basic tutorials on your editing program. YouTube has tons of them. Learn the basics of loading footage, putting them on a timeline, trimming them, adjusting the speed to utilize slow motion, some basic color correction and that’s about all you need.

MUSIC Some people use tracks from their favorite artists. I prefer riot grrl, punk or garage rock. It seems to have the same attitude and spirit as roller derby, but I’ve seen awesome videos cut from just about every genre. Outside of that, AudioJungle or Pond5 has cheap songs that are really quite good.

ORGANIZATION This is really important. You now have 84 clips, how the heck do you even begin to sort through all this? Trying to name clips is pointless. One video clip could have a brutal hit, great jammer juke, then a great block, so there’s no sense in labelling it.

Your edit is not going to be a chronological representation of the bout so don’t worry about keeping it in order. Just make sense of it thematically. Start watching it and laying clips down on a timeline. My tactic is to group footage together that is similar. Edit all the hits, group

Juan Paden

shots, solo shots, closeups of skates, jam starts and miscellaneous into groups. Now we have a timeline of all our clips grouped. Instead of editing in the traditional sense we’re gonna copy clips from one timeline to another and edit as needed.

Now begins the fun part! Grab some rum, hunker down for a couple hours and start creating your masterpiece. Start with getting the song cut down – 60 seconds is about the longest I go for. Someone that’s never been to a bout is not going to watch a 3-minute video, they want quick action and then hit ‘em with the selling points. From here, there are a ton of decisions made in terms of what shots to use, when to cut, when to use slow motion and there is no easy answer to any of it. Just start working with the video and the music and getting a feel for how the process works. If a cool beat in the song hits, then put a big hit from the bout. If the song is slower, a slow motion clip works really well to make it more dramatic. A million decisions are made with every video so playing around is the best way to learn and get a feel for what works. Color correct to brighten some shots or stylize it a bit (ohhhh... black and white!) Play around, you will feel what works and what doesn’t.

GRAPHICS The easiest thing is to make a simple lower third and an end page in photoshop and slap them on. They don’t have to be some awesome works of design, just copy some aesthetics that your league uses for the posters or general branding.

Slap those on and you’re done. For reference most HD video dimensions are 1920x1080 so use that when you’re designing elements.

FINAL THOUGHTS Get that sucker up on YouTube and start posting it around.

If you paid someone $100 to make it, and you sold 10 tickets at $10 a pop you just made it worth it. If a league is serious and wants more input or advice hit me up at kevinborke@gmail.com. I won’t edit your video, but I’ll help however I can. Derby has been so welcoming and supportive to me professionally and on a deep personal level that I try to give back as much as I can.

Hopefully we see some awesome new video content from the derby world, and hopefully someone can replace me so I can retire – so far the Atlanta Rollergirls are holding me hostage in perpetuity.

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1. White blocker #77’s wheels have changed color. 2. White blocker is missing “C”.

3. White blocker #27 is missing logo from back of knee pad.

4. Blue jammer #5 is missing arm band number. 5. Blue blocker’s helmet changed color.

5. White pivot is missing logo from pivot stripe. 6. Inside track line is missing.

THERE ARE SEVEN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PHOTOS – FIND ‘EM!