I have a team mate in my league who I know has relapsed hard in their life, and has previously expressed to me that roller derby is meant for them to stay sober. Though I respect people’s privacy and would not want to expose this to other people, they are also severely mistreating me and several other people. In watching them skate from a distance, I realized their coordination is off and feel so uncomfortable with not only their mood swings and impulsive verbal attacks, but also the fact that they’re intoxicated while playing with us all in this contact sport.
I want to focus on the behavior and impact it has, not their personal issues but am unsure how to navigate this problem in my team. They’re also frequently bringing up substance abuse during practices, and triggering people around them who are there for recovery.
This is a slippery slope for confronting them, I do not want to expose their drug use and make them lose possibly their only thread back to reality, would citing this result in their expulsion?

So I'm looking for advice on how to improve, more so who to watch and learn from. I've been playing for 4 years and I feel like I've hit a point where I'm not really learning, I'm of course getting better with footwork and I'm always working on new moves but I want to get to the point where I don't have to think about it so hard.

I am great with blocking, I can give good hits and catch the jammer without thinking about it, but my team needs more jammers right now and while I have jammed, and I have managed some good games as a jammer, I still struggle

The last season and a half was rough as I was primarily jamming and I took some hard hits and rough injuries leading to a panic attack in the middle of a jam during a tournament before I went on loa for a few months. Regardless of the mental struggles from last season, I do love jamming and I want to be better at it and I want to feel good doing it, not just for my team but for myself too.

I'm short, about 5'2 and I'm thin which has unfortunately come with odd and uncomfortable comments from teammates and opposing skaters. I can still give a good hit as a jammer but I get gassed quickly so I know I need to figure out how to juke rather than hit and push on the pack.

So any and all advice is welcome, if there's specific Jammers I should pay attention to and try to learn from I'm all ears! I've been playing for a while but I genuinely don't know a lot of skaters outside of my state, and most of the ones I know and watch are at the very least taller plus a lot stronger than me so their methods don't work so well when I try them.

What if rollercon was held in a different city every year? I know logistically it would be a nightmare, but if we started planning now we could have a rollercon out of Vegas in 2030......... Would be super cool to have different skating communities represented, and might help pique interest in the event as a whole again (I heard attendance was at least a thousand people fewer than last years). This might be completely stupid, but I just hate Las Vegas so much

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coming-hot-into-the-box-with-slice-and-karnage/id1695385086?i=1000777819133

Hey Hey Hey Hotboxers! 
You are all in for a treat this week! Straight out of Clarksville Roller Derby (Home of the Rock Lobsters) let us introduce you to BEAST MODE! Not only does Beast skate with Clarksville Roller Derby, she also skates for Team Indigenous Rising AND Vette City Roller Derby. Beast reminds us (while wearing a lobster costume) Roller Derby is supposed to be fun and maybe sometimes a little weird! 

Available wherever you get your podcasts!

Join our discord! https://discord.gg/GTcpp2yaH

Hi pals. Im a skater of yesteryear attempting to return to practices after many years of leave. I have since come out as non-binary. I loved wearing leggings so I didnt road rash (floor rash...?) my legs. What do men or non-binary(etc) folks wear on their legs these days? I usually wear shorts at the gym but I'm not certain about how skidding my nude skin along the ground will make me feel. Pants? Dude-leggings? Or have you found shorts are fine?

I've been skating just under a year.

I attend a small club approx 30 skaters. We have a defined A team and a newbie problem. We have tried to do a B team for years, but never had the numbers.
We have A team training, B team training and then mixed training (numbers about 10 people from A and about 5 people from B) on a regular basis for mixed.

I have been a newbie for approx 8 moths, moved to B group training after skills pass, so B group about 3 months? B group training is attended by about 7-10 people, so whilst we do drills, practicing having a proper scrimmage is hard due to numbers and you can guarantee someone is no contact at practice, some sessions it's only about 4 people. I feel I hold my own well during drills and I pick things up and I can see and feel I am progressing.

The only time to actually scrim is mixed training which is mainly group A, Group B just doesn't have enough people regularly attended. Group A has experienced skaters and I feel so lost and defeated after training I'm starting to loose my enjoyment for the sport. The communication in A team feels poor and there doesn't feel like much support to get to the correct position. It very much feels like I'm just getting in the way. Group A whilst generally kind, just don't communicate, they sort of know where to be/who will do what. Group B is way more supportive in terms of positions, but if I'm only ever doing drills with Group B I feel I'm never going to get to a level where I really understand the game.

I'm possibly being really hard on myself and just expecting me to pick things up, but everytime I do the mixed training, I come out of training feeling frustrated, I don't want to not go to the training, but finding it hard going.

Would love to hear from people who have been in the same place. Do I stick it out and keep going, do I stop for a few months.

My finished attic has this really fun seventies-style plush brown carpet all over - and by fun, I mean fun to skate on. You can actually build up a little bit of speed! It's teaching me to pick up my feet properly, that's for sure. I'm a beginning skater - I did boot camp and then I fell (at boot camp) fell again (on the stairs, black ice) worked in accounting through tax season, got married, and finally recovered from that black ice fall that took out a chunk of my thigh muscle with sheer bruising (I'm a zebra, mostly EDS). I'm skating again and getting fit and ready to do boot camp a second time (my coach is hyped and has waived my fee!).

The attic is a fun place for me to go when I'm not feeling well but want to skate anyway. What I'm wondering is - if I keep an open mind and try to stay in correct form, am I going to learn bad habits over time just because of the physics of carpet? Should I keep it to 2x on carpet between each real skate session to minimize that, or focus on specific drills vs dicking around?

I would love to put some posters up there and make it my derby den. There's lots of natural light, a nice strong fan, and several nooks I could close off with a baby gate where gear and a little bench could go!

Thoughts?

Hey y'all!! I need some help, I was wondering what type of derby skates I should buy? I've been skating with Moxie Rainbow Riders for about 6-7 months now and I can't join my league (or even try out) until I'm 18. BUT I'm turning 18 in a few months so I wanted to ask my dad for derby skates this Christmas, but which ones should I ask for?

I have some experience skating so I'm not totally clueless, but I am still a noob in the derby world. Experienced derby skaters, got any recs for me? Oh and do u have info on what wheels I should get?

Heads up to fellow AU skaters, looks like Bayside is in some trouble, caveat emptor.

https://publishednotices.asic.gov.au/browsesearch-notices/notice-details/Bayside-Blades-Pty-Ltd-103605376/c7983eec-3434-4296-a31b-2e604a79df90

(Found this after my order was delayed with no communication for almost a week)

I admit I’m not really sure what I’m looking for here but I have been feeling really down on myself about roller derby. I graduated fresh meat more than a year ago and still feel way behind all the people I graduated with.

What I want more than anything is to be a jammer, and while I have been rostered as a jammer for a few of our C level games it’s abundantly obvious that I’m the worst jammer, I rarely make lead and more than often have to pass it… and the most mortifying thing is that I have been pulled off the jammer rotation mid-way through the game more than once. I don’t hit hard at all (I really just don’t have the body strength for hard hits) so I’m better off relying on footwork/jukes to get around the pack but honestly I’m not fast enough for that either. I’m starting to think I should resign myself to being a blocker (which… I’m also somehow even worse at) and while there’s nothing wrong with being a blocker, it doesn’t bring me joy like jamming does.

It’s gotten to the point that because I did so poorly at the last game that I wasn’t even rostered as a jammer for the next game (and these are non-competitive games). If I was happy with only ever being a blocker or pivot I don’t think this would bother me so much, but I’m not. I feel like such a miserable failure and like I’ve permanently lost any future chances of jamming in a game.

I haven’t missed a single practice for the past 6 months but it has not translated to any improvement in my jamming and though I do skate outside of practice and do off-skates workouts the things I struggle with involve other people. I’m just so frustrated that I’m trying this hard and not getting any better. I feel like I should give up/drop out since it’s making me feel so awful all the time but I can’t imagine going back to a life without roller derby.

I've noticed recently that when I'm jamming and especially when I'm tired and moving quickly I lean forward more and I worry that I might be leading with the head when coming in contact with the wall. I haven't gotten a penalty or had anyone else call it out, but I don't want to make it a habit. I'm also short and also get a lot of high blocks, so I want to do what I can to avoid that on my end.

Does anyone have advice on how to stop doing this? Things to focus on with my form, off skates exercises, etc.

Heyy a while ago I got a ton of damaged roller derby shirts that I lovingly washed, cut, and sewed onto bags (which are also up cycled). They're from all over the US, and one from Japan, some event ones as well. If anyone wanted to check them out on my Etsy I would greatly appreciate it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ my page is CryptidNightCrafter

I wear size 13 double wide. I'm trying to get my new 8" Athena plates to work with my trusted 63.5mm diameter × 44mm width wheels. This setup worked fine on my Tracer plates! I'm not sure if I'm dealing with design flaw (as in the plate is not scaled correctly to 8") or if all sized Athena plates have this clearance issue. Yes, I have adjusted the pivot pin to the point of even stressing the king pin for a mm worth of clearance all to no avail.

I think at this point I'm in the market for a 9" plate or bigger. The 8" Athenas are too small for my size by an inch anyways, I wish Bont made 9" plates. My local skate shop 2nds that opennion (obviously lol).

And to top it all off when Bont mounted my plates there off center by about 1/16 inch, and they did an aggressive back mount so there is about 1 1/4 inch boot just hanging over my toe stop (that is now on the ball of my foot instead of toe)

I already have an RMA out for the boots (if you saw my other post cosmetic issue) but now I'm finding the entire setup to be unusable.

Please don't flame me, I'm looking for advice. I'm 800$ and 2 ruined wheels in, and have no usable skates. Ordering custom has been a complete nightmare, I just want to skate in boot that dont hurt.

Just saw Bont released Royal Assassins with a "derby edge", which is rounded like the Rollerbones Turbo/Nitro. Do people like this? I love a square profile wheel for jamming, when I tried a round profile I had an edge slip out and twisted my ankle.

Hey guys! My boyfriend is a photographer, writing an editorial for Practice Magazine (@practice_magazine) covering the interesting fashions intertwined with various sports. I'm looking for roller derby squads that still carry-on the fun tradition of dressing up in alternative outfits. If there is anyone out there interested in having an article written about their team and what they wear, please reach out to @jodi_r0gers on Instagram or email him directly: [email protected]

I have wheels but they are weirdly small? but they are outside wheels which i like but it feels so weird to skate on the gym floor
I was loaning skates with like the starter ridell wheels but want to look into getting better ones
any suggestions on specific wheels would be great or even a recommendation for hardness and size
thank you x

Morning all, as above I’m a dad of four daughters, one son, and a wife that all derby. My question is if there is an Australian rollerderby group, as the sport seems to be getting more popular here. I can’t find one, so not sure if it’s just a private group, or I’m using the wrong search terms. My daughters would love to build relationships with other players interstate, as they are starting to get to the level where we are travelling more. They are just nervous when we travel that they don’t know anyone.

I am so very very interested in trying Roller Derby. I’m in northeast Ohio and the Akron Roller Derby team is the closest league to me. I was so excited to see that they offer an 8-week training boot camp, and they have tiered leagues for freshies all the way to all stars.

I do worry though, if i end up loving the sport and wanting to stick with it, even the freshly graduated teams travel out of state for over half of the games, and with a 9-5 i don’t think i could commit to this. I’ve checked other leagues nearby and it’s the same deal.

Do non-traveling, more recreational leagues exist? The only ones i could find so far (after days and days of researching and trying different keywords) have been official WFTDA teams, so maybe traveling often is to be expected when joining something official like this. What’s the best way to immerse myself in derby long-term without traveling away almost monthly?

I just got new skates about a month ago and they make me feel like I’m brand new. I’ve been playing derby for about 4 years and for most of the time I was on Antik Skyhawks (high boot and nylon plate). I never really touched them and I’ve been able to stop, crossover and play great, but I knew it was time to upgrade. I switched to Solaris 2.0 with a Neo reactor plate about a month ago. The boot seems to fit fine now but I suddenly cannot do any skills. My plows and stops aren’t sharp and I almost feel scared to crossover. I’ve adjusted the trucks and use the same wheels. I know time is a factor and a high to low boot switch is big but it doesn’t seem like any of my other teammates have gone through this level of reset.

I've played derby on and off since 2012, and just moved to a fairly remote island in the Pacific. The sidewalks and paved trails aren't really great options, but there are two skate parks here, so I guess it's time to get into that! Note: the pavement on these skate parks is ROUGH. This isn't exactly an affluent part of the world, so pristine pavement for the skate parks isn't really a thing.

Current setup:

Antik AR2s, with Avengerag plates

Gumballs

Do I need new plates to put the slide blocks on? How do I know what will fit on the avengers?

Available wheels (mostly 62mm):

Pink atom jukes 93A

Yellow jukes 88A 

Red sure grip zombies 95A

Green sure grip zombies 98A

Vanilla backspin scribbles 91A

Radar diamonds 94A

Atom poison outdoor greens

None of these are going to work, right? Should I hold off until I get specific park wheels to avoid catching an edge and injuring myself (I broke my ankle last year in derby, and I cannot be doing that again), or would some of the harder suregrips maybe work? If the concrete is kind of rough and chunky, does that make a difference?

Any advice? Things I'm not thinking of? I don't really know where to starts.

Pictured on the left are my first-ever derby skates, and on the right is my new custom-built upgrade.

I finally have my first pair of speed skates made specifically for me, and the difference is astronomical. It’s so exciting when you finally learn what you want and what actually works for your feet 💕

Hey all! Calling big players.

My knee pads have gotten quickly damaged on the back of my thighs and I’m wondering if you have any tips on how to avoid the same situation with a future pair.

As you can see in the photo, the elastic rolls down and it’s gotten very worn out. I know Moxi 6 packs aren’t ideal in the long run.

I’m a very colourful person so if you have coloured pads to recommend I’d be extremely grateful! The idea of wearing black makes me sad tbh.

TIA 🌈

I am thinking of buying some Antik AR2’s. I’m a size 7. I tried these on and my toe is right to the end it’s quite uncomfortable, but was told the leather will give and will fit comfortably after a few months. Anyone got any experience of this? Also appreciate any feedback on these skates for distance / street skating, as it’s quite an expensive purchase - quoted £850