Abombnabull

All things roller derby, but mostly footage & strategy.

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Watching the final World Cup game.... again.

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The rookie year on a top #20 travel team is HARD. I’ve barely had time to keep a supply of clean socks for practice let alone tend to my tumblr. Here is a .gif of Red Devicious being a great bridge. It’s her rookie year too! Go Red! Watch out for this one, she’s a bad ass.

Also please not Holly Botts on the outside line blocking with both hands in the air to show that they are creating a legal seam.

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It’s been FAAAAARRRRRRR too long since I’ve posted any gifs. Here is my teammate kicking ass at the Big O tonight. Check out that awareness, speed, and control to recycle the Crime City Jammer.

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Rat City has a new photographer, Carlos Cruz. They are amazing. They catch THE BEST MID FALL PHOTOS. Check them out!

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#Jamspiration

Photos credits: Diz Ruptive Photography and RL Robertson Photography

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Roller derby consumes a lot of my free time. At the end of last season, I started to wonder if it was worth it. My activist heart was dying. I didn’t have time nor energy to take it to the streets.

I had slacked on my education and had caused harm to people who already face disproportionate harm through our current systems. I was hiding in my privilege.

That didn’t mean that I wanted to give up something that made me happy because that isn’t the right solution. Activism is about lifting everyone up so that they can enjoy their lives not tearing yourself down or depriving yourself based on guilt or fragility.

When I confided in my team, they were completely on board to get political. To get revolutionary. In fact, a lot of my teammates were feeling that disconnect as well.

For everything that the sport does to be inclusive, we need to not take that for granted. We can simultaneously acknowledge that for some roller derby is a breath of fresh air and for others it is still suffocating. Let’s work to make it so everyone can breath.

It is all of our responsibility. I am proud of my team and my league for their hard work. We make mistakes, we are not perfect. But we are trying and we are learning. I will do my best to interrupt instances of oppression. I will do my best to educate people who may be causing unintentional harm. I will do my best to create brave spaces for people to have challenging conversations.

This is not the end, this is just the beginning. Join us.

SMASH THE STATE.

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Roller derby sketches.

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Derpy derby faces. Derby photographers are skilled. Capturing this sport is challenging: the action is face-paced, the angles are constantly changing, and there are so many humans (read: facial expressions) to account for. Follow R.L Robertson over on Instagram (http://instagram.com/derby1313) to see more of his photography. I hear he will be heading to Pennsylvania to shoot Battle of the All Stars next month.

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2016 Roller Derby - Abombnabull

Listen to me talk about roller derby, injury, and a Rat City sponsor.

I did a thing! Rat City is lucky to be working with the Washington Health Plan Finder to talk about insurance because really roller derby and insurance goes together like peanut butter and jelly.

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Opposed to my last post - this is a great example of offense from the front! Blue blocker (Sun Shiner of the Sockit Wenches and Team Iceland) hustles back to and stops right where she needs to be.

The stop is key. This allowed her to waste no time getting herself into position. By the time the other team knew that she was there, Sunny had already set the screen and was engaging.

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This is what poor offense looks like (I’m the one practicing offense). There are lots of ways that this could have been effective with a few minor changes, care to list a few?

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My league is doing a recruitment push. Are you in Seattle? Come play derby with me!

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A roller derby tribute to Carrie Fisher. The Throttle Rockets of the Rat City Rollergirls. Photograph by Danny Ngan Photography.

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Derby, we need to talk.

I hear a bunch of talk about is how inclusiveness is one of our core values.  We push forwards examples of queer and trans inclusion, accepting all body types, and of being a sport for newer athletes.  What I don’t hear a lot of is talk about racial inclusion.  I really don’t see action on that front.

There are people of color who are our teammates, officials, volunteers, and fans.  There are high profile skaters of color doing great things. That doesn’t mean we are ok though, we tend to be an extremely white group of people.  If we want to be more inclusive, we have to figure out ways to be better teammates, leaguemates, and friends.  We have to actively listen to the people of color about what’s going on, and work to reach out.  Inclusivity doesn’t happen by accident, it is a choice, a process; an active and ongoing thing.

It means having uncomfortable discussions inside of your league. It means reaching out to communities that are not part of your traditional fan base. It means listening to and standing up for your teammates if they feel hurt or offended by something, even if it means having to sanction another teammate. Above all, it means admitting that you might not be right, and might be doing things that are racist without realizing it.  The change starts with you, but it cannot end with you.  It means you starting discussions in your own league. Derby is such an empowering and wonderful sport.  The culture has so many great things going for it.  We can be wonderful, WONDERFUL people…  Lets keep at that; lets make sure as many people as possible feel at home and can experience what derby can offer.

Always with love,Tear o'Bite

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Important

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Roller derby, we have work to do.

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OId6gTd2LCM)

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New Ruleset

The new WFTDA ruleset has been released and there’s some interesting (and, as always, confusing) changes for this upcoming season.

Here are the changes to game play for 2017:

Modifying the threshold for a Cutting the Track penalty (previously Rule 5.11) to allow a Skater to immediately yield position in order to avoid a penalty

Updating the metric for penalty assessment for low blocks/tripping (previously rule 5.3) and use of illegal blocking zones (previously rule 5.4) to be consistent with other metrics for impact

Updating rules related to helmet covers to clarify that covers cannot be hidden and that a helmet cover removed due to game play is not a loss of Lead Jammer status

Modifying Penalty Box rules as follows: (1) allow for entry to the box in any direction; (2) removal of a penalty for leaving the box after completion of penalty time without instruction to do so; (3) allow for teammates and support staff to enter the box so long as they do not fully enter

I’m excited to see some more changes to cutting the track penalties, and about the removal of a jammer helmet cover due to game play not resulting in the loss of lead jammer status, but I am confused about not being able to “hide” the panty. What exactly does “hidden” mean? Is this the end of star stashes? 

What do you guys think?

Here is the announcement and list of changes

Here is the full ruleset

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To answer the “hide” the panty as explained to Rat with the rules release: The star stash can still be a thing. This rule is intended to prevent jammers from sticking the helmet cover up their shirt, down their pants, or balled up in a fist to purposely hide the cover. 

If my jammer stuck that cover in their pants, I sure as help hope it was for a stash because I wouldn’t want to be touching it.

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One of my favorite Rat City videos of all time.