Saturday, June 28, 2014

Derby Middle School: Week 4


Practice was again led by Gidget.

Week FourSaturday June 28Instructor(s): GidgetLocation:Hawaii Kai9am-11am
Jammer-Pack cohesion and incorporation of weeks 1-3


Derby Middle School, Week 4:


Warm Up: Cassetes, Fig 8s, 15 Laps Magic circle, dynamic stretch
Endurance portion:
Groups of two, sprint pyramids with a fall every lap.
Start on jam line on belly, on whistle sprint laps with a fall on every finished lap. Pyramid of 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2
Drill 1 Focus: Proper hitting and swiping
-Against the wall work on swooping down and up using your whole body to hit.
-Pair up on the track take turns hitting each other
-Skating up from behind, timing your hit properly
-Sweeping a group 1 on 2
-Adding in jammer
Drill 2 Focus: Proper spacing on Bridging
-Bridging forward from a stop using the jam line as the anchor
-adding in a pushy jammer
- turning in to rapid fire, endless power jam for 2 min
Drill 3 Focus: Proper spacing and timing to bridge back
-Using the jam line as an anchor, bridge back to recycle jammer
-Add in jammer
Drill 4 Focus: Partner blocking
-Booty Block alley 2 on 1
-3 on 1
Fun Drill: Pace line whipping 
Stretch and Pau!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Derby Middle School: Week 3

This practice was led by Gidget, a woman new to derby but NOT to sports. A beast on the track, this girl is a double threat who blocks and jams like she's been playing for a decade. When we need someone to bulldoze their way through and score a quick 10 points, Gidget is our girl.


Week ThreeSaturday June 21Instructor(s): GidgetLocation:Hawaii Kai9am-11am
More pack work and practical game scenarios

Derby Middle School, Week 3:

Warm up:
15 laps magic circle
Dynamic Stretching

Drill1 Focus- fast transitions using toe stops to run out with urgency
- On the whistle transition from forward to backward skating not using your toe stops to balance.
- Fast transitions to mohawk stop skating opposite direction using your toe stops to run out of the stop.
- Group of 2 to 3 Sprinting forward two cones as a group mohawk stop staying in a wall sprinting back one cone mohawk as a group and staying in a wall.

Drill 2 Focus- Learning to avoid hits by changing levels ie. getting low to get in front and getting high to go behind.
- Groups of two scissoring, one skater on inside one skater on outside, skaters are cutting in front of and behind their partner getting as close as possible without touching, skater who goes in front squats low and skater that goes behind gets high.
- Groups of three repeat as above.

Drill 4 Focus- Using your hips and shoulders to squeeze through blockers by turning your body sideways.
- Double pace line 2 feet apart, skater runs up the center of the line turning their body sideways keeping their feet moving and looking up.
- Double pace line every three seconds the skaters will open and close a whole so the "jammer" has to focus on running and slowing to get through still turning their body sideways to get through.
- Take it to groups of three 2 blockers, 1 jammer, jammer is focused on going through the middle of the blockers turning sideways and runing through the blockers.

Drill 5 Focus- Refilling blocker positions when the jammer happens to get around blockers.
- groups of three blockers on the whistle switch positions with your team mates grabing pushing and pulling to stay in a tight wall.
- adding in a jammer 

Drill 6 Focus- Offensive blocking from the front of back by sweeping a wall.
- Groups of 2 sweeping your partner from inside to out or utside to in.
- 3 D blockers 1 O blockers working on sweeping walls from front or back.

Drill 7 Focus- Pack Definition how to make a long pack by bridging.
- Using the Jam line as an anchor make a daisy chain to bridge out to 50 feet.
- Add in a pushy jammer 

Cool down PAU!

Monday, June 16, 2014

Derby Middle School: Week 2

Miss a week, miss a lot!! Make sure to get to as many Middle Schools as possible to prepare yourself for the Orange Star assessment on July 6th.

Trainer this week was Bricks HitHouse, one of PRD's biggest menaces on the flat track. Her strength and agility completely destroys opposing teams. DMS girls were lucky to get a practice in before she leaves us next month for New York!

Week TwoSaturday June 14Instructor(s): BricksLocation:Hawaii Kai9am-11am
Pack work and Jammer basics.


Derby Middle School, Week 2:

1. warm up and dynamic stretch.

2. demonstration of a wall and different wall variations.
-A.paired up in twos and practiced making a wall and staggered plows together on the whistle.
-B. did the same moving into 3 and 4 man walls until they were able to plow all together in a 4 man wall.

3. gave brief demonstration of blocker lanes and how far each blocker should be covering in a wall.
-A. in a 4 man wall while skating pack speed gave the commands of “inside”,”outside” or “middle”. on the commands the two blockers closest to that area would then close their hips together without leaving their lanes.
-B. sent a dummy jammer through to apply light pressure.


4. demonstration of  a swipe and plow movement to gain position, demonstration of a sweep movement to clear a lane and gain position and demonstration of an effective hip check.
-A. paired them up in twos and had them swipe and plow in front of partner from the outside to inside line and then practiced it from inside to out.
-B.paired them up and had them sweep their partner form the outside to inside line and then practiced it from inside to outside line.
C. had the pairs sweep and then deliver a hip check to the outside line.

5. gave a demonstration of effective pushing and pulling of your partner and why and where it would be useful. demonstrated the correct place to push on your partners hips to make her go in the other direction. talked about communication while moving your partner.
-A.  paired them up and had them push each other from the outside to the inside line and then switched from the inside to the outside.
-B. had them line up in 3 lines. the pusher, the rag doll  and the enemy.  on the whistle the enemy around the track to try to gain position on the pair, the pusher’s job is to use the rag doll to prevent the enemy from getting by so that the pusher can deliver the hit/sweep to the inside or outside.
C. talked about multiplayer blocks and how to avoid them.


6.talked about the magic circle and the sweet spots on the track. why they are important to blockers as well as jammers. Gave a demonstration of how to “skate at somebody” meaning- how to approach a wall and where to attack the wall to break it up or gain position. talked about going into a wall “pointy” with your shoulders and legal blocking zones to break up a wall. talked about how to approach a wall if you are coming in hot. coming in at an angle.
-A. formed a line and let the skaters practice breaking up a two man wall of cookie and I by attacking the crack and using their shoulders
-B talked about Jam line starts and what you need to be doing as a blocker when you hear the 5 second call.
—a. practiced jam line starts with a 4 man wall. allowed each jammer to break though the wall and approach the pack from the rear coming in hot.

7. stretch

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Beyond Fresh Meat: Derby Middle School, Week 1

Once our Fresh Meat cycle of 3 months ends, we begin a 2-hr, 1x a week, 5 week program called "Derby Middle School." This is Pacific Roller Derby's way of transitioning our newest skaters into regular league practices without thrusting them into situations before they are prepared to do them. Each of the five days has a core curriculum that has been determined ahead of time by our Athletics Committee to cover all aspects of beginning strategy and intermediate skills and is echoed into lesson plans of regular league practices throughout each week. The new "White Stars" can now attend regular league practices, but must refrain from any full contact drills. All contact elements are taught within the Middle School, beginning strategy topics are broken down, and minimum skills are refined. By the end of the 5-week period, the White Stars are ready to test for "Orange Star," which allows them to be drafted to a home team and begin to participate in full contact scrimmages. This not only cuts down on our league injuries and helps existing league skaters, but helps with skater retention... as it is much easier to learn over a longer period of time than to learn in a trial-by-fire situation. Long gone are the days of being thrown into a scrimmage against all of the vets, being told to "just get in there!" We have learned over the years that that really doesn't help anyone.

This first session was led by one of our league's best skaters, Phoenix Bunz, and her husband and referee extraordinaire, Great Scott. They just transferred here from Ohio Rollergirls and are casually integrating into the instructional element of our Athletics Committee. PRD is extremely grateful for their contributions. Here is the core curriculum of day 1 along with Bunz' lesson plan.

Week One Saturday June 7Instructor(s): Bunz and Great ScottLocation:Hawaii Kai9am-11am
Personal skills assessment and strategy basics.

Derby Middle School, Week 1:


Dynamic Warm-up/Stretching-Everything you do on tennis shoes, we do on skates
Squat Cirlce
Merry Go Round (transitions)
Hold your underpush-emphasize the power
Pace-line weaving, weaving tight, partner weave, front to back
Pace-line Speed Changes-Adjust your speed, match the feet of the person in front of your
Line Racing-Utilize the Jammer Line
Pack Skating-Getting Comfortable in tight Spaces
Pack Commands-Moving around the pack, falling small
Pack Indian Runs
Gotham Knee Drags-Endurance, build up your core, Get up quick
Gotham Pushes-Endurance
Covered basic hitting techniques-hip check, shoulder/body check, sheriff, backwards blocking, positional blocking/booty blocking, side-ways blocking
Practiced hitting trainers, slow speeds, stationary target
Push-up Circle-work on strength and core