Track Queens

What a great weekend for European derby.  So many teams showed the competence of derby on the other side of the pond.  Although it will be a few years before we see another Euro team in the WFTDA playoffs, this tournament showed that time to be drawing closer bit by bit.


How they did

Well, there's final standings, then there's how they really did.  Let's look first at a chart with final standings and initial seedings:

Seed	Finish	Team
1	1	London
2	2	Berlin
3	3	Stockholm
5	4	Auld Reekie
9	5	Helsinki
10	6	Gent
7	7	Leeds
8	8	Crime city
6	9	Glasgow
4	10	Central City

Helsinki and Gent really outperformed their expectations, with Glasgow and Central City making way for their ascendency.  All in all, not as good a day for UK derby as one may have hoped.

I was asked, though, to re-rank the teams according to my usual calculus.  A regular reader suggested that, although a knockout tournament is very good at selecting the best, it may not be so good at ranking the rest.  Thus, I plugged the scores from the tournament alone into my formula and arrived at the following:

Finish	Calc	Team	Rank Pts
1	1	London	126.1
5	2	Helsinki	99.7
6	3	Gent	96.4
2	4	Berlin	77.8
7	5	Leeds	68.8
8	6	Crime city	64.5
3	7	Stockholm	48.9
9	8	Glasgow	43.5
4	9	Auld Reekie	32.2
10	10	Central City	29.0

Not only did Gent and Helsinki out-perform expectations, they out-performed most of the field!

Take Helsinki, for example.  They lost 1 but won 3.  Only 2 teams held opponents to double-figures scores: Helsinki and London.  That's great company to keep!

This is the problem with using a knockout tournament like this to rank teams.  The team that won definitely is the best; however, the maximum rank for a 1-loss team is determined by when they lose, not actually who they lose to.  A team losing on the 1st day can get, at best, 5th place.  Losing on the 2nd day means you can get, at worst, 4th.  

Two 1-loss teams can have lost to the same team and yet be sorted based on timing, which boils down to seeding.  Consider Helsinki, for example.  Both Helsinki and Berlin lost to only London.  However, Helsinki outscored non-LRG opponents by almost 53 points per bout, whereas Berlin only outscored their opponents by 16 points per bout.

I, as well as my reader, had the feeling that a knockout tournament wasn't the best way of ranking all 10 teams in the field.  This really shows that Helsinki deserve to be considered in the top 3, and Gent have a claim as well.  Well done, you two!

"Running Up the Score"

I know my attitude about a blow-out bout is not commonly supported by skaters.  Skaters want to play against the best their opponent has to offer, and many are concerned that a winning opponent may "take pity" on them.  Ballistic Whistle himself said that he "would never want any team Brawling plays against to go easy on us at all, regardless of what level" and thus would expect his team to do the same against whomever they're playing.

Let me go on record saying I never advocate taking pity on an opponent in competition.  Ever.

I do feel, however, that a blow out bout in which the winning team does nothing different is a missed opportunity.  Trying new skaters, new tactics, new plays in training is only so good.  Try as you might, your own team can't quite be jedi-mind-tricked into not knowing what's coming and reacting naturally.

However, the other team already is.  Even if they've scouted your previous bouts, they don't know what you've got to try out.  Thus, once the game's already in the bag, it's the perfect time to experiment.

This LRG did.  Against Auld Reekie, they gave the star to more than a few skaters I've never seen jam for them before.  This is a huge show of sportsmanship toward your own skaters.  Giving them time to jam on the tournament track in the uniform of the best team in Europe is a massive vote of confidence in them, and shows that London Brawling are more than their top skaters.

As much as I dislike a blow-out bout, I think LRG actually deserve a round of applause for the way they conducted themselves in a tournament that they knew they were going to win by a very large margin.

A US Scrimmage (or two)

The other day, I NSO'd for two scrimmages here stateside.  One in a nice little practice venue, the other in the bouting venue with a floor big enough to fit 6 tracks with OPR lanes, when the seats were retracted.  Three key things were ran differently to what I've seen in the UK.

1. Player Rotation
   
   Basically, the skaters formed a queue where the 'bench' would be. The front 5 decided amongst themselves who would be jammer and who would be pivot. Should penalties dictate that fewer than 5 would skate, those further back in the queue would step out, regardless of skating skill.
   
   This was amazing! All skaters, regardless of how "good" or not they were got a roughly equal amount of time on the track. As well, those still working on their skills got paired up with (and against) much more talented skaters. What a learning opportunity! Sure it occasionally led to lop-sided jams, but anyone concerned about the score in a scrimmage has his/her priorities seriously, seriously wrong.
   
   
2. Static Recycling
   
   Recycling the jammer has been explained to death. Everyone knows it, everyone does it. Thing is, these girls did it differently. Basically, when the jammer was hit out, one skater would jet back about 20' to recycle her. The others would immediately form a wall at the back of the pack ready to catch the jammer once she'd come in. No one went back to help the recycler, she sort of expected that the jammer would beat her one-on-one. She'd try, of course, but she'd expect to join the wall as soon as the jammer came back in.
   
   This meant that the pack was roughly stationary on the track, as the one teams movements were backward when the jammer was out, and only slightly forward when the jammer was in. The team defending the actively scoring jammer was thus limited to a short engagement zone and forced to sacrifice blockers to bridging. It wasn't at all the boring stand-still derby, it was exciting. Loads of contact, skaters jostling for position, and key walling skills. It just didn't orbit the centre.
   
3. Jamming on the Margin
   
   There was one jammer who had this down to a T. She was fast as hell, could juke and jump like a champ. So, needless to say, her first pass was often less than 10 seconds between the double whistle releasing her and lead jam status. Her opposing jammer would usually exit the pack about 40'-50' behind her. Now, conventional logic says to call off the jam just before the non-lead jammer arrives at the pack. Save points, right? I'm a fan of it, and I know others who value saving points almost above all else.
   
   However, this girl had done her maths. If she gained a 50' advantage on the first pass, she should be able to trust her pack to hold the opposing jammer for just as long on the second. Thus, when she's on her second pass, she should have about 100' of advantage. If she does well to not get held up, and her pack works brilliantly, she may even be able to get a grand slam in on the second or third pass.
   
   It's a risky play. If she gets held up on her second pass, then she may concede as many points as she scores. But if she goes flying through the pack before her opponent even engages, then she has the time to go around and increase her marginal lead. It was beautiful to watch.

All in all, the quality of derby was comparable to what I've seen in the UK.  There were just these few key things to make it a bit more interesting to watch.  As well, there were no bench staff anywhere to be seen.  I don't know when they practice with their skaters, but it wasn't at these scrimmages.

That's my first report from the States.  Roll on!

Lost Tactics

There are a few things that have, sadly, disappeared from the game of roller derby.  Without a doubt, the sport is improving as skaters get better by leaps and bounds, coaches discover new strategies, and referees hone their craft harder all the time.

However, I've been watching derby for 5 years now, and there are things I loved to see in the game when I first started that have sadly gone by the wayside.


The Assist

Jammers run out of "juice" during a bout.  Why not help 'em?

By assist here, I specifically mean the whip.  Inside whips, outside whips, hip whips, even the egg-beater.  Ever want to drive a crowd into conniptions?  Use an egg-beater.

Simply, where have whips gone?  Well, all the various leagues I've worked with have been focussed on "defence first" for their blockers.  When there's offensive assistance, it's usually one blocker acting as a screen for the jammer.  This is helpful, no doubt, but it usually works best on the initial pass.  Most jams' initial passes have one team with a 4-wall at the front and the other with a 4-wall at the back, thus a single screen can get a jammer past 2 or 3 blockers.

However, when the play breaks down on the initial pass or frequently on a scoring pass, there's often one friendly blocker and one opposing blocker near the front of the pack.

In this situation, the pink blocker might normally simply block the green pivot to the outside.  Should this block flatten the pivot, then the jammer's home free.  However, should the pink blocker merely surge or screen the pivot to the outside, they may become free to chase the jammer out toward the front.

This is whip time.  Without assistance, the jammer is limited to her own acceleration, which is similar to the pivot.  However, with a whip, that jammer can get much, much higher acceleration and have the pivot beat before she can even start to chase.

I have seen this scenario time and time again in bouts, but the blocker doesn't offer a whip, and the jammer doesn't often take it if offered.  What happens next is the pivot comes forward around the screen and takes the jammer out.  Then she's recycled, etc., etc.

When a jammer comes along, you must whip it.  Whip it good.

The Star Pass

I love the star pass.  It's one of the few opportunities to really take and scramble the plans of an opposing team.  If you watch USARS or MADE derby, which allow the pivot to go and score without passing the star, you'll see that an attacking pivot drives the overall strategy in those rulesets.  However, when I start to talk to teams about the star pass, I always hear the same thing: "But you can't get lead jam status!"

Right, that's true, the star pass isn't right for situations when you consider lead jam status as your #1 priority.  What about those situations where you don't?

1. Opponents have lead jam
• Jammer is trapped behind a sturdy wall
2. In front on a scrum start
3. On a power jam, with a really knackered jammer

In the first and the third, lead jam is unimportant.  In the first, lead jam's already been conceded.  In the third, the decision's been made to play the power jam to the end, rather than to call it off.  Let's go through them point-by-point.

1. Lead jam's already been lost.  There's no point in preserving lead jam status, and the jammer's trapped behind a solid wall.  Why not air-lift the jammer out of trouble?  No need to practise the peg assist, just have the pivot slide in front of the wall, then pass the star right over that wall.  Now the pivot-cum-jammer is free to chase the opposing jammer around.


2. Well, you see the scrum start coming, and your team's stuck at the front.  You've already lost lead jam in this scenario a few times, and so you want to ruin your opponent's positional advantage.  Why not have the pivot line up on the extreme outside, and the jammer right behind her.
   
   When the jammer whistle goes, the panty can go right over the back wall, and the pivot-cum-jammer is out the front of the pack.  The now ex-jammer is free to help block the opposing jammer.  If the team running the star pass does a great job, the new jammer will have time to come around and score.  If not the jam will be called off, and the team that assumed it had the advantage will be frustrated.  Do this a few times, and they'll be forced to change their tactics.  Congrats, their strategy is fouled.
   
   Want to be even more clever? There are ways to foul their strategy even more, some involving not even conceding lead jam status.  This I call the option.  The jammer has the option to fake a pass to the pivot and keep the panty, or to pass it off.  As long as the pivot hasn't put it on yet, she can even pass back to the jammer should she get into trouble.


3. On a power jam, you may want to utilise every second available for scoring, and not call the jam early and "waste" power jam time securing lead jam status for the next jam.  In that case, if the jammer's knackered, it may make sense to simply hand over the panty to the pivot.  Just make sure this is done in the engagement zone but that the panty is on before any opponents are passed.  Otherwise potential points may be missed out on.

If you'd like to read more about the star pass, check out the Team Sealand star pass manual.  This explains the option in even more detail.


I would love to see more teams use these too tactics in bouts.  They would make the sport more exciting to watch, as well as throwing off teams that are too constant in their strategy.  Let's see some clever derby!  Roll on!

The science of the lineup

Anyone who has acted as Lineup Manager, Bench Manager, or Bench Coach knows that who you send in can be a big issue.  Things get very hectic very quickly, and 30 seconds can seem like not enough time to get things sorted.

However, there is another sport that has substitutions just as free as roller derby, and a similar time limit.  I'm talking, of course, of American Football.  In the NFL and college, teams have 40 seconds between plays, and in high school it's 25 seconds.  That means 25 seconds to shift who your 11 players are, and get ready for the start of the play.  Sound hectic?

It's not!  Most football teams have a core group who, bar injury, are on every single play.  Thus, substitutions are just to fine tune running backs, wide receivers, etc.

So, how can we make it so that derby lineups work as smoothly as football ones?  There are a few options:


The Classic
This is where you write out a chart, jam-by-jam, and send that group in each time.  You set the lineup for jam 3, as written on the chart, on the next-jam bench as soon as jam 2 gets underway.  Problem is, by the 5th or 6th jam, penalties will likely start to foul the chart.

This is why the lineup manager is usually stressed right here.  Drew up a nice plan, plan didn't work.  Oh, hello stress, where ya been?

As this system leads to guaranteed stress, unless your team commits 0 penalties, it is flawed.


Alphabet System
This is where you rate your skaters with A, B, C, and D.  The goal is to have D skaters on as rarely as possible, and as high a value as possible every jam.  Thus, if there are 2 As, 2 Bs, 1 C, 2 Ds and 2 Jammers on the bench, the next lineup would just be the As and Bs.

This system is really low stress, as it's remarkably easy to determine the next lineup.  There are a few major limitations, though, including endurance and flexibility.

The skaters ranked as As will skate every other jam.  This means that they will be worked much harder than the Cs and Ds.  They will undoubtedly experience fatigue, and eventually this will reduce their ability to the point of those Cs and Ds who have been waiting on the bench.  And, if endurance isn't an issue in a given bout, that means you're not skating hard enough.  If you're not being pushed to the limit, then you're not playing difficult enough bouts.

What about jammers who are also good at blocking?  I mean the true double threats.  They're likely ranked as As for blocking, which means that if the system is applied rigorously then they won't have enough time to recover after jamming.  To use this system with double threats takes a high degree of planning ahead.  It's a potential source of stress.


Hockey System
Ice hockey also has free substitution, and they do it by "lines."  A line is a full rotation, similar to a lineup in derby, who practice and work together.  I attempted to use it in derby, to some success, but it will take some more development before it's done.  Here's the setup:

Salt			Pepa
Mary M	J		Sharon	J	B
Josephine		B	Jenny	J
Andrea		B	Alice		B
Alex		B	Rebecca		B
Penelope	J	B	Rachel		B
Adeline		B	Mary		B
Unassigned
Amy	J	B	Melissa		B

So, each line has 2 jammers, and 6 total skaters.  Thus, each skater stays with her line.  If a skater goes to the box, she'll join the opposite line for the remainder of the jam when she exits.  Then she'll sit on the bench to rest or stay on the track so that she'll return to skating with her line.

The unassigned skaters are available to take over in cases of injury, or fatigue, or if a bit more reshuffling is necessary due to penalties, etc. to keep the lines together.  Otherwise, this makes the lineup manager's job much easier.  Instead of 9 skaters to choose from, there are only 6.  "Salt's on the track?  Alright who from Pepa's sitting the next one out?"

Other Options

If you're a team that uses the star pass frequently, or plays USARS/MADE derby, it might make sense to have jammer-pivot pairings as unbreakable combinations.  The rest of the lineup is filled in around them.  This is similar to the NFL system of having a core group and making the adjustments around them.

Or, you could put blockers in pairs, and build the rest of the lineup around those pairings.  Any coach knows some skaters work better together with specific other skaters.  This might be a good anchor for a lineup.

Both of those can be incorporated into the systems above, or could be a system of their own.

Be clever!  If you like what I've written, but only like 70%, then riff on it!  Figure out what works for YOU, not what works for some big team that do well in WFTDA.  They're not you.  Roll on!

Tactics Tuesday: Power Jam Offense

I want to talk tactics for a moment.

No, wait, I want to talk plays. There is a difference between strategy, plays, and tactics.

This will be the first of a few entries analysing various popular plays in roller derby. Many people, I think, implement plays simply because they see the big leagues, be it specifically LRG or any other WFTDA side, using them. These plays work in the big leagues, so it's reckoned that they'll work at the local level as well.

Thing is, a play is like a multi-variable function in maths. It operates on a set of initial conditions or parameters, such as the skaters, conditions of the bout, and rules, and produces an output (points). One expects, for a given set of parameters, to see an output within the margin of error. Ever see a bench manager go into an absolute fit, but not at the ref? That's because the function gave an unexpectedly low return.

BHH & BBHR @ CCR

So this weekend, the kind folks of Central City Rollergirls were kind enough to have me up to their bout to run stats.  What a delightful way to spend a Saturday afternoon!  If you ever get a chance, their venue is excellent--light and airy, and not too warm.


First off, Bristol took on Central City (B).  Bristol stuck to their good, old fashioned fundamental game.  Watching them play is really a lesson in archetypal derby.  They don't do fancy, they don't try to out-fox or out-wit their opponents.  They just plain out-skate, and it's elegant to watch.

One thing they did well was the "nestle crunch" block on jammers, hitting from both sides simultaneously.  Jammer's dropped to the floor, and also hit psychologically--I seriously doubt a jammer so hit won't be more timid approaching that wall a second time.


The headline bout had quite a few things worth noting.  Big Bucks, suffering from several injuries, were never able to really establish themselves on the track.  I do like their style of bench managing, though, with the flags for jammers.

However, the bench of note was Central City's.  They had one bench manager off the track, keeping the jammer up to date on Lead Jam status and when to call it.  As well, their management staff did a great job adjusting tactics and plays to suit the changing nature of the bout.  It's easy to see why they're a top 5 team.

Their pack work was elegantly designed and clearly well drilled.  Each of their blockers had slightly different roles on the track--wallers, bridgers, offensive blockers.  They didn't see the need to play a defensive-focused bout by just having solid 4-walls the entire time.  Their game was very defensively sound, and still showed variance and amazing levels of teamwork.

As well, they didn't really go for big hits, they did beautiful positional work.  They even had this drilled to the point where, as they would approach a turn, one blocker would just lightly throw the jammer off balance with minor contact.  As the turn was approaching, the jammer would be shocked to find herself in a (lucky) fan's lap!


Central City showed themselves to be the powerhouse their numbers suggest, and I can't wait until I can see them challenge LRG or LRR.  It'll be a fun one!

Roll on!

Keys to the Game post-mortem

So, before the bout, Dan asked me what my 2 keys for each team were.  Here they are, to refresh your memory:

• England
1. Maximise power jam utilisation
2. Adapt to what works

• USA
3. Manage endurance levels
4. Stick to fundamentals derby

Basically, the Roses were going to be outclassed in a 1-on-1 basis, so they needed to take advantage of what factors swung in their favour.

According to an article I recently read in the New Yorker, 71% of David-Goliath matchups are won by Goliath.  Of course, that's what one would expect.  After all, were the upsets too common, they wouldn't be exciting; were they impossible, sport would be no fun to watch.

However, if David employs unconventional strategies, his win percentage jumps up to over 60%.  This, and page after page of anecdotal evidence in the article, show that simply being a better team is not required to have a winning season.  Instead, a game-play designed to take that advantage away may do the trick.

In derby, that anecdotal evidence comes from the invention of those tactics and plays that are now standard.  The Philly wall, the scrum start, even the knee start were groundbreaking in their time.  Those were, at first, tricks--almost the guerilla warfare of roller derby.  Now, of course, they're standard.

My keys to the game were what an English David needs to beat an American Goliath, and what that Goliath must do to maintain the expected dominance.

Let's break 'em down point-by-point.

1. The Roses were given 4 power jams, or 5 if you want to break the double-penalty into two separate statistical events.  I do not.  Of these, they averaged 11 points per power jam.
   
   However, that average is buoyed up by that final power jam, in all the others, England was only able to manage 2 scoring passes at most.  Why was this?
   
   Well, USA's power jam defence was stifling.  Plain and simple, they played two physical blockers, and two pack controllers to keep the England jammer going at a damn slow pace.
   
   What could England do?  Well, they could've used "non-traditional tactics" and broken the pack. USA were quite good at not conceding out-of-play penalties, so this would've likely worked.  However, that would've likely been "not very sporting," and not exactly in England's national character. 
   
   Thus, England were relegated to losing the power jam battle.
   
   
   
   
2. Adaptation.  This one the Roses did much better in the first half.  At the beginning, England earned lead jam status only 1 time in the first 5 jams.
   
   Then, they switched.  What they were doing wasn't working, so they made the tiniest of adjustments.  Between jams 5 and 10, England only conceded lead jam 1 time!  Their adaptation was highly successful, and they stuck with it.
   
   Difficulty was, Team USA adapted very quickly themselves.  Their 2-wall was quick to escort the red-shirted jammer to either the inside or outside line, leaving most of the track open for the England wall, pushed by the US jammer, to overtake them.  Where the USA had lost control of the bout trying to control laterally, they switched to controlling vertical zones.
   
   Never again would England gain that upper hand.  
   
   
   
   
3. The American skaters had skated in three bouts already that weekend, and this was their fourth.  They had cycled out only two skaters, most of them were racking up the miles on the clock.  [Fun fact: 33 laps = 1 mile]
   
   However, the first instance of a skater looking tired was in the second half.  V-Diva approached the pack at something quite less than her usual mad dash, and visibly took her breath before engaging the blockers.
   
   To her credit, there were only about 10 minutes left in the bout. She had earned her fatigue. As well, Team USA's patient jamming style lent itself to masking any other fatigue. There's no doubt the skaters were worn out and slept like rocks, but they had a style of play that lent itself to that concern over endurance.
   
   Thus, the US skaters showed just what athletes they are, after a full weekend of derby.
   
   
   
   
4. Did the Americans stick to fundamentals? Did they ever!
   
   The scrum start is now a fundamental of derby.  The tourists executed it masterfully and didn't try to do anything fancy with diagonal knee stars or trying to force England out of position.  A few times I saw a blocker take a "bookend" position on the England line.  Before the jam started, she had shifted to a standard defence, bringing back the fundamentals.
   [Green pivot "bookending" the pink wall]
   
   As well, during those oh-so-important power jams, the US offence stuck with goating an English blocker.  Goating, that's right, the tactic that has otherwise given way to the conga line on the outside edge of the track, was utilised by the best skaters in the world.  Much as I'm an advocate for teams using the tactics that best suit them rather than the ones used by the biggest teams, I hope this becomes a trend.
   
   [Skate! Skate! Those things are on your feet for a reason! Tactics be damned, no one wanted to take up the game because they wanted to stand still on a track looking like they need a cigarette. Just because it's legal doesn't make it derby. /rant]
   
   So, stick to fundamentals?  Yeah, they did.  Like the deaf school's basketball team I used to watch, these girls showed the value of basic skills applied together.
   

So, on my totally unofficial keys, England get a ½ out of 2, and USA get a full 2.  That being said, there can be no doubt that the Roses' walls and pack skills proved their worth against an amazingly skilled team.

Now, I bet y'all expect me to discuss rankings.  Not this time!  Maybe next time...

This weekend, I hope to make it up to Central City to see the double header there.  If you're going, come say "hey" to me!