The European
Roller Derby Organizational Conference (EROC) was hosted by Bear City Roller
Derby for the 5th time in February 2014. This time around, EROC was
bigger then ever with approximately 200 league representatives participating.
Whilst taking
part is plenty of fun it’s also exhausting as EROC lasts two or four days
depending on whether you participate in the workshops. The weekend is packed
full of informative sessions followed by official afterparties as well as
unofficial get-togethers at the Tiki Bar which is practically an institution
for the seasoned EROC-goers. It is also a big responsibility to represent your
league and to bring home useful information as each league gets to send only
four representatives.
EROC offers tips
and updates for older and newer leagues and both skaters and officials can
benefit. This year, the sessions contained everything from tournament
organization to mental coaching and visual training. At least I filled a whole notebook with thoughts and ideas,
including the very useful note for myself: get some muscles to become a better
derby player.
Finnish representation
This year’s EROC
had a great turnout from Finland; Helsinki Roller Derby, Kallio Rolling
Rainbow, Tampere Roller Derby, Lahti Roller Derby, Dirty River Roller Grrrls,
Shitty City Roller Derby and P-Town Brawlers
were all there. The Finnish representation was pretty great especially considering
that in 2013 only the two leagues from Helsinki went to Berlin.
National roller
derby organizations were also invited to participate in the extravaganza and
Roller Derby Finland was there to share the Finnish success story. Finland is
in some way unique in Europe as we are the only country that organizes the
national championships as a cup that runs throughout the year. This means more
opportunities for Finnish leagues to play but in addition everyone taking part
can also try their hand at organizing bouts. The Finnish Cup is going to be
particularly exciting this year with the addition of four new leagues in the 1st
Division.
Hopefully, next
year, we’ll get to see even more Finnish leagues taking part because EROC is a
great opportunity to forge relationships with other leagues, whether it may be
through agreeing your next bout or just by having a beer with a skater that you
didn’t know before.
We’re all Europeans
EROC kicked off
with discussion sessions which were held separately for veteran, intermediate
and rookie leagues. Kallio took part in the intermediate leagues session and at
least there it quickly became clear that most European leagues suffer from
similar problems as us: there’s never enough training space for on-skates
practice and never enough funds to do all the great things we would like to do.
Volunteers seem to be another problem as we all just want to skate but
unfortunately running a competitive league requires a lot of work. It’s somehow really comforting to know
that we are not alone with these problems and to see how other leagues have
tried to solve these issues.
At the same
time, we learned many positive things too. European leagues co-operate a lot
with each other even across country borders. And having so many different ways
of doing things enriches the European roller derby culture.
WFTDA and Europe
WFTDA
relationship with Europe seems to be this year’s hot topic along with junior
derby and thus a lot of time was dedicated to discussing WFTDA with both member
and non-member leagues. Many Europeans still see WFTDA as an organization
representing mostly the North American leagues and at present there’s perhaps
has some truth in that: only 10% of the WFTDA leagues are based in Europe. However,
our influence in WFTDA has been increasing and will likely continue increasing
as more and more European leagues are thinking about becoming members. At least
in Finland, HRD is already a member, KRR is currently going through the AP
process and there have been rumours that some other Finnish leagues are also
considering starting the application process.
Another concern
in Europe is the WFTDA rankings system. The feeling is that new members and AP
leagues are having some difficulty in finding opponents for their mock
sanctioned bouts and also the first sanctioned, but un-ranked, bouts. We are
all pleased to hear to WFTDA has heard our cries and it currently considering
various options on how to improve the situation.
Until next time
After a month I have
finally recovered from the long weekend in Berlin and have had time to
introduce all the new ideas to my league. Now I’m already looking forward to
next year and next EROC. Can’t wait to see what great things are in store for
us then.
// Schlagerlöf
