1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 TEEMU!

In March 2014 the first Men’s Roller Derby World Cup took place in Birmingham. It was an event packed with adrenaline and testosterone where the bench coach always had to stay within a smelling distance from the boys.

Photo: Zero G Photography

It’s evening when I arrive at a hostel in Birmingham. The hallways are filled with enthusiastic young men: the very first Men’s Roller Derby World Cup is about to start the following day. My role at the tournament is to be the bench coach for Team Finland.

Our team heads for dinner together. The atmosphere at the restaurant is calm, relaxed and nervous at the same time. The team has now been officially signed up for the tournament and all the paperwork has been taken care of. The roster for the game next morning against Team USA is announced and met with a round of applause.

In the morning the entire team heads to venue to prepare for the game. The weather is sunny and everyone is in good spirits. At the venue, there are no actual locker rooms; instead, tape on the floor next to the warm-up track shows designated changing areas for the different teams. Team Finland’s spot is right next to Team USA’s. Other teams start arriving at the venue and everyone seems to have ants in their pants. The superstars of Team USA flock around us and you can smell the testosterone in the air.

We gather together in a circle and let out our team cheer: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-TEEMU! The cheer is a tribute to the hockey legend Teemu Selänne who has just ended his career in the Olympic Games. The cheer seems to match the situation perfectly.

Navigating the derby insurance maze

The amount of roller derby enthusiasts has grown steadily in Finland but the sport does not have a long history yet. That is exactly how insurance companies see the sport, too. Insurance prices range from 50 euros up to hundreds of euros a year. There are also several coverage issues.

During the past year derby insurances have been a topic for discussion both among the skaters and in media. In February, Helsingin Uutiset was the first newspaper to address the issue by publishing an article about the possible reasons for the high prices of insurances for derby and other “high-risk” sports.

In October, the Finnish radio channel YleX interviewed Riitta-Liisa Salonen, Head of Personal Insurance at the insurance company If and Päivi Vuorenmaa, Product Manager at the insurance company LähiTapiola. If does not offer roller derby insurances at all.

Riitta-Liisa Salonen says in the interview that in a fast-paced contact sport such as roller derby where the action happens on wheels and in a tight pack of people, there is a great risk of injury. “Typical injuries include sprained or twisted knees, ankles, elbows or shoulders and the treatment of such injuries is relatively challenging”, Salonen says. However, the attitude towards ice hockey for instance is quite different. According to Salonen, the reason is that ice hockey already has a long history as a sport. “We have the statistics of different injuries from a long period of time so we can clearly see what the development has been like”, Salonen says. The fact that roller derby is a fairly new sport is a major factor, Salonen notes. “It takes some time to see how the sport develops in the long run”, she concludes.

Full Speed to Dallas

At the inaugural roller derby World Cup Finland surprised by finishing in a good fifth place. This autumn, the national team had a downright influx, and the team was compiled with careful consideration. The desire to succeed and evolve is intense.

In March 2011 just over twenty young roller derby enthusiasts tried out for the first Finnish national team. The first ever world cup in history took place in December of the same year. In early spring 18 skaters had been selected to join the national team, and when injuries and new family additions took their toll, replacements were added within a few months through new try outs.

The final tournament roster consisted of 16 skaters from four Finnish, one Swedish and one English league. Joint practices were held a few times before the games, and one mixed scrimmage was played in Tampere with the Tampere Rolling Ho’s.

History was forged before the actual tournament itself when Team Finland welcomed their Swedish counterparts in October 2011 to Helsinki. The bout was the first encounter of national roller derby team’s in the sports existence. With the experience provided the team flew to Canada, where they played, won, lost, got injured, cried and laughed. In the end, an incredibly stunning fifth place was brought home, the second-best as a European team.

In the autumn of 2012 the old national team activated itself again as Team USA arrived in Helsinki. Helsinki Roller Derby organized a major event around the national team: first, the United States took on the Swedes, and in the evening's second bout the hostess country Finland. In addition, the following day most of the team attended a training day coached by the sports superstars, which drew participants from all across Europe.

The First Step: Selecting a Coaching Team

As we are slowly approaching the 2014 and the second World Cup, a lot has happened behind the scenes with Finnish roller derby. The number of leagues in our country has increased manifold, and the sport has established an umbrella organization, Roller Derby Finland ry. (RDF), which manages the national team and its coaching team.

In the spring of 2013 a new and fresh coaching team was sought through open applications to build and assemble a new national team. Based on applications RDF's Board of Directors selected Suvi Hokkanen (Helsinki Roller Derby) as head coach, who has four years of experience as a skater and coach. Operating with Hokkanen on the coaching team will also be Jori Hämäläinen (Helsinki Roller Derby) and Raisa Siivola (Kallio Rolling Rainbow).

The new coaching team's first task was to organize try outs, which after a cut down were attended by more than 40 roller derby enthusiasts not only from Finland but also from Sweden, England and North America. Each had a goal to gain a place on the national representational team.

The Best Skater Is Not Always the Best Derby Player

Much more than good skaters is required to form a good team, but basic skill levels were inherently high.

"At the national team elimination we wanted to test the players skating technique, teamwork and game intelligence. To reach the national team a player must be able to perform a variety of technical deliverables such as braking in every direction", said head coach Hokkanen.

Although the importance of skating technique cannot be overemphasized, Hokkanen points out that a good skater is not the same as a good derby player.

"A lot of other factors are needed, such as the physicality and determination. These aspects of the players came out among others in scrimmages. We were able to follow the player's game intelligence, ability to work in the team and their coachability. "

After a long weekend the coaching team’s next step was to weed out the group which would be chosen to build the future representation team with.

"Most on the national team circuit are experienced skaters, but a few newer hopefuls were included. We want to see how these potential players develop over the next year, now that they
have access to train with the best in the country“, describes Hokkanen of the national team circuit structure.

In addition, living in a small country has its own advantages in the view point of training a national team: "The national team circuit has time to train for over a year before the next games, and the majority lives within a few hundred kilometers radius of each other. This is a huge advantage compared to other countries, and we try to take everything out of it. "

However, there are also Finnish expatriates on the team, who do not always get to train with the group.

"We aim to keep them up to date with the national team objectives, strategies and style of play, among others through video materials", Hokkanen says.

Old Roles Have To Be Forgotten

The first joint training weekend was held in October 2013 in Pasila sports hall. Most of the national team circuit players were able to attend.

The national team camp started with skating exercises which focused on pack work this time. Afterwards, a full-length bout was played, which also gave coaches an opportunity to observe the players game features and coachability.

The day continued with dining together, and as the evening progressed the national team circuit players were also given tools for mental training and team building.
Emerging discussion themes consisted of the future team, its creation, the ‘us’ –spirit, trust and openness. Time and space was reserved for spending time together, open discussion and getting to know each other.

Skill wise all players on the national team are relatively high level, thus exercises focus on the formation of a common style of play. Everyone is accustomed to interacting with specific actions and strategies in their respective teams. The demands of a good national team player is to have the ability to adapt to the team. A role within the national team may be quite different from one’s own league.

A National Team Develops the Whole Country’s Derby Field

In 2014, the national team will train about once a month around southern Finland, and each national team circuit player is committed to training in their own league to keep themselves in condition in preparation for the December 2014 tournaments.
In addition, the program includes fitness programs and national team bouts in the spring. Cuts are made along the year and the final 20 player team going to the World Cup will be published in the autumn of 2014.

What's best, each player will be upping the ante with their own efforts in raising the skill levels and standards within their own league. This pushes Finnish Roller Derby up to the next level.

Roller derby is still a relatively young sport which however is here to stay. It will most likely establish its own position in both team and particularly in women's sports.

Also, head coach Hokkanen is already looking towards the future: "I do not want to keep an eye on only the next World Cup, I wish continuity for the national team circuit, from which a team will also be formed after the 2014 World Cup."

"The national team circuit is to ensure a strong development of our sport in the future, even if the current sight is of course in Dallas", she says.

There is more suspension preceding the World Cup in addition to the Finnish team’s development. In 2011, 13 teams headed to the games, and it is expected that the increasing number of enthusiasts in 2014, the World Cup will be attended by a growing number of participating countries as well as viewers. Since already in 2011, the Finnish girls were able to rise from a predicted 10^th place to fifth, what can be accomplished when being all prepared in the year 2014?

One of the team's playfully biggest challenge may well be a rousing national anthem performance in the likes of the New Zealand team’s haka or the Scottish catchy drinking songs. ♥

National Team Camp 2014:

A.M. Chaos– Stockholm Roller Derby

Blocking Molly– Helsinki Roller Derby

Deadbeat Debbie– Helsinki Roller Derby

Dominå F. Äkt – Kallio Rolling Rainbow

Doomey B. Hind– Kallio Rolling Rainbow

Elina Ruhoranta– Tampere Roller Derby

Estrogeena Davis– Boston Derby Dames

Finn McCruel– Helsinki Roller Derby

Heli Runteli– Helsinki Roller Derby

Iiris Suominen– Helsinki Roller Derby

Kat Strator– Dirty River Roller Grrrls

Killpertti – Kallio Rolling Rainbow

Kira Horpi– Tampere Roller Derby

Leeloo Dallas– Helsinki Roller Derby

Linda– Helsinki Roller Derby

Little Hooligan– Tampere Roller Derby

Mirkkuli– Helsinki Roller Derby

Only– Kallio Rolling Rainbow

PolygAmy Winehouse– Stockholm Roller Derby

Pygmi – Kallio Rolling Rainbow

Raivo – Helsinki Roller Derby

Rita Hateworthy– Granite State Roller Derby

Sara Mack-EH?– Helsinki Roller Derby

Super Maria – Helsinki Roller Derby

T-Bag – Kallio Rolling Rainbow

The Blizzard– Bristol Roller Derby

Tigre Force – Helsinki Roller Derby

Tiina Kimari– Helsinki Roller Derby

Triptease– Dirty River Roller Grrrls

Tsubutex– Kallio Rolling Rainbow

Udre– Toronto Roller Derby/Kallio Rolling Rainbow

First published in KARU 2/2013

Text: Janica Saxelin

Translation: Adelle

Ranking Derby Teams

As the European roller derby scene grows and the skill levels of the top teams increase, the WFTDA rankings are sure to become a more and more important indicator, especially as success in those rankings will be a ticket to a whole new level of game play i.e. the championship games.

Roller derby as a sport is going through a period of metamorphosis during which both international organisations as well as national associations are trying to find their own place. Even the WFTDA rules are in competition with other roller derby rule sets but at least we can say that the teams that play under the WFTDA or MRDA rules have one thing in common: the rules. Each derby team has a different season and different culture. Some leagues play interleague bouts whereas others organize big tournaments or competitive tours. One thing we know for sure is that everyone wants to be the best. But how do we measure this?

Considering that not all leagues and teams, that play under the WFTDA and MRDA rules, are members of the international governing body and that mixed teams don’t even have the option of becoming members, it is difficult to determine how to rank these teams and especially how to compare the skill levels of the European all-star teams with their American counterparts. The answer is to develop a ranking-system based on bouts that the teams play. But because bouts are still arranged only occasionally and rather irregularly, the teams don’t necessarily fully know their opponents level and thus bouts may end up being pretty unequal matched. Therefore, the ranking system can’t just be based on the score difference. It is also important that the rankings also support the teams in picking their opponents. As a result, various ranking-lists have sprung up based on different formulas and it seems each one of them has something to offer. Some listings don’t compare the number of bouts won to the number of bouts played whereas some have split teams into different divisions, which don’t really reflect reality. At the moment, it seems a lot of people are talking about WFTDA’s new, division-based ranking system that also affects the seeding of WFTDA member leagues i.e. how the tournament places in the championships are distributed. As a result of the teams being split into different divisions, many teams are unwilling to play any opponents ranked lower than them because a surprise victory would mean a big drop in rankings. For example, this means that it doesn’t make sense for the London Rollergirls’ all-star team to play at all in Europe because LRG is ranked far above any other European leagues. So why have such a ranking system?

Mathematics instead of geography

The teams in the WFTDA championships have so far been selected on the basis of the leagues’ geographical location and playoff tournaments in North America. Until now, the playoffs regions were Eastern USA, Western USA as well as North Central and South Central USA and, at the WFTDA tournament in each region, 10 teams competed for three places at the championships, which are arranged every autumn. The regional split will still remain as there aren’t sufficiently many European member leagues competing at the top level to justify setting up a separate Europe-region. The teams from outside USA will compete in the region that they are geographically closest to, for example the European teams would belong in the Eastern region. After the geographical split was set up and up until 2013, WFTDA used voting-based rankings, which took into account the bouts each team played over the course of the year, to determine the placing of teams within a particular region. During 2013, the fully mathematical Competitive Division System stepped into play with the hopes of some day getting totally rid of the geography-based system.

Open borders for Roller Derby

Being a member of a sports federation would greatly benefit the development of Finnish roller derby as a whole.  However, the prevailing foundation of federations and associations is Finland is so solid and old fashioned that it will take time and persistence to break through it.

Difficulties booking practice time at local sports halls since traditional sports take up the best practice times? Complaints of marks left on the floor and a ban on using tape to mark the track? Constant questions on what kind of sport it is and whether bats and balls are used? This is what a roller derby aficionado typically keeps hearing.

The situation is quite understandable since derby is, regardless of its continuous growth, a fairly unknown sport to the general public and also to administrators who decide on practice times. However, times are changing. Last autumn an umbrella organization for Finnish roller derby called Roller Derby Finland ry (RDF) was founded and they are working extra hard on improving derby’s position in societal debate. The aim is to gain a sturdier foundation for derby within the core of the sporting world.

RDF is currently undergoing negotiations with the Finnish Skating Association on whether roller derby could be a part of their range of sports. However, discussions with the Skating Associations Managing Director Sauli Pollari and with the different committees have been going for a long while now and have taken up a tremendous amount of time over the years, says RDF chairman Raisa Siivola.

Being a member of a  sports federation has been an aspiration for Finnish roller derby ever since it took its first steps. It all comes down to nothing less than the Olympics.

Who dictates the rules?

- The International Federation of Roller Sports has approached roller derby organizations with interest, keeping an eye out for the 2020 summer Olympics demonstration sports, Raisa Siivola says.

- Everyone is of course excited about it. Question is, which ruleset would be used.

Derby is played around the world with many different rules. In Europe, bouts are played according to the WFTDA's (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) rule set, which is also widely used in North America. In the US, however, there is also another influential association  USARS (USA Roller Sports), which has its own set of derby rules.

- The rules, which will be selected to the Olympic range of sports, define what rules the game will be played to in the future – thus the worst case scenario would be that the USARS rules might overrun all others, Siivola explains.

- WFTDA is a kind of a driving force for modern roller derby. Its members are associations and sports clubs, and it has been created to oversee that the primary decision-making power will always be in the hands of its members. USARS co-operates with businesses, and roller derby is just a roller sport for them.

Siivola points out that WFTDA updates and supplements their rules all the time.

- It reflects expertise and passion for the development of the sport. In addition, WFTDA seems to make a genuine effort to understand the varied field within sports club activities in Europe.

Thus RDF wants derby to be played with the WFTDA rules on both Olympic and international levels. And the Skating Association is the only party in Finland that has contacts in the matter with the decisive European umbrella organization, the International Federation of Roller Sports or FIRS (Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports).

Therefore RDF is so persistently aiming to become a part of the Skating Association's range of sports.

- When national sports federations have enough derby clubs in their league portfolios, FIRS will have to unify and formalize the derby rules used by its members. Naturally, RDF, as well as all the other national parties want in on this discussion, Siivola says.

A Shock On The Rise: Jonathan R.

"Play roller derby, be the best, and do it with class!"

Jonathan R., the father and Captain of one of the best men's roller derby teams, New York Shock Exchange (NYSE), poses a serious threat to the Finnish model of a male athlete. This agile, hard-as-nails, strategic player combines artistic roller skating and American football to men's roller derby and is known as the ”Flying Squirrel”.

Finnish "merby" is coming together little by little. It took its first steps in December 2012 when The Sons Of Peaches (TSOP), a team of referees who wanted to try playing, took on a similar Scandinavian ref team The Peaches. The bout was such a mayhem that it can only be explained by the (over)excitement of the guys to be on the actual track instead of the outlines of it. After the dust had settled from this historical prologue to Finnish male derby, Tampere decided to go ahead and put together the first competitive men's roller derby team in the country and challenged TSOP to do the same. This finally led to founding a Team Finland for the World Championships of Men's Roller Derby, which will be held in the spring of 2014.

Like women's roller derby in Finland, the male version is also a bit behind from its American cousin. Men's Roller Derby Association (MRDA) was founded in the US in 2007 and today they have 31 member leagues, of which 28 are based in the States, one in Canada and two in the UK. MRDA hosts their own Championships for the fourth time this year. Jonathan R. was there to see the growth of merby behind the great water, namely in New York. Since its birth in 2007, NYSE has worked its way to the top of men's roller derby leagues in the world. 

Photo: Quick Draw Sports Photography

Jonathan, as the Primus Motor, you probably have the best angle to look at the league's development over the years. NYSE surely is bigger and better, but is it different from the early days?
- The New York Shock Exchange charges forward with the same goals it had on day one; play roller derby, be the best, and do it with class. We fostered a strong sense of brotherhood right from the get go. I am proud to say that as we have grown, we carry on that spirit. Practice is as fun as it ever was.

NYSE won the first MDC Championships in 2010, as well as the second edition (under MRDA) in 2011, but last year you were left outside of the final bout between Your Mom Men's Derby (Des Moines, IA) and St. Louis. How are the rates of the Shock Exchange going to look in the final tournament in Sioux City in October?
- Our goal is to win the championship; simple as that. The competition is super intense. Every team on its way to the MRDA Championship is a huge threat.

So how are you going to pave your way to get there?
- We always hold practice. We had it the day after the all-star team won the MRDA Championship. It is what we like to do; work to get better and play roller derby. We took our big trip to England so, instead of attending any invitational events in May, we are focused on our bouts against Your Mom  in June, St. Louis GateKeepers in July, Central Mass Maelstrom in August, and the Mohawk Valley Cup in August. It looks like we may get another high profile game in as well.

Let's talk about European derby… You came to play Southern Discomfort last year and your victory was crushing. How do you think Southern Discomfort will succeed this season in the big boys league? How do you see American roller derby in general, compared to European?
- I think Southern Discomfort will do well. They could very well be knocking on the door for an invitation to Sioux City in October. The big difference between the US and European roller derby is experience. Many of the teams remind me of where the Shock Exchange was about three years ago. They are learning fast, training to be competitors, and sharpening up their game instincts.