Chumbawamba

This drill is a reader submission from G-Wrex of East Vic Roller Derby
 
Alternative names: --

Objective: Controlled single knee taps, maintaining momentum; endurance

Typical length of drill: 3 1/2 minutes

Materials needed: A copy of the song "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba and amplification of some sort.

Skill level required: Safe falling skills - non-contact

Description: Skaters skate around the track in derby direction. "Tubthumping" is played and every time "down" appears in the lyrics, skaters must do a single knee tap, then get up again... 'cause they're never gonna keep you down. Skaters continue for the entire song, without using their hands to help them get up and without coming to a stop if possible.

Additional notes: If you'd like you can add extra lyrics-based instructions, e.g. a transition for every "pissing the night away" or a C-curve every time "he takes a ______ drink"

Musical Stops

Alternative names: --

Objective: Stopping on command in small spaces; pacing

Typical length of drill: 10 mins

Materials needed: Varies -- I use a track that is permanently laid down and create "boxes" between 10 ft -markers, but you can also choose to create boxes elsewhere in your space, and depending on your skaters' skill level they can be either large or small boxes.  At the very least you will need either chalk, masking tape, or cones to mark out the boxes that you will want your skaters to stop in.

Skill level required: Safe stopping and falling skills

Description: For the original version of Musical Stops you will need a laid out track with the 10 ft -markers included.  Use chalk, cones, or masking tape to mark out the boxes.  What I'm referring to here are small areas in which your skaters will be required to stop.  For my freshmeat, I mark out five 10 ft -boxes as in the illustration to the right.

Now comes the fun part: While you play music, the skaters skate around the track in a counter-clockwise direction.  Each time you abruptly stop the music, the skaters come to a complete stop within one of the boxes on the track.  The last person to come to a stop within each of the five boxes is out of the game (this is on the honor system, people).  If a skater is all by herself in a box, s/he can remain in the game.  The game is over when you decide--I usually end it when it's clear that the five people left on the track have set a pace that allows each of them to get to a box by themselves when the music ends, but, what you can do alternatively is reduce the number of boxes once you get down to the same number of skaters as there are boxes, and from here go with the traditional musical chairs -route: The last person standing wins.  Depending on the skill level of your skaters this can be a fun way to end it.

If you have really skilled skaters, this game can be adapted and made more challenging:

• Mark out the boxes in different parts of the space
• Don't dictate what direction skaters can skate in
• Reduce the size of the boxes
• Increase the number of boxes while limiting the number of skaters allowed per box like traditional musical chairs
• ALL of the above as in the illustration to the right

Additional notes: This is a really fun drill that I came up with while training the freshmeat in Boston.  I really like to always end every practice with a game that uses the skills we've practiced over the course of the three hours, because games (and especially competitive ones) gets the skaters to think about the object of the GAME and not about their feet.  This one is good for pacing and stopping in short distances.

Wolf Pack

This drill is a reader submission from Elsie Thudd, formerly of Steel City Roller Derby, and currently coaching their brand new junior derby league, the Pittsburgh Derby Brats.

Alternative names: One Man Wolf Pack

Objective: To be able to trap and slow a player down, to be able to work with partners/wall to slow down a pack or player, to able able to effectively communicate with your teammates, to learn how to break through walls.

Typical length of drill: Customizeable

Materials needed: A delineated track and 5+ skaters

Skill level required: All, this can be tweaked to be non-contact if need be, but will work with contact as well.

Description: This is a variation on tag.

One person is designated "IT." We like to make it a surprise. We have all of the girls close their eyes and we tap someone to be "IT." 

Everyone begins by skating on the track in derby direction. When she is ready, the "IT" sets out to trap and slow someone down. When she accomplishes this, that person becomes part of her "pack." Then they must work together to trap and slow the next person, who will then join their pack. This continues until they have a pack of 5. Communication is key once the pack forms to identify their target and execute a coordinated attack. For the skaters trying not to get caught, it is an excellent drill for breaking through walls and getting unstuck. When we've done this, magic happened on the track with the free skaters banding together and creating strategies to disorient the wolf pack so they could all get through. It is a great way to practice stop derby and how to counter stop derby and how to counter counter-stop-derby strategies.

Rules:

• The trapped skater is considered in the pack when the "IT"/wolf pack has legally blocked and slowed her down for 3 seconds. 
• If a penalty is called on a free skater, she must exit the track, do a lap on the outside, and re-enter behind the wolf pack. 
• If a penalty is called on a member of the wolf pack they lose a member.
• If a penalty is called on the "IT" before she acquires a pack, she forfeits her "IT" status.
• If a member of the wolf pack goes rogue, or the pack gets separated/split-up/forgets they are a pack, they forfeit a member. 

Make it harder:

• If the "IT"/wolf pack traps and sends a skater out-of-bounds, she may only become part of the pack if they effectively pull her back at least 5 feet....10 feet? 
• Put a time limit on how long the "IT" has to pick up her pack. 
• Only allow positional blocking!

Additional notes: Elsie says, "While conducting performance reviews with my brats I got a lot of feedback that led to [this] drill. I think it would work well for both juniors and freshmeat/rookies. Or all levels just for fun. It seems a little complicated now that I've written it down, but the girls absolutely LOVED it."

Zombie Tag

So it seems like zombies are the "new" thing. There's zombie this and zombie that, not the least of which is the very popular tv series The Walking Dead. There are a few games on All Derby Drills that are based on the classic game of tag which are very good for warm ups at the beginning of practice.

Alternative names: --

Objective: Get your skaters warmed up for practice. Work on teamwork. Practice putting on the helmet covers while skating.

Typical length of drill: 15 minutes max

Materials needed: Plenty of Pivot and Jammer covers

Skill level required: Basic skating skills. Comfortable in skates.

Description: If your league is like mine, you have a bag full of jammer (JC) and pivot covers (PC). We'll use the JCs as the zombies and the PCs as the survivors. Split your skaters in two equal groups and have them start at the walls of your rink or skating space. I put one group at either end of the length of the rink. Before you start scatter the PCs around the rink. We have a five foot cinderblock wall running around 3/4s of the rink so I put them on top at random places. Give one skater a JC. She'll be the first one "infected". Take the rest of the JCs and stand off to the side. Blow a whistle to start. Whomever the zombie tags, they're now infected and will turn into a zombie. The newly infected will skate over to you, grab a JC, and go out and make more zombies. Once all the JCs are gone, blow four whistles to stop. Now you have a bunch of zombies and a few survivors. Have the zombies line up in the middle of the rink, and split the survivors into two groups, just like at the start of the game. Blow a whistle to start. Now the survivors have to skate out and grab a PC, and when they have a PC on (not in their hand) they can commence to slaughtering zombies. When a PC wearing survivor tags (kills) a zombie, that zombie falls down and stays on the track as an obstacle. The game is over when all the zombies or the survivors are killed. If you can, as an added bonus, play the theme song from the Walking Dead. The skaters will love it.

This is a good drill for teamwork. When I first ran it everyone was out for themselves during the second half and the zombies would always win. Eventually they would team up and make a big group, protecting one or two people who could then grab a PC.

It's also good practice for the mysterious and rare star pass. It's not easy to put a helmet cover on while skating away from a creature trying to eat your brains.

Additional notes: This is another drill written by our guest blogger, Brawl-n-Order.

Simon Says

Alternative names: Simón Dice / Kungen Befaller / Kapteeni Käskee / Kommando Pimperle

Objective: To practice basic skills; to practice paying attention and listening to your teammates; agility; communication; warm-up

Typical length of drill: 5-10 minutes

Materials needed: None

Skill level required: None

Description: This is simply the classic Simon Says game with the added bonus of being on skates and thus being able to practice some basic skills while having fun.  Decide first if you alone will give commands or if you'll be giving the skaters turns to do it too.  Also decide on the punishment for doing something at the wrong time -- I like to give 5 or 10 push-ups.  Once the skaters have spread out around your practice space (everyone will need some room around them to shuffle and move around), face them and start giving commands.  For example:

• Get low
• Lay down
• Jump
• Shuffle left/right
• March in place
• Run on your toestops
• Drop to a knee

The possibilities are endless!  Make sure you enforce the punishment for any time a skater does something when you have NOT started the command with "Simon says...".  For an added challenge, have the skaters do multiple commands at once and dole out punishment if they stop doing one of the tasks to start the next one (e.g. "March in place" and "Get low" -- skaters should continue marching while getting low unless Simon has said to stop marching).

For more advanced skaters you can remove the "Simon says..." aspect and simply have a commander-in-chief who tells the others what to do in rapid succession ("Jump, down, shuffle left, shuffle right, down, up, run, stop, back, shuffle right...").  That can transform this into a conditioning or endurance drill as well.

Additional notes: This is a fun way both to start and to end practice, and it's a good way for a skater to practice doing what they are being told (that sounds wrong but bear with me here).  Derby is a team sport and it should show when you are playing.  Even if you disagree with the strategy your teammate is commanding the pack to execute, it is better to fail as a team than to go it alone.  We need each other on the track -- the jammers need the blockers to make holes, the blockers need the jammers to score points, the blockers need the blockers to protect points.  When you are on the track it is almost *always* better to do the wrong thing as a team than the right thing by yourself, because it's like we used to say in NHRD: "When you're alone, you're a loser." As a team we can accomplish anything.  And hell, if we fail, at least I didn't fail by myself.

Obstacle Course

Alternative names: Popsicle Horse

Objective: Customizable, but a basic obstacle course is great for developing agility

Typical length of drill: 15 minutes

Materials needed: Whatever you can think of!  Lots of cones to jump over, people to juke around around, pads to step over, lines at which to perform a fall, etc.

Skill level required: None -- you can customize every obstacle course to the skill level of your skaters

Description: Decide in advance if you want your obstacle course to be a continuous loop or a one-at-a-time set up where the other skaters do squats (or something similar) while waiting in line for their turn.  Set up obstacles around the track that create situations for skaters to practice something that you have been working on recently or something that they need to work on in particular (e.g. weaving, jumping, hopping, crossovers, backwards skating, falls, slides, stops, communication, sideways skating, stepping, etc.).  Once you are finished and have demonstrated for the skaters what they should be doing through the course, let them have at it!  Run the course for as long as needed, or until everyone has gotten to try it a couple of times.  The illustrations below show examples of obstacle courses.

Illustration of a one-at-a-time obstacle course.

Illustration of a continuous obstacle course with TWO paths to choose from.

Additional notes: This is a simple classic that can be customized to whatever your needs are.  The obstacle course can incorporate both simple and complex exercises, from toe stop walking and double knee slides to hits and turns.

Dodgeball

Alternative names: Roller Dodge, Between Two Fires / Kahden tulen välissä

Objective: To get comfortable moving around on your skates; to improve your agility; to improve your reaction time; to practice playing both offense and defense at the same time (if playing with more than one ball)

Typical length of drill: 30 mins

Materials needed: Many cones or brightly colored painter's tape to mark out the different areas; one or more large, soft foam balls; 10 or more skaters divided into two separate teams

Skill level required: A command of basic skills is important so that no one gets injured

Description: Decide in advance if you will use one, two, or more balls in this game (directions below are for a game using TWO balls).

Make a large rectangle on the floor using your cones or painter's tape, and split the rectangle in half creating two facing courts.  The end zone behind each side of the court is "the field".    One player from each team is stationed in the field behind the opposing team's court (see illustration).  This way both teams are flanked by opponents on each side.  For the purpose of this explanation we will call this person "the cow".  Each cow gets a ball at the beginning of the game, and when the whistle blows, the cows are the first to start throwing the balls.  Remember to always aim BELOW the neck when you throw the ball.

The object of the game is to hit people from the opposing team with the ball in order to send them to the field.  Once all members of one team are in the field, the opposing team wins the game.

The skaters who are on the court are allowed to catch and throw the balls as well.  If a ball is caught before it hits the ground, the thrower of the ball gets sent to the field.  In advanced game play, each time a ball is caught, a member of the catcher's team is simultanously allowed to return from the field to the court (you should decide in advance if you would like to play the game with this bonus, note that it makes the game longer).  Any time a ball hits a player before hitting the ground, that person is sent to the field.  This includes failed catches.  Players on the same team are allowed to pass the ball to one another, either by throwing or rolling (and you cannot send your own teammates to the field by doing this).  Players on the court are not allowed to retrieve balls from the field and players in the field are not allowed to retrieve balls from the court.  No one is permitted to retrieve balls from the opposing team's court or field.  Players in the field are allowed to pass the ball to the players on the court, and vice versa.

In the illustration below you will see that the field extends beyond the end zone to wrap around the courts completely.  Decide in advance if you wish to allow your cows to use the whole area around the court or only the end zone behind each court.

An illustration of a team of 6 yellow skaters playing
against a team of 6 green skaters, using an extended field.

Additional notes: Roller Dodge is an actual, legitimate sport, developed by Tom Green, a retired referee for the Dallas Derby Devils.  The version portrayed here in this drill is a bit different though, this one is based on a children's game.  I learned this one from my teammates in Finland and we had an incredible time playing it.  The game was not only fun but it was a great team builder, and I think this is an excellent way to do some bonding with the referees as they too like to have fun and they too need to work on their skating skills, agility, and reaction time!

Please note: This is a drill you can also do OFF skates!

If you can dodge a wrench...

Alternative names: --
Objective: Agility, balance, reaction time
Typical length of drill: 5-15 minutes (depends on the number of participants)
Materials needed: Four cones and 1 soft ball (or ball-like substitute, i.e. bunched up shirts or socks -- having to dodge your teammates' sweaty gear makes this drill even more effective)
Skill level required: None
Description: Mark out a medium-sized square on the floor with the cones. Each skater is going to stand in the middle of this square for 60 seconds (or until they get hit out) while the other skaters try to throw the ball at them. The skater's job is to dodge, duck, and avoid the ball, making this an excellent practice in balance, agility, and reaction time. If you want to make it competitive, time all of the skaters while they are in the middle to see who can avoid being hit by the ball the longest. Alternatively, create multiple groups of three and have two skaters on the outside of the square tossing the ball to each other while trying to hit the person in the middle. This way everyone can get more time inside the square, plus the skaters on the outside get practice as well. To challenge your skaters, shrink the size of the square.
Additional notes: This is a fun and easy drill that can really help people with their reaction skills and balance. I love sneaky drills like this where you are learning things without even realizing it. You are focusing so much on the ball and where it is being tossed that you forget your are on skates. This drill is appropriate for newer skaters, and it's also great if you're struggling with a small practice space!

If you like this drill, you might also enjoy dodgeball on skates!

Pants Off Dance Off On Skates Work-Out

The following drill is a guest post by Smarty Pants of the Texas Rollergirls; she is the creator of this drill.

Alternative names: Pants Off Dance Off

Objective: Getting a great workout while having fun; improving your blocking skills

Typical length of drill: 30-60 minutes

Materials needed: 

• You will need a way to play music at a pretty good volume- think dance party.
• You will need a pretty good, upbeat dance mix. I prefer sometime from the 80s think Pretty and Pink or 90s hip-hop.
• You will need your skates and your pads if you want to skate. If you do not have access to a rink, you can do this off skates, which can be just as rewarding, simply different.
• Basically you will dance- practicing booty blocking and you will do other exercises for a set amount of time.
• I recommend at least 30 minutes if you are short on time and up to an hour if you’re also going to do something else that is active later that day.
• Be creative! Try to come up with some cool work-outs. Just imagine what would happen if you combined going out with your friends dancing with body circuits.
  

Skill level required: None

Description: I like to lead on-skates workouts that encourage skaters to sweat and exercise while having a good time and challenging their skater skills.

60 minute Pants Off Dance Off

Start with dancing for a 10-minute warm-up- pretend you are attempting to impersonate the ladies in music videos- you know the ones in short shorts and bras… I recommend the music mix start mild and build up over a 10-minute period.

Follow this warm-up with a 5-minute dynamic stretch and quick water.

Next go into hip blocking and sprinting for 10 minutes- have skaters hit hard and furious, attempting to get as many hip checks in as possible during a 60 second period, then have them sprint as many laps as possible during a 60 second period.

Throw in another 5-minute dynamic stretch and quick water.

For the next 15 minutes you will spend 60 seconds blocking on your knees (see description below), 60 seconds dancing, and 60 seconds sprinting.

• Hip blocking while kneeling is something I like to do with fresh meat who have yet to feel stable on their skates but who need to practice blocking- they can simulate many of the same movements while kneeling not having to worry about loosing their balance, but getting to hit hard.  For ladies with injured knees (hopefully not everyone…) have them stand and do regular hip blocking.

Throw in another 5-minute dynamic stretch and grab more water.
 
Finish your workout with 10-minute body circuits, 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off of the following:

• Kayak crunches
• Jack-knives
• Squats
• Right side plank
• Front to side crunches
• Left side plank
• Sculling sit-ups
• Push-ups
• Scissor kicks
• Plank

Quick 30 Pants Off Dance Off
 

Salt-n-Pepa in 1987

• 10 minute- warm-up dancing to your favorite hip-hop mix. Pretend that you are practicing to try out for a Salt n Pepper music video; you know what I’m talking about…
• 5 minutes- dynamic stretching with 2 sets of crunches for 60 seconds
• 10 minutes- 60 seconds dancing 60 seconds squatting x 5
• 5 minutes- dynamic stretching with 2 sets of crunches for 60 seconds
  

Additional notes: To see more of Smarty Pants' guest posts, click here.

Human Shield Obstacle Course

Alternative names: --

Objective: Team-building; Warm-up; Explosive energy; Agility; Fun

Typical length of drill: 10-15 mins

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line; minimum 11 participating skaters

Skill level required: None

Description: In this drill your skaters will make an obstacle course around the track for each other using their bodies.  I'm going to describe how the drill was originally set up by its creator, and then it is up to you to change it so that it suits YOUR needs.  You will need 10 people to volunteer to be the obstacles at the start of the drill, once everyone has gone through the course once you switch the obstacle -persons so that everyone gets to do it at least one time.  Here are the obstacle positions:

• 2 people balled up on the ground as turtles: You will jump over them
• 2 people standing next to each other in a wide stance, making a wall with a narrow space in the middle: You will squeeze your way through the space
• 3 people in a row with legs spread apart widely: You will crawl through the tunnel shaped by their legs
• 1 person standing really close to the inside line: You will jump/leap along the inside line to get by her/him (AND stay in bounds)
• 1 person standing at the end of the course waiting to chase you: You will run away from her/him as fast as you can, until you reach the goal line
• 1 person at the goal line to be the buddy who cheers you on the whole time and high-fives you when you cross it.  After high-fiving the buddy you stay and become the buddy for the next person going through the obstacle course.

Illustration of the set-up. Click to view larger.

This is a team-building activity and a self-esteem booster so the cheerleading buddy at the end is a totally necessary part of the course.  It also teaches the skaters how to be supportive of each other, and even helps some of them to come out of their shells.

CherryF jumps over the turtles

Coco crawls through the tunnel after she's squozen her way through the wall

When we do this with our league, many of our skaters choose to wear their knee pads while going through the course because they get so into it that when they dive (literally) into the tunnel they risk injuring themselves.  People really run through this course :)

Tigre (L) begins to chase Dyna (R) right after she has hopped over Kata (center)

Even though our version here is pretty condensed (only covers half the track) you could totally spread the people out around the track more, and really make your skaters weave around a lot, and force them to use their agility -- in the photos you might notice that the tunnel is located close to the outside line while the wall and the inside blocker are located close to the inside line.  This adds a little bit more challenge to it.  I also like to imagine a huge league doing this with like 50 skaters, all spread out in crazy ways around the track, making like this really intricate obstacle course that involve motions too, like lots of squats and the person going through the course has to wait for a certain moment in the motion to pass/jump/crawl around/behind/under the obstacle.  Perhaps we should create video game -like levels of this drill with increasing difficulty and obstacles in each level.....?

Additional notes: This drill was dreamed up by Team Finland's 2011 assistant coach, Tigre Force (pictured above).  By dreamed up I literally mean that she saw it in front of her as she was going to sleep on a warm July evening in 2011.  Tigre Force will do some guest blogging for us very soon and post other awesome drills that she's into.  She's also got a great little blog of her own called Travelling In the Name of Derby where you can read all about her derby excursions and coaching/skating experiences.