Kitt Turbo Says

Dear W.F.T.D.A Rules Committee

2008-07-11T17:18:28Z

3.0 rules are being enforced incorrectly and there should be an immediate recommendation posted regarding a change to the following:
(And I've got a suggestion on how to fix it...read on.)

6.2.10.4 A skater improving her position by re-entering the pack from out-of-bounds in front of multiple skaters.
6.2.10.5 A skater improving her position by re-entering the pack from out-of-bounds in front of the foremost opposing Blocker.

Why did we make this rule? To stop players from intentionally cutting the track--taking a minor when their cut had a major impact on the game. We wanted to stop that, and and this rule did but with some serious unintended game-changing consequences. Players are now focusing on forcing major fouls. Its the only rule that gives potential power to the opposing team to actually draw MAJORS on their opposing team. And a major on a jammer has a WAY BIGGER impact on the game than a track cut around the last player. Not to mention the insane can of worms regarding how to fairly call and when to fairly call this major.

The Way It's Called Now
The way it is being called now is : 'at the moment the players are past or the track is cut..',: which has been clearly (currently) defined as EXACTLY when ANY part of their body becomes back in-bounds. This has opened up two horrible cans of worms:

How and when to call it is being disputed by refs the country over.
Teams training on 2001 ways to exploit this rule -- thereby changing the way the game is played. This is not and never should an outcome of a rule change, in my humble opinion. This is only due to the insanely strict way this is being enforced--hit girl out of bounds on the inside HARD and voila! if she doesn't bail onto the ground--MAJOR. Awesome! (no.)

THE FIX
There are two different types of cutting:jammer cutting and blocker cutting, and the advantages are gained in slightly different ways at slightly different times but you can call them with the same rule basic rule of thumb-- Call it at the point and advantage is clearly gained. Sprinkle that with a little interpretation of intent and you've got a much simpler-to-call, less exploitable, totally effective rule that helps the game.

Jammer doing the cutting:
How to call it: Call it when they don't yield the advantage. Just like a false start.

Call it a Major: If the jammer doesn't go back and re-pass those player--ie she skates away thinking she just got away with something--whistle and a Major.

Don't call it: If she gets hit out of bounds on an inside corner (probably just to draw the major... ) but then instantly drops her position back behind those skaters and re-passes them in bounds--No Major impact, no Major call.

Blocker doing the cutting:
How to call it: Call it when they don't yield the advantage. Just like a false start.

Call it a Major:If they pass and don't immediately rectify the situation i.e.; drop back out of bounds and re-assume their original position, then that's gaining a major advantage and has a major impact on the game--Major.

Don't call it a major: If they are hit out of bounds and immediately drop back re-establish their original position, no major. They were hit out of bounds.

Why:

Make it a bit of a judgment call for the refs--which is actually a GOOD thing. Because then blockers can't count on it being called a major and will shy away from TRYING to draw the foul. If a couple of majors get missed in this fashion is better than extra majors getting called that were unintentional.
Get's us back to the reason this rule was made: If a skater intentionally cuts the track and gains the advantage they will be sent to the box.
Less penalties = Better game play
More penalties just called for the sake of calling them = poor game play and rules-exploitation-based game play.

This rule as it's currently being called is not in the spirit of the game.
I love all you refs and rules geeks. Count me among your biggest fans.

XO Kitt.

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Jammer + Narrow wheels?

2008-04-28T19:27:50Z

Me = Jammer.

Radar Zodiacs

New Wheels. These are narrow. They don't collect the muzz* yet they are grippy enough for the crap floor we skate on**. It has always been a drama: hard = no muzz but no grip. Soft = no grip because of muzz magnet-ing.

Narrow was the big question. I can say the following:

1. Narrow has made me feel way more maneuverable. (or it could be partly because I have such fabulous grip where once I had none). And just for the record: I was no slouch before--seriously, I just feel way more wily.

2. I maaaay may may maybe may feel a tad bit slower. Either from the push or from the softness. But really for me the wily (at this point) trumps the flat out speed on our track. It's not like you're really racing outside of the pack for very long. Mostly you're trying not to get laid out and scoring mad points.

*Muzz : Man-fuzz, the fuzz on the the track presumably left by the (predominantly male) hockey players, likely their body hair. Mmm.

**Crap floor: sport court that is rarely, if ever cleaned or swept.

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2007 Dust Devil Tournament

2007-03-05T07:19:48Z

So this time -- I went as a skater. Finally. I can't believe it but the truth is/was, it was the first time I had *skated* in a bout (that wasn't a scrimmage) against a team from another league. That was weird considering I've been a skater for 3 years. But, you pregnancy.

So! Pikes Peek-- big win. Rat City -- big loose. But then, Rat City's been training really hard and they are out to win it all -- and they did. Congratulations, Rat City.

It was so awesome. I hadn't skated that hard in over a year and it felt so good. I had a huge bruise on my ass and got checked to the ground a bunch and I loved every minute of it.

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Kids and Shirts and Captain Kitt

2006-11-27T15:50:00Z

Not in that order.

Well, I am a captain again. This Thursday we, the coaching comittee will announce the new teams and their captains. It's going to be... different.

In other--not-so-insignificant news. I have been skating again. Though infrequently due to a breastfed baby who is totally nose-up to all variety of artificial feeding implements. That is to say: no bottles. DAMNIT. hrmph. Still working on it. It's good to be... sort of back.

And last but not least. I got a wild hair up my arse to do this: Derby Girl Store. So get on it and buy your derby wife a holiday gift. Oh, and give me some feedback.

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Bumbershoot Tournament

2006-09-07T10:37:00Z

Well, my ladies are back home. A little bruised but none the worse for wear. I wasn't there myself. From what I hear--we have some work to do. The competition was fierce.

The question is: how do we get better faster than everyone else gets better?

Is it a matter of recruiting? Is it a matter of coaching?

Recruiting: Catch the eye of the "athlete"... ?
Coaching: We coach ourselves for the most part right now. We are learning a lot as we go. We bring in outside coaches for clinics but currently we don't allocate any part of our budget (or energy for the most part) on getting and keeping an outside coach.

It's an interesting quandary. I can't wait to hear what our coaching committee comes up with.

Meanwhile:

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The good old days

2006-07-21T11:13:00Z

Those were the days. Before the rope lights.

The league's second game.

You're all growns up and you're all growns up. I haven't been to a practice on months. It's really killing me. I don't have anything interesting to write about yet... except that I am excited for the bebe and excited about re-entry to derby.

Sounds like there's going to be some changes in the coming year in terms of how we create teams. Stay tuned (as if there is anyone tuning) for details.

Also check the messageboards at www.bayareaderbygirls.com for pictures from the last bout...

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The All-Star Bout--Coach Kitt part Deux

2006-07-07T04:44:00Z

We beat the Sin City crew a lot to a little. It was a blast. There wasn't much I needed to do. The SF All Star crew really had it under control. We worked out a line up. I cheered and jeered from the bench. And they did the rest. Rock on ladies.

The next bout is July 15th. People should be there.

As for 'skater kitt' she's really getting antsy. The new arrival should arrive around the first week in September. Much like his older brother. I am hoping to get back on skates within a month of his birth. But god knows how that's going to work out.

Baby on the rink. Tits on demand. Skates on the feet.

roll out.

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B.A.D. Ass Bout

2006-04-04T04:00:00Z

April Fool's Day, 2006 shared it's glory with the 2nd bout of the 2006 B.A.D. Season. Oakland lost to San Francisco by one point in the final jam of the bout. Nail-biter, I tell you.

I was announcing, for the first time in my life. It was a blast. Though, someone came up during the first break and gave me a load of shit for screeching in her ear. She happened to be sitting 4 feet from the giant speaker. I wasn't quite sure what this 50 year old woman expected me to do exactly. But none the less. I had a good time.

The entire purpose of this post is to commend the teams, the league, the volunteers, and the fucking bout coordinator and staff. Oh! And the rinkydinks—who are just amazing. The whole crew really came together on this one. From what I heard, since we didn’t spend money on bands, we spent money on things like: tarps (making it possible to have drinks on the rink (thank god)), rope lights (making our track look sooo much better), and last but not least—a better sound system.

It was hands down the best event we've had. And of course, we sold out. And we sold out without bands, so in case there were any questions about what people came to see. There you have it. They came to see roller derby--the way we play it. Rock on B.A.D. Girls. I can't wait to get back in the saddle.

Kitt

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Tucson Dust Devil Tournament

2006-03-01T16:40:00Z

It was pretty awesome.

I thought I'd be pissed not playing. (Maybe more on that later) But I went as a coach. And as the head coach for the last month or so, and being center track with a team of women who are skating their asses off, leads me to believe there will be life after derbygirl in the form of derbycoach. It was actually pretty damn gratifying.

So here's the breakdown for those of you not up to speed:

The Dust Devil Tourn was the first national flat track derby tournament ever.
It was held in Tucson from the 24th through the 26th of February 2006.
The winner could hold claim to being the best flat track travel team in the nation.

So the way the tournament worked was:

Three days, 20 teams
First day:

4 pools of 5 teams each playing a round robin
Each pool was seeded with teams 1-5, 1 being the top ranked team 5 being the lowest ranking team.
The seedings where based on how long the league had been around, and how many inter-league bouts they had played.
The top 3 teams will advance to the second day.
(We were seeded 5th of the 5 in our pool--good luck, right?)

Second day:

Single elimination begins.
Two rounds

Third day:

Semi Finals
Finals (for 3rd place and for 1st place)

So there we were. Looking up at our pool:

Arizona Roller Derby
Mad Rollin’ Dolls
Windy City Rollers
Dallas Derby Devils
B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls

Yep. There we are. The youngest, least experienced team on the board. Here's how Day one panned out:

Dallas Derby Dolls vs. BAD 15 to 21
Mad Rollin Dolls vs. BAD 27 to 14
Chicago Windy City Rollers vs. BAD 6 to 26
Arizona Roller Derby vs. BAD 25 to 25

So, we won 2, tied 1, and lost one. But look who we tied?! The first place seed. We lost to the second place seed. Every other pool of 5, the top three seeds advanced... very predictably. In our pool, team 1, team 2 and... team 5! advanced to the second day. Rock us.

We got the short straw for the second day two fold. We were to check in at 7am (guah) and play Carolina. Whom we watched completely trounce their competition the first day save for Minnesota. In the end, we lost to Carolina that fated morning, but not without a fight: 107 to 77.

Arizona, that team we tied ended up in 3rd place over all.

What does all this mean. Not a ton. But for a league that's only been around a year, has had zero inter league bouts, and has only had two home bouts: We kick some major fucking ass.*

*And that was without me skating. ;)

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Flyering: Are we Pornographic?

2006-01-16T13:05:00Z

Jesus! No! We're not pornographic. For the love of all that is decent. It's a goddamned sport. It's no more pornographic than women's basketball or soccer. Sure we ham up our femininity more. But that's all.

This girl last night at the Sleepy Time Guerrilla Museum show, who was standing with 4 man-folk around her in a semi-circle, looked at me like I was wearing pasties at church when I gently, even somewhat meekly, asked the group; "Would any of you guys be interested in seeing all women's roller derby in Oakland at the end of the Month?" "Um, no. Thanks. [smirk]" said the girl, clearly speaking for all six people present. "These guys (as if I was asking only the men-folk) are sensitive guys."

God. The hundreds of retorts I came back with--all too late. Followed by hundreds of just plain questions I now hold for her and her sensitive male entourage. The top on my list, of course, being: What is it that lead her to believe that her "sensitive" friends would not be interested in "roller derby". Yeah, I put the quotes on both of those words for a reason, ok. What does she mean by sensitive? And what does she think all women's roller derby entails?

Perhaps I am reading too much into this. Perhaps she's just a bitch. Perhaps her therapist's been out of town in Bermuda for a couple of weeks. Perhaps she thinks it's too violent for sensitive hipsters.

But my real point is: Was it something I said?
(or was it the pasties?)

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