Positional Derby
During a game of roller derby, each team fields a team of (ideally) four blockers and one jammer. As coaches, we talk about what those four blockers should be attempting to do. Much like in other sports (ex. basketball) these blockers fill in different positions.
Positions are not prescribed: teams have a lot of latitude over how to arrange their forces. Based on the principles of the game, most teams use a variation of geometric defense. This is derby at it’s most fundamental and leverages two corners, a brace, and an offense.
Let’s go over these roles and talk about attributes for each.
Inside Corner
Covering the inside line is of high value, as the inside is also the shortest route around the track. You will typically see stronger gals on the inside that can resist being pushed off the line. Bo Jacks’em from Texas or Barrett from Denver are good examples.
A good inside corner needs to be sharp on their plows, and capable of resisting offense. They need to be able to take a big hit and not fold up, and better if they can give as good as they get. In my experience, inside corners tend to be stubborn and more than a little hard on themselves — a view which comes from the prevalence of offense on the inside line.
Outside Corner
On the other side of the tripod is the outside corner. Since the outside of the track is substantially longer than the inside, you often see taller gals on the outside, especially if they have good agility. Helvetica (Katie Black) from London and Cheese Grater from Montreal both rep this style of play.
An outside corner needs to be fast, and will often catch a jammer on the outside, only to track them all the way to the inside, hit them out, and then run them back all in one fluid motion. One of the most important qualities you can have in a outside corner is solid track awareness. Because they have to cover more than their share of the track, outside corners need to be particularly heads-up.
Brace
The forward leg of the tripod is the brace; rather than directly touch the jammer, they generally link up with their corners to add additional stopping power. Unlike the corners, a brace spends most of a jam inverted, directing play. Tui Lyon from Angel City or Stephanie Gentz from Jacksonville are notable braces.
A good brace needs to be a good communicator and they are frequently team captain. They also often wear the stripe that signifies they’re the pivot. Their backwards skating has to be on point, including making inverted blocks. They often end up rotating into a corner position when the wall begins to fail. Brace is consequently one of the most difficult positions to play properly.
Offense
Finally, we come to offense. For a solid year, offense was left to the side while teams developed geometric defense composed of four blockers. Once those walls became so good that jammers were unable to make headway against a properly developed four-wall, teams began to dedicate one blocker to play offense. Fast and Luce from Gotham or Dani Darko from Victorian are frequently offense for their teams.
A good offense needs to have a rapport with the jammer they’re working with, and they need to know how to hit. They also have to be mindful of where the pack is and know when to switch between hitting and guarding against any possible developments. They are frequently a free safety, waiting for play to emerge from behind them after having played offense on the team in front of them.
But What About Victorian
This is kind of a tangent, but yes, that’s a picture from a derby game at the very top level of the sport and it’s really dumb. In an effort to disguise how they were going to start, Victorian set up in each of the four corners of the start box and Rose responded by fielding two blocking teams.
Look, I don’t know what to tell you about stuff like this. There’s a whole thing about this four-corner start that I should probably write a post about but honestly, I’m almost over it. I worry that derby is about a year away from false start penalties for moving at the five-second call. Putting that all aside, these non-traditional openings pretty much always end up with classic geometric play after the start, with teams repositioning as close to the jam start as possible into more classical formations.
But What About Bay Area
On the other hand, not every team views the sport the same, and that can be a fantastic thing. For example, Bay Area has, for several years, eschewed braces, in favor of strong plows and exceptional lateral tracking. Note that they’re still using geometric defense here, but their ‘brace’ is facing the direction of play.
And there’s Philadelphia, who typically don’t use an offense, favoring an exceptional four-wall defense so strong that it can resist offense even while holding the jammer. These are decisions each team makes to vary their strategy and attempt to gain an advantage against their opponents.
There’s More
Positional defense is circumstantial. Walls get rotated, blockers get shuffled around. Being able to switch into the role the game demands of you, rather than getting stuck on only playing the one position, is a huge benefit. Some blockers may act as a corner in one line-up and a brace in another. But to do all that effectively, you have to understand what’s asked of people in each position.
And there are positions that only emerge in specific plays, such as an option blocker in a coordinated offense, or a buffer bridge defending against a power jam. This cursory review is certainly not the be-all-end-all of derby theory. It is, however, the basis of a language for talking about derby.
