when announcing is more than announcing.

Professor Plutonium (at right) working with one of the funniest announcers, Rebel Without A Pulse, last fall.

Like anything in roller derby, announcing is a lot more complicated than it looks. It’s not about just showing up, picking up a mic and describing the action. It involves a lot of preparation and perspiration.

The preparation is key. Knowing the game well enough to explain it and anticipate the action makes everything easier. My announcing partner, J-RockIt, was there for the founding of the Oz Roller Girls, plays the sport well and understands it inside and out. I’ve been reffing for about a year and a half now which has provided exposure to rules, strategies and tactics … as well as the stories and strengths of our skaters.

But preparation also means hours of work behind the scenes before any bout. As lead announcer, my duties include preparing a full script and rundown. It unfolds via an multitab Excel document — learned from Jenny Tonic of the Crown City Royal Pains — that includes the basic script and schedule, intros for both teams, derby demo, sponsors, thank yous and other notes. The more info we can receive in advance, the better.

I write tagline intros for both teams (such as “You can’t handle the spice of … #226, Crushed Red Pepper”), which promote them and give them a little more of the spotlight. Some are good, some are cheesy, some feature pretty painful puns, but they are all intended only to help put the girls over for the audience.

Come bout day, I make sure we have two printed scripts, one for J and one for me. Then we always have to make last-minute edits; lineups change, logistical curveballs arise, people provide additional things to promote, etc. We mainly use the script for pregame and then refer to it for promotional announcements … the rest of the time, J-RockIt and I are calling what we see, providing more insight and doing what we can to get the crowd involved.

In addition, I’ve started keeping a linescore which helps with writing the bout recap. It simply involves noting who the jammer was for each team and what the score was at the end of the jam. I try to turn around the bout recap for ozrollergirls.org within 24 hours, and this helps. Receiving more information through the official bout stats can really help if the recap also becomes a news release. The stats are good because otherwise the story necessarily talks mostly about jammers, but with the stats I can see what blockers were on the track for a really high-scoring jam … and since blockers are important unsung heroes, it’s good when we can recognize them.

But I would be remiss not to give credit to and appreciation for the other announcers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. The aforementioned Jenny Tonic let me shadow her before my first bout and I learned so much. Rebel Without A Pulse — who is, unfortunately for fans everywhere, retiring after this season — announced a few bouts with me and he’s one of the funniest guys in the business. J-RockIt brings so much intelligence, humor and enthusiasm to every bout, making each game we call a joy. I’ve learned something from every announcer I’ve worked with either at home and on the road, and have enjoyed every experience.

Because announcing is more than just announcing, and it’s everyone else — including the fans — who make it worth doing.

return to rochester, where it began.

This weekend the Oz Roller Girls play in Rochester, and I return to the place where roller derby first captured my heart: The Dome Arena, where Roc City’s B Sides will host Oz in the first half of Saturday’s Attack of the 50 ft. Jammer doubleheader.

We can thank my friend Colleen, aka Col Lision of Roc City’s 19th Wardens NSO crew for being there in the first place. A bunch of us higher ed web geek types were having a gathering in Rochester and Colleen put an intraleague bout between two of Roc City’s house teams — the 5-H8-5s and the Rotten Chesters — on the schedule.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew the sport was real, not like its sports-entertainment antecedent that cheesed up TV screens a few decades ago. But I had no idea the level of skill, athleticism and teamwork involved — to say nothing of the incredible fan experience — until that night.

And what a bout it was. Back and forth over and over, and I picked up a rooting interest in the 5-H8-5s that made it even more thrilling. Finally it came down to the final jam and it looked like the Rotten Chesters had it sewn up with a small lead and the 5-H5-5 jammer with time left in the penalty box. But one of the 5-H8-5 blockers put a huge hit on the Rotten Chester jammer, who ended up crawling off the track and appearing to throw up, while the 5-H8-5 jammer jumped out of the box and grabbed just enough points to win. I’d seen a lot of thrilling sports moments, but that one was so electric.

After meeting the Oz Roller Girls, volunteering and becoming very involved, I’ve seen my share of amazing finishes here. Like when Oz showed perfect teamwork to hold on for a last-second win against the Black River Rollers. Or when they won the inaugural Triple D Tournament with an amazing last-jam come-from-behind win over the Bluestockings in the championship game.

Even more interestingly, I return to Rochester as part of the announcing team for the B-Sides vs. Oz match, working with Roc City’s awesome production crew. Will more last-second magic take place when these two teams square off? Hard to say, but in this enchanting place I wouldn’t rule out anything.

farewell, fair floor.

Last Thursday, we bade a bittersweet farewell to the portable sport floor we’d rented the past six months. Its sendoff, at the end of a practice, was another one of those all-hands-on-deck barn-raising types of events where pretty much the whole league pitched in to take the squares up and pile them on pallets for the Roc City Derby folks to pick up. Many hands made for light work, and I like that it’s an occasion where refs, NSOs and skaters can all work together … and in some cases interact with our newest league members in training (nuggets) for perhaps the first time.

Coach Flyin Phil made the point that the sport floor aided the team because the fast surface helped build and refine skills more than possible than the previous (and now, alas, our current) linoleum flooring of our space, a former dollar store. The better surface also allowed us to host better scrimmages, a key part of developing up-and-coming skaters. We definitely want to get or rent another floor at some point in the future. These floors are expensive, so it may take some time, but we’ve come to the conclusion it would be a great investment.

So farewell, fair floor. You made us better as a team — and, during installation and packing up, brought us together as a team. For all that, I know I’ll remember you fondly.

derby promotion from the classroom.

We recently recruited the students in my BRC 328: Media Copywriting class to help promote our upcoming Open House on March 25. Special guest speakers Crushed Red Pepper and Kannonball Kat-astrophe from the Oz Roller Girls came in to speak about why they started playing, as well as the physical and psychological benefits of derby. We also showed Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of our Everyday Superheroes web serial.

What was in it for the students? In mostly two-person teams, they competed for extra credit … but moreover it gave many experience in using InDesign and Photoshop. And it was more fun than another lecture or less stimulating exercise.

This was the grand-prize winner, from Sarah Argus and Stephanie Polselli. It’s a real home run in its animated rollergirl — in the superhero theme — coupled with a simple but effective style. As promised, we’ve been using it in promoting the Open House, which invites the community to learn more about derby, see some game demonstrations and meet members of the league.

The second-place submission, from Jeffrey Donahue and Dominic Frezza, employed a photo of Insane Assilem (rollergirls liked how bad@$$ she looks) and again used a simple high-contrast execution. The question to catch the eyes and interest is good.

The only trio in the assignment, Amber Hammonds, Lauren Maio and Shannon Rosata, put a lot of work into crafting the copy around this dominant classic skates/roller rink image. The phrase “Haters gonna hate, skaters gonna skate” actually shows up in the third installment of the video series.

So we spread the word of derby a bit, students exercised their creativity and the Oz Roller Girls received an attractive flyer to promote Open House. Talk about a win all around!

all about team … on the track and beyond.

The Oz Roller Girls rolled up their ninth straight win over the weekend, topping the Kingston Derby Girls’ Skateful Dead 200-124, but what really stood out to me was the teamwork that happened away from the eyes of the audience.

Our season opener involved our rented sport floor in a place we’d never played, the historic Oswego YMCA Armory. This required a veritable army of volunteers — rollergirls, refs, NSOs, volunteers and family members — to dissemble the floor at our OzZone facility, transport it across town, put it down in the Armory and then take the floor up again … all in one day. The whirlwind began at 11 a.m. with breaking the floor into 3 x 4 sections of tile at our facility, and we somehow had the floor down at the Armory within a couple of hours. Then after the exciting bout, a range of volunteers — including Kingston skaters and fans as well — broke the floor up again, stacked it, put it in vehicles and offloaded it our facility.

All that work notwithstanding, the Armory was a fabulous place to hold our first bout of the season. The seating is closer and makes for a more intimate experience. The layout, to me, made the fans much more a part of the bout. The acoustics are better … although we needed a hearty assist from Mike (aka Mr. J-Rock-It) of sponsor Dynamic Sound and Security to run in equipment to make sure we could be heard.

For the bout itself, I had a great bird’s-eye view from the balcony to call the action. We also had marvelous contributions by the World’s Most Dangerous Sideline Reporters, as Certified Public Assassin and Insane Assilem, both out with knee injuries, lent their expertise and personality to calling the action (and even volunteered to try their hands at wheelchair basketball with Move Along Inc. at halftime). Our new music man, DJ Atomic, handled his debut appearance with aplomb and picked things up very quickly.

The girls and guys from Kingston were awesome guests, right down to the dozens of fans who crossed the border with them. I’d like to think the whole night was a lot of fun for all involved. And, in large part, that was made possible by a huge team of volunteers who truly deserve an ovation.

roller derby invades academia.

With the way roller derby continues to explode in popularity and cultural cache, sooner or later it was bound to invade the academic realm. Well, at least that happened with the Oz Roller Girls not once but twice last week.

From left, Crushed Red Pepper, Kannonball Kat-astrophe and Short Fuze getting all academic on the topic of roller derby.

Three of our rollergirls — Crushed Red Pepper, Kannonball Kat-astrophe and Short Fuze — presented a panel (moderated by yours truly) titled “Confessions of an Oz Roller Girl: Sportsmanship in Booty Shorts” at SUNY Oswego’s fourth annual Sportsmanship Day Symposium. Our talk was in a late slot, so the crowd was modest, but audience members were very interested and asked many questions.

Clearing up the biggest misconception — that this is a very real sport and not the staged theatrics of the ’70s — was a key point, as well as the amount of work to succeed and the amazing sisterly bond among not only one’s own team but with rollergirls in other leagues. Since CRP, Kat and Shortie have been regular SUNY Oswego students for the past few years who no one would have taken as derby girls, that dispelled the notion this was a sport of colossal brutes.

The symposium’s organizer, sociology professor and prolific author Tim Delaney, planned to definitely start discussing roller derby in his Sociology of Sports class and added if a book he and co-author Tim Madigan wrote on sports sociology goes into a second edition they would include roller derby in it. Those present seemed quite keen to catch a bout, which could then help more with word of mouth. All in all, quite a win.

CRP and Kat also visited my BRC 328: Media Copywriting class to help my students with an extra-credit assignment. The scenario: The Oz Roller Girls were the client, and the students (in mostly groups of two) were creative teams asked to create flyers to promote our March 25 open house/recruitment event. Thus their task included finding out from the rollergirls why people would join, and turning the results into creative, eye-catching and accurate flyers.

The results of the student contest? Coming in the next blog entry. Stay tuned!

we’re having a derby baby.

My strange journey into roller derby has already seen many twists and turns. We now can add the biggest: I’m going to be a derby dad.

My lovely and talented girlfriend Amy, aka Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, came over a week ago today with the most amazing news of my life: We have a future derby girl or ref on the way. I’m still a bit dazed, but very happy.

Since she’s due in October, Amy won’t be able to skate the rest of the season, but already has been invited to bench manage our home opener, March 10 vs. the Kingston Derby Girls’ Skateful Dead squad. You can take the girl out of derby, but it’s not as easy to take the derby out of the girl.

Reaction of the other skaters and the league has been enthusiastic. Very enthusiastic. There may have been squeals. Followed by discussions of a baby shower and other ways to be involved along the way. Our child will enjoy a large group of crazy derby aunts, which is awesome.

Not sure what else I have to say right now except: Wow. The journey gets more and more amazing.

‘everyday superheroes,’ the making of a semi-animated action adventure.

If you told me about a year ago I’d write and direct a semi-animated superhero-themed video series on the Oz Roller Girls, I’d likely say you were crazy. But crazy is the currency of derby, it seems, and so this week we launched the first episode of “Everyday Superheroes,” a six-webisode serial promoting the league, its skaters and the sport.

I woke up one morning with a strange idea for a web video series to promote Oz where the rollergirls would play everyday superheroes. In addition to the intended cheesiness, a somewhat serious message that anyone can be a hero underpins the cheeky humor and slapstick action scenes. The atmosphere is loosely inspired by the old Saturday-morning superhero serial Electra Woman and Dyna Girl as well as ’60s-era Batman campiness.

With generally supportive feedback from the rollergirls, I roughed out six scripts tied to our schedule — the expositive Episode 1 is generic and related to recruitment, while the next five installments promote our five home bouts. But the whole project kicked up a notch when the talented Phillip Moore, a recent SUNY Oswego grad and friend of the league, came on board.

He came up for the idea to use rotoscope-type animation that gives the series such a distinctive look. Phillip showed me two versions of one episode — one with the animation, one without — and the version with the comic-book look hit the mark. He worked on touches like J-Rock-It’s glowing star to add to the awesome.

The Oz Roller Girls look over scripts during our filming session. (Lindi Himes photo)

The filming, complete with hapless guards (I’m one of them) getting pummeled in fight scenes, came together in about two hours on a Sunday. A call for various props returned countless comical weapons and costume pieces. Some of the most amusing bits were developed by the rollergirls themselves, which made the creative process even more enjoyable.

The adventure ahead will involve combat, cliffhangers, peril and escape, skating skills, a final showdown and a surprise twist ending. Very much looking forward to sharing the whole series with the world!

warming up the community.

Over the weekend, a hearty contingent of the Oz Roller Girls league participated in the annual Warm Up Oswego festival. Some of us ran in the Hot2Trot 2K, others skated it and others ambled menacingly in Star Wars-themed outfits. The intergalactic warriors also took part in a crazy costumed sled race. The temperatures were unseasonably warm, but I don’t think anyone (with the possible exception of snow sculpture organizers and enthusiasts) complained one bit.

Warm Up Oswego is one of a range of events the Oz Roller Girls take part in. One of their first, participating in the 2010 Oswego Independence Parade, served as my introduction to the group and the rest is history. So it’s hard to underestimate the value of community events where people can meet and speak with rollergirls and other representatives. Pictures in the paper, posters and postings on Facebook are all important … but live interaction is the most effective. We may have to pick and choose our public events, since everyone has such busy lives already, but when we can make an appearance, it reaps benefits.

Participating in community events can allow the world to see that these rollergirls are their friends, neighbors and fellow citizens. I’d say it would show that rollergirls are “normal people,” but the picture above and experiences say otherwise. We can answer the frequent questions: yes, it’s a real sport; yes, anyone can participate; yes, men can be involved as refs, non-skating officials and other volunteers.

Education about roller derby, whether we want to admit it or not, is still a big part of continuing to gain acceptance. If you come to a bout, you’ll probably get hooked. But getting people beyond misperceptions about the sport and hesitancy to try something new is the first big obstacle. So getting out and about, generating interest in the sport and overcoming those barriers make our part in things like Warm Up Oswego worth the effort. Or it just gives people an excuse to dress up as Star Wars characters. Whatever works.

on leveling up and the importance of scrimmaging.

It may not be spring, but we have skaters sprouting wings into Level 2, cleared for competition, and ready to fly into the fray of roller derby. Thus Saturday’s scrimmage vs. the Rockin’ Rural Roller Girls represented a major milestone for several Oz Roller Girls.

Within the past few weeks, we graduated five promising skaters from nuggets (known as “fresh meat” in some leagues) to Level 2s: AJent Mayhem, Ammie Oakley, Destruc-Shan, Lady RedKat and Natron. And while Destruc-Shan sufstained an injury and was unable to compete, it was also the first scrimmage for Rue B. Revolver, coming off a knee issue. Plus Kannonball Kat-astrophe was able to see extended scrimmage action for a the first time in a while, having battled an assortment of injuries. Thus about half the skaters on the roster and in the photo above really needed the experience this bout brought.

In all the blogs and other discussions on roller derby, you don’t hear about scrimmages much. But it’s hard to overstate their importance in building skaters and teams. They’re not as glamorous as bouts with all the fans and show biz aspects, but scrimmages away from the eyes of the public build skaters for the big shows. The Oz Roller Girls’ willingness to play a heavy scrimmage schedule was one of the keys to a successful debut season last year. Since every team needs to develop a strong base of skaters at all levels, scrimmages provide important stepping stones to newer skaters on the path to getting rostered for bouts.

Looking around Facebook on Saturday morning showed some anxiety and butterflies among our half-dozen less-experienced skaters. They definitely worked it out on the track, each doing plenty of things well — including Rue B. Revolver dishing out the hit of the night! Oz earned the 204-92 win, although scores don’t mean as much as the experience both sides, and their new skaters, earned. How friendly was the event? Oz coach Flyin Phil hosted a half-hour joint practice before the scrimmage to help both teams. And some of the Rockin Rurals stayed overnight to fully enjoy the Oz after party and hospitality. As I’ve said before, roller derby is unlike other sports with the connections between various leagues … and scrimmages are yet another way to create bonds between leagues.

Where do the new skaters go from here? Our first home bout looms on March 10 vs. the Kingston Derby Girls’ Skateful Dead squad. Will any of them crack the roster for this, our first international match? Stay tuned.