The Build A Bitch II

Alternative names: -- 
Objective: To build up endurance and muscle while keeping it interesting
Typical length of drill: Unknown (please share if you know!)
Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line 
Skill level required: None 
Description: At the beginning of your training session have the skaters sprint for 30 seconds then drop and do 30 jumping jacks, 30 push-ups, and 30 crunches / abdominal leg raises.  Then go for another 30 sec. sprint, drop for 25/25/25, and continue with a 30 sec. sprint and go down to 20/20/20.  Keep going down by intervals of five on the jumping jacks, push-ups, and crunches, and when you complete the last set of 5 do another 30 sec. sprint and end with 1/1/1.  Repeat the whole series at the end of you training session.
Additional notes: This is a drill by Tara Bitch Down and Mr. Bitch Down of the Romsey Town Rollerbillies, posted with their permission.  It originally appeared on the roller derby coaches Yahoo group here.  Tara Bitch Down says "For my skaters I make them encourage each other and push each other and if I don't get that then I make them go back up the [...] pyramid of intervals until they work together to get thru it."  I have not tried this drill myself yet but I really like it on paper and I enjoyed the comment that Tara Bitch Down made in the original post: "It's tough and should make people too winded to be bored!"

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ADD's first guest blogger: Crash Test Ref

It is time for our very first guest blogger here on ADD and I'm excited to present to you: Crash Test Ref!

Crash Test Ref (copyright Bob Ayers)

Crash Test Ref started reffing in the 2007 winter season with the Terminal City Rollergirls (Vancouver, Canada).  Since then, he has attended several great training camps and reffed at several tournaments, including Roll Britannia.  He has also hosted ref training seminars for many leagues in Europe and Canada.  In 2009 he and his wife (Swiss Army Wife) teamed up with a few other skaters and founded the Zürich City Rollergirlz.  Crash comments "I'm still a student of the art of reffing myself, and I'm still learning new things every time I get the opportunity to skate with a new league or crew."

During the next two weeks Crash Test Ref will be posting referee drills on ADD, hope you all enjoy!

Chain Gang

Alternative names: Daisy Chain
Objective: To have some fun and secretly get some team building done at the same time
Typical length of drill: 10-15 mins (but this can vary a great deal)
Materials needed: None
Skill level required: None
Description: This is a variation on a regular game of tag.  One skater is appointed "IT".  The coach blows the whistle and all the skaters begin skating around the practice space, including IT (and there is no "right direction" to skate in, the whole floor should be open to skating in all directions).  IT's objective is to catch other skaters.  When IT catches a skater this skater joins hands with IT and becomes part of IT.  The two now have to work together to catch more skaters and they are only allowed to use the hands that are not touching each other.  When the next person gets caught, s/he joins hands with the person who caught her/him and becomes part of IT as well.  Now the chain of three have to work together to catch more skaters, and again they are only allowed to use the hands that are not touching, meaning, the person in the middle can't do any catching, only skating and communicating.  The next person who gets caught will also become part of IT, and so on.  Eventually there will be a really long chain of skaters holding hands making up IT, working together to catch the few remaining skaters on the floor using only their size and the hands of the two skaters on the ends of the chain.  The game ends either when all the skaters have been caught or when there is only one skater remaining and s/he is designated the winner of the game.
Additional notes: When I started working with children I learned a lot of fun group games that I noticed were totally viable on skates as well; this is one of them.  I thought this was really fun to do on skates and it was really interesting to see what kind of strategies the skaters on the chain came up with!  If you have a really large space and a really large group of skaters you can appoint two ITs at the beginning and then make it a competition between the two chains to see which one has better teamwork skills and is able to catch more skaters.

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Pyramids

Alternative names: Hot Laps
Objective: To build up strength and endurance
Typical length of drill: 20 minutes
Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line
Skill level required: None
Description: Split the group of skaters in half.  The two groups are then going to take turns sprinting on the track and doing calisthenic exercise inside the track, first for the duration of 1 lap, then 2 laps, then 3 laps, and so on, until 5 laps -- this is called going up the pyramid -- and then they come down the pyramid again and end with one final explosive lap.

To illustrate: Group A stands inside the track while Group B lines up on a designated start line on the track.  On the coach's whistle all the members of Group A immediately get into a squat position whilst all the members of Group B immediately begin sprinting.  Once everyone from Group B has completed their 1 lap the coach yells "Switch!" and that's when everyone from Group A is allowed to get out of the squat position and hustle to the start line.  On the next whistle Group A sets off sprinting while Group B holds a squat (again holding until the last person in Group A has finished).  On the next round, Group B sprints 2 laps while Group A does planks.  Then they switch.  On the third round Group B begins by sprinting 3 laps while Group A does push-ups.  Then they switch.  Etc.  Sprinters should practice using their outside voice by yelling out the number of laps completed every time they pass the start line.  This also signals to the coach and the skaters inside the track when the switch will happen.

Some calisthenics suggestions: Regular squats, hold-a-squat, push-ups, crunches, planks, side planks, leg lifts, ab straddles, hydrants, lunges.

Additional notes: Learned this one a few years ago while skating with New Hampshire Roller Derby and I believe it is a widely practiced drill.  I still heart pyramids to this day but IMO it can lose its endurance effect once skaters reach a certain level so this may be best for newer skaters or skaters who struggle with endurance.  Please comment if you agree or disagree.  Either way, I am always a big fan of anything that combines both calisthenics and skating!  I'd also like to add that this is a great drill to do in the clockwise direction.

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Just Skate

Alternative names: Lazy Coach, Coach Cop Out
Objective: To prepare skaters for the WFTDA minimum skills test; to build endurance; to practice pacing yourself; to practice proper skating form
Typical length of drill: 5 mins
Materials needed: A properly laid down track 
Skill level required: None
Description: This is basically just skating your hardest for five minutes straight and counting your own laps; like a time-trial without the pressure of an actual time-trial.  All the skaters spread out around the track and on the first whistle start skating.  Each time they pass their point of origin they count one lap.  Skaters who have done this drill more than once can use this as a way to gauge their own improvement.  Skaters should also be using this drill to learn how to pace themselves, meaning, not necessarily pushing at 100% from the start because then you might be skating at 50% in the last two minutes because you're so exhausted. 
Additional notes: This drill is aah so simple yet so effective.  Great filler at practice because it's nice an' short but still good for endurance.  This is one of those drills that I came up with myself but since it didn't require the least bit of brain-power I don't think I deserve any credit for it (it can be called "Lazy Coach" for a reason...).  When I was including this drill in practices on a regular basis I noticed that skaters really appreciated the opportunity to check in on themselves, they liked doing this drill more than once and being able to count their own laps to see if they'd improved since last we did it, or to push themselves to do better than they did last time.  It became sort of a confidence booster.

Please note that if you want to know the definite number of laps that a skater can do in five minutes (like when you're doing REAL time-trials for WFTDA testing) you need to have someone who is NOT skating counting the test-takers' laps because most skaters lose track after about lap 12 (or lap 3 if you get as distracted by the good lookin' refs as I do).

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Sniper Frogger

Alternative names: SnipeHer

Objective: To practice timing and placement of hits within the pack; to practice side stepping and moving through the pack to get to your target; to practice good communication

Typical length of drill: 10-15 minutes

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line

Skill level required: Skaters must be cleared for contact

Description: This is a variation on the drill called Frogger.  Just like in Frogger all the skaters get into one huge pack and start skating at a moderate pace.  A coach stationed inside the track starts calling out sniper assignments to the skaters (i.e. "Dread take out Tigre!" "Rose kill Bangher!" "Maura snipe KC!").  When they hear their names called the sniper skaters should immediately locate their target within the pack and then weave through the pack to get to their target and give her/him a solid hit.  Just like in regular Frogger, the snipers should communicate to the other skaters what they are doing at all times.  If your league has a secret language or use code words then this is a good chance to practice effective communication in league-speak.  During this drill the coach can also add extra challenges by varying the speed of the pack, calling out specific hits for the snipers to use (i.e. "Carmen kill JoJo with a Johnny Crash!" "Suzy take out Ana with a hip hit!"), or calling out directions in rapid succession making several skaters move though the pack and place hits at the same time.

Additional notes: I originally read about a drill like this on the Via Derby forum a long time ago but now I can't for the life of me seem to find the original post so I apologize for not being able to give appropriate credit here.  If anyone has information, I'll gladly accept it.  Other than that, this is a really fun drill that seems to put skaters in a good mood, and it's a great albeit tedious way to practice communication.  IMO over-communicating at practice = better chance of skaters actually communicating when it actually matters.

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Frogger

Alternative names: --

Objective: To get comfortable moving within a pack; to practice good communication
Typical length of drill: 15 minutes

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line

Skill level required: None

Description: All the skaters get into one huge pack (depending on the amount of skaters you have at practice you may want to split the group into two smaller packs skating on opposite sides of the track) and start skating at a moderate pace.  A coach stationed inside the track starts calling out names of skaters and what position they should move to within the pack (i.e. "Blaster to the outside!" "Tank to the back!" "Falcon and Banana trade places!" "Karl touch Bob!").  When they hear their names the skaters should immediately follow direction and at the same time loudly communicate what they are doing (i.e. "Coming up through the middle, give me some space!" "Moving to the outside!" "Dropping back!" "Moving up to the front, open up the inside line!").  During this drill the coach can also add extra challenges such as calling out directions in rapid succession making several skaters move around at the same time, or varying the speed of the pack(s).  Skaters should also be paying attention to the two-stride proximity during this drill so occasionally yelling something like "Touch two!" is a good idea.

Additional notes: This is a very basic drill best suited for freshmeat.  I know this one is practiced in many leagues so I'd love to know what some of the alternative names for it are!

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Stop, Drop & Roll

Alternative names: --

Objective: To practice getting up off the ground quickly; to get used to skating as fast as you can in short bursts; to build endurance and strength

Typical length of drill: 7 minutes timed

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line

Skill level required: Skaters must know how to stop effectively

Description: The skaters all sprint around the track and on each whistle blow they immediately drop to the floor and do five push-ups followed by five crunches in rapid succession.  Then the skaters jolt back up and go back to sprinting around the track.  Typically the skaters get about 15 seconds of sprinting in-between the calisthenics.

Additional notes: This is a really simple drill but really good for exercising and exhausting skaters.  I learned it while skating with New Hampshire Roller Derby and when coaching Helsinki Roller Derby we used this drill during every freshmeat training period to show the freshmeat at the very beginning that roller derby is definitely a sport.  Counting all the push-ups and crunches out loud together helps the quiet skaters practice their outside voice and keeps everyone going at the same rapid pace.  I'd also like to add that this is a great drill to do in the clockwise direction.

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Blocker Hell

Alternative names: --

Objective: To build up endurance and stamina; to build up muscles

Typical length of drill: 15 minutes

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line

Skill level required: Skaters must know how to stop effectively

Description: This is a variation on the Jammer Hell -drill.  All the skaters skate around the track at 80% capacity for two full minutes, then do 30 seconds of plyometrics or calisthenics (i.e. planks, push-ups, crunches, flood kicks, ab straddles, etc.).  Repeat this cycle until the 15 minutes have gone by.

Additional notes: I learned this drill at Rally in the Valley 2010, Germany's first roller derby bootcamp organized by the Stuttgart Valley Roller Girlz.  At the camp it was used as a warm-up exercise.  Although you are not sprinting at 100% during this drill it can sill be considered an endurance drill (particularly for blockers who don't usually skate at 100% during a game anyway) since you are skating quite hard for quite a long time.  This drill can of course also be lengthened to make it more endurancy.

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Jammer Hell

Alternative names: --

Objective: To build up endurance and stamina; to feel what it’s like to be a jammer;  to practice proper skating form

Typical length of drill: 20 minutes is a full Jammer Hell but this drill can be shortened (or lengthened) depending on the wishes / needs of the coaches or skaters, or the time available

Materials needed: A full track or just four cones to mark the inside track line

Skill level required: None, but if you have a mix of really green skaters and advanced skaters it's important that you remind the advanced skaters to communicate their whereabouts at all times because many green skaters have been known to get scared / uncomfortable during this drill when the fast advanced skaters zoom by at close proximities without warning

Description: All skaters sprint around the track for a full two minutes, then coast for 30 seconds; repeat this cycle eight times.

Additional notes: It's called Jammer Hell because it's really exhausting to sprint at full speed for a full two minutes over and over and over again.  It's important that skaters hydrate before and after this drill.  This can also be a good drill to practice basic skating skills since that's essentially all the skater is doing for 20 minutes.

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