Happy Friday! (If you haven't been following RDJ on Facebook, I've been posting over there again. GASP.)

Reforming the Whirlwhip

So yesterday, we talked about Victoria’s walls off the line. Well, how do they reform those walls coming back from a runback?

Answer: Very carefully, and well-practiced. The anchor point nearest to the pack inverts, the next person connects to them via arm link and becomes a strong rear blocker.

Now, Victoria will run this play with just two blockers if that’s all they have on the track, but they can also expand with more wall members, or with returning blockers from the penalty box. If there’s a third blocker attempting the runback, they come in and lock in as a second rear blocker. The fourth blocker comes in as a brace.

This is so well-drilled that the team can even run this forward on the zone track, ahead of the pack.

From there, they can transition back into the whirlwhip of doom.

On the Victorian Whirlwhip

Let's try something fun on the blog, shall we? I've been staring at Victoria Roller Derby's walls for the last eight months, so might as well share some of what I've noticed this week for interested parties.

Dimensional and geometric walls have become a huge thing in roller derby over the last year and a half, and Victoria's geometric whirl-whip wall is just the latest bit of "oooh, shiny!" in wall-building.

But, you may notice if you've ever watched Victoria play: They don't start off the line in that terrifying three- or four-wall circular structure they use to so well entrap jammers. Instead, they start in either a four-wall rainbow formation, two two-walls, or a three-wall with two inversions.

FOUR WALL: Here's how they transition from the Rainbow to the whirlwhip, even through offense. You can set this wall up either on the back or front line. Watch what their inverted skater closest to the inside line does with her hands.

THREE WALL: Their three-wall still has two inverted blockers with strong internal arm connections. Watch how they switch to external arm connections and the circle. Again, you can set this up on the back or front line.

TWO TWO-WALLS: Victoria is exceedingly good at building walls around opposing blockers, and they do that by splitting into groups of two. Here, they look thoroughly mixed up on the jammer line, but in fact, they're in groups of twos...

... That then reform into a perfect four-wall whirlwhip.

TUESDAY: How the whirlwhip reforms from a runback.

WEDNESDAY: How the whirlwhip can be destroyed with effective offense.

Columns and Power Jams

Columns are an incredibly powerful power jam setup: You can use it to confuse your opponents as to where the O is coming from, as VRDL does here on the apex. Of course, you can also use the column setup for my new favorite thing: whirl whip clears…

Smart Reforms

Great awareness from Victorian to reform their wall after Philly jammer Brazillian Nut outjukes their rear blocker.

Mega Runback

Friend of the blog and incredible Team Canada/Terminal City skater Kar Harvey (Buffy Sainte Fury) is in the hospital with a leg injury. (Boo!) We wish her the very best and hope she recovers quickly, and in the meantime, a gif of her being awesome at the World Cup. Harvey has fast, dynamic footwork going forwards or backwards, which makes for some wonderful runbacks.

Team Canada vs Team England, 2015 Blood and Thunder World Cup

Gift Wrap the Opposing Wall

From the Canada/England 2014 World Cup game, a beautiful gift-wrap offense from Team England to get their jammer out.

The Duck-Under

Last year, my Boston pal Flyin' King created a move for getting around backwards blockers with their arms outstretched that I promptly called "The Duck-Under". (I'm bad at making up names.) Somehow, I managed to do this during Boston's 2014 home team championships, so hey, gif!

Basically: You use a mohawk transition to turn backwards, and duck as you do so to slide under their arms. Really useful as a jammer for getting around that last line of defense, but even more useful in the scenario above, to recycle to meet your wall.

Watch your back, Rose is coming for you

Hi, friends. It's been awhile. Turns out even footage junkies need an off-season to reset and get excited about roller derby again.

But, hey. Roller derby! It's fun. Example:

Space Invader, Boston's ethereal roller derby pony.

This is why you should practice one-footed turns.

Greetings from State Wars semi-finals (Florida vs Colorado). Posting a few live gifs over on the Twitter.

It's Live-Giffing Time

D1 playoffs are here, D1 playoffs are here, D1 playoffs are here...

I'm going to be live-giffing the tournaments over on Twitter, then collecting the best here on Tumblr after each weekend. Follow me on Twitter for all the fun, though! Like this excellent apex jump, from the Bear City vs Demolition City D2 opener.

Moving as one

A little coordination, some backwards laterals and avoiding over-committing can confound anyone.

(from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqkLeoxywvM&t=30m10s - with permission)