Alex Cohen: NPR host AND Roller Derby Trainer? Cool.

From: The Wall Street Journal

By Michelle Kung

Getty

A roller derby girl gears up.

By day, Alex Cohen hosts “All Things Considered” for station KPCC in Los Angeles. By night, however, the former NPR reporter tears around an angled track as a rock ‘em, sock ‘em roller derby girl. A long-time champion of the sport, which was invented in Depression-era America and revived in Austin, Texas in 2000, Cohen was tapped by the producers of the upcoming derby film “Whip It” to teach its leading ladies how to authentically scrimmage and take a fall. She recently spoke to the Journal about how she became involved with the sport, working with “Whip It” star Ellen Page, and how she picked her derby name “Axles of Evil.”

The Wall Street Journal: When did you first become interested in derby?

Alex Cohen: I first started getting interested in 2003. I was taking a trip to Austin and initially thought to myself, if I do a story while I’m out there, I can write it off as a business trip. But I ended up hanging out with the girls, interviewing them, seeing a couple games, and at the end of it, was really depressed that I couldn’t play in L.A. because it really called out to me. But sure enough, a couple of months after I got back to L.A., I was at a gallery in Silver Lake and my husband handed me a flier with the contact info for a new L.A. league. It was a lot of fate.

How did you become involved with the film “Whip It”?

The filmmakers knew they needed a trainer so they came to the Derby Dolls, and I was selected. So I trained with Ellen for a couple months, and then it kept evolving. Soon after, I was training Drew and all the other actresses as well, and they brought me out to Michigan [where they shot], and I ended up becoming a consultant as well. It was a very organic thing.

Ellen was first to start, in April of last year. It was a crash course, and because derby is team sport, after she got the basics down, we brought in some of the other Derby Dolls and she had practice scrimmaging, and learning to skate with people around her. In all, she trained about three months or so before we went to Michigan.

Of all the actresses on the film, who was the best skater?

They all learned remarkably well. Kristen Wiig, on one of the first days, said she remembered doing a certain move as a kid, and pulled out this maneuver called “shoot the duck,” where you’re basically in a low crouch and one leg is jutting forward. It was amazing, because there are girls who have been skating for years who can’t do that. Zoe Bell, who’s a stuntwoman, is ridiculously fit and talented. I remember her asking the training team how to do a 360 degree jump and we said no, because we physically couldn’t do it at our level [of skill]. But she fiddled around with it and figured it out on her own, and you can see her doing it in the movie.

Exactly how wide-spread is derby now?

Oh, it’s everywhere — there are more than 400 leagues throughout the world, from Stuttgart, Germany, to New Zealand, to Abu Dhabi, to this tiny little town in Sioux Falls. Some cities, like L.A. even have multiple leagues that operate and function. This current incarnation started in 2001, and there was a huge spike a couple years ago after A&E did the realty show “Roller Girls.”

Given how mainstream roller derby is getting, do you miss when the sport was more cult-y?

It’s a double-edged sword — I think that the sport has changed so much already, and there are those of us from the early days that miss when it was smaller. Now it’s more common, and there are practical complications to having so many more people around. Derby names, for example. There’s only so many funny, interesting names and there are already 60,500 names officially registered. Other growing pains of the sport getting bigger are that there are now girls who show up simply because they want to be on TV or they think it’s going to make them money. Those girls never last very long, but they still take up resources and time.

Tell me about your derby name, Axles of Evil. Why did you pick it?

“Axles of Evil” is like the trifeca of derby names — first, it’s play off my real name, so it’s easy for people to remember. It’s also inspired by my love of vintage cars, so my “Axel” is like a car axle, not a figure skater’s triple axel jump. Plus, at the time I picked it, we had this president who was always talking about the “axis of evil,” so as a news person, it was doubly appealing to me.

Roller Derby: The sisterhood of the skates

From: www.reuters.com

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By Dorene Internicola

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) No joy at the gym? Try a little girl power.

Women are flocking to roller derby to find camaraderie, thrills, and enough physical conditioning and true grit to do a warrior princess proud.

"There are very assertive women who need an outlet for more than just running on a treadmill," Karla Addesso, a referee for the Florida-based Gainesville Roller Rebels, said in an interview.

Maybe it's feminism's third wave, or the lure of the counter culture, but the full contact sport is enjoying a resurgence. More than 400 home-grown leagues have sprung up across the United States since 2001.

Devotees also hope a new movie that will be released in the United States on Friday will respect their passion as it spreads the word.

"I know the actresses had to learn roller derby," Addesso said of the film, titled "Whip It."

"It's about a young woman who wants to do something a little out of the ordinary," she said. "We support that message."

Addesso, an entomologist whose derby name is Damsel Flies, is an example of the broad spectrum of women in their 20s, 30s and 40s who've found fulfillment by jamming, blocking and whipping it.

"You get very physically fit," Addesso said. "You skate for six hours a week. Do not be on the Atkins diet when you're on roller derby. You need carbs."

The team's 12-week training program stresses strength training and learning how to fall.

Addesso said it's a modern sport that suffers from an outdated image.

"In the 70s it was played more for laughs and to see women fight," she said. "The hardest thing for people to get is that it's not like the WWF (World Wrestling Federation). It's not scripted, not about elbowing."

These days the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, founded in 2004, sets rules and standards, which are enforced by seven referees per game.

Dr. Mark Hutchinson, professor of orthopedics and sports medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, seems to think the sport needs every one of them.

"Roller derby is an exciting, action-packed, collision sport for women, said Hutchinson, a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. " To be successful, you have to be in good shape.

"Compared to other collision sports, such as football and rugby, roller derby athletes are moving at a higher rate of speed," he said.

And that increases the risk of injuries.

Catherine Seemann (a.k.a. Ms. Rebel), who founded the Rebels in March 2008, played until a double knee injury knocked her off track.

"People always say to us, 'Why are you doing this, when so many of you are broken?" she said. "But I'm not really the gym type. This is a real kick. You're in the limelight. It's very empowering, very neat."

She sees the movie as a double-edged sword.

"It's the Hollywood aspect." she explained. "There is a bit of entertainment in roller derby. When people get excited they showboat. But it is a sport. We have rules, penalties. It's not a free-for-all."

The Gainesville Roller Rebels have yet to see "Whip It," but they've studied the trailer.

"There's this one clip where (actress) Ellen Page, says, 'I'm in love with this!'" Seemann said. "And everyone cried a little bit."

Then they pointed out all the illegal moves.

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Women's sports deserve support

by Lauren Wood - State News guest columnist and journalism sophomore.

From: www.statenews.com

In no way did I expect to see what I did during my travels this past weekend. Fishnets, helmets, skirts and knee pads were abound when my friends and I stumbled upon a large crowd Friday night.

We were all intrigued by what was going on before us — grown women roller skating around a small oval path in the middle of a park. We had just discovered roller derby.

To be honest, I had vaguely heard of roller derby before I had seen the trailer to Drew Barrymore’s new movie, “Whip It,” and even seeing that trailer once did little to prepare me for what I saw in the park.

Roller derby resurfaced in the early 2000s with an all-women’s league called Bad Girl Good Woman Productions. This led to the creation of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), where rules were set and official leagues were formed. There are two WFTDA teams in Michigan: one in Detroit and one in Grand Rapids. There are smaller leagues throughout the state, and I would hope to see a league here on campus one day.

The two teams we watched, The Old Money Honeys and The Rats, were going head-to-head in the final championship round.

Intense doesn’t even begin to describe the level at which this sport was being played. The women were elbowing, pushing, ducking and rolling, all while skillfully skating around with a great amount of ease.

The players were wiping out in five-people pileups, which didn’t stop them from getting up again as fast as they could. Others were trying to skate through what seemed like an obstacle course of opponents.

As we watched with the help of the event program, we figured out for the most part what was going on. There were different rounds, or jams, which started with the two teams in formation. Each team has a pivot, a jammer and three blockers on the track at a time. The pivot and blockers of each team try and stop the jammer of the other team from breaking through the pack, who is the only one who can score points. And this is all happening very quickly and all at once, with about five referees screeching their whistles throughout the two-minute jam.

Like I said, this whole thing was very intense. These women were badasses who weren’t afraid to play rough, and had chosen names to reflect their ruthlessness, like Hysterica! and Slamerella. Badasses of all different shapes, sizes, looks and backgrounds, all sharing one common bond: roller derby. Nothing stood in the way of these women, and they weren’t playing for money or fame. They had a clear passion for what they were doing. Why else would you skate around in hot pants and fishnets on a cold September night?

When I saw all of these different women taking part in a sport they love, I felt empowered. What added to this feeling was the community support. The turnout for the event was great. There were men and women, students and professionals, young and old — you name it. There was even a Girl Scout troop there, with signs to cheer for the teams. Men also found ways to become involved, such as being referees, emcees, selling merchandise or being part of the cheering crowd.

After watching these athletes skate around the track, I realized how inspiring it was to watch women breaking stereotypes. They weren’t afraid to break a nail and get scratched up. It reminded me of women’s hockey or women’s rugby teams, sports that usually are dominated by men.

Look at our own campus sports. Men’s sports have always seemed to have the limelight. Men’s baseball was the first to arrive on campus in the 1860s, and football still continues to draw the largest crowds.

For women, basketball was started in 1898, 28 years after women were admitted into Michigan Agricultural College. Despite the growing of women’s teams after this, these teams were prohibited from competing against other colleges until after 1945.

In the 1970s, after legislation was passed calling for equal funding for all college athletes, women still were only allocated less than $85,000 in funds, while men received almost $776,000. This same year, the women’s basketball team filed a formal complaint, supporting gender equality in sports. Today, there are more than 12 varsity women’s teams, and dozens of club and intramural teams. All deserve credit and recognition for what they are doing.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend varsity women’s golf, gymnastics, cross country and softball matches, and I hope to add to that list this year. Women’s soccer currently has an undefeated season, and the field hockey team won their first Big Ten game, to highlight a few teams. I urge others to check out all of these teams as well.

I would like to commend all woman athletes of all different sports and levels, whether they are professional, collegiate, high school, club, intramural or those who play for fun. From field hockey to roller derby, please keep doing what you love, stay strong and remain an inspiration to others.

Drew Barrymore's Brain: "There are worse places you could be."

Says: Al Kaufman @www.atlantamusicblog.com

CD Review: Whip It Soundtrack

Whip It
Soundtrack
Rhino

By Al Kaufman

"This soundtrack is my mix tape for you," writes Drew Barrymore in the liner notes for the soundtrack for Whip It, the film she directed about an indie girl in Texas who falls in love with roller derby.

This collection sounds like Drew Barrymore. It's got fun, attitude, feminism, sappy love songs, and a total '80s feel, even if only one song on the soundtrack was actually recorded in the '80s.

That said, there's no cohesiveness to this thing whatsoever. Take the middle of the soundtrack. The sexual thumpings of Peaches' "Boys Wanna Be Her" gives way to Dolly Parton's feminist country anthem "Jolene," only to be followed by the southern rock-lite of 38 Special's "Caught Up in You" (the sole '80s track).

Yet in the day of iPod shuffles, this somehow works. Sure, any discriminating music lover is going to find a song or two they don't like, but they will find many more that they love. From Tilly and the Wall's "Pot Kettle Black," to England's The Go! Team's "Doing It Right," girls are going to find plenty of stuff to get excited about. The Breeders, The Ravonettes and The EttesCut Chemist's "What's the Attitude," and semi-nude electronica R&B sensation Har Mar Superstar's surprisingly straight interpretation of the Association and 5th Dimension hit "Never My Love," and you pretty much have more than a glimpse inside Drew Barrymore's brain. There are worse places you could be. add to the feel. Throw in a touch of hip-hop courtesy of

Whip It will be released Tuesday, September 29. Take part in an advance listening of the soundtrack Friday, September 25 at the Atlanta Rollergirls Southern Fried Smackdown, as the Dirty South Derby Girls take on the Dallas Derby Devils in the playoffs. Yaarab Shrine Center Auditorium in Midtown. 8 pm. $15.

Whip It star Juliette Lewis will be at The Drunken Unicorn on September 24. Tickets are available at Ticket Alternative.

RIP...Roll In Peace

From: Weird Al Spankabitch @ http://derbyhelper.blogspot.com

A Loss in All of Our Family

Roller derby is unique amongst all sports I have ever been involved with in that for 60 minutes it encourages you to kick someones arse but immediately afterward it bonds you together so that you end up laughing together, hugging, buying each other adult beverages, swapping phone numbers and friending each other on Facebook. It's like having a giant family all over the world that you hadn't had a chance to meet until they put on skates and knocked you on your butt. That family connection is proving itself right now because I'm actually sitting here wiping a tear out of my right eye as I report to you that tragedy has struck the North Star Rollergirls on the eve of what should have been their proudest, happiest moment. Yesterday, NSRG league member and Delta Delta Di intraleague team skater Stacey Morgan, aka Moxie Mayhem was walking her 3 month old daughter in a stroller when she was struck by a car and killed. Her daughter Zoe reportedly survived with barely a scratch.

Please keep her family and her league-sisters in your thoughts and prayers today. A lot of people in Minneapolis have to try to shake off the loss of a loved one and do their jobs hosting the WFTDA North Central Regional Championship all weekend. Despite the the pain, they know that the show must go on. I know they're strong and I know they'll step up and do a great job. The bouts will go on, teams will give their all on the floor, national berths will be won and the weekend will be a success. But even as this continues throughout the weekend, I know I speak for everyone in the roller derby world when I say that all of us feel like we lost a family member, even though we hadn't had a chance to meet her yet.

A fund has been setup by the North Star Rollergirls for Moxie Mayhem's daughter Zoe at http://www.northstarrollergirls.com/

Posted by Weird Al Spankabitch

Surviving Derby Drama (Part 2)

From: http://derbyhelper.blogspot.com

Quick, walk outside and punch the first random person you see in the arm. Now ask 'em to help you balance your checkbook. Congratulations, you just started a roller derby league! No wait, you got arrested for assault.

Not that getting arrested is always bad...
In a sense, derby players are doing both of those things multiple times per week. They spend hours a week hitting their leaguemates with full game-time intensity during scrimmages, sometimes hurting them or getting hurt by them, getting ticked off at each others mistakes and failures, building competitive rivalries in intraleague bouts and developing a barely contained desire to beat each other about the eyesockets with muffler pipes. Then they take off the skates, sit down at desks and try to build marketing strategies or set financial budgets with those same people. We're human and we don't have the benefit of being able to start each new day with a blank slate. We bring our memories and some some portion of our mental baggage with us no matter how hard we try not to. So it's one thing to listen to a proposal for a bout theme from an unknown person but it's another thing when that idea comes from the dirtbag who cracked your rib with the the clearly uncalled-for cheap shot in the last jam of last night's scrimmage. Learning to rein in your emotions enough to endorse a good idea from "that douchy little twatwaffle" will ultimately benefit your league and keep you from unnecessarily escalating your personal conflicts. Here are some common sources of conflict and ways to address them constructively.

Skating Conflict
When you're on the track together, someone we'll call Blocker A is always in your way, or guarding the back when you want help guarding the front or chasing their jammer when you need help defending your own. Blocker A ticks you off because it seems like they're always going the wrong way and doing the wrong thing. Blocker A makes you want to knock her/him out and skate shorthanded. How do you handle skating with someone you can't skate with?

There are two schools of thought on this sort of situation.

1. Don't skate with them. Teams generally roll out two sets of four blockers that alternate jams. As much as Blocker A clashes with your instincts, there is probably someone else on your team that has the same instincts as Blocker A and will work great with her/him. Put the most like-minded blockers together in sets of four and reap the benefits of their similar styles.
   
2. Make SURE to skate with them. If their instincts are opposite of yours, that can actually be a very good thing. "Guard the inside!" you yell. What, the jammer went outside? No problem, Blocker A thought the jammer was going outside and knocked that star-wearing biznatch into the third row of suicide seats. Having different instincts working together can actually cause synergy where each of you ends up covering the other one's arse.

Experiment with both of these because only time will tell which works best for you.

Personality Conflict
We'll use "Blocker B" for this one. Blocker B is a good player who walls up well with you and helps you shut down the opposing jammer like an over-mortgaged newspaper (zing!) The problem is that when you're NOT on the track together, Blocker B has a grating voice, makes lame puns, hums ABBA tunes nonstop and hasn't had a shower since the Clinton administration. Without ever really doing anything wrong, Blocker B makes you want to go all Road Runner and drop an anvil on their head. Not surprisingly, the feeling is mutual and they're annoyed by how you constantly sing Creed and recite Dane Cook. (I'm with them on this one, I'd have to kill you.) Since the team needs both of you alive in order to win, you can't just kill them and hide the body like usual. You have to find a way to not only put up with their B.S. but also to help them put up with yours. How can you accomplish this? Here are some options:

• "The Smile and Avoid"
  This one is kind of a cop out but it's also the easiest way to co-exist peaceably. It's the one where every time the two of you encounter each other, you give a friendly smile, say "Hey" and move right the hell on away from each other. It's polite, it's cordial and it requires no extended reconciliation campaign.
• "The Extended Reconciliation Campaign"
  The toughest way but also the most rewarding when it works. I remember watching two girls whose fangs and claws came out every time they were near each other. One constantly did passive aggressive things, causing the other to seek out opportunities to hit her extra hard in practice or oppose her ideas in league meetings, causing the first to scheme back against her in other areas and blah blah blah on and on it went. It was a kind of death spiral where each one decided that if she couldn't be happy, at least she could make sure that that the other one was unhappy. (Apparently they were married. Zing!) Without delving too deeply into it, the two of them ended having to work together on something and as time went along, they gradually learned that they weren't as different and incompatible as they thought at first. They found common ground, started being able to chat peacefully and actually ended getting along great to the point where they worked together on a project that had nothing to do with roller derby. It is hard to do and takes a long time but it is completely worth the effort when it works out.
• "The Border Patrol"
  It's the least pleasant method in the longterm but sometimes it is the only way when two people can't adjust to each other but have to work together. This is where you take the time to set boundaries and agree not to cross them. You actually sit down and each identify the things about the other that push your buttons and come up with an agreement on what each of you should or should not do to minimize the button pushing. This is one that often requires the help of a third party to accomplish, hence the grievance panel/officer mentioned in part 1. Overall it results in a situation where you may still hate each other's bitch asses but at least you're able to get through a board meeting or a practice without throwing punches.

Management Conflict
You and Blocker C work well together on the track, you like each others sense of humor and you both watch "Mad Men" every week. You're home free, right? Wrong, because your ideas on how to promote the league, recruit new skaters, spend league funds etc. are so different that every monthly meeting consists of the two of you arguing while the rest of the room buries their head in their arms, surfs the net on their iPhones or does shots of Wild Turkey. This is the type of conflict that, when left unchecked, is the most likely to lead to people splitting off and forming their own leagues. There are important decisions to be made on critical operational issues and when two sides are diametrically opposed on them, all hell can break loose.

Many times when this point is reached, an outside professional resource is necessary to reach a satisfactory resolution. Can't reach a financial decision? Network through the league members or just pick up the phone book and bring in a C.P.A. The dimes you spend on an accountant could save you dollars down the line and just as importantly, it is a whole lot easier for someone to accept an idea other than their own when it comes from an industry professional with a degree in that field. Some other decisions are more subjective, like whether it would be a good idea or a bad idea to use a cartoon of a tampon fighting with a maxipad on the next bout poster. (Answer: mega awesome!) When that sort of impasse is reached, the best resolution is to put it to a vote by the entire league. Majority rule will help you reach non-factual based decisions that are most in line with the culture and values of your organization. It takes the personalities of board members out of the equation and hopefully allows those on the losing end of it to not take it personally. The overall point here is, don't let two squabbling people make decisions without some sort of assistance. The emotions of a heated disagreement can lead to people fighting so hard to win the argument, they lose track of doing what is best for their derby league and the skaters in it.

Don't let derby drama beat you down, people. Roller derby is too fun, too socially fulfilling and just overall way too awesome to let the drama ruin it for you. Do everything you can to defuse it or at least manage it so you don't end up quitting something you love for the wrong reasons. And if some problem should happen to come up that you just can't seem to work through, who knows? You just might email it in to Derby Helper and give us a subject for part 3 of our 2 part series!

MDG in the DUD

MDG

Someone mysteriously submitted the team photo from the derby clinic online at the local newspaper...

The Big Five, 2009 Women's Roller Derby National Tournament

From: www.wftda.com

Roller Derby is back and here to stay! For the past few years girls on wheels have quickly created a name for themselves. Building up their local teams, making national news...and now even a major Hollywood movie, Whip It, is hitting theaters in October.

As a result of their explosive growth, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association has launched a bigger and better tournament season. The "Big 5" starts September 11, 2009.
This brings together all the best in flat track derby action. Over a four-week period, 40 teams will compete in four regional tournaments.

With 79 members and growing, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association has expanded its annual regional tournaments, giving more teams a shot at the national championships. Details about the four regional tournaments and the participating leagues are listed below.

Wicked Wheels of the East

Eastern Regional Tournament
click here to see the East bracket matchups
Sept. 11-13, 2009
Hosted by Carolina Rollergirls, Raleigh, N.C.
www.wickedwheelsoftheeast.com

1 Gotham Girls Roller Derby
2 Philly Roller Girls
3 Charm City Roller Girls
4 Carolina Rollergirls
5 Boston Derby Dames
6 Providence Roller Derby
7 Steel City Derby Demons
8 CT Rollergirls
9 DC Rollergirls
10 Dominion Derby Girls

Brawl of America

North Central Regional Tournament
click here to see the North Central bracket matchups
Sept. 18-20, 2009
Hosted by Minnesota RollerGirls, St. Paul, MN
www.brawlofamerica.com

1 Windy City Rollers
2 Detroit Derby Girls
3 Mad Rollin’ Dolls
4 Cincinnati Rollergirls
5 Arch Rival Rollergirls
6 Minnesota RollerGirls
7 Grand Raggidy Roller Girls
8 North Star Roller Girls
9 Brewcity Bruisers
10 Burning River Roller Girls

Southern Fried Smackdown

South Central Regional Tournament
click here to see the South Central bracket matchups
Sept. 25-27, 2009
Hosted by Atlanta Rollergirls, Atlanta, GA
www.southernfriedsmackdown.com

1 Texas Rollergirls
2 KC Roller Warriors
3 Houston Roller Derby
4 Dallas Derby Devils
5 Atlanta Rollergirls
6 Nashville Rollergirls
7 Tampa Bay Derby Darlins
8 West Texas Roller Dollz
9 No Coast Derby Girls
10 Memphis Roller Derby

Derby on the Rocks

Western Regional Tournament
click here to see the Western bracket matchups
Oct. 2-4, 2009
Hosted by Denver Roller Dolls and Rocky Mountain Rollergirls, Denver, CO
www.derbyontherocks.com

1 Oly Rollers
2 Denver Roller Dolls
3 Rose City Rollers
4 Rat City Rollergirls
5 B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls
6 Duke City Derby
7 Pikes Peak Derby Dames
8 Rocky Mountain Rollergirls
9 Tucson Roller Derby
10 Angel City Derby Girls