Ch Ch Ch Changes in derby and all the trends!

Every once in a while, I start thinking about how many things have changed since I started playing derby in 2009. I know derby is a young sport, but there have been so many different trends and rule changes, that I'm surprised I can remember most of them. Of course, Timehop has helped!

My face says it all.

1. Kneeling on the jam line to start the jam. Good grief, y'all. This might have been the dumbest year in derby ever. Jams where nobody skated, kneeling jam starts, people lying down across the jam line to hold a spot for their teammates. Every team did it too, because if you didn't, either the jam wouldn't start, or someone else would make something stupider happen. Yes, I said stupider. We all kidded ourselves and patted ourselves on the back. "This is strategy." Ugh. No. This was monkeying with a technicality of the rules, and I'm so very friggin' happy that it went the way of the dodo. Two whistle starts? Not anymore. Look, not skating, after all of the time and effort we put into training ourselves to skate is not a strategy. It's a gimmick. Bye bye strollerderby! Go back to the loophole hell from whence you came.

2. Putting KT tape all over your body like war paint. Look, KT tape might be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but in 2013, everyone and their brother/sister had every part of their bodies taped up to play. The use of KT tape is still being debated in sports; most physical therapists think it's great to help with swelling, but not for support. Regardless of how it's used, it must have been a good year for KT tape manufacturers. I should have bought stock! So many colors! So many patterns! Well, I guess it's cheaper than tattoos. (But not by much)

3. Minors. Whenever I bring up minors, I feel like I need to be sitting in a rocking chair holding court over all of the newbie skaters while I knit and reminisce about past. Get granny her tea and don't rile her up! Minors were the bane of my existence as a new skater, because I was thrown out to jam a lot, I would inevitably pick up three minors and then be benched for eternity, because they wouldn't jam me with three minors. Smart! But then they'd throw me out to block and to get my fourth minor; suddenly, I could pay clean as a whistle and never get my fourth minor. Hey, at least I didn't have to jam again!

When they ditched the minors, the ditched the outside white board, which still kind of bums me out because I loved NSOing the outside white board. When I was manning the outside white board, I used to hear a lot of talk from the refs, and I learned a lot just by paying attention.

Those are just a few of the trends and rules that have come and gone since I joined derby. When I posted that I was blogging about this people threw in their two cents. Trends mentioned were tutus, belts and fishnets. Of course, these particular derby fashions have become less popular over the years, but there are still die hard tutu enthusiasts, belt aficionados, and fishnet mavens. I hope derby doesn't lose the fun stuff completely, even though I don't wear any of that stuff anymore myself. After seven years, it just got to be too much, and I go for comfort now. But my hat is off to anyone who is rocking the fun!