Coach’s Corner: Volume 2 – Derby Stance

 Derby Stance?  Derby Stance!  Derby Stance.

From the moment you become Fresh Meat and throughout your derby career, there are a few things that you will hear from your coaches constantly. One of them, the most important of them, is “Derby Stance”! In this blog, I will share with you some of the reasons that derby stance is so important, what it looks like and how to help achieve it.

Derby Stance is the skating stance that we all aim to achieve while skating in this sport.  It looks like this:  arms tucked in or across your chest, feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent and directly over the toes at a 90 degree angle, your weight is in the balls of your feet, bent over at the waist with tush out, shoulders back, chest out. To give our Fresh Meat a visual during their first few practices, it’s described as the “Pee Hover”… you know exactly what we mean. You’re in a nasty public bathroom and you don’t want to out your tush on the seat so you squat and hover. That’s Derby Stance!

We skate low for a number of reasons. First and foremost is for safety. When you’re low with your knees bent and your weight on the balls of your feet you are more likely than not to fall forward.  We protect our knees with pads, but this stance is for the protection of your butt. Also, being low when you fall allows for less impact on your knees, allowing for your pads to last longer and your precious knees to absorb less so you can skate longer!

Second, skating in Derby Stance makes it harder for an opposing skater to hit you. Being low protects your core. In theory, your belly is tucked in, arms are protecting your chest and you’re being low makes it very hard for someone to get under you to throw a shoulder check. Additionally, your center of gravity is lower and your feet are wide so your ability to absorb a hit without falling is increased tremendously by being in Derby Stance.

Third, when laying a hit on an opposing skater, being low and in Derby Stance (along with a sharp cut) will bring the most force behind that hit. In doing so, you’re more likely to take that skater off her skates and keep her out of your pack and off your Jammer’s back longer than just tapping her out of bounds. Big Plus!

Last, but not least: Jammers who are depended on for their speed and agility make themselves more aerodynamic by being low. Standing upright not only opens you up for a hit in the pack but allows for greater resistance which impacts your speed, thus the length of time it takes a Jammer to get back around to the pack to make a scoring pass.

A lot of skaters struggle with this stance. Some are knock-kneed; some have weak back muscles and most simply do not have the leg strength to maintain this stance for any period of time when they first start skating. Here are a few tips to achieving a good Derby Stance:

• Practice hovering, in your skates over the toilet (the “Pee Hover”) – squat and hold. Face the back of the potty and bring something to read… as a distraction this time, not to pass time. Keep your wheels stable and use the toilet as a gauge for how low you actually are and the angles you’re working to achieve.
• Squats, squats and more squats!! I recommend doing three (3) reps of thirty (30) squats every single day! Yes, even your days off skates – especially your days off skates.
• Crunches – a tight core will help more than you might imagine. Do it! Do it! Do it! Three (3) reps of thirty (30) – every single day!
• Stretch your back before practice, during a break and after practice.
• Practice your stance – don’t be lazy. Derby stance in warm ups, derby stance in line drills and derby stance in pack drills will almost always translate to derby stance during game play.

So when you hear your coaches yelling “DERBY STANCE!!” – think about protecting yourself, helping your team by staying on your feet and being able to haul tail! And, when you see a girl not in Derby Stance, not protecting herself – HIT HER! ☺

-Thunder Lips

2 Comments

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  By Terra Incognita, November 29, 2009 @ 6:39 am

  Great advice for new and veteran skaters! Fantastic job Lips!

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  By Texas Thai Foon, March 10, 2010 @ 11:54 pm

  That’s meee!!!! And yes, derby stance is your BFF if you can train yourself and lower back to automatically do it when you get on the track.

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