Looking at other league on what kind of program they implemented to help prevent the level of knee injuries like we are seeing within our own league. I am copy and pasting some things from other leagues. we can add this idea to our coaching program..
In my league, we have recently implemented a program we call 10 and 10s. We've been doing it daily for about 4 months and so far, so good. We really consider it more of an injury prevention program b/c we had had a whole rash of knee and ankle injuries. Most of our physicians were saying the same thing, we are not well balanced athletes.
We spend the first ten minutes of practice and the last ten minutes of practice working on Knee and Ankle injury prevent type exercises. We have been doing this every single league practice. A lot of the stuff we do is in the PEP program (http://www.aclprevent.com/PEPExercises.pdf) .
We do the first ten on skates and usually do lots of one legged balance work with mini squats and ladder type stuff. The last ten minutes are off skates since there are some exercises you just can't modify to do on skates.
20 minutes overall of non-skating conditioning doesn't seem like a ton to the participants so no one really gripes too much but it is making a big difference in everyone's overall conditioning. 10 minutes of jogging mixed with core work every practice can go a long way for players who never do anything but skate.
Isabelle Ringer #360
San Diego Derby Dolls
www.derbydolls.comOur league does an off skate routine for about 20 minutes before every practice to make sure we are good and warmed up before skating. Sometimes we do stairs, light jog, plyometrics, and good stretching. We have seen a big decrease in the amount of injuries as well.
We have an off-skate practice once a week that we do all different kinds of things at - like kickboxing, plyos, cardio, and even fun teamwork stuff like kickball.
Switchblade Rosie
Oklahoma City Roller Derby (OKCRD)
I think off skate training is absolutely essential to continued development as a skater.
Most vet skaters do not like using their skate time for off skate work, so my league doesn't do it very often. However, during our new recruit bootcamp last year, recruits did a ton of off skate exercises, to help build necessary leg/core strength. During that time vets would do off skate for half the time, to give the recruits rink time to themselves, and vice versa.
I've been skating for almost 4 years, and I will say that all of my significant improvements after my first season have been due to off skate workouts. Plyometrics (P90X), yoga, running (esp. sprints), SPIN CLASS (big props for physical & mental conditioning!) and weightlifting have all become a regular part of my non-derby workout routine. If I could afford it, I'd be doing Crossfit as well.
I believe that if you're relying on derby practice to give you a workout, then you're not doing enough outside of practice to condition yourself. Derby practice should be your time to work on skills, teamwork & strategy.
Totally my biased opinion only, does not necessarily reflect the view of my league's coaching staff
Midlife Crashes
Omaha Rollergirls
There are many great things to do off skates to enhance your rollerderby team. Dubbed "Land Kills" by Houston Roller Derby, or by there more widely known name Land Drills, are used to build core (usually during off season), build team structure, and get a good work out.
There are soooo very many things that can be utilized for off skate practices!
When I look for things to do off skates I first stop and think..... How can I relate these things back to Roller Derby, what lessons do they hold?
Things like if someone on your league has old golf clubs you can use, find a driving range and instead of paying dues to a skate rink buy several buckets of balls, and let the girls hit them... explain how the weight transfer from left and right through your core and follow through are very important for to bring back to your game when you are on skates. Before or after hitting balls you can run hills, agility ladders, do core work in the form of sit ups pull ups, push ups, etc., I particularly like SPRINTS. As in the game of derby you very rarely get the opportunity to run/skate for a long time. So I usually start with stations like Station A Kettle Bells (many different exercises do some research), then sprint to next station, then boxes (either step ups or jumps) or use boxes as exaggerated steps like cutting a skater off on the track, then sprint, Cones are great, tall cones can be used to for the same exaggerated steps, or small cones are great for squat running, I'll usually lay a square of cones one in each corner, and either do figure eights while squatting and stepping forward or backwards to really practice getting low, or around the box in the same manner. All the time and things I do I really try and think how they will help on the track and during the game. There are so many ways to mix it up including things like finding a Ballet Lesson for your team to help with agility. Core work seems to be the favored off skate exercise as well as running hills but Poll your team and find out what they're thinking, and what activities they enjoy outside of derby. Use these to build derby into their everyday life structure. Team building skills can be done also. Use pivots to help guide blindfolded girls through cones, help them utilize all their skills by removing some of them.
Keep your mouthguards in....
Mr. Kaymen Godditt
HRD
Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:23 pm