We all hear that watching derby is the single best way (off-skates) to get better at playing it. And derby is hecka fun to watch, right? But I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you mostly don’t do it.
Why?
High-level derby can be hard to watch if you’re not used to it. Plus watching derby and analyzing derby are two different things.
- How do you know what to pay attention to?
- How do you think about what’s happening on the track and apply it to what you might do on the track?
- It’s all moving so fast. HAAALLPP!
Here’s my contribution. The third installment in my “You Should be Analyzing More Derby” series.
This month is about:
Watching Derby Live
I’m headed to The Big O in Eugene, Oregon. There will be so much high-level derby to watch and I know that I want to bring as much strategy and skill back to my team as possible.
The Big O (for me) is all about watching derby for profit, not fun.
What do I mean by watching for profit? I want to get the absolute most out of watching these high-level teams play; to learn their strategies and watch how they executed skills that I struggle with. And also I’m a nerd, so I created a little worksheet for myself to keep me on track.
I, too, suffer from getting sucked into the excitement of bouts and forget to watch for the strategy and skill. (BTW, watching for fun is fine, too. It’s actually much easier than watching for profit. And I definitely mixed in some “for fun” watching during the weekend.)
But if watching live derby for profit is a struggle for you, here are some tips that might help:
1) FOCUS ON 1 OR 2 THINGS.
Take the first 3-5 jams to absorb what each team’s starting strategy is, what their weaknesses and strengths are, and what you’re most captivated by (or what your team is most trying to emulate).
For example: My team is currently trying to incorporate the tripod/cube blocking technique and well-timed rotation. That’s a skill that I watched carefully during games to see how each team managed it and how effective they were.
I also, personally, want to improve my lateral movement in those walls, so I’ll choose 1-2 blockers — since that’s what I do — that seem to have good lateral movement and spend some time watching their feet.
2) BE CRITICAL.
It’s easy when you’re watching high level derby to get a bit starry-eyed by the skill level and the big names. But try to ignore the fact that it’s Gotham (!!) that you’re watching and pay attention to the strategy and execution of the skills you’ve chosen.
No team is perfect all the time and watching high level teams critically can tell you where (and how) even the most simple skills breakdown sometimes. Does the team you’re watching get sloppy and penalty heavy in the last 15 minutes?
It’s also important to reflect that critical thinking back onto your own skating and your team or league. It doesn’t do much good to just say, “Oh man. They really blew that because of all the penalties in the second half.” Really think about what that means? How could they have avoided it? How might your team avoid it?
3) MAKE NOTES FOR LATER.
This is especially important if you’re watching a live bout that might be archived online at some point. Make a list of jams that you really want to revisit and watch again. Write down the jam number.
You can usually get the jam number off the scoreboard, but for my inner, repressed NSO I keep track of jam numbers by making a tally on the top corner of my paper. When I see something I might want to watch again, I write down how many tally marks there are for that jam I’m interested in. Even if I’m a little off on my count, it will still get me in the ballpark of what I want to look at and re-watch.
4) NOTICE THINGS, BUT DON’T NOTICE all THE THINGS.
Sounds a bit counterintuitive, yeah?
But, there’s not something worthy of your scrutiny happening in every jam. Some jams are just kind of…blah. Nothing jumps out at you because the defense for both teams was firing on all cylinders or it was a pretty standard power jam with very successful offense.
You don’t always have to write things down, but get in the habit of noticing.
- That jam wasn’t as exciting because (fill in the blank).
- These last 4 jams haven’t piqued my interest because (fill in the blank).
- This is something that my team already does really well.
Just be aware of it and move on. The more things you can tangentially be aware of as you watch, the greater your overall track/pack awareness becomes for the game as a whole. And that’s the whole point!
Don’t forget to download the Live Derby Worksheet! You can use it to analyze live bouts OR currently archived footage.
Want more?
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