Thursday, January 24, 2013

Broken Bones and Broken Hearts

     I apologize for the gap between posts - I picked up a bit of a bug when I was shopping in Buffalo last weekend and spent last week fighting it off and doing really dumb things because I lose about 50 IQ points when I'm sick. Seriously. I went to put the cooking spray "away" by putting it in the sink, so I was pretty sure no one wanted to read whatever the blog version of that would be.
     In my last post, I ended with a thought that sometimes people in your league need some extra looking after. I'd like to spend this post talking about about what is probably the largest segment of those people: injured skaters.
     If you're an administrator, and, like me, you've never faced a serious injury (knock on SO MUCH wood), you may have no idea what it feels like to be someone who can't skate. I highly recommend checking out Derby Hurts. I've known about this site for a while, but had never given it a look until the writing of this post. If you're squeamish, you may want to be rather cautious about what you look at. If you are easily heartbroken... you may just want to talk my word for it that looking at this site will absolutely tear your derby heart in half. Many of the posts in the forums include the words "depressed" or "angry." I'm embarrassed to admit this because I like to think of myself as fairly tuned into the emotions of my fellow skaters, but that surprised me. It shouldn't have, but it did.
     Okay, confession time. Last year, two of my teammates dealt with broken bones received during games. I really wanted to keep them involved, I knew it was important and I completely and utterly failed. Even though I feel really terrible about not doing as much as I could, I think it's important to look at this as a learning opportunity.
As with my last post, I'm going to include some tips, but I think that it's only fair that I say that because of the failings I detailed above, that these are more goals for me.


Make it a group effort. 

What I did to try and help my teammates wasn't enough because it can't just be one person trying to help. It has to be a concentrated effort by a group of people and it absolutely has to be spearheaded by the administration. If your league has a social committee, get those gals on it! Otherwise, figure out what people in your league can help, and what they can do.

Throw some money at the problem.
When I say "the problem," I am not referring to injured skaters. Injured skaters are not the problem; allowing injured skaters to face their situation alone and become disengaged from your league is the problem. Even if your league isn't rolling in dough, it's likely that everyone in your league can spare a few dollars for a nice gesture for someone who is going through a tough time. It's amazing what a pot of money and the internet can do! You can have groceries sent to someone's house, you can send flowers, you can buy her Netflix. Pay for a cab ride so your injured skater can come to a fun team event or practice. Being generous doesn't have to cost a lot.

Keep her engaged.
Not ever knowing what it feels like to be injured and having to sit on the sidelines, I can't imagine how it feels to be asked to come to derby practice while on crutches and have nothing to do but watch. Derby skaters like to learn by doing, so it's going to be tricky to find a way to keep dedicated skaters interested in something that doesn't involve having wheels on her feet. Personally, nothing makes me happier than bossing people around. Let your injured skaters take an active role in running practices, or teaching something to the league. 

     There are some skaters who may take up reffing after an injury for something more low impact. It's a great alternative, and goodness knows we all need more refs. But don't assume that because someone is hurt that suddenly your league has gained a ref or NSO. Skaters gotta skate! Be respectful of your skater's choices and make sure to communicate with her about her healing process and her plans about returning to skating.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Withholding Hand Holding


Samantha: He did something to me that was so perverse... okay I'm just going to say it. He tried to hold my hand.
Carrie: You mean to say that Smith is a hand holder? And to think that he once served us food!


     Samantha and I have one thing in common, but trying to avoid holding someone's hand isn't it. Over the past year or so of being in charge of organizing derby-related activities, it's become apparent that my greatest managerial flaw is being excessively helpful to people in my league. Yes, I too am a hand holder. It would seem that the whole point of getting involved in the administration of your league is to help people! But with helping, as with everything in life, there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing.
     Let me give you a few of examples when my helpful hand holding has gotten out of control. Last year, I was in charge of organizing our team for a tournament, and I spent hours making sure I had roster and insurance information, and getting everyone a team shirt, a ride to the tournament, a place to stay and so on. I have walked to many practices lugging literally ALL the derby gear I owned so that new girls would have stuff to use. (Those who know me will be familiar with the sight of me dragging my suitcase we call "The Body Bag" to practice, packed to the gills with gear.) I have hounded, harassed and chased down people who need to bring money to practice for one reason or another. In one especially memorable incident, I cleaned up after practice by myself and found a skater's iPhone abandoned under a pile of garbage. As individual episodes, none of this is particularly strenuous, but as I'm sure is evident from my frustration, feeling completely responsible for a group of adult women can get to be a bit much.
     I've considered the possibility that this feeling of having to practically stalk a skater to get them to do anything may be something particular to roller derby. For those who aren't familiar with the idea of "derby time," many people have observed a phenomenon in which that the women in our community seem to, at times, exist in another time zone that is half an hour behind that of everyone else. Yes, sometimes the derby girls can be flakey even to the point of being downright irresponsible. Anyone like myself who has ever tried to organize a group of derby girls and make sure they show up on time, at the right place and with the right stuff know that it can feel a like an impossible task.
    If you too suffer from being overzealously helpful, I've developed some strategies for avoiding hand holding while still ensuring that stuff still gets done.
     Set deadlines that work for you. If you have a deadline, don't make the deadline the same for  the people who owe you what you need to meet yours. If you owe someone a bout contract, a roster or money, set the deadline for other people to get what they owe you a week or so in advance of your deadline. This will give stragglers a few extra days and allow you some wiggle room in case things get busy on your end.
     Gently reinforce your message. If everyone has to have their money in on Tuesday, don't constantly remind your skaters of this until they begin to think that the only thing you can say is "your money is due Tuesday." Remind them once or twice, and then let the chips fall where they may. They've been told.
     Let there be consequences. When you're trying to manage participating in a sport on top of the rest of everything else that comes up in life, sometimes it's easy to forget dues or a mouthguard at home. When this happens, as the big old softie I am, it's tempting to make an exception, or to go out of my way to ensure people have what they need. But don't do it! What's done is done and if means that someone can't skate, can't play in a game, won't get a shirt or whatever, unfortunately that's the way things have to be. This sounds harsh and it's not easy.
     Don't be responsible for everything. For all you control freaks out there (guilty as charged!) this is going to be another tough one, but delegating jobs is key to making a league work. When organizing an away game, let someone else research hotels and billeting. If you're on vacation, let someone else respond to emails. For the good of yourself and everyone else let go of a few things! Letting others be in charge of small tasks will give them a sense of accomplishment and let you focus on the big picture.
     In the end, being a great administrator is all about encouraging your skaters to be responsible for themselves and making sure they know that if they aren't, you won't step in and fix things. There are going to be times when someone has truly had a rough week and she needs your help. In these cases, give her a hand! Your skaters need to know that when they really need you, they can depend on you to bail them out. And as Carrie points out to Samantha, sometimes there are people who are worth a bit of hand holding.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Let's start the adventure...

Hello there!
     I'm Knuckle Slamwitch and I love roller derby! 
Me!! (Photo credit: Joe Mac/Midnight Matinee)
     To be more specific, I also LOVE roller derby league administration. I recently departed one league and started up a new league, so I felt that it was an ideal time for me to impart some of the wisdom I have learned over the past 3-ish years or so of being a part of the derby community. Don't worry - this won't be a series of rants about my frustrations (though I can't promise there won't be any!). I plan to research issues and interview others who have significantly more experience than me so we can all learn together. 

So, please stay tuned and keep reading! As a fun teaser, here are some of the topics I plan to cover:
  • pros and cons of joining a governing body or an association
  • friendship and league administration
  • when league members quit
  • incorporation
  • referees
  • fundraising
  • avoiding burnout as an administrator
  • surviving your league's haters
  • health and safety
  • insurance
  • sponsorship
  • fraternization and dating within the league
  • rules and skill testing
  • dealing with theft and crime
  • league member owned businesses
  • publicity and the media
  • facilitating team discussion and voting
  • leaving an administrative position
 Looking forward to learning together!
-Knuckle Slamwitch