On January 23rd, I became an MRDA Official. I posted about it on Facebook and the comment was “liked” over 60 times in less than a day.

On January 27th, this was emailed to me:

Currently hanging on my office wall

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to say that I’m an “official” official for the Men’s Roller Derby Association. I get to wear a patch. I get to put it on my officiating résumé. I get to declare myself as an MRDA official when applying to tournaments.

But it isn’t just the patch. And it isn’t just these other things that are so exciting. There’s so much more to this.

This is a new and incredibly exciting step for the MRDA. It’s a step that has come out of months of discussion. We’re still a small group of officials compared to the WFTDA—but we’re an amazing group!

You know the best thing about this small group of officials? I know them. I can look at the list of officials and not just say, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of them!”

These are the people I work with all the time. These are people I respect and admire who have spent years working to enrich all of roller derby. These are people who have never looked down on me for officiating men’s derby because they also appreciate the beauty and challenges of all types of play. I could not be prouder to stand with referees like Miss Trial and Anne Persand (and everyone else that it would take too long to list).

I cannot express what an honor it is to be the Head of Officiating for the league that started the Men’s Derby Coalition (now the MRDA). PVRD wants everyone to “do derby!” Whether you play, officiate, or spectate, your gender doesn’t matter—for six years now, PVRD has been bringing derby to everyone!

But on a more personal note, PVRD brought derby to me, and I’m going to continue rocking every bout I can.

Now, I get to rock it with a patch, a certificate, and the knowledge that the MRDA recognizes the hard work I put in to be the best ref I can be.

Let me just say that the roller derby community has incredibly kind and generous to us. There are very special qualities that I have found in roller people. One is that they are nuts over this sport. Anyone that shares in that same enthusiasm for derby can be an instant friend. This quality has allowed perfect strangers to invite us into their homes and take care of us!

I have to ask myself could this happen with any other sport or interest group where two strange people are traveling around the country and welcomed with open arms to the track, hang out spots, and skater’s homes. It blows my mind. I am ever so grateful for how flippin’ awesome the roller derby community is. So, a big giant THANK YOU to all of you that have helped us along the way so far.

Here’s what has happened since the last post.

Sprints with Panama City 

After our stay in Jacksonville, FL we started driving west. We made our way though the panhandle of Florida to the Panama City Roller Derby practice. We burned off the daylight hours by walking the beaches of Panama City. It was most definitely their off-season. Even big chain fast food restaurants were “closed for the season”.

The Panama City Roller Derby Gang

We made it to practice with plenty of time to spare and meet some of the roller gals that had invited us. Unfortunately, there were a group of ladies that were sick or injured that could not make it, but that did not stop us from us having a kick-butt practice lead by Scarlett Letter Have It. Planks and sprints left my body sore for days.

In the Bayou with Olive Torture

From there we got in touch with the Cajun Rollergirls founder Olive Torture who kindly took us into her home and fed us most delicious Cajun food. We were joined by Mommy Fear-Dis and Bobbi Girl after they were done with a CRG board meeting. Mommy had been the one to see our post and invite us to visit.

Kenny Hill's Self Portrait at Chauvin Sculpture Garden

The next day was filled with adventure with a tire blowing. Handy Andy came to the rescue and changed it on the side of the road. We saw some incredible folk art by Kenny Hill then went to practice. It was one of the most memorable days of the trip so far. I can’t thank Olive, Mommy and Bobbi enough for entertaining us while we were in the bayou. We even got to see a gator basking in sun.

Practice with CRG was great we were able to participate in their boot camp intended to whip fresh meat, as well as vets, into shape for the season. It was a great group of ladies to skate with—including some wicked hard hitters. We spent one more night at Olive’s and ate one more delicious meal with our new found derby friends. Then it was off to check out New Orleans.

Cajun Roller Girls!

An Outlawish Time in the French Quarter

In the French quarter of town we wandered along the Mississippi and listened to blues from a band playing outside a cafe. People were walking about with beers in their hands and smiles on their faces. The smells of delicious foods wafted from the open air market. It was so inviting. We found Sasha, a friend of PVRD’s own Jess Brand. Sasha lives in an old church in the French Quarter.

We decided to spend the night in the big old church filled with interesting people. There were about seven others living in the church: bike builders, artists, scholars, etc. We started our night by organizing some material for costume making in the front part of the church. It had become a little costume workshop for Mardi Gras. We attended a house party a few blocks away after eating a yummy crawfish ettoufee.

The “outlaws” themed house party reinforced how people seem to just like to dressing up in New Orleans. We threw on our outlaw vests and headed to the party and had an outlawish time.

Dolled up for the Krewe Du Vieux parade!

People in this city know how to party fo sho!

From Big Easy to Gulf Coast Grindhouse

So after recovering from the parade we found out that Gulf Coast Rollergirls had a practice that day in Lake Charles, LA. We were on a mission to make it. It would have been too easy to stay in the Big Easy. We had to keep moving.

We arrived at the Grindhouse in Lake Charles in the afternoon, but everyone was out to lunch!

Sunday was normally a day full of derby for them with juniors practicing early on, and another skills-based session later. I guess the Super Bowl was happening so attendance was light. We had fun rolling around with Hellshand, Terry Belle Tendencies, and Short Fuse. The Grindhouse is an awesome derby space.

Hellshand and Terry welcomed us to crash at their place for the night (Thank You!) and Short Fuse gave us a contact in Austin—which was our next destination!

Footwork with TXRD, Foosball with Dallas Deception

We arrived at Bexcalibur’s place on a Texas RollerGirls practice night—and were greeted enthusiastically by her amazing five year-old daughter! Bex and I headed to practice, while Andy, being male, was not invited. So, that was a bummer, but it was a fun practice with TXRD lots of footwork and hitting.

A special greeting from DJ and JP

One of those amazing ladies, Sid Space the Ablative Astronaut, took us to get some snacks and drinks at Cheer Up Charlie’s. Derby talk galore!

The next day was a pilgrimage to Dallas in an attempt to catch a Dallas Deception practice. We arrived just as they were finishing up, but got in on the last drill. We spent the night with Bulk Bogan, talkin’ about the men’s derby scene and the start-up of his derby Co. Whirly Derby.

We warmed up the next day by checking out the TX Roller Girl Skates HQ! That night we were skating with a HUGE group of hard-hitting ladies and the Dallas Deception. It was awesome. There was so much intensity from everyone!

Chick jamming in a "clusterf^&#" drill

After practice we hit a league-sponsor bar, listened to some amazing karaoke, and watched some wicked foosball games.

The next day we were on the road early to tackle the long drive to Flagstaff, AZ!

“There are some amazing lineups to be had on each team,” Casket said. “I think this should prove a challenging and fun home season.”

Quabbin Missile Crisis

Captain: Pink Panzer
Legend of the Hit ‘n’ Trample
Cali Burr
Kataklysmik
Gnome Ercy
Coors Lightening
Chewbecca
Molly Musket
Hothead Paisian
Lis Macrum

Florence Fighting Gals

Captain: Celia Casket
Lady Hulk
Chickadee Struction
Courtney von Wolfe
Tramplesteelskin
Discipline & Punisher
Slam Dinista
Bitches Bruize
Hell & Degenerate
Nina
Sinister Sweetness

We want to know: What do you think of the QMC and FFG matchups? Who do you think will be the breakout skaters this season? What colors will you be wearing on April 1?

Add your two cents in the comment section below!

(With heavy breathing by Slam. I had a cold, sorry.)

During this past leg of the trip, I kept returning to that mantra. “Focus, Footwork, Flag.” Although a little awkward for a direct translation to derby-ese, the simple message speaks to the elemental conditioning that can carry a skater through a lot of war zones on the track.

Don't Become Extinct on the Track!

Our time with Dominion Derby Girls in Norfolk, VA included intimate pack situations that breed awareness — focus. A skater, or team, not flexing their awareness muscles might end up like the dinosaurs.

It Might Take a While…

Skaters early in their careers, or just learning the game usually experience the chaos of ten people on the track, hitting the crap out of each other, and come down off of a jam wondering “what just happened?!”

It took at least a full season of bouting for my switch to really flick over toward “Oh, we’ve got all the time in the world!” Things started to slow down, brain stuff was actually happening, and the track began to look like a board from the ancient Chinese game of Go.

Control and strategy evolve out of the newly developed skill of paying attention. Eventually, the intense flux of strategy and focus becomes more comfortable, and the ability to not only respond, but to drive the forces is a skeleton key on your Derby keyring

But, keep in mind: a sense of urgency will help balance this out. You still actually have to get the job done! Neither extreme, exclusively, will yield a whole product of your efforts.

Complacency Kills – Urgency Upsets – Balance is Best!

“Perfect Practice Make Perfect”

The less you have to think about skating, the more you can think about this kind of stuff. So, we deepened our muscles’ understanding of speed skating form, and more advanced isolated skating skills during our stay in Raleigh with the Carolina Roller Girls. Footwork!

Sunday morning was a rude awakening as we continued this conditioning with the Jacksonville Roller Girls. Pepper in a little endurance, and now we’re talking! Magic City Misfits welcomed us to skate that night for our first two-practices-in-one-day experience.

Ever been trail skating? Do it! We crushed 15 miles of the rail-to-trail in Jacksonville the next morning before heading down to Sintral Florida Derby Demons for an evening of pyramid-based endurance, track coverage drills, and Chickadee got in on some scrimmage action. Playing Rock Band in Daytona till 2am… :check:

By the way – I have basically zero training as a referee. I understand the concept, and respect and admire great officials, but I am about the farthest thing from one. I do, however, take the skater-spectator liberty of screaming at the top of my lungs about calls that I know I would flub myself if wearing stripes.

Jurasskick Park at Jurassic Park

Don’t Forget Your Off-Skates “Training”

Out of the derby scene (but highly recommended by JRG and MCM), we decided to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Jurassic Park. Totally killer! Going to Islands of Adventure on a Wednesday morning in January = WIN! We continued some touristy stuff by heading down to Key West for a night, then caught up with Gold Coast Derby Grrls in Fort Lauderdale.

It was a great opportunity to synthesize what we’ve been learning during a 60 minute scrimmage. We danced around the track, along with South Florida Men’s Derby, some Dub City RollerGirls, and GCDG skaters, against GCDG’s hard hitting chartered ladies.

Jamsterella and Anya Dixon of FMDG try to get in the way of speedy Crash Register of JRG

With plans of getting back to Jacksonville, we hopped in the van and headed up for a bout between JRG and Fort Myers Derby Girls. This whirlwind of leopard print and day-glo lime featured some incredible focus, footwork, and sights set on the flag – Victory. With ears still ringing from a night of rock and roll that was “sooooo goooood” at the after party, we hit the sack.

And guess what!? It was Sunday again, so another challenging and fun practice with MCM was waiting for us. Thanks to Nuke, Powder, and Meow-Mix for keeping us in line as we shared your track during a string a practices we won’t forget!

We’ll keep our eyes on the flag as we continue our journey (finally) heading Westward!

Who pulled off the best cold weather bruises so far? Take a look below and vote for your favorite: Router Girl (“Does this Roller Derby World Cup bruise look like France to you?”), Pink Panzer (“The power of splits meets wheels”), or Nina (“I hit the floor and the floor won”).*

Think you could pull off a better black and blue? Join us Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. for our next Fresh Meat Night!

*The quotes are an editorial invention, but they might have crossed their minds. -Ed.

Picking up from where we left off, we went from the Garden State to Charm City. There, we had a serious leg workout at the Charm City / Harm City practice led by Holly Go Hardly. It was a real treat to skate with the men and women at practice that night—including familiar faces such as Rambo Sprinkles and Logistic Aggression, who took us in for the night. (Thanks!)

Rambo, Chick, and JP in Bmore

We woke in Baltimore and hit the downtown for groceries  and a walk around Fell’s Point, which made us realized how Baltimore got the nickname Charm City. It got cold and rainy while we were touring around the harbor so we ditched the sight seeing for some lunch and internetting.

As we left the city center, the whole Harm City side became more evident—with the sad, gray, boarded up buildings looming over the dirty streets—rounded out with a scattering of guys in ski masks and such.

That night, we hit the highway to find a suburban strip mall parking lot for our rig. It is nice to have a mobile setup for sleeping when we need to!

In the morning, we made breakfast and coffee on our camp stove in our cozy corner of the parking lot. Now we were ready to hit the road and get to the capital!

After hearing warnings about the nutzo parking scene in D.C., we opted for the metro rail into the city. Andy’s high school buddy, who works for NPR, met up with us for some awesome sandwiches at Taylor Gourmet and catching up on life. I was super excited to get a quick tour of up to the top of the NPR building!

We let him get back to work and took a walk to check out the National Portrait Gallery, per his suggestion. The folk art exhibit was incredible! There was

Check out that awesome tapestry!

this crazy shrine made of tin foil and construction paper—very impressive.

We then aimlessly wandered around the National Mall, checked on the Washington Monument, then found our way back to the van to hook up with Dual Hitizen — formerly of PVRD (and featured on Team France)! She welcomed us in, fed us, and we crashed for the night.

The next day was filled with more sightseeing and walking around. We hit up the Natural History Museum and scoped out the dinos, gem stones, bugs, and Chilean miners. Obama’s house and Abe were in good form, but the reflecting pool was more of a tarp-pool under construction.

We attended the DC Rollergirls practice with Dual at the Armory—a giant military building. We had to go through a metal detector and everything. They can fit three full-sized tracks with room to spare, but watch out for the slip and slide.

D.C. Majority Whips + Us!

Once inside, we were placed on Dual’s home team, the Majority Whips. These ladies in green were so much fun to skate with! After drills, and a full scrimmage against the DC Demon Cats, we did some hanging out with some of the Whips and other DCRGs at a bar called Argonaut. Tasty burgers and beer were had!

The next day, DCRG planned an outside endurance practice, but it was canceled due to ultimate freezing coldness.

We recognized it was time to move along, so we started heading to Richmond, VA. That evening, we rolled in and connected with Hothead Paison’s friend, owner of the Roosevelt and other fine eateries.

Wow—that is about all I have to say. It was so incredibly delicious, and gave us a taste of great southern food. I don’t think we can thank you enough! We wrapped up our fine dining experience by finding a SprawlMart parking lot to sleep in for the night.

Our alarm clock was the down shift of a trailer truck. So we made some breakfast before joining the River City Rollergirls for practice. It was a great. And I have battle wounds to show from it.

JP looks on during a "Haunted House" drill at River City

Three hours on a Sunday morning! Those ladies can really lay the smack on. They had a table at a comic convention, so we joined the ladies after, and had a super time just hanging around.

There was plenty of daylight left to burn so we met up with another of Hothead’s good friends. His incredible generosity started with a tour of Belle Isle on the James River, and some beautiful spots around Richmond. We all enjoyed some polenta fries at the Ipanema Cafe vegetarian/vegan restaurant—highly recommended!

Our host was very generous that night, keeping us out of the cold for a good night’s rest before our trip toward Norfolk, VA.

My good friend, his wife and adorable new baby have been putting up with us for a few days now, so that we could attend Dominion Derby Girls practice Tuesday night.

Stay tuned to read about how cool all the DDG Sirens are, and what a speed skating practice in Raleigh with the Carolina Roller Girls feels like!

Check out even more pictures on my Facebook album!

Jack Rabid wrote: The pun-tacular names are one of the things I love about derby, and something that really makes it unique. I know there’s a big push to gain recognition as an authentic athletic pursuit, but I think using our real names doesn’t necessarily legitimize anything – it just takes some of the fun out of it. We earn those names and become part of a community.

EB: Well, to be clear, I’m not mandating that people take their own names. There is room in roller derby for people to have aliases and for people to have their real names. That’s the beauty of roller derby. I’m sure many people agree with you on the draw of aliases. And I say go forth! Do what makes sense for you and your team.

This is simply my decision to take my own name. I feel like its the right thing for me to do and, if other people have feelings about it, I encourage them to share their reasons.

RichAround wrote: Most of our players are using real names, or a real name with an attached nickname, as in John “The Hammer” Smith. Anybody that chooses to go with a derby alias must use something PG-13 or softer.

EB: This is a good way of doing it. I think for at least the first year PVRD’s bout programs will say Erich “Dr. Spankenstein” Bennar to provide some continuity and get fans used to the other name.

Our league has a “be smart” policy. We’ve had newspapers print stars instead of spelling out the name and that just kinda looks weird. But the convention is working for us.

Jack Rabid wrote: Other than the obvious problem of someone taking on the responsibility of maintaining the list, why doesn’t MRDA start its own name registration?

Twoevils is obviously overwhelmed, maybe it’s time we have our own list? You’ve already pretty much answered this in your statement that you feel that derby names should be discarded, though, so I don’t expect this is anyone’s priority.

Photo courtesy of Hispanic Attack

Editor’s note: Erich “Dr. Spankenstein” Bennar has been a member of PVRD for six years. As a skater for the Dirty Dozen, Bennar was nominated on DNN as a jammer/blocker “Best Double Threat” in  2011.

Bennar co-founded the Men’s Derby Coalition in 2007, a national governing body of men’s roller derby which became the Men’s Roller Derby Association in 2011. He currently serves as the president of MRDA. For 2012, Bennar has been exploring ways to develop a sustainable infrastructure for MRDA’s future.

In the following piece, Bennar explains one of the changes he believes will help MRDA grow and thrive.

Beginning this season, I will be skating under my given name, Erich Bennar (rather than my derby alias “Dr Spankenstein”). I’ve been thinking about it for several months now. Here are my reasons for doing so.

1. To Represent MRDA Well

As the president of Men’s Roller Derby Association, I would like to represent our organization as myself. My moniker is a shoutout to one of my favorite literary characters, with a debaucherous twist. This may represent an idealized version of me. Its not me, and I don’t feel like it represents MRDA.

There have been concerns about names that are offensive and not child friendly. Dr. Spankenstein isn’t explicitly offensive or derogatory, but I’d rather avoid that altogether.

2. To Avoid the Registration Process

The process of registering names has become difficult. People spend lots of time agonizing over an alias that adequately represents them. Often, when they try to register, they find that its a duplicate or was just registered by someone else.

Some people don’t find out until after their first bout, when they’ve already had their uniforms printed and fans are getting to know them. This causes frustration.

This frustration can be avoided by revamping the entire system or people simply using their given names. I’m opting to use my given name.

3. To Bring MRDA into the Mainstream

One of my primary goals with MRDA is to help bring it to the mainstream. The novelty of choosing names was fashionable when roller derby was still a backburner activity for folks with a subversive bent. There are some corners of roller derby where that is still the ideal.

For MRDA, however, I believe that time has passed. Roller derby is a legitimate sport. We need to reach out to more fans. I want to see more players present themselves as regular folks. I think that more people will identify with Erich Bennar, than Dr. Spankenstein. I don’t want my fans to cheer for an ideal. I want them to cheer for this regular guy who has dared to dream and is making his dreams come true.

So, for 2012, you’ll probably still see me occasionally hanging around with Dr. Spankenstein gear on or signing my emails with Erich / Spank alternately. But officially, I will be skating and doing business under my given name: Erich Bennar.

I hope other folks consider taking their given name as well.

Check back tomorrow for more from Erich Bennar or head to the MRDA general forum to read the full conversation.

Want to join the fast, fun local roller derby team? Email info@pioneervalleyrollerderby.com for information on PVRD’s next Fresh Meat Night, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Choosing a mouthguard is one of those personal preference questions that almost every skater can weigh in on. We liked the twist that you put on this choice—adult or child sized?—but decided to put a more general question to the league.

(Don’t worry, Aleta, we’ll come around to your specific problem in a minute.)

At practice time, we asked PVRDers what their favorite mouth guards were and whether there was anything about their mouths that made them chose that kind.

The responses were overwhelmingly in favor of Protech Dent, a brand that has become the clear favorite among our skaters in the past year or so. (Ever since Spring Roll. Thank you, Spring Roll.)

Protech was the clear winner for biters and chewers. It was also favored by those who had a hard time with larger mouthguards and wanted to leave it in while doing other things.

As Legend of the Hit ‘n’ Trample said, “I love my Protech Dent mouthguard. I can breathe and talk with it in. I don’t even think about taking it out because I forget I have it in. It’s that awesome sauce.”

Here’s a what other skaters had to say about their mouthguards and why they use them.

Gnome Ercy on Jonathan’s Sports World, Shock Doctor and Protech Dent:

When I started I used the $1 or $2 ones from Jonathan’s Sports World, then I tried one of the Shock Doctor’s, which I liked, but it was too expensive for my chewing habit, so I went back to the ones from Jonathan’s—since I could just replace them every month or two without breaking the bank—and so it went for about two years…

Then I tried the Protech (adult size) at Spring Roll. I love it, and it seems like it may still last for another couple months! It gets loose from time to time because I keep chewing on it… but I just gently re-heat it and reform it back into place.

Pink Panzer on Protech Dent:

I have one of those ones that starts off flat and fits your teeth like a hard plastic glove. So far, so good. I played two bouts with it and I still have all my teeth! I can’t chew it up (like my nine previous ones). I can talk and breathe and drink and breathe and stuff. But it kind of feels like my old retainer did (it made my teeth sore for the first couple of weeks).

Choo-Choo Bear on Shock Doctor and Protech Dent:

I had a Shock Doctor for four months—hated it. Couldn’t close my mouth around it and I was always choking on my own spit. Finally got a Protech Dent last week. I found it really difficult to fit properly—almost ripped it while molding it—but other than that, I love it.

None of those really answered your question, Aleta, so we turned to one of our former skaters, who emailed in her answer from Hawaii.

Clam Jammer recently left the league to move to Philadelphia (with an island holiday in between). She reported that her smaller mouth was also a problem. When she switch to a Protech Dent, she trimmed a mouthguard to accommodate her bite.

“I did have a Protech Dent, but I’m pretty sure it was adult-sized,” Clam wrote. “I did have to cut the back, since I’ve had teeth pulled so my mouth is tiny. With the child ones, I’d be afraid that it wouldn’t be tall enough for adult-sized teeth.”

Have a question for the team? Add it in the comment box below! Don’t forget to include your derby name and league, so we can give you props!