"Can we skate or what?!?" is what many have been asking. 

WFTDA hosted a Skate of the Union to update the community on....everything. The upcoming revisions to Return to Play Guidelines, putting Community over Competition, Regional Recovery, a Covid Recovery Fund, and updates from the ART Project working toward equity and non-racism. I'll do my best to fill you in on what's happening in this quickie episode. 

Here's a link so you can watch the whole thing straight from the source: https://www.facebook.com/wftda/videos/813503459566109

📷 by Sarah Montie/Lucille Brawl

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Coach Dan is here! After last week's episode about taking on obstacles, I wanted to follow up a topic we've been wanting to discuss for a long time. What are the challenges smaller leagues tackle regularly? And what can small leagues do to survive? All leagues around the world have been wondering about their mortality as of late, but we fear small leagues will be hit the hardest and since the majority of leagues in the world are small (like our own league), we want to show them some love with this episode.

📷 by Ciara Janae

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In this episode, I'm sharing stories of how obstacles pushed people to new creative heights and made them try things they never would have attempted otherwise and how we can relate this to our growth as roller derby athletes and taking on challenges our leagues and teams face regularly (especially after last year, amiright?). Bottom line -- experimenting with obstacles and facing your challenges head on can unlock superpowers you didn't know you had! Inspired by the Cautionary Tales Podcast by Tim Harford, check it out!

📷 by Ciara Janae

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Many listeners have been wondering, what is it going to be like to return to play? And how do we help our coaches use the new curriculum? 

In this week's episode, I was joined by Chili, Coach of Pink Peril Roller Derby in the Netherlands and member of the WFTDA Task Force for the new curriculum, This Is Roller Derby. Chili's league got to return to play for several months last summer and shares the story of the league's challenges. He also elaborated on how he has been implementing the core values of the curriculum for his league while sharing tips for all the coaches out there listening. 

Link to Chili's blog article: IMPLEMENTING THE NEW WFTDA BEGINNER CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK...AND WHY IT'S A GAME CHANGER

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This episode will be very beneficial to your team and league to help answers questions that have been coming up about the new curriculum. Our guides on this quest are special guests (River, Hammer, and Demon) who all worked on the curriculum as part of the WFTDA MSR Task Force. 

📷 by Ciara Janae

Documents on the Curriculum landing page:

Or folks can always join some WFTDA & WeFTDA Communities for live discussions, information, and resources:

What if Michael Jordan's injury in his second season in the NBA was the end of his story and we never heard from him again? 

This episode is a Story Time with Jackie episode! Based on the HBO documentary "Women of Troy", I'll be telling you the story of Cheryl Miller and the rest of the USC basketball team that changed women's basketball forever. This amazing team made up of Cheryl Miller, Pam and Paula McGee, Cynthia Cooper, and more changed the sport and challenged issues of gender and race. This team got the world's attention and laid the groundwork for being a professional sport today. What if Cheryl Miller hadn't gotten injured and became the most famous professional athlete in the world? How would the world be different? I can't help but compare this journey to roller derby and wonder....what if?...

📷 by USC Athletics

You can watch the 1983 Championship USC vs Louisiana Tech on Youtube! (The video is pretty grainy, but you can clearly see the difference in playing styles of these two teams.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhNPED-DjEI

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We're moving into a new era of roller derby without minimum skill requirements! This means we can get more people involved in the sport and playing the sport more quickly. But what does that look like? Do we still do tests? Are laps gone forever? 

This episode will be very beneficial to your team and league as an introduction to the new curriculum. Our guides on this quest are special guests who all worked on the curriculum as part of the WFTDA MSR Task Force. We dive into the history of the task force, the research into how other sports looked at the skill level of their players, the goals, the challenges, and answers to the frequently asked questions about the future of what roller derby will be. 

Maha El Nasser - MSR Curriculum developer (she/her)

Emily Cookson aka River Strong - WFTDA MSR Task Force and Skating Education Committee (she/her)

Catherine Beat-Her Bonez - WFTDA Education Senior Programs Manager (she/her) 

📷 by Kit Ruff - ShutHerUp Photography

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Let's clean out your league's culture closet and only keep what sparks joy! 

This year might be your best opportunity EVER to have a real impact on your league's culture. The team you return to will not be in the same place mentally, physically, or emotionally after the long off season. So what better time is there to have a chat together about what you want your team and league to be going forward? What will your new goals be like? What changes would you like to make before getting back on the track? 

Bringing back special guest leadership coach, Iggy Perillo (she/her) so we can clean out this culture closet together. Who decides your team's culture? Listen to find out!

Iggy Perillo and WSL Leadership Coaching

2 - Leadership Ecosystem Lounge - a free meet-up for leaders to connect, learn and unwind - 2nd and 4th Tuesdays - Info and sign-up at WSLLeadership.com/workshops

3 - Want just the facts? Sign-up for the WSL Leadership Monthly Newsletter for original content and updates on events - https://www.subscribepage.com/wsl

📷 by Liz Mac Intyre's phone

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Where you started does NOT determine how far you will go. Anything IS possible.

This episode is about:

📷 by David Oliver Photography

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This week, I want to talk about Identity Loss after Trauma and Post Traumatic Growth. I think this is a very relatable topic because even though I came to it through concussion recovery, I feel like these ideas are sooo applicable to so many situations in life so I think I can reach every one of you out there with this one and I love it when an episode can touch everyone. Trauma could be a concussion (It's called traumatic brain injury!), any type of injury, maybe being diagnosed with a chronic illness, a traumatic incident in your life or even a world-wide pandemic perhaps. This has been a traumatic experience for many around the world and I’d argue we all have a bit of trauma to one degree or another from living through these times. Any incident in your life that makes you see the world as "Before" and "After" leaves you at a crossroads figuring out who you are and who you can be going forward as a better athlete, teammate, leader, and human being.

Visit Roller Derby Athletics at rollerderbyathletics.com/plans.

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