Defensive blocking (unofficially) with Bambi and Shortstop

(Or: the flip side of Aggressive Jamming with Bambi and Shortstop)

 

What was useful about Bambi's coaching is that she explained what the blockers were doing while the jammer was trying to get through, and then what the blockers should do in respond and how the jammer should change her strategy and stuff, so that was really cool. So technically we were learning this stuff and aggressive jamming at the same time. But I thought it’d be nifty to separate them to get a clearer understanding of what was happening. (I think this entry will be shorter though, since we were supposed to be doing aggressive jamming, and in order to do that there had to be some defensive blocking, etc.)

Blocking and bracing your wall

Blockers 1 and 4 are on the outside, so they will be the
ones to brace the wall made up of 2,3,4 (for blocker 1)
and 1,2,3 (for blocker 4). There are two possible places
to brace for each blocker. They can also push the jammer
out over the line if necessary.

This was the main thing we worked on while the jammers were trying to get past. Basically, you can have your wall of four, and make a wall across the whole track. That's pretty handy, but if a jammer is going to be trying to get past, you will have at least one blocker who is not really doing anything because she's not at the part of the wall that the jammer is pushing at.

If this happens, the blocker furthest away (i.e. one of the line blockers) can swing in front and, facing the three blockers in the wall, use her arms to brace up the wall. Basically it's just to counter the force of the jammer pushing past. You're not supposed to be pushing the jammer back, but rather just holding the wall in place. Outside blockers to be sideways so they can also butt push jammer out of play and over the line if they try to sneak past.

Here's a picture of CRDL applying the bracing thing:

It's technically 1-on-1 bracing, but it's keeping the opposing
jammer from getting past Shorty (as pivot).

As a bracer, there are a couple of important things to note:

• Direction of gameplay: this was a big one. Just because you're facing backwards doesn't mean you can go backwards. You're supposed to be holding up the opposing jammer, not pushing them back. It's REALLY important to make sure you're still rolling in derby direction even if you're pushing on your teammate to counter the jammer.
• Hand placement matters: When you're bracing, you're putting force on your teammate and using her as a wall. Watch where you are actually bracing your teammate. Hands on shoulders/pecs works much better than hands on their sternum. Or their throat.
• Elbows: There'll be other shit going on around you while you are bracing. Keep your elbows in so you don't clock someone and get majored for it.
• Talk to your pack: if you're skating backwards, you will be best able to see where the jammer is. Tell your blockers which side she's coming in on or if she is switching tactics so they will be able to prepare for getting hit (which also makes your job easier).

Helping out your jammer 

Kinda like this. I imagine it's all pixelly too.

Okay, this is obvious, yes? But remember that derby is offensive and defensive at the same time, so while you're doing all this defensive blocking your jammer is still going to be hanging around trying to get past. Bambi said that, as a blocker, you have to do what you can to help your jammer. So, suppose that it's like in a video game and your jammer has an energy bar. Seriously. Every time your jammer has to take a step or a hit the bar goes down.

So as a blocker, you should be helping clear the path so she has to take less steps, or taking hits for her, or whatever. The best thing you can do is open up the inside line for your jammer, and you can do this by getting the blockers out of the way and off the line.