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If you are an OSDA member league or team do you have to play only by OSDA rules?
No. You can play by any ruleset you like, the only caveat being that only games played by OSDA rules with certified referees will be ranked for official rankings and tournament placement.

If you are not an OSDA member league or team can you play by OSDA rules?
Sure! Be our guest. Give them a try and see how you like them. There are OSDA member leagues that will scrimmage you or help you try those rules out.

Why don’t you call your games bouts?
Games have always been called games in Roller Derby since the 1930s, so we’ll stick with that.

Why don’t you “Pass the Star”?
The OSDA skates a game with rules taken from the Roller Derby Banked Track rules. Passing the star was never done in Roller Derby, Banked Track games. The Pivot was always permitted to go out on a jam once the opposing teams/or the Pivot’s own jammer started the jam. They did so without having to pass the star,or in the banked track game, exchange their helmets, as they did not wear covers over their helmets. It is the OSDA’s belief that this adds to a more defensive game, because now you have two positions that are possible scoring players. This leads to having to have the Pivots keep a good eye and check on each other to keep one another from breaking out of the pack to score. The OSDA just feels it is more along the lines of they way “Old School Roller Derby” was played.

When does the Pivot Becomes Lead Jammer?
There is no set distance a Pivot must be out of the pack to become a jammer. Just as there is no set distance the trailing/secondary jammer may become the “Lead Jammer”. For the Pivot, it is once he/she breaks from the pack, ie, one stride from the pack and he/she can be a Jammer once that opposing Jammer has broken from the pack. If they are “dumped”,sorry old school term, blocked fall down or are knocked out of bounds, they would still be concidered a Jammer. Even if they are caught up to within the 20 foot distance in front of the pack, slowed down enough for the pack to catch
up to them and then he/she is returned to the pack, they would still have been concidered a Jammer.

For the secondary Jammer to over Lead Jammer status, all that jammer must be is passed the Lead Jammer. It could be one stride, one hip, a shoulder ahead. For my part, I don’t change Lead Jammer status unless it is one stride ahead of the skater. Lead changes are usually very fast on a jam, as our jammers are encouraged to block each other while on a Jam since they have everything to gain by being Lead Jammer. In the pack while both are scoring points, then I go with the shoulder, hip and even skate if it’s closemore a judgement call, which I think it still would be if a set distance was in place. It could/would lead to a number of arguements, “he/she wasn’t 5 feet in front of the jammer”,”my team’s jammer was still Lead Jammer” etc. That’s why I let the Jammer referee who has lead Jammer stop the jam when their Jammer puts the hands on the hips to call off the jam. Hope that I gave you the answer you were looking for and not confuse you.

Co-Ed Games
When MRRD have a co-ed game there is an equal number of men and women on each team. There is however no limit as to how many of each sex from one team are allowed on the track at a time. They skate against each other in our practice times, 5 girls against 5 guys, so when a co-ed game is skated the girls have no problems with the guys being on the track as the same time. Okay, strategy time, you have 30 seconds between jam to field a team of 5 skaters, wait until last seconds to get your team out, just make sure they are on the track and ready to go when the referee blows the whistle to start the jam..change your jammer last second if the guy/girl on your team is faster than opposing jammer, but still remember, has to be done before the whistle starts the jam or you could be cut short a jammer, then the Pivot has to take the jam once the opposing jammer has broke the pack.

OSDA is co-ed only
Not so! OSDA allows for 4 different types of games: all women, all men, co-ed, and old school style (alternating periods of all men and all women, creating a four period game).

OSDA allows for wrestling
OSDA frowns on any kind of fighting during a game. The crowd should come for the awesome skating; not to see a fight.

OSDA is fake
OSDA never stages games or jams or anything.

OSDA is cigar smoker owned
OSDA is not owned nor sponsored by any cigar company or affiliate.

OSDA hates WFTDA
OSDA has no problem with WFTDA or WFTDA leagues; they just have a different version of playing the game, and invite others to learn about it.

OSDA steals players
Nope. OSDA is simply offering an alternative association to WFTDA with a rule-set that includes men and that is designed to be easily transferred to a banked track setting.

OSDA is unsafe
OSDAs rules allow for different and more types of legal blocks, however, in an OSDA game, a skater is penalized a minute for EACH rule infraction. Therefore, while there are more legal moves available to skaters, any unsafe interaction constituting a foul is more strictly penalized.

OSDA is dirty
OSDA is a different type of game with different rules. If youre used to playing WFTDA and want to play a game using OSDA rules, I HIGHLY suggest you read through them first, and perhaps watch an OSDA game. The players arent dirty; the game is just different.

OSDA is banked track only
OSDA rules are designed to be relevant to flat-track and banked-track games.

OSDA is men only
This is simply un-true, and was covered in question one.

OSDA is a greedy corporation
OSDA is men run and for profit
OSDA is currently registered as a LLC, but is in the process of becoming a non-profit. Despite its status, any money made is invested back into OSDA to help it build & grow just like many of the DIY leagues out there. All board members of OSDA work on striclty a volunteer basis and run the organization for their love of the sport. The OSDA, however, inducts leagues that are both non-profit and for profit.

OSDA is spandex, alligators and figure 8 tracks
This is one of the more outrageous myths. Most OSDA skaters wear t-shirts and shorts (or skirts), and the track is an oval, just a little bigger than the WFTDA track. The track specifications are here. There are no alligators involved.

OSDA is RollerJam.
No, OSDA is roller derby.

OSDA is dead.
Nope, OSDA is going strong and has a bright future!

OSDA rules are too small.
OSDA rules are shorter than WFTDA rules. Roller derby is a GAME. It doesnt need to get too complicated.

OSDA has weird passing the star rules
I’m not sure where this even came from, because in OSDA, you don’t pass the star at all.

OSDA lets pivots jam anytime
OSDA rules allow the pivot to jam when that teams jammer either cannot get out of the pack, or is not in play (such as when he/she is in the penalty box). This way, there are always 2 jammers, and therefore an interesting jam. Please view the OSDA rules for more details on pivot jamming.

If you cant find the answers here, send us an email, and get the answers from the source, instead of through the grapevine!