The WFTDA marked a decade by the skaters and a decade for the skaters at its most recent annual meeting.
Representatives from hundreds of WFTDA member leagues across the world came to Denver, Colo. last month to mark the anniversary, but to also get down to business discussing the future direction of the organization and of the skaters that support it.
“We took time to think about how the roller derby community has evolved over the last 10 years and what WFTDA’s role should be moving into the next 10 years,” said Juliana Gonzales, executive director of the WFTDA, in a post to wftda.com. She added that there was some “nostalgic celebrating” during the weekend, but that was trumped by “an intense focus on what’s ahead.”
The WFTDA offered some details on what went down during the weekend, as well as what’s on tap for the near future.
Discussions among representatives included “WFTDA’s relationships with other roller derby and roller skating governing bodies,” and how the WFTDA’s current role as leader in the grassroots expansion of game factors into that. Another talk centered on whether or not the WFTDA roller derby rule book effectively reflects the “core values” of WFTDA member leagues,1 which included further discussions about the role of the NSO today and going forward.
The WFTDA also previewed its latest large project, a brand-new stats repository for live and archived game data. Previously, the WFTDA was using Rinxter for stat-tracking, but that is being replaced by a new system that looks like it will debut in time for the 2015 playoff season.
Additionally, member leagues attending the annual meeting made changes to WFTDA leadership. Amy Spears of the Ohio Roller Girls was voted in as the new Vice President of the WFTDA, a promotion from her former role as Membership Officer. Spears replaces outgoing VP Lorna Boom of Rat City, who declined to seek a third term.
Lorna will still be heavily involved with the WFTDA going forward, however, taking the lead on two big projects. One will be “overhauling” the certification program for officials. The other will be a working towards an update to the WFTDA gender policy—or the “gender inclusion policy,” as it is now being referred to as2—something that the community has long been calling for.
On top of all of that, the WFTDA offered a peek at the logos and branding that will be used for the upcoming playoff year. Their public release tends to mark the unofficial start of the WFTDA divisional tournaments and the road to Minnesota and the 2015 WFTDA Championships. When that drops, we can start looking forward to the official start of tournament derby: August 21 in Cleveland, Ohio.