Tilted Thunder Rail Birds — Seattle All-Female Non-Profit Banked Track Roller Derby

Want to be a Rail Bird?

We are pleased to announce that our next Flight School will be held from February 11th, 2012 through March 24th, 2012. Tryouts will be held on March 25th, 2012. Registration is available NOW through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/219106
Just interested in tryouts?

Requirements for Eligibility

  • You must be at least 18 years of age, female and be physically able to participate in a full contact sport
  • You must provide a copy of valid photo ID and proof of personal health insurance coverage
  • Most importantly, you must have a strong desire to improve yourself and the sport of roller derby

Gear

  • Quad Skates (no inline)
  • Helmet
  • Knee pads
  • Elbow pads
  • Wrist guards
  • Mouthguard

Why should I attend Flight School?
Tilted Thunder Rail Birds currently have the only banked track in the Pacific Northwest. This is the only place within hundreds of miles where you can get the kind of roller derby training that will truly prepare you for tryouts and then competition on the banked track. Even seasoned flat track competitors find that there is a learning curve with the transition to the bank, and there are many skaters in the United States that learn the sport on banked track first.

The intensive program is designed to ramp up your skill and athleticism and put you in a strong position for success as a roller derby competitor. By stretching Flight School out over a 6 week period, you will develop the necessary strength and agility faster while embedding movements and strategies into your memory. This is designed to be both challenging and fun!

What will I learn?

  • Banked track from basics to scrimmage - We have assumed a wide range of skill levels and will be working with skaters to ensure they get solid fundamental skills while keeping it challenging for all skaters. Our goal is to have you scrimmaging by the end, but we know every group is different and will fine tune the program to the progress of the participants.
  • WORD Rules (http://tiltedthunder.com/sites/tiltedthunder.com/files/word_rules_v2.1_0...)
  • Injury prevention
  • Gear care and maintenance

Timeframe
Flight School kicks off on February 11th, 2012 and will end on March 24th, 2012. Tryouts will be held at the end, March 25th, 2012, for no additional cost to those who pass.

Practice Info

  • The practice schedule for this session will be posted as soon as available, but will be a mix of weekday
    evenings and weekends.
  • Practices generally run 1.5 hrs, you are expected to show up 15 minutes early to gear up. Some practices have 30 minutes of off-skates cross-training as well, for a total of 2 hrs.
  • If you are more than 15 minutes late taking the track, your practice will not count toward attendance and you must ask the coach if you can still join.
  • You are expected to make at least 2 practices per week in order to pass Flight School.
  • While we will work in off-skates opportunities, we strongly suggest that you do off-skates in your own time as well.

Cost

  • The entire program costs $175.00. Registration and payment are through Brown Paper Tickets.
  • NOTE: This does not include gear. You must secure gear yourself prior to starting Flight School.

Am I required to attend Tryouts at the end of Flight School?
We have not made this a requirement because we want you to be comfortable with the commitment and TTRB. However, this program is designed to prepare you and we very strongly encourage all participants to tryout for the league.

Can I attend even if I know I don’t want to be part of the league?
No. This is for potential recruits only. TTRB is discussing other clinics for skaters who are just interested in building their skills or seeing what skating banked is like and will post information once it becomes available. We are currently hosting Days of Thunder, designed for skaters who already have the derby basics down, please
see http://tiltedthunder.com/content/days-thunder-training-camp for more info.

I’m currently part of another local league, can I attend?
We can accept transfer skaters, but if you are with any non-recreational league within a 60 mile radius of Seattle you must retire before tryouts or you will be dismissed. If you are affiliated with another league like Rat City, Jet City or Dockyard Dames, we will contact your league before tryouts to confirm that you have retired. We do accept skaters from recreational leagues like the Taco Kickers without requiring that skaters retire.

Do I have to attend Flight School to try out?
We are allowing skaters to tryout without Flight School. However, be aware that banked track is different in both method and rules set. Additionally, Flight School participants will be given priority at tryouts and space is limited. If you do not have banked track experience, your will be given a chance to skate the track before a basic competency test.

If I pass Flight School and Tryouts, what happens next?
If you are accepted after tryouts you become a New Chick, attend Orientation, begin your 90-day Probationary Period and will be placed in one of 2 categories: Fresh Meat or Track Ready. If you are Track Ready, you will be eligible to attend regular league practices, CIA practices and positional scrimmages in order to achieve Bout Readiness. If you are Fresh Meat, you will be in the Fresh Meat Pool and practice in the Chicks/Fresh Meat practices until you advance to the next levels. This is designed to keep you safe and make sure that you can become the best skater possible. We run skater evaluations roughly once per month, giving you an opportunity to move up to Bout Ready as soon as you are ready. Once you are evaluated as Bout Ready you may be asked to sub on a team for upcoming bouts. You cannot be permanently placed on a team until you have finished your 90-day Probationary Period. Don’t worry if you don’t end up on a team immediately, we want both you and the team to be happy with the decision. That usually means a longer period of time for everyone to become familiar with personalities and styles.

This is a lot of info, but I still have questions!
Great! Come to one of the Open Houses we are holding before Flight School begins. We will have skaters on hand to answer questions about the program, the league and requirements and you can walk around on the track. Even if you are sold, feel free to come down and meet us beforehand. You can email Kit Curry with any questions at Recruiter@TiltedThunder.com, she would love to help you out!



TRYOUTS

You must be at least 18 years of age, female and be physically able to participate in a full contact sport.

You must provide a copy of valid photo ID and proof of personal health insurance coverage.

If you did not attend Flight School, the cost to tryout will be $10. There is no additional cost to Flight Schoolers.

You must be able to competently perform all the following skills on a flat surface:

  • Forward skating
  • Gliding on one foot at a time, Crossovers
  • Stops: Plow, T-stop
  • Falls: Knee fall, 4-point fall (knees and elbows)
  • Skate within touching distance of others

You must bring the following gear:

  • Quad Skates (no inline)
  • Helmet
  • Knee pads
  • Elbow pads
  • Wrist guards
  • Mouthguard

Before the skating evaluations, those skaters who do not have banked track experience will be assessed by our members or coaches to determine if they are eligible to continue. This is done for the safety of each and every skater. If you do not pass the “pre-test” you may stay to watch tryouts and see what is required. We do ask that you keep talking to a minimum to allow the evaluators to be heard.

Seattle area roller skating rinks where you can practice your skills and prepare for our try-outs:

Home » Flight School and Tryouts