Every tournament season, without fail, twitter lights up with questions every time a team uses their hands to brace each other.
We do a cycle of a) I could never do that/injury concerns b) awe at how others make it work c) some brief mention that it’s actually been around for a while. Rinse and repeat.
I’ve always been interested in a deeper dive on hand bracing because some of the connections between teams who use it are just so obvious — like 2x4’s Papap and her sister Manija who plays for Dublin, who both play for Team Argentina.
Although hand bracing has had a wide cross pollination — from Helsinki to Edmonton to Chicago and with pretty much every single derby league for at least a couple of practices — we will bring our focus down to three leagues who effectively used the style and added to its development.
London Brawling
The earliest example of really predominant hand bracing, or at least the earliest I’ve tracked so far, goes back to London Brawling’s flirtation with the bracing style in the 2014–2015 seasons.
Kid, formerly Kid Block, says that hand bracing was already a thing within the program before her transfer from Tiger Bay to London in September 2014, but it was something which immediately impressed her, “It was the first time I’d seen anything that looked quite so organized — I remember watching them using it against Windy at Playoffs and being very impressed.”
The team had used Brawling-only August Playoff training aka “Brawlgaust” to workshop different bracing styles and hand bracing won out. Brawling began to drill it extensively and use it with intention.
One of the best contrasts for that early era of bracing comes during the 2014 Champs match up between Victorian Roller Derby and London Brawling. The first ever game between these teams, you can easily pick out Brawling’s hand bracing set against VRDL’s two pair shoulder bracing, which would grow into VRDL’s own unique take (aka The Cube).
The early benefits were easy to see on the track for London, in 2014 they were able to return to Champs and this time win a game, climbed to their all-time record high of 3rd in the WFTDA rankings and added +38.1 to their FTS rating and +180.95 to their WFTDA average.
For Kid, the bracing style played to London’s strengths at the time, namely their individual skills and mobility, “…skaters felt like they could cover more track hand to hand. Hands keeps your weight centred for snappier individual movement, rather than the limited movement they felt when arm to arm. Extra length in arms at the top of the formation meant more consistent movement patterns and again less reliance on someone else moving you into position and more reliance on your own skills and agility.”
With a blocker core that include a heavy rotation of — Shaolynn Scarlett, Juke Boxx, Lady Go-Go, Olivia Coupe, Hell Vetica Black, Kristen Lee, Lorrae Evans, Raw Heidi, Stefanie Mainey, Kid Block AND Die Die, it’s obvious why London Brawling would adopt a bracing style which stressed individual skills and mobility. Of that group you have a future Hydra winner (Lorrae Evans), the best European derby player of all time (Stefanie Mainey), a 3x World Cup Champion (Juke Boxx) and a 8 more blockers any Coach would love to have.
Kid also thinks hand to hand bracing helped Brawling effectively counter offense, giving Brawling an early advantage that other shoulder braced walls didn’t have, “ I do think arm to arm has got way smarter since we initially had those conversations though so that’s not quite as obvious now, but at the time I remember the offence avoidance aspect of hand to hand felt like a really big tick.”
Alongside the success, however, came injuries, “By the end of 2014 some Brawling skaters had injured fingers and thumbs due to this method of bracing.” The injuries split the team over its use after that 2014, with one line favouring hand to hand, Diamond Pack (Arocha, Juke Boxx, Olivia Coupe and Die), and the other, Pack Cube (Kid Block, Raw Heidi, Katie Black and Just Jess), moving to shoulder bracing.
The split between the lines became a strength in itself though, making for more versatile training and increasing difficulty for opposing teams who had to play a Brawling team that was comfortable moving between two different styles of bracing.
Brawling’s tripods have evolved since then, moving to a very solid shoulder braced tripod in recent years, but these early adopters were able to use the disruptive power of a new technique and really maximize its potential. Raw Heidi credits Gotham’s early tornado blocking for the inspiration, but it was London Brawling and their dedication to workshopping the technique that really put it on the map.
Mighty Dublin 🏰
One of the more recent and prominent examples of hand bracing has been Dublin Roller Derby bringing the technique back and adding it to their arsenal. I noticed it more over their 2018–2019 seasons, but it’s something Dublin had also used in the past. Their use has been tied to jamming styles, with a focus on palm bracing and no interlocking fingers as a way to reduce hand and finger injuries.
The introduction of bracing style vs jammer style is an interesting wrinkle on hand bracing — with a shoulder brace offering more stability and strength against more physically opposing, but less mobile, jammers and hand bracing offering more mobility and line coverage for more agile and less physical ones.
For Dublin, outright refusal of techniques like hand bracing is too limiting. If they have use they should be a part of a toolbox that the team can draw upon.
Their skill base, like London and 2x4, also lends to at least being open to different bracing styles. Their quasi-snack pack line of Manija, Val, Stabba and Bruisey will typically give up size to opponents, but make up for that with increased mobility and skating skill.
2x4 Roller Derby
The Argentinians have been the Gold Standard of hand bracing to date, effectively using a technique which plays to their dominant strength — their extremely high baseline for track mobility and speed. It’s been part and parcel in their meteoric rise within WFTDA.
2x4 is likely to give up the size advantage to every team that they play, so any kind of restrictive bracing saps their ability to effectively use their mobility play around their opponent. The extreme cost to travel means 2x4 never has the bench depth that London had in 2014, however, their superior endurance means they are able to continue to flex their agility late into a game even with a short bench. It is extremely impressive to watch.
All of the strengths of hand bracing that Kid mentioned above apply to and are heightened with 2x4. Using a palm hand brace, 2x4 can match the added mobility with their speed and low centre of gravity, making effective offense especially difficult for opposing teams. It is nearly impossible to locate them AND get lower than their centre of gravity. Their 2019 Champs clinching game against Rainy City stands as a masterclass in offense avoidance.
Training under an over pass in Buenos Aires, 2x4 have kept hand bracing alive and pushed its use to new heights. It may be unconventional, but that’s how this league thrives. If your league has any interest in testing the technique out, 2x4 is your home work.
The development, decline and re-emergence of hand bracing in roller derby have all largely come in a 6 year span from 2014–2019 and although abandoned by many over that stretch, there are examples of leagues who have been able to successfully use the bracing style to their advantage. It may not be for everyone, but it can be effective. Charting a bit of its history hopefully gives a bit more insight into its use and an even greater appreciation for its place within derby.
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