Coach's Derblog

Let’s Make It Official

Last season I was a rogue statistician.  I created my own operation for doing recon on the other teams by taking video of every single bout to compile intelligence through numbers.

Sometimes it felt evil.  And I liked it.

I liked the feeling of having the upper hand in some respect.  The Bombshells had someone that no one else had that did something that no one else did.

Now, in Season 6, I offered to use my powers and experience for the good of the entire league.

I’d like to formally introduce myself to you as the AZDD League Statistician.

In our first banked track season last year, I took a lot of time and pleasure in taking, keeping and organizing bout stats, and while they were mostly for the benefit of the Bombshells, I was happy to share them with you to promote our skaters and give our outlook on roller derby a more competitive and athletic approach.

What I’m happy about most is the fact that I no longer have to use the phrase, “these are unofficial stats” in my posts.  From now on, what you’re getting here on Coach’s Derblog are OFFICIAL AZDD League Stats.

Can you tell I’m stoked?  I bolded, underlined, AND italicized!  If I had a feature that would let me put fireworks or Christmas lights around “OFFICIAL,” I probably would.

In proposing the idea of a Stats Team to the league, I felt the formal and OFFICIAL documentation of our league stats is important for three reasons:

First, REPUTABILITY.  AZDD can maintain its position as the premier roller derby league in AZ with consistent and accurate stats.  AZDD has led the way for turning roller derby from spectacle to sport in AZ and statistics facilitate, if not solidify, that movement.

Second, STRATEGY.  I used stats last season to help my team prepare and strategize for their upcoming bout.  I equipped my skaters with knowledge of their opponents so when they step on the track with them, most things will be familiar.  Everything is better with a plan.

This is something I wanted all the teams in the leauge to have the opportunity to do.  Better prepared, smarter teams creates a greater likelihood of better, more exciting, technically impressive bouts.  That’s my vision for the type of entertainment AZDD will provide.

Third, SELF-IMPROVEMENT.  With stats, intra-league competition can take a whole new form.  With the ability to quantify performance through numbers for all positions, skaters can track their progress over the season.

Skaters can see definitively how they compare to other skaters in the league and what it will take to make themselves better, more well-rounded roller derby athletes.

I want the skaters in this league to use their numbers and other skater’s stats as a form of motivation to get better.

I think these three reasons will up AZDD’s game as a whole.  That’s whats most important to me:  ELEVATING THE LEAGUE AND THE SPORT.

Reason#3 is a good transition into the Crown Jewel of this post and my favorite purpose for stats.  We’re in March, three months into the AZDD Regular Season, and all the teams have played two games.  That means we can start putting together averages, which means, more importantly…..

(DRUM ROLL)

LEAGUE LEADER BOARDS.

I’ve put together league leader boards for three statistical categories:  The League’s Top 20 Blockers, Top 15 Jammers – Points Per Jam, and Top 15 Jammers – Points Scored.

Thank you to Suzy Snakeyes and LADD again for the resources and teaching me and AZDD their process for taking and organizing league stats.  I wouldn’t be able to provide you with this awesome info without their generosity and guidance.

A few points, just to make things clear.

There are some requirements for making it onto these lists.

Number 1:  You have to have played in a minimum of two games.

If you’re a newly drafted rookie or any skater that’s played in only 1 game this season, you’ll be eligible for the leaderboard after you get another game under your belt.

Number 2:  For Blockers, you have to have Blocked an average of 8 times per bout to be on the Blocker leader board.

Number 3:  For Jammers, you have to have Jammed an average of 5 times per bout to be on either of the Jammer leaderboards.

Now, these are your AZDD League Leaders.  Please enjoy!

First, AZDD’s Top 20 Blockers

For those that aren’t familiar how Blocker stats work, I’ll explain.

“Points for” are the number of points your Jammer scored while you were on the track.

“Points against” are the number of points the opposing Jammer scored while you were on the track.

“Points for” is subtracted from “Points against” which gives you a differential.  That differential is divided by the number of Jams you skated in which gives you an average differential per jam, that’s the number in the last column of the table.

Lets work through the numbers of our League’s Top Blocker, Sweet Revenge, just as an example.

Over two games Revenge had 74 Points for and 20 Points against. (74 – 20 = 54).  54 is her overall differential.  54 is then divided by the number of Jams she skated in (16) to get the average.  ( 54 / 16 = 3.38).  What 3.38 means is when Revenge is on the track she’s going to average a little over a +3 differential per jam.  That means on average her Jammer is scoring a little more than 3 points per jam over the opposing Jammer whenever she is on the track Blocking.  That’s an effective blocker!

Anything in the positives reflects good performance, however, my position is that if you’re a Blocker you want your average to be 1.00 or more.  As a blocker, if you can help your Jammer outscore the opposing Jammer by 1 point every time you’re Blocking, you’re really helping your team.  In any given bout, if you win every jam by 1 point, you’re gonna win the game.  Math says so.

Now, AZDD’s Top 15 Jammers – Total Points

And Finally, AZDD’s Top 15 Jammer – Points Per Jam

Not much to say, the numbers speak for themselves.

If you have any comments, questions, or cuss words about these lists, please share them in the comment box below.  I love discussing stats and if you want some greater intricacies on these numbers, I could talk to you about them for days.

I hope you liked the Leader Boards.  This is our baseline for now.  They will be updated every month after each bout weekend so that we can track how these skaters move around on the Leader Boards as the season progresses.  Who will move up?  Who will move down?  Who will move onto the list for the first time?  Its gonna be fun to see.

My hope is that after the skaters from AZDD see these lists, a lot more of them will work harder to either stay on them, move up, or  just get on them.

That means better derby for you, fans!

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Tags: Sweet Revenge