Playoffs & Championships

By Vile Love It

If you’ve been watching the 2015 International WFTDA Playoffs on WFTDA.tv or scouring the archives to find the one game you haven’t watched yet, you might not remember the names Sweet Willy T, A.K. 40oz, Plastic Patrick, or Lightning Slim, but you are likely to recognize their voices. These WFTDA announcers are the ultimate derby geeks. They get to love roller derby out loud to everyone within earshot; all at the same time.

In professional sports, most times it takes formal education, connections, a miracle or two and then some sheer dumb luck to get into a sweet broadcast gig. But, of course, derby isn’t just any other sport.

Many announcers stumble into announcing quite by accident. Ryan Will (formerly known as Baam Baam) is one of those announcers. Back in 2004 when Mad Rollin' Dolls in Madison, Wisconsin, was starting out, he volunteered to help. “You’re going to need an announcer,” he told them. “I’ll do it.”

Early roller derby was: warm, willing body equals job assignment.

What began as “helping out” soon became a passion for Ryan. “I want to represent the sport well,” he said, despite not being much of a “sports guy.”

Like almost all announcers, Ryan started in the venue. At his first game, he asked a friend to join him and the two of them developed chemistry and style. Ryan was the straight man and his friend, Bob Noxious, the funny man. It worked.

Kasey Bomber, on the other hand, started as a skater for the L.A. Derby Dolls in 2003. She did stints as a trainer and coach and was recruited to announce at the ’08 Battle of the Brink tournament. She took to it immediately.

“I like to be the one inviting the crowd to the party that's happening on the track,” said Kasey. “I think my strength lies in helping to maintain excitement and engagement.”

There is venue announcing and then there is broadcast. Some people might think they are similar shades of the same color, but they really can be quite different for the announcer.

“When you are announcing at a venue you need to keep in mind that you are telling the crowd what just happened, you aren’t talking about the action as it happens,” said Ryan. “You don’t want to broadcast to one team what the other is doing” (ie, the jammer is coming out of the box).

Kasey likes to focus on the energy in the venue. “I like to be off-the-cuff and to appreciate the humor in some moments, while making sure the crowd is consistently appreciating the culmination of all the work that is happening out there on the track,” said Kasey. 

“Regardless, venue or broadcast announcing is a conversation between the two announcers,” said Ryan. “You just widen the conversation to include the audience. And you take any opportunity to educate the audience on the game.”

The audience might be quite different between the venue and a broadcast. “There are around 40% to 50% people in a venue who have never seen a roller derby game,” estimated Ryan. “That isn’t generally the case in a WFTDA.tv broadcast. Although the audience is getting bigger and more diverse, generally someone who tunes into WFTDA.tv is more likely to know something about the game.”

Kasey approaches broadcast a bit differently. “The goal is to be telling people about the game who are watching it for the first time. You don’t want to assume everyone who is watching the screen understands what is going on.”

Kasey doesn’t focus as much on teaching her audience. She likes to focus on the energy of the game. If she is announcing in the venue, she likes to cultivate and feed the fun and excitement of a great derby game. If she is announcing on broadcast, she works hard to bring that excitement to the streaming audience. “You want people to become part of the drama,” says Kasey. “You want to bring them into the room.”

Both Ryan and Kasey bring a considerable amount of derby knowledge to the microphone. They have each been involved with roller derby for more than a decade and have been on the announcing circuit for a long enough to have talked through all of the rule sets and clarifications, starts and strategies ever used.

Just like skaters, officials, and other derby people, announcers have their own club. They hang out together at tournaments and games, they talk about their craft, and they critique and encourage each other. Just like everyone else who is involved in roller derby, they want to promote the sport. And the announcers that you will be hearing live at the venues of the Playoffs and on WFTDA.tv all have the same goal: they want to represent the game and keep loving it out loud for all to hear.