Let’s try something fun on the blog, shall we? I’ve been staring at Victoria Roller Derby’s walls for the last eight months, so might as well share some of what I’ve noticed this week for interested parties.

Dimensional and geometric walls have become a huge thing in roller derby over the last year and a half, and Victoria’s geometric whirl-whip wall is just the latest bit of “oooh, shiny!” in wall-building.

But, you may notice if you’ve ever watched Victoria play: They don’t start off the line in that terrifying three- or four-wall circular structure they use to so well entrap jammers. Instead, they start in either a four-wall rainbow formation, two two-walls, or a three-wall with two inversions.

FOUR WALL: Here’s how they transition from the Rainbow to the whirlwhip, even through offense. You can set this wall up either on the back or front line. Watch what their inverted skater closest to the inside line does with her hands.

THREE WALL: Their three-wall still has two inverted blockers with strong internal arm connections. Watch how they switch to external arm connections and the circle. Again, you can set this up on the back or front line.

TWO TWO-WALLS: Victoria is exceedingly good at building walls around opposing blockers, and they do that by splitting into groups of two. Here, they look thoroughly mixed up on the jammer line, but in fact, they’re in groups of twos…

… That then reform into a perfect four-wall whirlwhip.

TUESDAY: How the whirlwhip reforms from a runback.

WEDNESDAY: How the whirlwhip can be destroyed with effective offense.