I learnt this from Just Jess of Brawling and Brawl Saints. LRG have been told have been practising a form of this for a while to help them move quickly but whilst retaining stable, between lanes. Glide is possibly the wrong word to use here as it could imply a slow movement, where as in reality this ‘glide’ is fast paced.


A breakdown of this move:

1. Start with both feet facing forwards.
   
2. Pick up the foot nearer to the direction you intend to go.
   
3. Turn that foot 90 degrees, with toes pointing in the direction you want to go.
   
4. Push off whilst gliding on that foot.
   

*There are two ways of stopping at this point*

• Easy version (which is essentially stepping out of it): Place the trailing foot down facing forwards, transferring your weight onto that foot, lift your gliding foot up returning it to a forwards facing position.
  

Now this is fine, but it is far clunker as there are more steps, stopping is less instantaneous, which means that changing direction is also slower.

• Harder version: For this, you will need to have an understanding of how to do hockey stops (more specifically one footed hockey stops). Ok, so here with your gliding foot you do a one footed hockey stop to get your foot to snap into the forwards facing position, then place the trailing foot parallel.
  

So in either version you should finish in your derby stance, strong and stable. The key thing to keep in mind is that you are finishing with your hips facing forward.

This move overall is quicker than side stepping and more efficient to do as a pack (when practised).

Drill (Part 1):

Groups of 1
Send people out in a space. I’d judge which version to teach based on the competency of the skaters you have to do hockey stops myself. Get people to practice the above chosen version. Encourage them to move back and forth across one lane. After a while get them covering more than one lane with the movement.

Part 2:

Groups of 2.
Send skaters to practice moving across the track as a pair using the London lane gliding. Get them to focus on staying together; communicating which lane they are stopping in, which direction they are going in.

Part 3:

Groups of 3/4.
Have a jammer behind the wall that the blockers can track across the track at 50%. The jammer would be enabling the drill – i.e. not attacking the wall.

Part 4:

Groups of 3/4.
Again, have a jammer behind the wall. This time the jammer is attacking the wall, but not challenging the wall above 50% as they are still enabling the blockers.

Aim: to practice digging in in your lanes

Part 1: Plow stopping in lanes

Group of 1.
Get skaters to practice plowing alone encouraging them to try to take up as little a space as possible. Some people, usually those with longer legs have a habit of spider-legging – plowing whilst covering many lanes – this drill should encourage them to consider the space they are taking up.

Get the skaters to find a set of parallel lines on the court you train on that are about the width of a lane on a derby track – preferably a little smaller to get skaters used to training in a smaller space, as inevitably they will take up more space under pressure (whether that is in full paced drills, scrimmage or bouts). Alternatively you could mark out lines with cones/tape.

Groups of 2
Send skaters to practice plowing in between the lines whilst someone is applying pressure to them. Get pairs to communicate more or less pressure from the jammer to challenge the blocker. Skaters should focus on maintaining their skates within the lines, whilst digging in and reducing how far forward the jammer can push them.

Part 2: Hockey stopping in lanes – while plowing is useful for continual movement, hockey stops can be useful to take a jammers speed off them.

Group of 1.
Send skaters out in their own space to practice hockey stopping, advanced skaters should be trying to keep their stop in a space as small as possible.

Groups of 2.
Get the skaters out to practice hockey stopping between the lines, the ones marked out as in part one, whilst someone is applying pressure to them. Get the pairs to communicate more or less pressure from the jammer to challenge the blocker. Skaters should focus on maintaining their skates within the lines, whilst digging in and reducing how far forward the jammer can push them.

15 Minutes

Aim: Countering backwards blocking

Drill: Get into groups of 2: one jammer, one blocker.
Blocker faces backwards, jammer approaches and allows blocker to make contact with them. Jammer starts to 'club' the blocker with their shoulder, this makes it harder for the blocker to maintain contact and feel which way the jammers body is likely to go, i.e. it should be a distraction technique before the jammer disengages moves passed the blocker.

Version 1: Try getting the jammer juking around the blocker, relying on explosive speed.

Version 2: If the jammer has been using their left shoulder to club the blocker. Try getting the jammer to move their body to the left side of the blocker - also the side of the blocker they are aiming to go passed. Allow the jammer's body to quickly side surf passed the blocker. Whilst the jammer is going passed i.e. they are level to the blockers shoulder get the jammer to aim their right shoulder (and the whole of their body weight) into the blockers shoulder blade to allow them to gain momentum from the blockers body as they push off backwards, before quickly transitioning to forwards and skating off.
For this to work there needs to be no delay between clubbing the blocker and side surfing so the blocker has less time to react.

Backwards blocking is slower than forwards facing blocking, meaning using acceleration and explosive speed will be really useful to get around them.

This was a technique shown to us by Lexi Lightspeed from LRG and Team England.


20 Minutes

Focus: Allowing a hit to redirect momentum rather than just getting hit out of bounds.

Drill: Groups of 5, four blockers one jammer.
Blockers line up in a flat four wall. Get the jammer to go in with their shoulder across the direction they're going. I.e. going left (inside) around someone right shoulder leads. As they get hit by the blocker (who gives a powerful hit) the jammer uses that momentum to spin* themselves around and go around to opposite side of the wall, or a gap in the wall the blocker who hit hopefully just left behind them (which will be the case if that blocker over committed).

*So if the jammer was hit on their right shoulder their body should turn to their left - this is the 'spin'.

Variation: This can be done in smaller groups one-on-one as well.

15 Minutes

Aim: Countering backwards blocking

Drill: Get into groups of 2: one jammer, one blocker.
Blocker faces backwards, jammer approaches and allows blocker to make contact with them. Jammer leans heavy pressure into the shoulder of the blocker which is opposite to the direction that the jammer wants to go. Then disengage dropping the opposite shoulder passed the blocker - dropping that shoulder presents your back to the blocker as you go past. As jammer drops their shoulder, they then juke and accelerate off.

Backwards blocking is slower than forwards facing blocking, meaning using acceleration and explosive speed will be really useful to get around them.

15-20 minutes

Aim: Building up blocking techniques

1. Guarding – Bringing the arms against the chest so if against a scrappy jammer it doesn’t hurt the sturnham as much – instead hurts the jammer. (Use against an offensive jammer).
2. Clubbing – With jammer (pushing with resistance, just going through not around) Recoiling when the jammer is coming towards you then slamming back into their armpit or sturnham (depending on their relative size). If they are smaller than you, you can slam down on top of their should instead.
   
3. Guiding:
   

•  Pt 1. If the jammer is pushing on the left shoulder guide them to the left, using one toe stop down as resistance, then the other skate to guide. Dropping the shoulder back slightly their leaning on helps direct them and trick them into thinking they’re moving you. Leaving arms out in a similar fashion to the guiding is useful.

You can follow up with a club with your right shoulder to knock them off track or hammer and nail style invite in a team mate to knock them out for you.

• Pt 2. How to force them on the correct shoulder (for use when one side of the track is occupied) with the swapping – drop back slightly and switch shoulders. Or club them backwards and move allowing them to land on the shoulder you want them on.

Then do some one on one jamming and blocking in pairs utilising combinations of all techniques with the jammer building up pace till their are going full out.

N.B. Backwards blocking is a last resort technique, and only if they can get back to their wall in time when the jammer does get passed. It shouldn't be a go to technique as walls cannot be formed as easily when one person is backwards skating (similarly when people are in a wall sideways).

10-15 minutes

Focus: Power

Aim: Building up muscle in legs.

Groups of 2: One skater is the pusher, one the person being pushed. The person being pushed faces the pusher and when pushed would be moving backwards around the track, with one toestop up. The pusher then pushes the other person around the track. It is important they push using the flats of their feet only and not their toestops as this makes it harder, allowing a build up of muscle. If the pusher is finding it too easy the person being pushed should put up two toestops. Everyone should swap several times, giving them a chance for their muscles to  rest up before working them again.

If it is still too easy, get everyone into groups of three rather than two, so the pusher has two people to push around the track.

 The first part of this drill was designed by Professor Killa Hertz of Surrey Jammerwockies - I added the 3 group extension it to make it harder by ramping up the resistance.

20-30 minutes

Focus: Offence

Aim - Preventing the whole opposition team from blocking your jammer - really useful in a power jam.

The blockers who are on the same team as the jammer on track form the standard 'line' to the side or middle of the track. The jammer then heads towards the wall of blockers lined up across the track picking either the inside or the outside of the track. At this point the line of blockers on the team of the jammer, head to the opposite side of the track to their jammer, pushing through and (as a line, reform directly in front of each of the opposing blockers). While this happens the jammer jukes back and round the line that the blockers have just cleared for the jammer.

10-15 minutes

Focus: Offence

The aim is for the jammer to help their offence help them.

Groups of 3: There will be one jammer, one blocker and one offence. Have the jammer draw the blocker to the edge of the track, allowing for the offence to swoop in and block the blocker. This prevents them from continuing to block the jammer.

This requires the jammer to communicate what they want their offence to do - having hand signals or code words in your team can help with this.

The offence can block by driving the blocker off track or positional contact, trying to maintain as much contact with that blocker as they can.