For the past three years, Rule 56 have been helping to drive and develop coaching in Roller Derby; both in terms of coaching itself, and also resources for developing those coaches.

A very visible part of this has been their Derby Stance branded coaching community events; starting with a physical Coaching Summit back in 2016, and developing into a more extensive, and entirely virtual event in 2018 (2017 tested the concept with a series of individual webinars across the year). Holding the event online, with dedicated conference hosting services, was a response to the global nature of Roller Derby, and the global need for coaching resources and community; having to travel half-way across the world for a conference is not only expensive, but also wasteful.

The 2018 Derby Stance was extremely successful, with attendees describing it with terms like "mind-blowing" and "by far the most helpful coaching training I’ve received in five years"!

The Derby Stance Online Coaching Summit is returning for 2019, and Rule 56 have continued to build on and improve on what has been before. As the name suggests, this is, once more, a virtual-only event.

As with 2018's edition, individual "webinars" which make up the entire 3 day event, are separately bookable; you can buy tickets for just the sessions you're interested in. (If you're planning on attending a lot of the event, though, there's also whole-weekend tickets available, for a discount.). In a change from last year, these are organised into two types: "Seminars" (60 minute presentations, with time for questions) and "Workshops" (90 minute interactive sessions led by the session leader; these are limited to 20 attendees each). (Regular attendees of EROC, the European Roller derby Organisational Conference, will recognise this division from there, where it is pretty effective at supporting different kinds of interaction.)

But that's not all: just like a physical conference, the 2019 Derby Stance will have fringe and break-out events, organised as ad-hoc Facebook Live mini-streams. (Rule56 has already been trialing this with a series of "5 minutes with ..." events over the past year, and they work very well.)

Unlike most physical conferences, a benefit of the virtual nature is that all Seminars (but not Workshops) will be available after the fact as recordings if you miss them; and simultaneous automated real-time transcriptions will be available during each session, including translated into a range of languages, to aid inclusion and understanding. (For those who can't attend at all, "watch-later" tickets will also be available to access all the content purely post-hoc).

Photo credits: Nadia Kean and Jennifer B Gaskins (by Zakas Photography); Devoida Mercy (by Louise O'Rourke Photography); Furrocious (by No limit Lien); Dr. Astrid Coxon (by Martin Quadling); Squirrel Power (by Robin Dodd / Purple Turtle Photography); Miss Tea Maven (by David Dyte); Kaio-kensi (by Owen Clayton); all other photos uncredited.

Any Conference or Summit lives and dies by its roster of speakers, and this year's Derby Stance has a very exciting line-up:

• Smarty Pants (Strong Athletic)
  • Is your Coaching actually working? (Workshop)
• Squirrel Power (Monterey Bay Derby Dames)
  • Coaching Slower Learners
• Rosie Peacock (New Wheeled Order, Power of Scotland)
  • Strategic Coaching
• Devoida Mercy (Philly Roller Derby)
  • Bridging the Perception Gap about Coaching between Adults and Juniors (Seminar)
• Furrrocious (Amsterdam Roller Derby)
  • How to structure feedback, and adjust to different training styles (Seminar)
  • Structuring and building your training session (Workshop)
• Michelle Welton and Gie ‘uppercase’ Carr (Rose City Rollers)
  • Coaching mixed-level practices in Adult and Junior programs (Seminar)
• Kaio-kensi (Montreal Roller Derby)
  • Organic Drill Design - replicating real game scenarios in drills. (Seminar)
  • Building a healthier brain safety culture (Seminar)
• Dr. Astrid Coxon (Suffolk Roller Derby)
  • Coaching the 'un-coachable' (Workshop)
• Jennifer B Gaskins (New Jax City Rollers)
  • How to coach when you don't have a coach (Seminar)
• Rita Giddens (Fort Myers Roller Derby)
  • Coaching for a Positive Culture
• Miss Tea Maven (Gotham Girls Roller Derby)
  • How to design optimal training plans for your Jammers. (Seminar)
  • Processes and Steps to designing best Practice, including footage analysis. (Workshop)

In addition, Rule 56 will be chairing "Round Table" discussion sessions throughout the event, with topics decided dynamically as the Summit progresses; and the entire event will be introduced with a WFTDA Keynote Presentation the day before the Summit itself.

Tickets for both individual sessions, and the whole event, are on sale now . Advance sales for "watch later" tickets for Seminars are cheaper than they will be post-event; and remember that there are only 20 spots for each Workshop.

Derby Stance Online Coaching Summit 2019 will run from 22 November 2019 to 24 November 2019 (with the keynote on the 21st).

Derby Stance would like to thank: WFTDA, Roller Dirty Soaps and Steaks Contact Wear for committing to sponsor this event, and help develop coaching resources.