Court Layout
Readers who are familiar with Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby (WFTDA) will notice the similarity between the derby track and the Roller Dodge court. This is understandable and intentional. The developers of Roller Dodge are active in derby but wanted to play a new game during training practice time and they wanted to take advantage of the existing track.
The official dimensions are not exactly* the same as derby. But they are close enough. If you are fortunate to already have a WFTDA track layout at your local skating rink you can play Roller Dodge by simply adding a few tape lines on the floor and/or setting up a few 'traffic cones'' to mark different sections.
An important thing to realize about Roller Dodge is that it uses all the space in the skating rink (not just the track part). The concept is similar to golf. Using the soft foam balls in Roller Dodge should keep most of the action close to the track because the balls just don't roll very far. However, just as in golf, if the ball should go too wide, too long or even bounce off of a spectator it is still in play.
In derby both teams share the same area as they skate around. Skaters can knock opponents off the track (shown in purple). |
In Roller Dodge each team gets half of the track and infield as their territory. They also use half the outside area to retrieve balls and return them to play.
|
 |
The size of an actual skating rink allows for a very large outfield (as seen in figure to the left). However, we normally use a zoomed in view to save space on the Webpages. Two Referees are shown as icons with stripes. |
How to Convert a Derby Track to a Roller Dodge Court
 1) Start with the all the basic track boundaries defined.
 2) In the Derby Track infield, add tape lines to the floor as shown forming an "H".
3) Add Lines to divide the floor into halves. In the diagram see the short lines touching the outside of turns and extending right or left. Generally a few feet of tape will sufice. It is NOT necessary to extend the lines to the nearest wall.
 4) Add several Orange Safety Cones to emphasize the boundaries around the Base Zones.
 5) During a Roller Dodge game the players should simply ignore the 'blurred' Derby lines.
Roller Dodgeball
The OFFICIAL dimensions of the track-part of the court are as follows:
- The outer half-circle has a radius of 26.5 feet
- The straight away is 35 feet long.
To layout the track, use a 100 foot tape measure. Lay the tape on the floor along the centerline. One end of the track will be at zero the other end will be at 88 feet.
The points used as the centers of the circles will be at 26.5 feet and at 61.5 feet (i.e. 26.5 + 35). Use a length of rope or chain to trace the half circles, holding one end at the center point and mark with masking tape as the other end is swung around to trace the arch.
Spectators, score keepers and other non-playing personnel should keep back at least 10 feet from the track...
 |
...The exceptions are the Referees who usually stand in the Wing Zones while moving out of the way of the Wing Dodgers as needed. |
Optional Quick-and-Dirty court layout: When you don't have time to layout the circles you can take advantage of any existing lines already painted on the floor of your local skating rink. The exact dimensions can be altered as desired. This version is easier to setup because the Wing zones are straight as shown in the next diagram. Use tape or 'traffic cones' to mark any missing lines and corners as needed.
* Derby folks will realize that on a derby track the center of the large half-circle is actually offset 1 foot from the center of the small half-circle. The OFFICIAL track for Roller Dodge allows up to 1 foot offset. So see, a derby track will work just fine.
|
|
