From 2007 through 2010, the name Michi-chan was known in the Arizona roller derby scene for independent journalism, results tracking, video coverage, third party promotion, upstart league consulting and the Arizona Power Rankings, which could have been seen as a precursor to the Arizona State Roller Derby Conference that ran from 2010 to 2019. In 2011, I left Arizona and around 2013, I had to stop tracking league results due to other obligations.
In 2025, the brand Michi-chan Sports (MCS) was resurrected as a national brand focusing on "sports that need love too". But with that, I have not forgotten about the roots of Michi-chan in the Arizona derby scene. Arizona was the "second birthplace" of the modern roller derby resurgence and this history must be recognized and properly documented.
From 2008 through 2013, Michi-chan Roller Sports Productions (MCRSP) operated derbydata.com, a comprehensive site that tracked all of this data including past scores, news, commentaries and the Arizona Power Rankings. This included a massive (at the time) archive of past scores.
In the "2010s", derby in Arizona had blossomed beyond belief. New leagues and teams sprouted up around the state and some of the leagues that were "just starting" during the Michi-chan era have gone on to achieve full WFTDA membership and are now actively participating in events on a national and potentially worldwide scale. The sport itself had made a massive transition in the 2010s with the "modern strategy" at WFTDA that redefined the game in many ways, as well as the growth of USARS, juniors, men's and open division (co-ed) gameplay. We saw leagues such as AZRD restructure their home teams, embrace open division and experiment in different forms of the game, such as Short Track.
The entire sport was nearly decimated by the "2020 Crud" (COVID 19). The pandemic had massive impacts on the sport nationwide. Every league had to completely stop for a period of at least one year and "after the crud", most leagues slowly came back as smaller versions of their previous selves with some leagues not coming back at all. Each league has their own story on this. Some leagues, such as AZDD, would eventually come back at nearly their full pre-pandemic strength. The pandemic had proven the resilience of derby love.
Enter the DerbyData Project
As a result of time resources that have been released as a result of the recent 2025 government shutdown, Michi-chan Sports is currently involved in a massive research project to document all modern resurgence roller derby activity in Arizona from that first bout at Surfside Skateland in Tempe on November 22, 2003 to the present day.
The DerbyData Project is on a mission of historic preservation of Arizona's rich derby history.
We are seeking to have a complete record of each derby bout including the team names, the league hosting the event, the date of the event (time of day is not needed, but appreciated), the final scores and any other comments about the event. The following events are eligible for listing:
- Any qualifying flat track or banked track roller derby bout, regardless of ruleset, for which the public was invited ("events"), including "mash-up" bouts. Practices and scrimmages are not included in the requirement but we may include the outcomes of certain scrimmages at our discretion.
- Events that involved an Arizona based roller derby team/league, regardless of where the event was played.
- Events that were physically played in the state of Arizona (such as a tournament), even if neither of the two teams are based in Arizona.
As a part of this project, Michi-chan Sports has been using the following resources for research:
- Legacy data collected by MCRSP from 2007~2013.
- Data collected by Michi-chan Sports since MCS was resurrected in 2025.
- Past social media (Facebook and Twitter) posts made by roller derby leagues (which in many cases, dates back to 2011).
- Information received from league websites.
- Scoreboard images from photo sets publicized by recognized roller derby photographers.
- Articles from non-derby media (i.e. local newspapers).
- Past versions of league websites captured by archive.org.
- WFTDA (for sanctioned bouts from 2023).
- FlatTrackStats.com is used as a last resort for scores not found elsewhere.
- We will identify and attribute the source of our information in each bout listing.
As a result of this data collection, the database has grown to containing information on over 1,700 qualifying events (and it is still growing as more bouts are discovered), where approximately 70% of those events have a final score confirmed. It's that other 30% that we need your help with.
How leagues can help with the project
Over the years, derby leagues have been fairly inconsistent in how they publicize the outcome of bouts. We have found in some seasons, the leagues were pretty good while in others, they have missed the mark. Obviously, MCS knows what it takes to present a bout and can understand that sometimes, the resources may not always be there and other "on site" bout functions may distract from leagues providing their external and virtual fans with a full FANS FIRST experience. At the same time, we also cannot blame current league leadership and volunteers for what happened or didn't happen in years past.
We also recognize that because of the 2020 Crud, many leagues had undergone massive leadership and structure changes where the modern version of a league is nearly a completely different version than it's "pre-crud" self and therefore, we do understand if records may have not been retained or otherwise "lost".
But for this project, I want to give the leagues the benefit of the doubt here. I am asking each derby league to please take some time to dig into their past records and provide us with final score information on bouts we have already identified as scheduled but where we do not have a final score as well as on bouts that we may have completely missed and we have no record for.
While not necessary, we also have an interest in obtaining stats files for bouts. These can be embedded into future DerbyData functionality. We would be interested mainly in jam-by-jam stats with the jammer's skate name (and number), pivot's skate name (and number) (USARS), any star passes, pivot breaks (USARS), jammer/scorer penalties and number of points scored by each team in each jam. This could be similar to the stats that may be provided to FlatTrackStats or even to WFTDA. We are still working on how to process this data. We may also be able to use the data files that are produced by CRG Derby Scoreboard. Again, this is something we are still working on. Getting data on just the final scores has the utmost priority in this project. Getting stats is just a bonus.
Leagues can go to iwantmorederby.com/derbydata and browse their league seasons. Bouts which have no score data are clearly identified. The Project desires those final scores so we can "fill in the gaps" and move closer to a complete history of the sport in Arizona. We will eventually be reaching out to leagues to provide them with information on the bouts that are missing that we are seeking final scores for.
Derby leagues can correspond with Michi-chan by email at:
staff@michichan.com
You may also use that email address for the distribution of press releases, providing final scores, providing stats sheets, corrections to the data that we have and other general inquiries. Let's work together to grow Arizona's derby love!
How photographers can help with the project
Over the years, our sport has been visually documented by many volunteer photographers who have been afforded special access by the leagues to make this type of documentation. Still photography captures the emotion of the game that no video (even a Michi-chan video) could capture. Not every shot comes out perfect and those are not always included in the photosets that are provided to the leagues or otherwise posted publicly. This may include scoreboard shots. Some may say that scoreboards are not "sexy" enough to be included in a final photo set. I disagree, scoreboards are sexy. In many cases, an unobstructed shot of the final score gives the ending to an already beautiful story being told through the other images in the photo set. Also, in some cases, it may be the only public documentation of the outcome of the bout.
We are asking photographers to browse DerbyData and look for the bouts that they had covered to see if any are missing a score. If a score is missing, we are asking that you go back in your archives and find an image that may or may not have been included in the public photo set with an unobstructed final score and provide that final score information to MCS. We are not asking for permission to use the photo, we just need the information from it for the database.
Scores that we are able to determine based solely from information provided by a derby photographer will receive credit/attribution in the bout listing in DerbyData. Our database is already designed to attribute the source of our data, including from third-party photographers such as yourself.
We understand that in some cases, we are looking for information that may be more than 10 years old and not everyone may have kept their "cutting room floor" shots over this time, but we are asking for this information "just in case" you still happen to have it.
Photographers and videographers can reach out to Michi-chan Sports via email:
staff@michichan.com
What derby leagues and photographers can do for future bouts/games going forward
First, understand that there are three types of derby fans:
- Internal fans: Those who have an "adjacency" or a direct involvement in the sport. This includes current and past skaters, officials, volunteers, etc.; those who are related to derby people by relation (familial or otherwise); the "derby media" (photographers, videographers, etc.) and others who have a very deep interest in the sport to the point of actual involvement. Many internal fans may go out of their way to attend bouts.
- External fans: Those who are interested in the sport but do not have the same type of "adjacency" as an Internal Fan. External fans found out about the sport through word of mouth, social media posts, news articles, TV coverage. External fans may attend some, but not all bouts. External fans may realize the value of the ticket price for a derby bout compared with other sports. External fans may have loyalty to a certain home team or to a certain league. External fans are those who are most likely to patronize non-derbyish sponsors such as local businesses. External fans remain connected to their favorite leagues and teams through social media. External Fans are likely to take advantage of vendor tables at bouts and purchase merch, both on-site and online.
- Virtual fans: Virtual fans are those who may or may not be physically located in the community where the team plays, but they do follow the sport and specifically your team/league. Virtual fans rely mainly on social media, live video coverage and archived games. Virtual fans contribute to a league's viewing hours and subscriber rates on monetized platforms like Twitch and YouTube. A Virtual Fan may have some of the characteristics of an Internal Fan except that they are not able to physically attend bouts because of location (yet some may go out of the way to attend when they are visiting the community where a bout is taking place). Virtual Fans are likely to purchase team merch online.
Over the years, derby leagues have done a great job at reaching Internal Fans. They are the easiest to reach. For External Fans, the leagues give the impression of "you will only know if you go". External Fans may be given the same impression, especially if the league only broadcasts on Twitch and does not provide replays.
What we have seen over the past 15 years on social media in many (but not all) situations is the league will aggressively promote an event on social media. This is the right thing to do. However, after the bout is over, we get radio silence until the announcement for next month's bout. This is the part that needs to change.
It takes less than a couple of minutes for a league to get on their official Facebook page and post a status with the final score of the bout. You do not need to wait until you get home and do up something pretty in Photoshop, but that's always nice too. Imagine if the other sports leagues did not provide any information on outcomes except those in attendance. This type of a follow-up not only allows the league to celebrate the conclusion of their hard work in putting a bout together, but it also keeps fans of all three types informed about the outcome. It's another keepsake of the bout that was played. Something that can be referred to in the future. Overall, it is a very simple, and very effective way of being FANS FIRST and assures that fans of all three types remain engaged with the league and its teams. Yes, post-bout can be hectic with tear-down, celebrating, etc., but keeping all fans informed should be a league's priority along with those other tasks. Again, it only takes a couple of minutes, if even that.
We are not suggesting for leagues to "live tweet" every jam during games; but the more posts made during a game, such as halftime scores, stirs up excitement among non-attending fans and could serve as a reminder for fans that there is a bout currently taking place and that they can tune into your bout's live broadcast (thus increasing viewing hours).
One little post at the end of a bout can go a long way. Derby leagues do not necessarily need "full time" social media engagement, though each post does help leagues gain followers which results in increased discoverability, which could result in more External and Virtual Fans joining your league's fanbase.
Photographers can help by recognizing that the scoreboard is sexy. In some cases, it may be the only public record of the outcome of a bout. It takes less than one minute to get a quick, unobstructed snap of the final score before moving back to other activities. A good time to grab it is after the victory lap and before things start to really wind down. If possible, have teams pose for a group shot with the scoreboard (where the team names and the score numbers are unobstructed) in the background. It does make for a happy ending to a very emotional story you have told through the action photos taken and does make for a great shot. Make sure that scoreboard shot (no matter how it was taken) is included in your submitted/posted photoset.
Social media is no longer just a fad, a trend or just some burden that no one cares about. Social media is now knitted in the fabric of our daily life (whether we like it or not) and is now used as a primary method of communication between two parties. Social media gives a derby league access to the world without substantial costs and only needing to tap a few keys. Overall, it is two minutes well-spent.
If leagues need additional advice on how they can improve how they interact with fans and to promote portraying a FANS FIRST attitude, you are always welcome to contact me. The advice is always free.
Thank you to everyone for helping to contribute to this project. Your information will be greatly appreciated in this effort to preserve the history of this great sport in Arizona!
