The MRDA Board of Directors wishes the worldwide roller derby community a Happy New Year.
As 2021 begins, we have obviously been monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Looking at the surge in COVID-19 almost worldwide and the current vaccine rollout schedule, the Board has decided that we will not move forward trying to plan either playoffs or Champs for 2021. We do not see any timeline in which the majority of leagues will be able to get back to practice with sufficient time to work back to full contact and scrimmaging that would allow for any kind of regular season, let alone one that plays into our normal postseason events.
The Board’s ideal timeline for returning to a proper competitive season is leagues having a full 4 months, ideally 6+, of full-contact practice/ability to scrimmage before competitive games. There is no scenario currently that we can see that would allow teams to have that time for practice and still be able to arrange games that can lead into rankings for our regular postseason.
We will be looking into hosting two regional invitationals (one in North America, one in Europe) in December 2021 if pandemic conditions have eased and leagues have been able to prepare. We will begin looking at this plan in earnest in April/May when hopefully we have a clearer idea how 2021 will look worldwide and what might be feasible.
Stay safe friends. Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay home if you’re sick and follow the guidelines provided to you by your local public health authorities.