Wednesday, February 15, 2012

First bout!


Our league had it's first bout of the season. It was not a sanctioned bout, but it was still a blast!
We had some refs come visit, and a 10 year veteran and founder at a nearby league was our head skating official. 

I worked the penalty box... Piece of cake!(mostly) I like the Pbox. You can actually watch most of the action (although you should really watch the skating officials closely each time they blow a single long whistle for a major, or 4th minor, just in case they are signaling more than one minute must be served.)

The bout was tons of fun, and one of my close friends retired from derby. This makes me a bit sad, but I am glad she retired for the reasons she did. All the best to you M.

No one broke any bones. YAY!!!

And the after party was a good bit of fun. I talked to coaches, skaters, and fans. Which leads me to this little meme I threw together:




I think it's pretty honest. Your mom always sees you as a kid, your buddies assume you are in it for the booty. The fans think you are blind, the skaters think you kick them while they are down, and you are never as cool as you wish you were.  (Plus, the drinking after the bout is good fun.)

The two that really get me, is how the refs are perceived. I heard a lot of complaints, and a little praise.

Some things fans and skaters need to know.

#1, refs are unpaid volunteers, who pay a lot of travel and gear expenses to be able to help out. very seldom does any money go to anything for the refs, unless you buy them a drink. (I have to state that our league gives $ for visiting ref gifts, and paid half of our insurance this year, so they are awesome!) 

#2, when you sit in the stands you can see the entire stadium, you can see the whole track, the benches, the penalty box, the other side of the stadium with the creepy guy eyeballing you in the beer garden.... The refs can see what is 2-6 feet in front of them. Their field of vision is limited to about 2 or 3 skaters at a time, and only 1/3 of their body height. If I look at skates, I can't see above the hip. If I look at hips to head, I can't see the feet. 

A jam ref, for example, is usually watching the center mass of a jammers body during a scoring pass, and it's amazingly easy to miss them crossing the line.

Am I justifying? No. I am explaining. To the fans (my friends included) who want to ref from the stands, I would encourage you to find a time where you can skate with a pack in proximity, video tape it from the outside, and see how many calls you can make Vs. the number you will miss.

I don't want to miss any calls at all, I want to see it all, call it all, and assure the safety of the skaters to the best of my ability, but the reality is you have to forgive yourself for missing things, even if they are obvious from the beer garden.

#3, Well, sometimes we do kick you while you are down,(figuratively) it's just a part of the sport. I don't think anyone does it out of malice.

#4, The perceived division between refs and skaters really annoys the hell out of me. If we didn't like the sport, or the skaters, we wouldn't volunteer to do it. We don't think we are better than anyone. In the past I suppose most refs where I am at didn't hang out with skaters a lot. The fear of appearing biased, or the fact that some skaters hold a grudge over a bad call has prevented that. I don't really care if someone assumes I am biased. I am just as honest and harsh with my friends as I am with strangers in my life, and no matter what you do, someone will always believe what they choose to believe.




Enough of that crap, lets chill, have a beer, talk plates wheels and boots, and whatever else. I like the kind of people with the gusto to play this game. You can be strange( I know I am), but don't be a stranger.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

(Then  no one is lead jammer, but no one is disqualified from becoming lead so lead will have to be declared in a successive pass through the pack.)


 Well, yet another week has passed. A practice and a scrimmage.

This week I worked the penalty box, pack reffed, and jam reffed.  I am apparently "Not as bad as some other refs." who are by some mystery allowed to officiate actual bouts. I haven't seen these refs, but I honestly hope that I never do see them at a sanctioned bout.

Thankfully our local staff is pretty good at officiating and I have some good refs to learn from.

  Every week I talk about my mistakes, I could point out where I royally screwed my jammer giving her a major for a minor back block that made her fall, or my inability to make that *one* tripping call yet again, or calling an illegal procedure and actually yelling "Off sides." I don't even watch football... WTF.

UPS gets here late on Saturday, and my order of Fucks won't be here for a long time, so I am completely out of fucks to give.
 




 I forgive myself my mistakes, at least I am making progress, even if it doesn't feel like it's quick enough.

 That's another key to reffing I think. Even the veteran refs I know who have been doing this for 4 or 5 years still make mistakes, but they look into the rules, verify their understanding with other refs, and make sure they know what to do next time the situation arises.  One of my favorite practices of a veteran ref is yelling "pushing." instead of "back blocking." I still think that's better than "off sides."



Interesting fact: Roller derby has tons rules and scenarios to keep track of,  I'd try to count them just for the sake of knowing, but I'd rather just spend my time reading them. The rules seem to change ever 3 to 6 months. (Pushing was re-defined and no longer exists in the rules, we now have use of hands/forearms and backblocking to take it's place)

 If I could tell anyone who wants to get into reffing any one thing it'd be to watch more derby, study rules in all your spare time (which I am severely lacking) and talk to other refs as much as you can.


Interesting stuff:  There are thousands of forums, facebook pages, discussion groups, and other resources out there to get rules clarified.

A few worth mentioning:
zebra huddle
Roller Derby Rule of the Day (facebook)
westcoast zebras yahoo forum


And never forget the governing document:
WFTDA official rules