(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