I first considered refereeing roller derby 14 months ago, when injury left me feeling that I couldn’t/shouldn’t/wouldn’t play again. Leeds Roller Dolls Referee/NSO Boot Camp presented an excellent opportunity to revisit this.
The boot camp was held at Futsal, Leeds and ran from 10am to 5pm, though I arrived crazy early – trains. There were probably around 20 of us doing a mix of Ref/NSO, from various leagues – Teeside and Spa Town are two that I’m aware of. There was a mix of experience/abilities too. Some hadn’t passed mins. Some had reffed. I had been revising rules/hand signals/verbal cues – so I felt better that I wouldn’t be completely out of my depth.
The first part covered expectations of officials, both NSOs and Refs, before splitting into two tracks. Major Lee Strict covered the ref track while Stat continued with the NSOs. The theory stuff ran up to 1pm followed by 30 minutes for lunch, then it was on with the wheels!
I was pleased that X-Con Vic was there to help – friendly face. Time passed really quickly and before I knew it skaters were starting to arrive for the co-ed. Shit! (Hello Andy, Jupe and the AF1 guys.)
I started in an Outside Pack Ref position and settled in to it quite quickly, with Swiss Roll there to guide us. I saw and called a cut track. Yeah! After a while we switched positions and I had a go at Inside Pack Ref. Less easy. I did OPR a second time and then had a go at Jam Ref. That was just crazy. On the first jam, by turn 3 I’d skated into the track – watching the jammer, not my feet – oops! It got easier, but still so much to remember! The most challenging task is remembering which of the opposing players the jammer has passed on a scoring pass. Throw in staying inside the track, avoiding others, pointing at lead, communicating the score, checking that the score has been recorded and watching for penalties – head explodes!
The day was well prepared and pitched at a good level. The focus was very much on giving NSO/Refs an opportunity to practise. Thank you to those taking part in the co-ed scrim for your patience whilst situations were explained to us/crews were swapped over. There was no dickish behaviour from any of the players, which I’m sure we all appreciated. All players should experience the game from a referee perspective!
I have taken the time this morning to pull together an NSO/Ref CV – it seems I’ve NSOd five times to date. I’ll be sorting out a stripy top and looking to get some experience outside/inside the track :-)
Looking forward to the next one LRD!