Roller Derby, I “Less Than 3” You!

This past Saturday Roc City Roller Derby kicked off it’s 2011 Season with a 3-way Round Robin Tournament, featuring the The RottenChesters and The 5-H8-5s, and our newest home team The Midtown Maulers.

Despite the weather (a winter storm advisory from 1pm Sat – 4am Sun), a broken ATM Machine @ the Dome, and an Archery event on the other side of the Dome that apparently somehow involved a live Deer… we had an outstanding crowd in attendance (I think I overheard speculations around 1600 people). Once again we had fans lined up outside the door in crappy weather, braving the slick roads and crazy drivers, to show some Derby love.

The Round-Robin was held as 3 20-minute bouts, with a 15 min break between each. After the final bout, awards were given out and the typical program signing, picture taking, family introducing, track pulling and chair folding, etc took place. Admittedly, being exhausted from a way too early start and all; I actually retired to the back to eat food and sit on the floor to catch my breath for a bit instead of the usual helping with tear-down and such.

I had an interesting vantage point this time ‘round. Most of last season saw me either in the Penalty Box or Outside White Board (tho for one bout I did Line-Up Tracking). On Saturday I took a turn at Inside White Board. I worked with a Wrangler and Penalty Tracker, and between the three of us tried to keep up with the Penalties flying in from inside and outside the track. All in all, a painless experience… tho very frenetic at times.

From a Ref-In-Training standpoint… Holy crap. I find myself both excited and intimidated at the idea of being a Referee at a bout. Yes, I’ve attended quite a few bouts, and watched them, etc… but it’s only been in the last few weeks that I’ve had the opportunity to start watching bouts from the perspective of “I’ve gotta learn how to do this, I’ve gotta learn to see what they’re seeing and call what they’re calling and skate how they're skating.”

So far I’ve skated in 2 scrimmages… and while somewhat fast-paced and chaotic… scrimmages are nowhere near the chaos and mayhem of bout night.

1. The noise level. You have the crowds screaming and cheering (and jeering). You have skaters yelling encouragement, coaching, warnings, guidance, etc. You have coaches yelling encouragement, coaching, warnings, good-natured (mostly) balking at the Officials, etc. You have Raucous music playing. You have the Announcers calling play by play and general stream of consciousness commentary. And you have all of this in a cavernous venue like the Dome (which is very live acoustically… I was playing around with vocal pops and chirps while helping set up the track earlier in the day).
2. Visual stimuli. At scrimmages you have the teams, the handful of NSOs (we generally don’t staff the whole set required for a bout, just necessary bodies), the refs, the coaches, maybe a few non-skating team members who are there for coaching, support… handling League-related business, etc. Oh, and the 2 or 3 Horizon employees on staff. That’s generally it.
   At a bout, you have the crowd, the merch area, the sponsor table(s), the vendors/concessionaires, the EMT crew, the production crew, the announcers, security, the Dome staff, cameras flashing, full staff of NSOs, scoreboard operator, etc. So many points of attraction within your field of vision (or just outside your periphery) that draw your eye, so many distractions that you have to train yourself to not look at… and yet you do have to keep one eye on them because of potential hazards or interference with game-play.
3. Speed. Roc City trains for speed. You get a taste of that speed during scrimmages… but there isn’t that same boost of adrenaline that’s driven by “Bout Day ZOMG” and the roar of the crowds and the teams getting pumped up. They’re driven into a near-frenzy, and suddenly the skaters are flying around the track at Mach-5 and it’s your job to keep up with them… racing around at Mach-5 then needing to stop and reverse on a dime and start it back up again as the ever changing and re-arranging pack wreaks havoc with time and space.
4. Pressure. Oh yes, the pressure. Not so say that scrimmages don’t count, because they do… but really scrimmages are a comfort zone. Scrimmages are playing at Karaoke with friends in your living room after a few rounds of Margaritas and Mojitos… Bout day is you with just a microphone at the SuperBowl and the desperate wish to not fuck up the National Anthem (which, by the way, is why I haven’t volunteered to sing the National Anthem at a bout… because I think I would melt into a puddle of mortified goo if I messed up in front of that large a crowd!).
   On Bout day, the teams are playing f’real… they’re out for blood and victory and it’s up to you to make fair and rational and justified calls; and the players are watching and the coaches are watching and the crowd is watching and just waiting for that excuse to pin you to the wall and fling arrows at you. No, of course it isn’t personal… and you shake it off and go and drink with the gang at the After Party and it’s all good… but until you get to that point… oh the pressure.

So as I’m working the Inside White Board and keeping an eye on the game… I’m watching the Referees; I’m attempting to stay within earshot when they take an Official Time Out to discuss something (when not scrambling to make sure what I have on the board matches what the Penalty Tracker has). I’m watching to see if I can catch what the Referees are seeing when they make their calls, how they handle conflicts and “questionable” calls.

And as I’m watching all of this, I find myself both excited and terrified. One day I’ll be donning the stripes and having to come to terms with all of the distractions and fears and insecurities… and I’ll have to blow that whistle and make that call that will piss someone off, get wheel-locked by another skater and end up flat on my back, maybe get a coach in my face during an Official Time Out.

Truth is, for as much as I’m terrified of it… I cannot wait, because I know I’ll love every minute of it. <3

[video courtesy of the most awesome Derby Mom]

Do You See What I See?

On Saturday I went to Buffalo to catch the Nickel City Knock Outs skate against the Devil Dollies (Two of Queen City Roller Girls' Home Teams). Having been on the Roller Derby scene for awhile, I saw a few familiar faces on the track… and I introduced two gals I graduated from High School with to the world of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby.

The Skating Officials line-up (as I recall):

Head Ref (IPR) – Shock-Her

Inside Pack Ref – Fran Deck-Her

Jam Ref – Señor Wiener

Jam Ref – Guy O. Tine

Outside Pack Ref – Lizzie Longshanks

Outside Pack Ref – Boo D. Bloxx

Outside Pack Ref – Elvis Refley

Observations as a spectator:

I will fully admit to being kind of spoiled in Rochester. We have a couple of excellent venues for our bouts, with ample parking and seating, room enough for a solid Referee Lane & safety line… and if people are standing to watch the bout it’s because they choose to, not because there’re no more seats left.

Rainbow Rink was jam-packed by the time we rolled in… dinner went a little late and we got our check late; and then there was the hunt for parking in the neighborhood as the lot was completely full. We ended up standing behind the last row of chairs near turn 3; which in and of itself wasn’t too bad, except when the first jam started a few people 2 rows in front of us decided to stand up to watch.  I finally got annoyed enough to ask them (2 burly bald guys) if they’d mind sitting every few jams so that we could see behind them. They ended up sitting through the first Period. Second Period didn’t yield quite as much luck; and I even resorted to a snarky out loud comment wondering why people even bothered to get seats if they weren’t going to sit in them. Ah well

Ursie and Heather really enjoyed their first bout, I answered questions when I could, explained how the scoring worked, why certain people were called on certain things, etc.  The Devil Dollies busted out with a Star Pass so I explained what was going on there, and commented on a couple of strategy things that didn’t make a lot of sense at first (which I’ll cover later).  The Knock Outs proved victorious... apparently further perpetuating a friendly and loving inter-league rivalry. Oh, and I got a loaf of Cohen's Rye Bread. Who says Derby don't give back???

All in all, they had a good time and definitely want to check out more Roller Derby. My work here is done. ;)

ETA:
oh look! a highlights reel was posted!

 

Observations as a Ref in Training:

My other intention in going to the bout was to watch other referees in action, and work on watching the pack for penalties and how situations are handled. I didn’t actually whip out a pen and notebook (or my phone) to take notes, but I did make it a point to recall a few things that I may or may not get a chance to discuss with the other Wardens at some point.

-         Strategies. I saw a couple of interesting strategies at play… strategies that seemed to be well-executed and accomplished their goal (and tells me that they’re something I should be watching for once I’m on the line).

o       Scenario #1 – the Devil Dollies’ Jammer was starting the Jam from the Penalty Box, she was standing so she was within her 10 sec. At the sound of the 1^st Whistle 2 of the Dollies’ dropped back almost to the Jammer Line. One or two of the Knock Outs hovered around the Pivot Line while another one or two started forward with another of the Dollies. The Dollies’ Jammer was released from the Box and just as she was on approach the 2 Dollies that had dropped back sped up and past the Pivot line, the 2^nd Whistle sounded and the Dollies’ Jammer flew into the pack.

Now, I didn’t have a clear view of the floor at that side; so I don’t know about positioning, but that is a question I intend to bring up tonight… if she’s coming in from out of bounds after the 2^nd Whistle is there a specific about her positioning vs the Knock Out’s Jammer who was behind the Pivot Line? Could (and did) the Dollie’s Jammer have to enter the track from behind the Jammer Line? Like I said, I couldn’t really see; but no one on the inside (or outside, for the matter) called a Penalty, so whatever she did she did it right.

o       Scenario #2 – something I think I’ve seen RCRD practicing; or that we’ve discussed in Warden’s training (it seemed familiar). Maybe something that was brought back from ECE for discussion, I can’t recall. Anyway… I believe both Jammers were on the line at the start of the Jam, the Jam Timer gave a 5 sec warning, just as he blew the whistle 3 of the Dollies in the rear of the pack took a knee, and the 4^th skated forward with the 4 Knock Outs. Shock Her called Pack is Front, Jam Timer blew the 2^nd Whistle, the 3 Dollies stood up and boxed in the approaching Knock Outs Jammer.

-         Shock Her is a freakin’ Machine. I watched him call 2 Minors and a Major in the middle of a bunched up pack at turn 3… Bam Bam Bam! (Sadly, I can’t recall what the Penalties were, tho I believe at least 1 was a Back Block). I just watched in awe (and felt very very teeny).

-         Perspective. Who hasn’t watched Football or Hockey or some other sport on TV, and yelled and berated the officials for not calling some infraction that was blatant? I found myself seeing a lot of penalties going on in the pack as they passed Turn 3 (esp a lot of Elbows and Forearms… arms flailing everywhere… saw at least 3 Elbow-to-Head’s in the course of the night).

It suddenly occurred to me that my problems with refereeing are the same as going to the movie theatre. The screens are so huge that if I get stuck sitting in the first 10-15 rows I spend the movie literally panning my head left-to-right because there’s too much screen and too small a field of vision. Being a referee holds the same challenge. It’s hard to see everything when you’re right on top of the action (coupled with trying to avoid flying bodies and poorly positioned coaches, etc). There’s a much wider field of vision that you have to train your eyes to “snapshot” and your brain to “process and return results,” and everything is constantly changing so you have only a few seconds in which to do it.

The amount of work I have to do intimidates the hell out of me… especially when you’re watching good Refs in action… especially when you’re watching Refs who’ve been at it for a couple of solid years in action. 

I’m mulling over how I can widen my field of vision… how can I see more, and see it more quickly… and then once I can see it, how can I make my brain process it and spit out the results quickly? Walter Ego said at practice last week that in all it should take about 10-15 sec to see the action, process it, make the call… after that it starts to be too late and you have to move on.  I’ve also been told by just about every current Ref in the Wardens that it doesn’t happen overnight, and that they still screw up, and that it is an ever learning process.

But man, I’d really really like to be able to skate in my first bout as a Referee by my 40^th Birthday.

Nope, no pressure. None at all.