Tuesday, December 29, 2015

TWEET BLACK TWO THREE FIVE BACK BLOCK WHERE ARE MY PIZZA LOGS

Sunday night I went out to Buffalo (aka the league I go and ref for quite a bit) to celebrate Christmas with my dad and his wife, and for dinner we went to the restaurant that's attached to the bout venue.

There was a practice going on that we could watch, and it was so hard for me not to be like HEY LET ME JOIN YOU I CAN CALL PENALTIES.

When we walked by later (to check out the ice rinks) a few skaters waved to me.  "Man, you know everyone," my sister said.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas

Who has two thumbs and got a 48/50 on the rules certification test?

(Admittedly, it was the third time I took it.)

So now it's onto the skating portion.  Not looking forward to having to do the 10 laps in 1:35 again, as our sport court is very sloooow.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

And thus endeth my year of skating.

Last Saturday I went out to a little league in PA to jam ref.  It was fun, and I got to meet some new cool people. Meeting new cool people is always fun.

Our league is on break now until the end of the year, and there aren't any bouts coming up elsewhere that I'm going to be refereeing, so...yeah!  Yay 2015! 

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

and that's #30!

I did not forget how to OPR.

I carpooled out there with one of the other refs in our league.  He just got his Level 3 certification and we were discussing our futures.  He suggested that I need to seek out more regulation and sanctioned games, which is true, but there aren't many this time of year 'cause so many leagues are on break.

He also asked me what my goals are.  So, I thought about it, and came up with this for 2016:

1. I would like to either get, or be well on my way towards, Level 2 certification.
2. I would like to be accepted to a tournament of regulation and/or sanctioned games where I can get evaluations.


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

wow!

HOLY COW I'M GOING TO BE AN OPR AGAIN ON SATURDAY!

hope I remember how to do it

Friday, November 20, 2015

I don't have a title for this post

Front IPR at last night's scrimmage.  It went ok.  I need to not look at the track lines to determine 10'.  It's so hard, though, when THE LINES ARE RIGHT THERE!

Got to call a uniform violation on a skater who didn't have her numbers on her arm, that was exciting.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

in other news

me: I took the referee rule test again last night, and failed it again, but I feel a lot more confident about it
my sister:  good lord
me: ?
my sister:  I don’t know, I didn’t realize it was like the bar
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I only got seven wrong this time.  Some of my mistakes were really boneheaded, some I'd narrowed down to 50/50 and chose the wrong one (but realized the rationalization behind the correct choice as soon as I saw it) some were just a matter of "I really need to review this section of the rules a lot more closely".

So onward and upward then.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Game #29 under my belt

I've done so much jam reffing lately I forget what OPRing is like!

And is this where I can admit that I get very OH NO WHAT DID I DO WRONG when a team calls an official review, and how relieved I am when it turns out it has nothing to do with anything I did?

Friday, October 30, 2015

I enjoy calling the obscure penalties

Got to call an equipment violation on my jammer last night - she disengaged her mouthguard from her teeth mid-jam. 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

like I said, not much going on

My birthday was on Tuesday; I'm 42 now, yay?  I'm now the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.

It's been pretty quiet in refereedom; our league is hosting an open scrimmage in our new venue in a few weeks.  I was asked if I would be interested in head reffing. 

Y'all seen one of the most recent episodes of Doctor Who, "The Girl Who Died?"  When the Doctor decides to trust the definitely-not warrior-type Vikings with real swords, and then there's a Gilligan Cut to their town in flames? 

That's what me being HR would be like.  Only with more shrieking.

Anyway.  The league I help out with to the west posted its schedule not that long ago; they're doing a *lot* of games.  Hopefully I can bolster my resume and get some good potential references.

Yeah, references!  Tournaments!  I've applied for Siege of CNY and am contemplating applying for B Cup, which is in Indiana (about 9 hours away).

Gearing up to retake the referee certification test.  I have completely forgotten which questions I got wrong, but hopefully they will ring bells when I see them again.


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

doodle doodle dee, wubba wubba wubba

Now we enter the long dark tea-time of not really having any bouts to ref for a while.

In addition to retaking the certification rules test, I have to re-take the skating skills portion (as I didn't do as well on a few things as I usually do).  Unfortunately, this means re-taking the 10 laps part, and this time it would be on an entirely different surface than the last time.  I tried sprinting at last night's practice and got very OMG I AM GOING TO DRIFT AND DIE in some of the turns, so I may need to go to a slightly softer wheel, as much as I really don't want to because my wheels are perfect in every other respect.

I wish I could just cherry-pick pieces from all the different assessments that I've done (formal and informal).

Oh!  At scrimmage this past Thursday I was front IPR.  It's tough, water is wet, fire is hot, salt is salty.  I'd call someone out of play and then they'd immediately be back in play and it was a communication nightmare.  I'd also drift into the JR lane and have to step out of their way.  I'd also get caught up in a play that drifted towards the back of the pack and I'd have to stop and say NO YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON THE FRONT OF THE PACK 'CAUSE ALL THE STUFF THEY'RE DOING IS LEGAL AND IT'S NO LONGER YOUR JURISDICTION.



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

so, to update

1. It wasn't the Hellahard.  I didn't realize that's specifically the NSO certification test.  I just took the ref cert test....

...and will be trying to take it again after November 6. 

I got 10 wrong (you need to get 4 or fewer wrong to pass).  I completely blanked on a few things, a few things were written ambiguously (in my opinion) and stuff like that. 

I *did*, however, change two incorrect answers to correct ones, so I had that going for me.

Ah well.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

blog named changed just a li'l bit

So another weekend, another bout.  JRing again.  This one, however, is regulation.

I've been talking with my league's head ref and he feels I am at the point where I can start asking for evaluations.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

oops

So speaking of 94 Radar Diamonds, I decided to try a friend's 96 Radar Diamonds because sport court can be a little stickier than wood and I am all I NEED TO DO WELL ON MY 10 LAPS IN 1:35 WHEN I DO THAT AGAIN.

That was a big ol' FAIL, as I totally drifted in the turns and fell a buncha times.

Now my right knee is kind of achy.

(As it turns out I will not be going to scrimmage on Thursday 'cause that's when KidQueenie's school Open House* is, which is probably for the best)

Going to be taking the Hellahard on October 6.  What am I getting myself into?

--------------
*HIGH SCHOOL WTF

Monday, September 21, 2015

Another weekend, another game - apparently *this* one was #27. I think. NUMBERS ARE CONFUSING

I called my first Misconduct penalty, too - black blocker blocked the purple jammer down after the fourth whistle.  TO THE BOX WITH YOU!

(it was kind of interesting, too - right after that, purple wanted an official review...because they wanted a forearms called on the black blocker for knocking down the purple jammer.  Um....)

I've skated in their venue before - it's a basketball court, and is very skittery/slippery in the inside of the track turns.  I do a lot of drifting - it's the one time I don't like to wear my wheels of choice (94 Radar Diamonds).

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Games 26 & 27

Went down to Ithaca to OPR and JR.  I love going to help them out - everyone down there is so nice and awesome, and the drive is (usually) beautiful.  (It was rainy and foggy on Saturday, so it wasn't *as* beautiful.)

Don't I look badass?
I was going to be NSOing this Saturday but one of the referees hurt her back, so I've been bumped to JR.  I can deal. :^)


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

hweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

so my league has moved into a new practice space OF OUR VERY OWN.  No more dealing with the whims of the skating rink where we've been for the last five years!

So now we're on sport court all the time instead of polished wood, and it feels slower to me.  I'm wondering if I should try slicker wheels (though I'm already using 94's).  What I'll probably do is see how long it takes me to do my 10 laps for the skating portion of the certification assessment and if it's horrifically slower than what I've been doing before, I'll see if I can find someone who has green Radar Diamonds and try 'em out.

Friday, September 4, 2015

my dance card is filling with signatures

getting back into the swing of things, and the calendar is filling up - most likely refereeing on Saturday the 12th and then NSOing on the 19th.

Fortunately Mr. Queenie is very supportive of my endeavors.

Friday, August 28, 2015

So it's been a break!

have I done any sort of working out?  OF COURSE NOT. 

I have been basically treating this month as a "as little thinking about derby as possible" time.  I have been extracting myself from league responsibilities (resigned as fresh meat coach; handed off the league's post office box key to someone else*) and just spending my evenings sewing and knitting and listening to audiobooks and sleeping and all the other hobbies I have been neglecting.

Going to be taking the Hellahard in a few weeks; I will need to gear myself up for that.  Impact spectrum and all that good stuff.  I would really like to apply for Level 1 certification before the end of the year.
--------
*I live about five minutes from it (I set it up back in the day) and would check it for the league

Monday, August 10, 2015

So, thus endeth my first season as a referee.

Mohawk Valley Cup this weekend was my first time watching men's derby. I don't know that I'd want to ref it - too many calls that are just thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis shy of being a penalty.  It would drive the second-guessing part of me crazy.  But it was cool to see my friends play.

Jam reffing in Cortland went well - got to work with refs I adore and haven't seen in a while - so it was a good way to end my first season of being a derby official.

Here are my stats, more for my own curiosity than anything else:

Refereeing:
  • Two sanctioned games (one alt, one OPR)
  • Seven regulation games (five OPR, two JR)
  • Fourteen "other" games (eight OPR, five JR, one alt)
NSOing:
  • Two sanctioned games (penalty box timer)
  • Two regulation games (one penalty tracking, one lineup tracking)
  • Two "other" games (one jam timing, one lineup tracking)
 Not bad, not bad at all.  Onward and upward!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

*Almost* time for a break. Almost.

So this past weekend was All 8, and it was so much fun.  I met a lot of great people, didn't screw up too badly reffing, learned that it *is* possible to do sectional rotation as OPR and not die, and realized just how annoying it is when you're penalty tracking and a player from each team has the same number (or teammates have similar numbers).

This Saturday I'm going to watch some friends play in the Mohawk Valley Cup (go Quadfathers!) and then be jam referee for a game in Cortland.  Yay for driving all over New York State!  Then we're on break until September, so it'll be three weeks of no derby. 

That will be odd.

Monday, July 27, 2015

aw geez (blush)

Our league's awards banquet was this past Saturday.  My fellow officials voted me "Most Improved Zebra".   :)

Gearin' up for All 8 this upcoming weekend; I'm very excited.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

this is me with a happy face. :)

the officiating rosters for All 8 on the Floor have been put up.  I'm rostered for four games - reffing two (OPR and JR) and NSOing two (lineup tracking and penalty tracker).  I've never lineup tracked before, so I should probably read up on that.

Very excited!

Friday, July 10, 2015

it's been quiet, this is true

our league's season is winding down - all that's left is our A team going to Akron (I won't be going; a friend of the family died and that's when her memorial mass is) and the All 8 on the Floor tournament at the beginning of August.

we did have scrimmage last night, though (on the 7th anniversary of my first derby practice; yay!). I jam reffed the first half and front IPRed the second.

IPRing is hard.  I feel like I'm supposed to juggle three balls but I can only handle two at a single time.  I get so wound up about "you're gonna have to watch the bridging and the racers and letting people know when they're out of play" that I forget - oh yeah, you have to also watch for other skaters committing penalties!  Gaaah! I also need to be louder with my calls (yeah, me, needing to be louder - first time I think that's ever been said before).  It's because I'm not sure of them.  I need to rely less on the lines on the floor and more on watching the bodies of the actual people.

Anyway, I just get kinda nervous when it comes to scrimmage night - it's supposed to be the "we're here to practice, we're here to learn and make mistakes," but I feel like the referees are expected to be on point and perfect and not miss a single thing. (This is probably mostly me projecting on myself - I tend to do that a lot.)

Fortunately my fellow zebras have been absolutely 100% supportive throughout this whole thing, and for that I am most grateful.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

onward, ever onward, and twirling towards freedom

Part of the WFTDA certification process for referees is a skills assessment.  It's not as long as the skating skill assessment, but it does have a speed component - 10 laps in 1 minute, 35 seconds.  Unlike the 27 in 5, though, it's not a pass/fail - just a goal time.

Anyway, in anticipation of having to do the assessment, we practiced it last night.

I crossed over and plodded and heaved and gasped and I HOPE THEY DON'T ACTUALLY EXPECT US TO BE ABLE TO REFEREE EFFECTIVELY AT THIS SPEEDED through the laps.

1:35.65.


Now hopefully I can replicate that when it's actually time for the assessment!

(I still gotta work on my backwards crossovers, though.  I can do them, and 75% of the time they're good, but there's still that 25% of the time where I'm CLOMP GLOMP CLOMP.)

Then there's the matter of the Hellahard (the rules test for certification).  At the WFTDA clinic we were given scenarios to talk through that were of the same format as the test questions (we were told that on a scale from 1-10 in ease, the Hellahard was a 10 and these questions were a 5-6) and I pretty much aced them. 

However, looking at General Hellativity's Impact Spectrum Spreadsheet, I gotta lot of work to do on that.

Monday, June 22, 2015

a game is a thing that is a thing

So hooooooooooooooooly crap Friday's championship bout.  Their two teams with the most rabid fanbases; tons of people and a game that came down to the final jam.

NO PRESSURE, QUEENIE.

As far as I can tell, I only majorly screwed up once, when after a very very long Official Review, I started watching the wrong jammer.  Oops.  Fortunately my co-jammer ref noticed, and I quick jumped up ahead.

So that's the end of the season for the other league.  I'm *very* grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to ref with them - half the games in my referee history are with them.  I learned so much and they are very awesome.  I can't wait to work with them next season!

In other news, I've been accepted to work All 8 on the Floor, a training tournament in MA at the beginning of August.  Yay!  I've heard good things about it (mostly because one of the tournament head refs is the head ref of my league). I signed up to ref and NSO, so hopefully I will get lots of different experiences.

Not too much on my schedule for the rest of the summer, beyond maybe going to Akron in July and then All 8.  I'm tempted to put myself out for more bouts, but it would also be nice to have weekends where I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING GOING ON.


Friday, June 19, 2015

#21 tonight

Jam reffing the championship bout for the home teams in the league I've been helping out with; yay! I feel kinda honored that they trust me with stuff like this.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

indeedy wheedeedy

I'm buying another lanyard whistle - I need something with the silicone guard thingy. There have been too many instances where I'm trying to call a jam off and the whistle almost pops out of my mouth.

(And, as I've said repeatedly, I am also contemplating replacing a few of the fingers on my right hand with a whistle.  I really need to put a pocket in ACTION SKIRT.)

Monday, June 15, 2015

did not die

although my right foot was not happy afterwards.

It went pretty well - one of the coaches was getting really pissed at me because I wasn't calling the jam off to his satisfaction.  WELL, WHEN YOUR JAMMER IS BLOCKED FROM MY VIEW BY A BUNCH OF PEOPLE IT'S KINDA HARD TO SEE WHEN THEY'RE CALLING IT OFF.

But anyway.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

#19 and #20 coming up

Tomorrow - jam reffing both bouts in a doubleheader.  Here's hopin' I don't die. :)

This past Sunday our fresh meat skaters were practicing their 27 in 5, so I decided to practice the 10 in 1:35 that refs have to hit in theory for the Level 1 Certification.

I got 9 laps in 1:30 (because that's what I thought it was - oops).  I had to dodge around a few skaters, so I guess in theory I could get the 10 in 1:35 fairly easily.

Monday, June 8, 2015

bout #18 in the books

I could've done better. At one point my jammer went into the penalty box and ran into an opposing skater and I just. blanked. In my  head I was thinking that was a misconduct!  you should call a misconduct!  CALL A MISCONDUCT! but I didn't do anything.  I've discovered I tend to get that way when it comes to calling something I've never called before - I freeze.

The acoustics in the venue were horrible, too - the music was crazy loud and the announcer wouldn't turn it down, fans in turns 2 and 3 had COWBELLS. I had the foresight to bring my earplugs, and I ended up using one of them.  The other jam ref would blow the four whistles on one side of the track, I'd be on the other side and not hear a thing.

My scorekeeper (who is, like, a level 4 WFTDA NSO) also helped me out with a few scoring situations I screwed up, although they were admittedly things I couldn't have noticed, like exactly when the other jammer left the box and things like that.  So I was very grateful to him.

Helping out at the other league's doubleheader playoffs on Friday.  Our league is having a doubleheader on Saturday, but I've got a family party and won't be attending. 

Friday, June 5, 2015

si another weekendzar

another weekend, another bout, another time jam reffing. Mock sanctioned bout this time, though; whee?

I need to work on initiation - just because a blocker gets hit in the back doesn't automatically mean it's a back block.  If the blocker hadn't established relative position, she initiated, and it's legal. 

SO MANY RULES.


Monday, June 1, 2015

jam reffing wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Jam reffed; didn't die!  I did screw up, though.

My jammer (purple) is lead, she gets knocked down by a red blocker.  Jammer starts complaining about the red blocker committed a penalty, I blow the whistle and then realize I didn't see the full action - I'm blowing it based on what she's saying.

Except for some reason I keep blowing the whistle and call the jam off.
So I accidentally called the jam off. 

Here's the thing, though - neither the purple jammer nor her bench complained that the jam got called off early. But I don't remember seeing the jammer trying to call it off.

At any rate, my fellow refs were like "that's okay, it happens.  Brush it off, you're doing fine."

(and as it turns out, the red blocker *did* commit a penalty. The OPR thought I was calling it, which is why she didn't.)

Other than that, it went well, and everyone seemed to think I did a good job.  I kept up with my jammer, caught all the star passes. I got to tell a jammer to return to her bench 'cause she didn't get on the track in time.  All in all, an exciting fun time.

I will not take my eyes off my jammer I will not take my eyes off my jammer
(picture courtesy of CK Photographic Systems.)

Friday, May 29, 2015

so happenings!

I finally got around to getting a second ref jersey!  Now I just have to make a name plate and put it on it and put a WFTDA patch on it and shorten it by a few inches because it's so long ACTION SKIRT DOES NOT TWIRL.

Jam reffed last night at scrimmage.  I never noticed just how much you have to avoid falling skaters when you're jam reffing, unless last night was some sort of weird anomaly.  I sort of half-stepped/half-jumped once, ended up having to go onto the track once (all the while saying "I'M SORRY!  I'M SORRY!" to the pack I was invading) and fell either once or twice.  (Everyone was "are you okay?" and I was like I USED TO DO THAT FOR A LIVING. I'M FINE)

I really need to work on my speed - I fell behind my jammer a few times, and I had to cut the track short more than a few times.  Whee?

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

updating

I was five minutes away from my house, on the way to the game I was going to ref, when I get a call from the school nurse of the high school - Kid Queenie had fallen on his bike out in front of the school and was getting a wicked hematoma and he needed to go to Urgent Care.

Long story short, Kid Queenie is fine (but has a very impressive bloodshot and black eye) and I ended up not reffing on Friday.

I am, however, going to be jam reffing this Friday! EEEEE EXCITEMENT AND TERROR. I was originally asked if I could front IPR (to which my inward response was OH PLEASE SWEET LORD IN HEAVEN NO) but things will be moved around.

So, last night at practice we worked on jammer scenarios.  I got the 6 point scoring pass down cold, but messed up on the "Jammer A knocks Jammer B out of bounds before reaching the engagement zone and therefore Jammer B cannot become lead jammer" scenario.  Oops.

We also worked on Sectional OPR rotation which SUCKS ZOMFG I HATE IT. 


  

Friday, May 22, 2015

"Do you miss playing?"

I get asked this question a lot.

I was never a sports person growing up - orienteering was my activity of choice - but I roller skated a lot as a little kid (a picture of one of my first roller skates), and I was generally sort of weird growing up.

When I started playing back in 2008, roller derby was more about being weird and rollerskating than about athletics.  It was a perfect fit for me. 

In the next six years, though, derby changed, and it became harder and harder for me to keep up with the athleticness that was being required. I started playing when I was 35 - that's a lot of years of inertia to overcome.

In 2013-14, the fates conspired (through surgery and knee shenanigans) to keep me off skates for about six months. Then a few months after that, I found out that the shoulder issues I'd been having for a while were actually due to a torn rotator cuff, and my doctor couldn't recommend me returning to play after that.

All of this is a very long way around of saying I do miss playing, quite a lot, but I wouldn't be able to play the game the way it's being played now.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

what's that feeling? the opposite of shame?

This past Saturday was another home doubleheader - B team against a visiting team and then two of our home teams.

Our league has a video camera that usually the Head Ref wears on his helmet. This time, however, for the B team bout, I wore it.

I did not like wearing it. At all. I was always conscious that it was there, recording what I saw, evidence of any calls I should have made but didn't and/or calls I didn't make but should have.  I felt much more comfortable the second bout.

At any rate, we watched the footage last night.

The way we usually view the footage is that someone will see something and immediately ask that it be rewound and replayed [usually at half speed or slower].  We'll discuss it and talk about whether a penalty should have been called, or not, or whatever.  Then we rewind it once more and continue playing the video.

So we would go through this and determine that yes, on XYZ particular action, a penalty should have been called.

Twice when that happened, the continuance of the video playing showed that I called the appropriate penalty on the appropriate player. It was really a great feeling.

-----
Going to help out the other league on Friday as usual.  Building up my resume - this will be game #17 for me.  Woot!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Skate reffed a sanctioned game.

Wahoo!

Honestly, it was just like any other game.  I bobbled a few calls (confused my hand signals at first but eventually got them correct - in my defense, the motion the skater made with her forearms was EXACTLY THE SAME as the back block penalty call) but everyone said I did great, so yay me.

I ended up finishing the skirt I'd mentioned earlier.  I didn't put a pocket in it, because I couldn't quite figure out how to get it exactly the way I wanted, but that's something I can add later. It was perfect - flowy and not too heavy. I wore it on Saturday, as shown here:

ACTION SKIRT IN ACTION! (photo courtesy of Dark Images Photo)

You'll notice that my legs are bare.  That's 'cause, well, I kinda forgot my leggings. "NOBODY BETTER RUN INTO ME BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO FLASH* THE FANS," I said in the locker room.

Gilligan Cut to me getting run into by a jammer.

Did I mention that there's a video crew that records our bouts, and airs them on cable access TV?

Ah well.

--------------------
*I WAS WEARING UNDERWEAR, DON'T WORRY


Friday, May 8, 2015

and now for something completely different (ref-wise)

Last night there were only four of us, so I was put on back IPR and told to solely focus on pack definition.

Hooooooooooooooly crap does that stuff change fast.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

um, zomfg?

January 22, 2015:

Our fearless Ref leaders have asked us to come up with a few goals, and I have.

Readily attainable - to ref in a home team bout this season.
Will take work - to ref in a B team bout this season.
A Ref can dream, can't she? - to ref in a WFTDA-sanctioned bout this season.


-----------------------------

Found out last night that I am OPRing a sanctioned bout on Sunday.

Um.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

something a little different

(reffing in a bout on Friday night, either reffing or NSOing a bout on Saturday night. Both games are not local. HOORAY FOR ROAD TRIPS!)

When I played my first bout way back in November 2008, I wore knee-length shorts.  By the time I hung up my playing skates, I was wearing booty shorts with side drawstrings that I'd crank all the way up.

My ref attire is a little different - I wear a skirt.  Unfortunately, it's a hair too short for my comfort, so I'm constantly pulling it down as I skate along.

I'm somewhat handy with a sewing machine (I've made many helmet covers for our league and for others) so I've decided to try and make my own skirt.  Normally I wouldn't have a problem, but I want to put a zippered pocket in it (for my finger whistle - I'm always leaving it in random places) and my experience with pockets and with zippers is non-existent.

Oh well.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

clinic! that was a thing!

Went to a WFTDA officiating clinic this past weekend.  Had a Level 5 referee tell me he stopped watching me jam ref after a short amount of time because I knew what I was doing. (!!!!!)  My front IPRing wasn't as good, alas (though, to be fair to myself, I've done it exactly once).

Took a lot of notes, learned a lot of stuff, met a lot of great people, had Thai food for the first time.  All in all, a weekend of success.

I'm front row, on the left, in stripes and jeans

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

mistakes were made

We watched footage from the bout.  Two times I screwed up calls.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Practice makes perfect.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Bouts #10 and #11 in the books

OPRed twice.  Both went pretty well, but now I am completely drained of energy.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

miscellany

Monday the weather was absolutely beautiful here, so I decided I was going to clean my bearings because they were so horrendously filthy.

Oh hey let me take them completely apart because I know how to put them back together!

Oh hey I'm just gonna buy a whole new set of bearings because trying to put them back together really sucks!

Next anecdote takes a little bit of backstory: we have a skater whose brother is a referee, and their mother also videotapes (videotapes?  what, is this 1993?) records our bouts.  She recorded Saturday's bout, and the ref and his sister were watching it.  Apparently there were a lot of things not called, and at one point the jammer cut the track, and the ref's sister was like "Dammit, why did Queenie have to be there?!?!?" (because I called the cut).  So that made me feel useful.

No word yet on what I'll be doing for the home teams bout on Sunday.  At least I know I won't be HR.

Monday, April 13, 2015

another weekend, another OPR assignment

this time IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.

It went pretty well.  Things got a bit cray-zay at times but I did my best and really that's all they can expect from me, right?  RIGHT?

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Terror!

Our next home bouts are Sunday the 19th.  A regulation game and a home game.  I've been told I'll be OPRing the regulation game, but I may be rostered in a different position for the home game.

YIPES


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Excitement!

I actually called a clockwise block!  Yay!

I've discovered, to my dismay, that when I try to get loud, I get high-pitched.  Must work on projection.

Friday, April 3, 2015

SI TEH WEEKENDZAR

Another Friday, another trip west to help out as OPR. 

The application for All 8 on the Floor (B Team tournament) went live on Wednesday.  Since I am good friends with both Tournament Head Refs, and since one of those refs was looking DIRECTLY AT ME when telling our group of referees to apply,  I guess I should apply.


Wednesday, March 25, 2015

bout footage viewing

well, it looks like I didn't really screw up!  The calls I made that got caught on the video were agreed with. So there's that.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Indeed

I received my referee assignment for the doubleheader this upcoming weekend in Providence; I'm an alt ref for the sanctioned game and an OPR for the regulation game, which is pretty much what I expected.
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So in this post I listed my goals for this season. I should probably caveat them all with a "and not just because there was a lack of available referees".

Monday, March 23, 2015

another weekend of derby and nobody died!

This weekend was interesting.

As readers are aware, before Saturday the only venue in which I had OPRed actual games was not our league's venue.  The other venue is dark and close, so that's what I got used to.  Our home venue is a hockey rink (they take out the ice for us) and it's very spacious and bright and it was weird.

But I think it went ok.  Tuesday evening instead of our usual on-skates practice we're going over to the Head Ref's house to review the footage (he wears a helmet cam).  We'll see just how much I screwed up.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Weekend o'Derby

Tomorrow is my first bout where I'll be reffing on my own turf!  Our league is doing three half hour bouts in a round-robin fashion for our home teams - I'll be OPR on two and an Alt for the third. (The Alt usually sits with the announcers and provides a ref's perspective on the action; that'll be fun.)

Sunday early afternoon I'm going to be Penalty Box timing a sanctioned bout for our A team, which will be fun as well.

OFFICIATE ALL THE THINGS

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

the world keeps spinning; I get taken along for the ride

This past Saturday was my first NSOing at a sanctioned bout; I got to do penalty box timing.  It went pretty well; there was one point when the box was full and I was like OKAY YOU GO NOW I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT YOUR NUMBER IS EXACTLY BUT GO NOW PLEASE.

We worked on a few different types of starts at practice last night - duck walks, side-stepping (which is useful when you're jam reffing, apparently), backwards and toe stops.  I felt very Michigan J. Frog HELLO MY BABY HELLO MY DARLIN' HELLO MY RAGTIME GAL during the side-stepping one, which probably means I should work on it.  I've also been working on backwards crossovers, which go well until I get going too fast and I get sorta JANE STOP THIS CRAZY THING and have to slow down/stop.

Saturday is the St. Patrick's Day parade.  The weather here has been somewhat nicer this week than in the past (temperatures in the 40's WAHOO) but I think it's supposed to rain on Saturday.  Sigh.  I don't think anything will ever top 2012, where it was sunny and in the 70's and there were like a hundred thousand people who came out. (I've participated in the parade since 2009.)

Our league's first bout of the season is a week from Saturday.  We're doing a round-robin with our home teams - three half hour periods.  I think they like to roster refs for two shifts and off one; I told our head ref that I'd be more than happy to NSO the off-shift.

The weekend after that is a doubleheader A/B in Providence.  I am the only skate ref going (there's a tournament that everyone else is going to).  I'm a wee bit nervous but we'll see what happens.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

what's been happening in the land of Queenie?

Helped out with another home game, OPR.  It was much warmer in the venue, which was nice.

There was one situation where one team had too many blockers (four on the track and one in the box).  As soon as the whistle blew, I started calling for one of the blockers to leave the track, but she didn't hear me (I was at the pivot line, they were at the jammer line, the acoustics were horrible), so I just kept calling....and she didn't hear me.  At that point I was like oh crap I forget what should I do at this point and just kept yelling at any blocker who was close to me to get off the track and none of them heard me.

So, after the jam was over, I went to the middle and the Head Ref was like "oh, in that case you have the authority to whistle the jam dead and then immediately come into the middle and tell me why you called it dead."  Ok.  Now I know.

 Then there was a situation where the jammer's helmet cover got knocked off her head, and then she went to the penalty box, and another blocker picked it up. I ended up calling that blocker on a back block shortly thereafter, and then the other team's coach did an official review, and we were like oh yeah that's right she shouldn't have picked up the cover another 30 seconds in the box for you!

But other than those little flubs, I felt very good about my performance.  The pack speed was crazy insane fast; I have to work on keeping up.  We got great food afterwards (including some fantastic tuna noodle casserole).

Anyway, this upcoming Saturday there's a sanctioned bout out there, and I'm penalty box timing. Hopefully I remember how to do that.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

time slogs forward, as it is wont to do

no skating practices last week because of Winter Break for the kids. 

Last night was a scrimmage between our league's B team (the travel team I skated on) and a league from a few towns over.  I got to jam ref, which was fun until the score ended up being 500-something to, like, 30 something.  YOUR ARM GETS TIRED HAVING TO POINT LEAD JAMMER FOR SEVERAL MINUTES AT A TIME.

Anyway, it went well, other than a tired arm and having to sprint to keep up with the fast jammers. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Friday the 13th

So I went back out to the league I sometimes help out with, to ref one of their home team games. 

They promised us the heat would be functional.

"Functional" apparently meant "maybe a degree or two warmer."

But the floor made up for it.  ZOMFG THEIR FLOOR IS BEAUTIFUL.  It's neat, too, because the actual track part is dyed a darker color than the ref lane.

Anyway, the reffing.  I was still all in my head from the night before, and one of the jam refs was (very nicely) "I need you guys to be where you need to be" and I took that as YOU'RE TOTALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING UP QUEENIE, so it wasn't as good as the previous week.  I made one call.

But I'm feeling better now; it's all baby steps back and forth. 

Friday, February 13, 2015

sigh

Last night was a not-so-great night.  I didn't make calls I should have (and people noticed) and I made calls I shouldn't have (and people noticed).

Baby steps, baby steps.  Tonight I'm going back out to OPR with the other league.  Hopefully I won't screw up that badly.

Monday, February 9, 2015

so yeah; hi!

I have been neglectful and for that I apologize.

So, let's go!

The Day of Scrimmages Where I was Jam Reffing One of Them. Originally it was supposed to be three games with twenty-minute halves.  When I showed up at the venue, there was a whiteboard in the ref locker room to sign up for positions in games 4-6 (um?) and then there was talk of games 7 and 8.  Um, ooookay.

Anyway, the first game I did inside whiteboard, and that went fine.  I made a little cloth cheat sheet of the codes that I wore on my sleeve, and that worked well.

Then....the jam reffing.

All in all, it wasn't that bad.  The floor was slick, and there were times where my scorekeeper was too busy texting to look at the points I was displaying (the Powers that Be put the kibosh on that real quick) and there were one or two official reviews involving calls I'd made where I started to Blue Screen of Death a little and the other referees helped pull me back from the edge, but no one died and everything seemed to work out ok in the end.

After that I did a game of OPR, which went fine, and then another game of OPR, during which I started to get tired, and then a game of penalty box timing, at which point all the officials were like HEY WE HAVE DONE FIVE GAMES WITHOUT A BREAK MAYBE WE CAN END FOR THE DAY, OK? and the players agreed.

The Actual Game With Fans and Whatnot ZOMFG. It was a soft open of the league's new venue. It wasn't a regulation game, as the track boundaries weren't elevated and one of the teams had, like, 20 people on its roster, but there were fans and announcers and music and whatnot.

We got there late (weather was crappy and whatnot) but they were working out all the kinks in the new venue, so the game was delayed a bit so it was okay.  I geared up and went out to skate a few laps.

I COULD SEE MY BREATH.

Fortunately I'd worn a long sleeved black shirt to the game, so I put that on under my stripes.  Even then, whoa mama, it was cold.  It reminded me of this one venue we used to practice in when our league first started, where I'd wear my winter coat until I got warmed up enough, but this was even colder.

The floor, however, was beautiful.  A little dusty due to the construction work, but just the right level of grip otherwise. 

The actual reffing went okay; the acoustics weren't that great so I had to scream out my penalties.  There were one or two points where I screwed up the OPR rotation (I have a very tenuous grasp on how it works; if I forget for a second it's gone).  The lighting was wonky on the straightaway between turns 2 and 3; it was shadowy and kind of like a dark alley, but they put better lights on it during halftime and it got better.

So yeah, that's been the last few weekends.  I'm going to be helping out in the league's second home game on Friday but I don't know where I'll be yet.  Whee!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

ZOMFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

so I was just kinda puttering around today at work, alternating between doing work and not doing work, when I get an IM from our Head Ref.

The league that I've been helping out with junior derby is having a real, actual bout on Friday 2/6, and they are short on staff - would I be interested in OPRing?

omgomgomgomgomgomgomg



Friday, January 23, 2015

onward and upward, as they say

so last night were headshots for the league, so we didn't get to scrimmage much - just a few jams.

I need to pull back my jammer focus a little.  I lose track awareness of the other referees.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Jam Reffing

Normally we scrimmage on Thursdays, but our practice space wasn't available so we scrimmaged this past Sunday morning.

And I jam reffed!

And I didn't die!

And I actually kinda liked it!

I liked that you have to concentrate on one skater, and one skater only.  You're not "oh, I was looking at this part of the pack and didn't see [fill in the name of penalty] that happened [fill in part of pack that you're not looking at]."

It seemed to be easier doing it for teams I know, though, because I could actually name the opposing players that the jammer went by, rather than having to rely on some landmark of clothing or equipment.

I did screw up one call; a jammer should have gotten a "no pass/no lead jammer" call.  Oops.  And I didn't have the mechanics of where my arms should be at different times, but we worked on that this past Tuesday.

And then I fell twice and had to scramble to keep up with the jammer.  THAT was fun.

Anyway.  We're scrimmaging tonight, and with any luck I'll get to do it again.

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Our fearless Ref leaders have asked us to come up with a few goals, and I have.

Readily attainable - to ref in a home team bout this season.
Will take work - to ref in a B team bout this season.
A Ref can dream, can't she? - to ref in a WFTDA-sanctioned bout this season.

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Speaking of WFTDA, they've announced the dates and locations of the officiating clinics.  Our league hosted one last year*, but I didn't go because (a) it was the day of a bout and I was running around doing bout production stuff, and (b) at that point I wasn't considering being a ref.

The closest one is in Albany, NY, which is about a three and a half hour drive.  I'll have to see if anyone is interested in carpooling and room sharing.

*thanks to a smashing RFP written by yours truly. :)

Monday, January 12, 2015

zomfg

So at the end of the month there's an open co-ed scrimmage that everyone was encouraged to sign up for.  So, me being me, I said HEY I'LL REF BUT JUST AS AN FYI I AM VERY NEW.

The rosters came out (there are three games total).  The Powers That Be stated that they wanted to put people in positions they might not normally feel comfortable in.

ONE OF THE GAMES, I AM JAM REFFING.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

So I need to learn how to do that.

Friday, January 9, 2015

and we start up again; yah!

Last night's practice was a league meeting followed by drills, so I didn't lace up. 

Why not?

a) I had a headache;
b) I'd forgotten that all my derby clothes are currently up in the (unheated) attic and it's been below freezing for the last eighteen months*

I am in the midst of slowly extracting myself from the various positions of authority I held last year.  I was on our league's Board of Directors as the WFTDA liaison, so I've been finishing up all that work (making sure everyone bought their WFTDA insurance, getting the new WFTDA liaison set up).  It will be strange, to be sure - being able to leave right after Thursday night practice and not have to go to a board meeting will be quite nice.

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*Well not really.  But it feels like it.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

tomorrow, tomorrow, we start again tomorrow

it's been a long time.  Have I done any working out while on break?  NO OF COURSE NOT DON'T BE RIDICULOUS.

I *did* go to another junior derby scrimmage, though.  It went pretty well.  I have to remember to call the penalties and do the hand signals twice, though - I always only do it once.