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!

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

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.