Wall of Text: ECDX version

DAY ONE

Windy v. Paris (JR) - honestly this one is kind of a blur because it was the first game of the weekend.  I did receive feedback at halftime that when my jammer calls it off, I need to make my mirroring of the calling off the jam larger - I'm not just doing it for myself, it's a visual cue to everyone else around.

So I worked on that in the second half.  It took a while to get it smoothly into my routine; I was like OKAY I HAVE TO SHOW THE POINTS AND REFLECT THE HIP TAPS AND KEEP POINTING ALL AT THE SAME TIME RIGHT AWAY NOW NOW NOW NOW which is totally not what needs to be done.  Eventually I got it to "stop pointing, mirror the call off with both hands (the hand that is holding the points can be tapping with the points in hand), THEN you can put the points up."

I also was told that my penalty arm swoops can get wonky.  I don't do a proper "lower arm in a curve and swoop up" thing; I rotate my elbow and my wrist.  I feel like it borders on the dramatic at times, but I can't quite get the mechanics of a "down and up" movement right.  (Except when calling a Misconduct, because at the end of the hand signal my arm is in the perfect position to swoop down and up.)

Replacements v. St. Louis B-Keepers (PBT) - we didn't have a PBM, so the other PBT and I would take jammer timing duties depending on how busy we were.  It worked out well.  I didn't have too many penalties and handled multiple timings on one watch.

DAY TWO

Darlings of Destruction v. Philly Juniors (PBT) - all the problems that I didn't have the day before, I had in this game.  Lots of multiple timings on one watch, which would make me get behind on paperwork, which would lead me to ZOMFG I NEED TO GET ALL THE PAPERWORK ACCURATE IN ALL WAYS NOW NOW NOW NOW (notice a trend?) and I bungled some of the timings.  (Fortunately there was a wonderful junior who was shadowing because she was doing the following game who caught a timing I hadn't written down.)  I also got the advice that once I have the penalty tallies on the right side of the paperwork done to current, put a checkmark in the "team color" column of the paperwork, so I don't have to keep starting from the top to make sure my counts are accurate.

Having a CRG penalty tracking monitor right behind the box was soooo helpful as well, because I could make sure my counts were accurate without having to bug the PLT.

Queen City Juniors v. Gotham Juniors (middle OPR) - I've discovered that this is my favorite officiating position; I love the bouncing back and forth between actions.  I was complimented on my positioning by a photographer/coach whose path I've crossed several times in the past, so yay me!

Queen City vs. Windy (JR) - the first of three all female/non-binary refereeing crews in which I was involved.  This was a very hectic and coaches coming into the middle all the time looking for things game.  It was also during this game that I found myself getting tunnel vision with respect to jammer things - I'd get so caught up in watching the jammer's feet on the line to make sure they didn't cut that I wouldn't have eyes on things higher up on their bodies.  So, I took a big ol' step back to widen my scope, and that really helped.  (Fortunately the IPRs also took steps back so I didn't plow into them.)

DAY THREE

Crime City v. Santa Cruz (rear OPR) - second of the all female/NB crews.  This game was originally supposed to be my last game on Day One, but flight cancellations and whatnot led to it being the first game on Day Three (I had the first game of the day all three days; yay?)

Anyway, conversely to when I am middle OPR (and just starting to JR), I position myself reallllll close to the line in this position, so I can lean in and look for potential back blocks (once the jammers are in the pack, I back up and follow them more).  There were a few times when jammers were being chased back right on the line and there could've been a collision (one jammer was saying "excuse me excuse me excuse me" as she was coming down the line, which was totally not fun). 

Open note to any skaters who are reading this: When returning to the track, whether it's from the penalty box or after being blocked out of bounds, please skate behind the officials.  If we're concentrating on the action, we may not be aware of your presence until you're zooming in front of us, and if we take that moment to step forward, things could get ugly.

It was also during this game that the ingrown toenail that I'd developed (goddamn skates are getting chucked in the river) started giving me grief.  I bought some gel toe pads and hoped for the best.

Wall Street Traitors v. Texas Chainsaws (JR) - a good game to JR; totally different beast than the other games I'd refereed so far, based on the skill of the skaters and whatnot.  Toe was meh at best. 

Philly v. Rainy City (front OPR) - third of the all female/NB crews.  Took front because the general consensus was that of the three of us, I was the fastest backwards skater (I KNOW, RIGHT?) Did two-footed backwards crossovers and didn't die, although because my trucks were looser than I like (goddamn skates are getting chucked in the river) I was constantly worried I was going to fall.  Kept a good distance from the front of the pack a vast majority of the time, so I was very proud of that.

my updates are few and far between

I ordered my boots about two and a half weeks ago, yay!  I can't wait to see how they turned out.

ECDX is this weekend; have a bunch of D1 games and JRing a few of them NO PRESSURE AT ALL

ok so it's been a while I tend to do that

so, let's see...in no particular order:

I got new glasses for refereeing - they're big lenses with no transitions, so I can see a lot and see it clearly. 

one thing I forgot to mention from Beast - at one point, a referee from another crew told me something like "I've been watching you, and how when you're middle OPR, you stand way back*.  I tried that, and I really like it."  HOLY CRAP I INFLUENCE PEOPLE KINDA SORTA.

(*I stand pretty much at the edge of the OPR lane, to the point where I almost run into coaches who are standing at the edges of their box.  It gives me a wider field of vision and helps me from getting into too much tunnel vision.  I also try to do it on the inside when JRing, but it's harder.)

still haven't ordered new boots yet.  I can't decide on the colors I want.  I was going to get a mix of orange/pink/blue/yellow/purple, but then I saw a picture of silver ones with pink and blue trim and they were amazingly beautiful and now I'm all torn.  I think I need to see more of the actual colors in person before I make a final decision. 

Put Up Your Toques was a few weekends ago; it went really well.  I was happy with how I performed and all that.  Got some good feedback - more acknowledgment of communication; clearer and slower signals - one particular piece was that I often forget to do the follow-through of pointing off the track when completing a penalty call, which I never realized until I paid attention and yeah, I do forget to do it often.  So I've been working on that. 

The double header that I was HR for the entire night (regulation game and 40 minute juniors' game) went ok as well; we had a slight emergency when the laptop with the stats book on it wouldn't connect to the printer, and that took up a lot more time than it should have and then people would come up to me with questions and I'd be like CAN'T YOU SEE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS HERE and was much snippier than was necessary (I need to work on that).  No one died, the juniors were a lot of fun, happy ending all around.

Yesterday I went out to Buffalo for a juniors game; I RIPRed but wasn't HR (and I'm very glad I wasn't; had a situation where THREE players were expelled in a single jam (one of whom most definitely got a suspension).  I'm not going to go into detail because it was a juniors game, but it was something I'd never seen in person before and hope I don't see again.

Related to pack definition and whatnot... I really need to stop resting on the laurels of being naturally loud and work on actually projecting from my chest.  It'll only help me get better.

Let's see... I may or may not hit 300 games officiated before the end of the year.  I'm at 282 (238 ref/44 NSO) right now, with at least 9 more games scheduled, not including ECDX.  Wheeeeee!

in which stuff has happened

so last weekend was Beast of the East (a tournament for home teams of Canadian leagues) in Montreal.  I'd remembered that it was fun (I first went in 2017) but I'd forgotten that it was FUN.  20 minute games, two teams just going full-throttle the entire time?  Definitely FUN.

I got to HR two of the games - they went pretty well.  There were a few out-of-my-control hiccups (the projector stopped working mid-jam; a coach requested a time out at, like, 29.999999999 seconds before the whistle starting the last jam of the game [which ended as a tie and went into overtime]) but no one died and the THR said I did a good job, so that works for me.

I also got to try on some skates, and pretty much fell in love with the Bont Hybrids, in a size 4.5. Just snug enough that they'll stretch a tiny bit to feel wonderful.  (I do need to get the heel lock band thing, though.)  Hopefully I'll be able to order them in the next few weeks.)

in which I finally give up the Sunk Cost Fallacy

I need to get new skates.  I've had nothing but problems with my skates ever since I bought them, and it came to a head while I was reffing this past Saturday (the trucks were like "yeah, no matter how much you want us to be tight, we're gonna be loose and wobble all over the place, and the plate was like "yeah, no matter how much you crank down the screw to hold your toe stop in, we're not going to hold onto the toe stop, and when you go to stop with it, the toe stop's gonna come out and you'll fall face-first onto the ground") and I was just like THAT'S IT, THESE SKATES ARE GETTING CHUCKED INTO THE NEAREST RIVER.

I was kidding about the river-chucking part, but seriously - I have wasted too much time on these suckers.  I shouldn't be getting black toenails three years into wearing them.  I shouldn't need to remove both wheels in order to tighten the truck.

So yeah, I'm in the market for new skates. 

and the wheeee continues

so I survived Official Relief!  It actually was a great time.  (At one point I tripped and fell just as my jammer was getting lead - I was able to award lead, give the proper hand signal and keep my eyes on my jammer until I was able to get up.  One of the THRs said it was the highlight of his weekend.)

Now begins the Crazy Crazy Period of Officiating:

• Tournament 
• Away doubleheader (only an hour away though)
• Tournament
• Tournament
• Home game & junior scrimmage
• Away doubleheader (about 2 hours away)
• Off
• Away doubleheader (about 2 hours away)
• Home doubleheader (and my kid's birthday weekend)
• Off (only because my kid's graduating from high school WTFOMGBBQ)
• Tournament

(and I thought I was taking it lightly this year. GUESS NOT.)

so the busy season is starting to start

after much finagling with my skate and removal of skate pieces (Chaya skates are horrible when it comes to adjusting - you can't tighten your trucks without removing the wheels, etc., etc., etc.) I was able to tighten the plate.

This past weekend was Lobstah Roll, in Boston.  I was JT for five games, and wore a different pair of shoes for each game (since I didn't have to bring skating gear, there was plenty of room in the car).  Figured out the setup that works best for me for stopwatch holding, realized that (a) I sound angry when I call out FIVE SECONDS and (b) I need to work on projecting from the chest and not just yelling.

Tomorrow's the St. Patrick's Day parade - 11th year in a row for me.  Weather's supposed to be ok - low chance of rain, high in the high 30s.  It's been better, but it's also been A LOT worse.  Maybe I'll skate this time (though I'll need to put my outdoor wheels on).

Next weekend is Official Relief,  a closed-door tournament in PA so that teams can get their WFTDA charter requirements in, and use their open games for home teams, which are more profitable.  I have six games in two days, all JR.