Game Journal - 8.30.08

Dairyland Dolls vs. the Burning River Roller Girls All-Stars

Incident - More and more, I've been feeling like I'm holding pre-bout ref and ref-captain meetings just because, and that there's nothing that is covered that requires a meeting before hand. Nevertheless, I know that that's not true, that it's important to have these.

Comments - I need to be better prepared for these meetings, I should prepare a standard meeting list of bullet-points that I have with me. There's lots of things that always happen that are a pain that could be taken care of, largely game-flow issues, how long half-time will be, what time we start, benches, etc. Preparation is key.

Game Journal - 8.23.08

Team Unicorn vs. The Hamilton Harlots

Incident - As this was a fairly inexperienced crew when compared to what I was used to, it fell to me (and they made this clear) to do my best to train them up on many of the best practices the WFTDA employs, something I should note I was happy to do, I don't want it to sound like they saddled me with this responsibility. The one that proved the most problematic was communication between inside and outside referees, and between pack and jam referees. Communication in general really I guess. This sort of problem resulted in several unwarranted jam call-offs and the appearance that I, as a pack referee, was calling lead jam or not.

Comments - I'd discussed how these communications usually work in a bout with them, and while it was clear they weren't totally grasping it, I made the decision to stop trying to explain it, and to just let them see it in action, figuring it would click during the bout. That, however, did not happen as quickly as I'd hoped. In retrospect, the times I've seen it click easily is when all but one or two of the referees are already comfortable with the system, instead of only having one or two who are familiar with it. In addition it wasn't the only new thing for them. I suppose I should have spent more time working with them pre-bout. All that said, I thought they caught on and adapted to everything I through at them like real pros. So maybe it wasn't all bad.

Game Journal - 7.19.08

Dairyland Dolls vs. the Charm City Roller Girls All-Stars

Incident - During the jam, a skater returned to play from the penalty box. When she did so, she entered in front of the entire pack, a clear major, had I seen the whole thing. I know I saw her re-enter in front of everyone and made the call, for the life of me though, even immediately after I couldn't remember if I'd KNOWN she was in the penalty box (and so, would KNOW it was a penalty), or if I just had assumed she was because she was standing still when she stepped in. Of course, standing still is probably a pretty good indication, but I really don't know if I knew or not. Whatever, I made the call. The real issue here is that for the next several laps, half of my concentration was on whether I'd actually seen what I thought I saw, or if I'd just manufactured a major penalty, even though at the moment I made the call I was 100% sure.

Comments - Obviously I need to make the call and move on. This is a basic tenet of my reffing, of any reffing (or, it should be), you're only as good as your next call. Whether or not your last call was right, if you're not paying attention to the game, chances are good your next call will be wrong. I'm ashamed it even took me a lap or two. I know better, it's usually not an issue. I don't know why this one was such a huge issue to me, except that it was also a call that was out and enforced before I even could think about it. As it turns out, one of the referees penalty tracking in the middle saw it too and verified during the intervening thirty seconds that the call was correct. Either way though, time to focus on the next call...

Game Journal - ECE 2008 - Part 4

Grand Raggidy All-Stars vs. the Ohio Roller Girls

Incident - Due to the nature of the ECE, there's typically two bouts happening at the same time. During this bout, the concurrent bout was a much "bigger deal", to the point that almost the entire crowd was watching that bout. Indeed, even some of our referees were interested in that bout.

Comments - This was an apt lesson in focus. One look at either team and it was clear where their focus was, and where ours needed to be. I'm glad to say I was focused on our game and not the other, and I'm sure the other referees would say the same. But I wish I'd made a concerted effort to make this point to everyone, just to be sure, to really be sure.

Game Journal - ECE 2008 - Part 3

Boston Derby Dames vs. HaRD Knocks

Incident - During this bout I called a 20' Out of Play major on a Houston player positionally blocking the BDD jammer. Instead of leaving the track to serve the penalty though, she yelled back, "I didn't hit her!", and for some reason I flipped a switch and got irate. I yelled back "I don't care! You're OUT!". Also, I might have sworn, I am not sure. That part changes depending on who tells the story to me.

Comments - Beyond the swearing part (which, if true, is obviously totally unacceptable on my part), there's two things of note here. First I need to constantly check my composure during bouts, not just at halves, especially as the skater's anxiety increases with higher stakes.

Second, part of the reason I think I was so upset was I had talked to coaches and captains about this sort of thing pre-bout. Up until this bout I took it for granted that that information always got back to the players. Clearly it doesn't, and that in a lot of ways makes sense. I need to remember that.

Game Journal - ECE 2008 - Part 2

Texacutioners vs. Gotham Girls All-Stars

Incident 1 - As one jam began I noticed the Texas jammer was not in position, but was on the track getting into position. By the rules, this should have been a minor penalty false-start. I assumed it was called right and so just skated pack. As it turns out the jammer referee (the one at the time assigned to watch GOTHAM'S jammer) sent the Texas jammer back to her bench for the jam, as per the previous ruleset.

Comments - While the ref making the call was wrong, and while the other jam ref would have been justified in stopping the jam, it was ultimately my job as Head Referee to oversee everything, including this call. I knew that this was many people's first time with the new ruleset, and that this was a major change, I should have been more aware that the potential was there for a mistake, and right now I don't know why I didn't watch it closer as I saw it about to happen. I need to be more aware and take on more of a supervisory role as a head referee, especially when not totally familiar with the other referees.

Incident 2 - In the second half of the bout a Gotham blocker(Beyonsláy) laid a dramatic hit on the Texas jammer (Rice Rocket) (Yeah, THAT hit). The crowd's reaction was overwhelming, so I knew when I was told that just prior to the hit Beyonsláy had accumulated her fourth minor that there would be controversy, as big legal hits being called as illegal merely because they are big has been an issue for a long time. So I resolved immediately to correct the announcers as soon as the jam was over. I did, and while it didn't help, I'm glad I did it.

Comments - While it didn't help fan understanding, that is an announcer issue. Beyond that though I am again glad I was able to both watch the action on the field and read the bigger picture of the game from the fan's perspective. Not to let their opinion influence my calling, but to know what further information they needed to understand the calls. 

Game Journal - ECE 2008 - Part 1

Burning River All-Stars vs. The Stepford Sabotage

Incident - While I didn't make an incorrect call per-say, I did miss that the jam referees called the jam for a jammerless jam. As such I delayed the start of the next jam, as I "corrected" the penalty box, and then corrected my "correction".

Comments - I simply need to work on communication between the other refs and myself, especially for things like jammerless jam. Probably something to add to our pre-bout meeting.