Yesterday I reluctantly attended a Roller Derby Referee Clinic. Yes, reluctantly. I wasn't convinced that it was the direction I wanted to go with my derby path. I was still mourning the "death" of AvaLanche the skater. I even put wings on my skates. You could say I was struggling with my retirement and that would be an understatement. Many of you understand exactly what I'm talking about...others, you'll understand someday.
As I mentioned, the second part of the clinic was on skates, learning from veteran refs who graciously donated their time to the teach classes. I am relieved, since I figure this will be less brain intensive than the rules discussion. WRONG. So so very wrong. I opt to attend the Jam ref communication class, taught by Justin Bibe from Beach Cities Roller Derby. Jam refs just follow the jammer and call off the jam, that'll be easy, right? WRONG. (Are you seeing a theme yet?) HOLY CRAP!! I had NO IDEA how many things jam refs have to track, along with the all of other skating ref positions. Every position has about 8000 factors in their jobs and they all happen in increments of 3 to 5 seconds. Are you dizzy? I am. Jam refs need to be aware of tracking and reporting points, number of passes my jammer has made, if they have lapped the other jammer, whether or not they are lead, which skaters they have passed as points, hand signals, penalty calls, whistle blasts, positioning, other ref cues, penalty box points....AHHHHHHHHH! And this isn't even all of it! Again, my head exploded. Little did I know I had already been rostered to be a jam ref in the upcoming bout in a few hours. I really just threw up in my mouth a little and felt like I was going to pass out. Me? Jam ref? Tonight? Now, I would like to remind you that I hadn't really skated much in a while and I had NEVER reffed in any capacity before. I was reminded to trust the officials that created the roster and just do my best. (Thank you Hannah, F-Stop, and Justin). Here's a side note. As referees we often make calls (legitimately or erroneously) that make skaters and coaches angry and it can get pretty heated. I don't like people to be mad at me. See my problem? A life lesson for me to learn will be that it's my job to make calls and not take it personally when people get upset...and that I will make mistakes. Lots of them. Yea, that'll take a while and will likely be fodder for future stories.
Third part, bout time. I muster up all the confidence I can and get geared up. Lucky for me, this bout is with my home league and I know many of the skaters, so I can rest easy knowing they know I have never done this before and will be more forgiving of the learning curve. I also have several brand new refs working by my side, likely feeling just as nervous as me. The first whistle blows. It was so mind boggling. Chasing the jammer all night is a crazy workout! Then, add the brain work. Honestly, the bout came and went so fast! It was exhausting and amazing. I did it! I reffed my first bout and LIVED! This experience from start to finish validated my new path in derby and made me fall in love with it all over again. The analogy of being "pushed out of the nest to learn to fly", was just the thing I needed to remember what made me love derby in the first place. The core of my love for derby is the continuous personal growth, riddled with all its challenges, and how I accomplished far more than I ever believed I would. And these accomplishments are not limited to the track. I mentioned a life lesson earlier that derby would help me learn. Happens all the time. Derby is life changing! (Insert trumpet fanfare and confetti explosion here). Not to mention that it is just an incredible sport. Yea, derby love. Ain't nothing like it.
