The Massively Long Intro to being HNSO blog...
I was writing a short blog for out League, on being HNSO. Hoewever we have a word limit... and I .... well... I can talk.
So here is the initial piece, I might do some more, if it works out ok..
How to herd kittens, a multi-part blog on the joys of being a Head NSO
Hi, I’m Cupid and I am shortly due to step down as Co-Head Non-Skating Official with Nottingham Roller Derby (I’m moving away due to a new job). We’ve just appointed new Co-HNSO’s so this is kind of an advice piece to them.
In the process of writing this I realised that there was actually quite a lot to cover off, both the pre-game day stuff, the in league things, and the things that happen on and even after game day. So I’ve approached it thusly – first of I’m going to concentrate on the in league things, closed games and scrims and preparing for game day. In part 2 I’ll talk about what happens just before, during and after game day (or at least what should happen).
Ok, when you go to watch a game of Roller Derby, you may or may not notice the small army of Non Skating Officials. If we are all doing our jobs right, then by and large we are like cogs in the game day machine, who managed to work together with the Skating Officials to make things run incredibly smoothly and as such, you hopefully won’t see us at all.
Making sure that all of this happens is the Head Non-Skating Official (HNSO). They will be the person who brings all of the paperwork along, makes sure all of the positions are covered, checks that all the necessary equipment is in place on the day and is a go to for any issues that might occur on the day.
Before we being, a little bit about me and why I am doing this.
As mentioned above I am currently Co-HNSO for NRD, along with The Terminathor. This season I have also been Divisional Head NSO for Tier 3 West of the British Championships, as well as acting as game day head on a couple of occasions for Tier 2 of the Men's Champs. My Champs season finished as a crew head for the Tier 3 Playoffs, which meant 4 games in a day. I’ve also been Head NSO for a couple of one day tournaments this year, played to slightly different rule sets, which makes things interesting.
I was the League's first Dedicated NSO member, and we now have about 5 Dedicated NSO’s and growing. These are members who are there purely as Non-Skating Officials, we aren’t injured skaters, we’re not refs, we are NSO’s pure and simple – well… except for when I do Bench sometimes.
Being HNSO for the League means ensuring that we are able to provide crews for Home Games first and foremost. This requires us to make sure that we have a members who have a good knowledge of NSO roles and procedures and that they are able to act professionally and do their job to a high standard on game day.
To do this we run NSO classes prior/during training sessions to give an understanding of roles, to make people aware of what they are (and are not) supposed to be doing, and most importantly to make them familiar and comfortable with the paperwork – STATS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! The classes range from general introductions to NSOing in general, right through to how to do one specific role - this is very useful if there is a role that you are regularly trying fill, or if you only have 1 - 2 people who are comfortable with it on game day.
We then use the monthly league wide co-ed training scrims to give people a chance to put theory into practice and try out the roles in a non-pressured environment. So that when it comes to game day, they are not left out on their own, doing something that they have never done before. These are run as close to game conditions as possible, so it means that anything can - and will - happen.
We have a good mix of people in the league when it comes to NSO roles, there are people who are specialists in particular areas – scorekeepers, scoreboard operators, etc. etc. and some who are just good allrounders and can do pretty much anything and everything needed on the day.
6 Weeks prior to game day
Right, you’ve had a look at your calendar, wall chart, schedule doc, or whatever you use to work out where you are meant to be, and discovered that you have a double header in 6 weeks.
You need to start thinking about getting your NSO crew together for those games.
First things first - where are you getting your crew from? Is it internal only? are other teams providing some? Or, in the case of champs, do you have people from every team in the division?
So… start putting those feelers out, finding out where you are sourcing NSOs from.
I like to use google sheets for this, and have plundered resources and ideas from other HNSOs and even some Head Refs to find the best way to do this.
Start with your league, the people you know. Find out who is free; I start by asking our dedicated NSO’s, then our growing dazzle of Zeebs, and then open things up to the rest of the League. I’ll use team liaisons or our Head Ref to speak to the other teams and find out how many officials they can provide.
When things get tough, I reach out to facebook first to those NSOs that i’ve worked with before, and then some of the NSO recruiting groups to see who else might be free. When doing this it is important to give as much information as possible. When is the game, where is it, what teams are playing, what roles are available, what are the game conditions - are evals available? (if they are, then you are going to get lots of interest)
Now… what do they know how to do? How comfortable are they with the roles?
Right, THE WORST THING that can happen is that you think you’ve got a crew sorted, you turn up on game day and then a couple of people in key roles, tell you that they’ve not really done it before. You panic, they panic, everyone panics and it just looks totes un-profesh.
To avoid this happening it’s good to get an idea of how comfortable and experienced people are in roles prior to finalising your crew.
Firstly - look at the people you actually know. Put them in the places you are happy that they can do, and do well.
If you have experienced or committed NSOs then start with their Officiating CV. This shows you what they have done, when and who with. It gives a steer on their abilities and comfort in a role.
If you don’t have CVs to check, then you need to ask people what they can do. If you are working with another leagues HNSO and they have put people forwards, ask them.
There are other things you can try. I’ve been given several pieces of advise on this in the past, and one of the best was used in Champs this year. I think it was MacFarlane who I saw use it first, and it asked people to self assess on how comfortable they were in roles, and to show their experience. It means that you are getting them to say yay or nay to each role. (probably most useful in bigger events, and multi-game situations)
Ok, so you now have sufficient people to staff your game, and you know who can do what. Now, let’s start putting people into roles.
First things first - and a big shout out to Pettichoke here - start with the key roles. The people who have or control positions with significant game influence.
Jam Timer, Penalty Tracker, Penalty Box Manager (even more so now) and Scoreboard Operator.
Each of these roles can have huge impact on the game play, so you want to have experienced people, who are comfortable with the roles and responsibilities in each of those positions. Since the rules change and the new Super NSO I tend to put someone with some refereeing experience in as PBM as they are going to be happy calling the necessary penalties that might occur in their area.
Once you’ve got those roles filled, it is one to the rest of the positions and some very complex decision making. You’re going to want to take a role on probably. If so, i’d recommend being inside the track, as it gives you more contact with people and a better chance of noticing issues.
Pushin’ Daisy told me all about a session she attended at either UKROC or the last WFTDA Officiating Clinic. All about assembling NSO crews. It rang incredibly true to me then, and having worked with a load more people this year, it is even more true now. You need to make sure that the people you are asking to work together, can do so and are not going to get in a fight. Not everyone gets on perfectly well with each other, so maybe don’t force them into close proximity?
So if you know of some drama - derby or otherwise - then work around it.
Ok… so you’ve now filled all of your positions.
Communication
Thanks to social media, this is now nice and easy. Invite all of your NSOs to a group and then you can share the positions, discuss any game specifics and get ready for the day.
It’s now probably about 3 weeks prior to game day.
What do you need to do now?
Keep in touch with your NSO crew, make sure everyone is still available, look for drop outs, start thinking about backup plans.
Speak to the Head Ref about how things will work on the day.
Paperwork.
Now, what you do with paperwork depends to an extent on what kind of games you have. If it isn’t sanctioned by anyone, then you can approach the teams directly and ask for the Rosters for the games and start putting it all together, or if you are in a tournament type structure, get them from the central resource - assuming each team has to submit a charter.
If you are only sanctioned by one body, then get in touch with their sanctioning panel and request the relevant charters - by one body I mean one per game. So if you have a men's game, and then a women's game you might both be UKRDA sanctioned, one might be MRDA, one might be WFTDA. If it is only one of them, then your job is a bit easier. Just use what they say the correct roster is and you are golden.
For MRDA, you can get the charter from the really handy MRDA Charter website. It will even let you sort it into correct number order!
if you are dual sanctioned, then contact both. Ask for the charters and hope that they match up.
When completing the paperwork, include every chartered skater on the IGRF. You will confirm the actual roster on the day. Ensure that you use correct number order when filling this in.
This might sound odd, but numbers on the IGRF do not follow what most people would assume to be standard number logic. For example take the following 4 numbers 11, 12, 113, 21. Most people would want to list them as follows 11 - 12 - 21 - 113. Most people wouldn’t have very accurate paperwork and would fail the NSO Hella Hard - I did.
The right order would be 11, 113, 12, 21.
Each number is viewed separately, and the orders is 0-9 then A-Z (thankfully this bit won’t be relevant once the letters go).
Ok, so you’ve now got a crew, and you’ve got paperwork sorted. All set for game day…
(Assuming none of your NSO crew drop out)
Drop outs can happen for many reasons, illness, injury, work commitments, changes to the skating roster, the list is almost endless.
If someone drops out in advance of game day, remain calm. You’ve got time to sort this out. First things first repeat your recruitment efforts from earlier. Then you start calling in favours. Have you helped out a local league? Might one of them be available?
Worst comes to worst, and someone drops out game day, start by looking at the people who are at the game. Is there an NSO in the crowd, or an injured ref? Can someone cover that role? If not, then start looking at your crew. Do you have an ALT? Use them.
Do you have a penalty wrangler? If you have one person drop out, ditch that role. You’ll need your PT and IWB to step up. I’ve seen this in games with over 100 penalties, and everyone survived.
After that, there are several options. Just remember that you do need a minimum number of people to be there.
Part 2
OH MY GOD!! IT’S GAMEDAY !!!!!!!!
Last night you checked all of your equipment was packed, everything worked, pencils sharpened, a spare set of paperwork was picked up, everything printed out? No? DO THAT NOW!!!
At the Venue
Check in with whomever you need to see, and then get your equipment ready for game 1.
I arrive early, so i’m not rushing. If I can be set up before everyone arrives, it leaves me free to deal with other things as we get close to first whistle.
Make sure the liaison on the day knows who you are,and ask them to point any NSOs in your direction, they can help you set up.
Say hi to the Head Ref. They will be your best friend today.
Chat with Skaters, Officials, stall holders, everyone who wants to talk with you - but remember you are there to do a job.
Captains meeting
Take the IGRFs with you and confirm who is playing. This means you can finish setting up the whiteboard, and marking off the penalty tracking sheets to only include those who are actually playing. Ask about any hard of hearing skaters - it is really important to make sure the penalty box knows of these, to ensure they are communicating effectively and the skater doesn’t sit any extra time. Clarify if you have empowered NSOs.
Officials Meeting.
Say hi to everyone. Check everyone in. Make sure everyone knows their role and who they are working with. Find out who the Jammer Refs are and make sure they meet the ScoreKeepers to go through any odd signalling they might do. Remind everyone of their responsibilities. Make sure everyone knows when they need to be in position prior to the game and at half time. Point out where the toilets are, where the cake is, and where drinks can be acquired. Sounds basic, but quite important. Discuss your preferred communication method on the day. I worked with some people from Dublin this year and they use the point. You point at someone to get there attention, and everyone who sees this joins in until they respond. It is incredibly effective.
Just before game time - check all of the equipment and paperwork is where it needs to be. Ensure spare pens and pencils are at the relevant stations. Count off all of your crew when they are in position. Makes sure the HR and JT know you are good to go.
Game time!
First and foremost, concentrate on doing the role that you have assigned yourself. Visually check in with people throughout the game, I have a questioning face, which gets a nod or a shake of the head back. If there is an issue fix it quickly and efficiently. If there is not, carry on with your role. Look out for panickers. Try to keep them calm, or have someone else do so for you.
Half time!
Check in with everyone. Make sure they are happy in their role and are getting all the communication they need. The HR will likely be doing this with their crew as well. Check in with them, pass on/take any feedback. Fill in the half time IGRF details. Get out of the room for at least a couple of minutes. Come back in, pass on any feedback from the Ref crew. Check in all of your crew, make sure they are in position. Let the JT and the HR know.
Final Whistle!
Once the scores are finalised, grab the IGRF. Fill in the scores and penalties for the second half.
Say thank you to all of your NSOs and the Refs, speak to some skaters. Make a note of where the Captains go.
Sign the IGRF, get the HR to sign it. Then go find the Captains and get their signatures. If you had an expulsion, speak to the HR and see who is doing that paperwork. Make sure you get the sheet back.
Collect all of your paperwork and file it away.
If you have another game, get the next lot of paperwork ready, speak with any new NSOs who didn’t do game 1.
Get out of the hall for a bit - you’re doing an important job, and you need to be available, but you also need to clear your head and move on from what happened in game 1.
Have some cake, have a drink.
Come back in, and do it all again.
Post Game!
Right, you’ve finished the day. Everyone got through it.
EVERYTHING IS OVER!!!
Not quite.
Send a thank you message in your facebook group.
Remember those evals i mentioned earlier? Do you have any of them to fill in for people? Get on it, and get them submitted.
Stats!!
Yeah… stats. Get these typed up and submitted to whomever you need to send them to.
Give any necessary feedback to people.
Relax.
It’s time to thing abut your next game