#skating official

[rin-archive]

Roller Derby Mixer Bout

Bloomington, IN

April 2026

[rin-archive]

Roller Derby Mixer Bout

Bloomington, IN

April 2026

[army-ofdarkness]

Getting a piggy back ride from one of roller derby's many bearded officials

[lonelystripe]

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

I love practice, I really do. Endurance practices are my favorite! I always tell people, the skaters are sprinters. They skate on average about 1:10-1:20 a jam and then go sit for 30 seconds plus whatever the next jam is. Us Refs, we skate the whole dang bout with only 30 seconds between to compose ourselves before the next jam. Often refs go half of the half or longer with no hydration because we don't have the time. So I am HUGE on skating practices!

However not everyone shares my enthusiasm for this, and there is 2 sides to this coin and both equally piss me off. First you have the leagues/coaches that don't want refs to skate with their players . . . . *evil eye look right now* . . . and then want to complain about the refs when they are out of position because they cannot keep up or trip over a fallen skater (I know that can't be avoided all the time). This really burns my toe stops. One night at practice with my former league I was doing some kind of sprinting/weaving drill. All of the girls in the pace line had a change to go through. We then continued to skate around and I looked at the coach and motioned like I should go, since I was last in line. I was then told "Don't tell me how to run my practice. I'm here to train skaters, not zebras!"

I'm sorry . . . what?? Am I not a skating Official??? Doesn't the first part of that include  . . . oh I don't know . . SKATING!?!?! I was truly dumbfounded. To better get the picture of this imagin Yosemite Sam standing 6'2" with Daffy Ducks voice . . . . that should do it. Basically as long as I didn't interfere with the practice or cause problems I could have the pleasure of sharing the track and follow along.

Some leagues I've heard do not want their refs skating at all with the girls or they do not want them to be involved in contact. I can kind of see the last point but how is a ref suppose to know what a hit will feel like come bout day when a girl whiffs, misses her target, and collides with said ref?? Or even better, if you don't want them to skate with the girls are you going to supply a "Ref Skating Practice" for them?? "They don't need that, they skate during the scrimmages we do" . . . . really?!?!?! That's the experience you want to give your SKATING Officials???

The other side of this coin . . . *breaks out the evil eye again* . . . . is those refs who don't think they need to practice their skating . . . . I need to take a deep breathe here.

*sigh*

Why wouldn't you want to practice???? Some of the best skating refs I know are those who skate regularly! You should not be thinking about your skating or your feet come bout day! You mind should be on the rules and impact assessment. If you skate regularly then your body takes over and just does it . . . too many refs have I seen in a bout looking where they are skating instead of looking at the pack or the jammer. If you skated more and trusted your body more you would not have to worry about what you're going to do when a girl falls in front of you . . . . you will just react.

If you are lucky enough you are in a league that encourages the refs to skate. And if you are PLEASE invite your fellow stripes to your practices!!! We could all benefit from some good skate time!! And if you are a league who's refs don't skate with you . .. find out why, get them involved. You will have better officials because of it!

There, I'm done . . . rant over . . . . now go skate!