Being involved in derby - part 1: Officially Official

Being involved in derby
Roller derby can take over your life. It can and with me it pretty much has. In the first place I am a skater, but I do a lot of stuff in and around derby that doesn't have to do with playing directly. That's why I want to talk about the other ways that I am involved in derby and what I take from it. This is the first one, all about being official.

Picture by Christopher Yarrow

When I started Roller Derby I had no idea what this game was all about. Seeing how derby was still pretty new in Europe and we were the first league in our country there was not a lot of derby around to go and see and learn from. The first time I went to even see a bout after I started was 9 months later in Berlin. Not really around the corner, cause it's a decent 6 hour drive from Amsterdam to Berlin.
But even when I did get to watch bouts live or online, I didn't necessarily understand all of what was going on in the game. Especially cause I seem to have a little "condition" called "hooliganism". Whenever I get to watch a bout I turn in to a total hooligan and scream my lungs out. Which is all fine and dandy, and maybe fun for the teams playing, but it doesn't leave a lot of room for focusing on the game and whats going on.
The other thing was, that in our first year we were focusing mostly on skating skills and basic derby skills and we weren't scrimmaging yet. When you haven't played a scrimmage yet (or worked a bout for that matter) you don't really have that "feel" yet for the game. You don't feel the excitement you feel right before the first whistle, you don't feel the pain shooting through your body when you get a great hit, you don't feel your body working hard and you definitely don't get the same feel for the game as when you play. 

So what can you do to get more of a feel for the game when you cannot play yet? When you are still fresh meat, or even when a certain injury makes it that you cannot play.
I found that a good way was by being a part of the game. And not as the hooligan, but as an official.

The first time I ever worked a bout as a Non Skating Official (NSO) was in November 2010 in Stuttgart; Stuttgart Valley Rollergirls vs Go Go Gent Roller Girls. I had the position of outside white board and had no idea what I was doing. I of course had read about what I was supposed to be doing, but I had no idea what it would mean to be a part of the officials crew. I understood, of course, that I wasn't supposed to cheer. And I was supposed to be impartial. But I didn't really understand what it meant until I was working that very first bout.

Being part of an officials crew, means that even though you are impartial and not supporting one team, you are supporting roller derby it self in the highest way possible. Cause you are making sure this game can be played the  way the girls want to play it. 

For me, being a skater (first and foremost), this made a huge impression. Realizing how important our officials are for our game. 

But it did more then just give me respect for officials. It gave me that feel for the game, without being able to play. 

I was part of the action. And because of officials role, I for once got to focus on all going on, cause I had to keep my "hooliganism" in check. 

And it was a great experience. 

After this first time I went on to NSO the first German Meisterschaft: Roll DMC.

That's when I got a real feel of what it meant to be a part of team No-Fun.... It's so much FUN! I don't mean to say that officials secretly have a lot of fun and don't take their jobs seriously. Cause I think they take their jobs very seriously. But I did also see the "other side" of the officials. The side that they do not show on track. And that is a very fun side. 



The officials crew for Roll DMC
Picture by Michael Wittig

 

Accept for feeling like a part of the game, getting more of that feel for the game and gaining more respect and understanding for officials I also noticed something else. 

As I started working more and different NSO positions I felt like my understanding of the game and the rules improved immensely. And I am not saying that the only way of getting this understanding is by officiating. But I sure do think it helped me a whole bunch. There are several reasons why. First of all because in officials meetings and during the games you hear all about how refs call certain penalties and why. Another reason is that refs love to discuss rules. All.the.time. And even though I might not be the best rules nerd in the world and I will probably zone out after 30+ minutes of rules discussion, I do think I have picked up quite a lot of the years by hanging out with officials.

Also just the NSO jobs it self teach you a lot about how the game has been set up, how it works, as NSO's are there to make sure the game runs smoothly. And even though everybody (should) reads the rules, I still see that many people don't understand all the rules when it comes to the penalty box and jammers. Also being able to fill out all that paperwork and knowing what says what, where and why, makes it a lot easier to understand the stats book and to analyze it.

Now 2,5 years after I started NSO'ing, I've been playing bouts as a skater for 2 years, but I still love to NSO. I don't do it super often, as derby takes over you life enough as it is with "just" being a skater. 

But I do try and NSO at tournaments and a bout every now and again. 

And I still feel I learn something new every time. 

Last month I was working the Men's European Roller Derby Championships and in my very first bout I was working the penalty box and all ready learned something new. The blockers and jammer of one of the teams were super communicative while in the box. As in when their jammer had lead but there were several of their blockers in the box, the blockers would communicate to their jammer (every time he lapped the box) what their time was, so he would keep going until their box was empty. And therefore they could start the next jam with a empty box. 

I am sure this sounds like peanuts or basic stuff for some. But it was kind of an eye opener for me. As we have never really did it that way. Of course we try to empty out our box, but never like that. It was a very confident and "in control" way of running the game. And it was good to see. I am not sure I would have noticed the same thing or as quickly if I would have been in the audience. But because I was working the box, and the blockers kept asking every few seconds what their time was I noticed a lot quicker why they were asking, what their strategy was behind it. 

 

So yeah the conclusion of this blog post is that I love NSO'ing. For several reasons:

• You get to be part of the game and get a feel for the game more then when you are in the audience. 
• You get to be part of the funnest team no-fun there is
• You get to facilitate the BEST sport in the world
• You learn so much more about the rules and the way stuff is called
• (a lot of times) I learn more about game play then while screaming my lungs off in the audience 

 - Furrrocious

EROC II; Nerves kicking in..

Day two; Sunday




On the second day of the European Roller Derby Organizational Conference we concentrated on how to organize Roller Derby on a European level. We had a discussion with all the different countries together, while the refs had two more practices in the other hall.



The discussions were very interesting. We talked about how to organize a European Roller Derby board, and if and why we wanted one.
Europe is still in the early stages of development when it comes to the organization on a Continent level. Lots of leagues are still brand new and have a hard time getting themselves organized, let alone their own countries, which makes it hard to even think about a wider scale like the whole continent. But Roller Derby is growing so fast in Europe that we need to think about it, and we better do it now, so we are still 'small' enough to start organizing ourselves.




We also discussed topics like ranking, categorization of teams/leagues, tournaments, translation of rules, etc.
The whole weekend there was a WFTDA rep present from the USA, Bloody Mary. She explained that WFTDA is very much interested in the development of Roller Derby in Europe, and was happy to see that the Roller Derby Culture is pretty much the same in Europe as it is in the States and Canada. She also explained that WFTDA is really interested in how they can contribute to the further development of Roller Derby in Europe and are working on hiring people just for this goal.
So it was all very interesting. We are all on the verge of something so new and exciting. And we need to figure out collectively how to organize this all in order to maximize our potential as a sport on a European Level.


The second part of the day was the most nerve wrecking....
It was time to Scrimmage!
A full on mixed scrimmage with refs and NSO's, the whole shebang!
There were two scrimmages planned, a beginners and an advanced scrimmage.
All ADD girls were supposed to participate in the beginner scrimmage. Unfortunately Belle Anger had hurt her knee practicing and scrimmaging with the Berlin Bomshells earlier that week. So she decided to not participate in the scrimmage as a player, but joined the officials team and served as a penalty tracker and outside white board NSO.

The rest of us did play. And before the scrimmage we were all really nervous, especially me and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla...
Dirty Knickers, one of our trainers, always says we are to hard on ourselves, which makes us insecure and well nervous. Walking into the hall with all my gear my hands were sweaty and shaking...
After we all put on our gear and warmed up a bit, the teams were announced. Vegan Vengeance, Sweet 'n' Sinister and Lola Rock 'n' Rolla were all in the black team, with bench coach Devilina from the Berlin Bombshells.
Me, Ruby Doom (former ADD, now Arnhem Fallen Angels), Whippin' Red Siren (from the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys) and Lolli Chop (from the One Love Roller girls from Antwerp) were all in team White, with Foxy Führer from the Berlin Bombshells as our bench coach.



*Thanks to Michael Wittiger for this great picture


As we went to our team benches it was not only my hands that were shaking, but I was literally shaking on my skates!!
It was a very diverse mixed group in each team, with girls from all these different European countries. Which was just amazing. But also hard. It's hard enough to play your first scrimmage, and then to play against your own teammates was really weird.
But the first stress was not from playing against my teammates, it was when Foxy told me I was playing blocker position 3 in the very first jam!
I was so nervous....I cannot even describe what went through my head right in those seconds before the whistle was blown, and the game was on.
It took only one jam to get over those initial nerves. After that first jam all those endorphins were released and the adrenaline rush kicked in. And all I wanted was to be on that track!
Half of the time I still had no clue of what I was doing. But i guess that's what you get when you are playing for the first time.




Here I fell, I really wish I could say I was taking out that blocker of the black team next to me to get my own Jammer through, but to be honest I don't remember. :)

I do remember a couple of illegal moves I made (oeps!)...
I tripped the Jammer of the other team, I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get in front and block her or give her a good hit, so I was 'desperate', and saw an opportunity to trip her....so I did! And yeah, she fell and I got a major an was send to the penalty box. I was actually kind of proud to be there. :) I got that Jammer out and it was kind of cool to experience sitting in the penalty box! Hahahaha
Also I got another totally illegal block in, that took the Jammer from the black team out. I was trying to block her with my shoulder/back, but again I wasn't fast enough with my footwork to get to her fast enough, so I just kind of threw myself at her an ended up taking her out with my head, which is pretty much really illegal....(Oeps 2!) Lucky for me nobody called it....

But I also was able to do some totally legal nice blocks. Not much hitting though, really something I need to practice more. I am really pretty good at hitting, but in a 'bout' situation it's so much different then in our little gym.

In the black team Lola and Sweet n Sinister worked hard as blockers. And Vegan vengeance pretty much stole the show with her Jammer abilities!!




She really did an outstanding job!
I am so proud of all of us, for participating in this amazing European Beginners scrimmage. We learned so much. I for sure now what I need to work on more.

One bad thing happened through out the whole scrimmage. In the last jam, my wifey Lola playing for the other team, fell really badly on her ankle and had to stop because of the pain.
While the white team was doing a victory lap (because we won), she was being helped my her team mates. It really sucked, cause after an amazing experience of a first scrimmage this pretty much took away her well deserved euphoric feeling...
Unfortunately injuries are a part of derby...



*later that night we wrapt her ankle in a blanket with ice. Luckily it didn't swell up to badly


The advanced scrimmage was played by a mix of European experienced players and even Texas Wftda rep Bloody Mary played in this scrimmage.
It was of course totally different then the beginners scrimmage we participated in. Seeing skaters like Swede Hurt and Master Blaster in action was awesome. They were all really good. And I saw some moves that got my standing up in the stands and cheering and screaming. ;)

After this amazing day, a bunch of us ended up in the Rock 'n' Roll herberge for drinks later that night.



Ms Miyagi (GGGRG) and my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla.





The awesome Helsinki girls, Tigre Force and Bananaspit and me freaking in front of the camera. :)


It was a good way to end this great weekend. Drinks with awesome derby girls (and guys).
Cannot wait to see you all again on the track and in the bar!

Thanks again to the Berlin Bombshells for hosting EROC II this year. You all did an amazing job and we enjoyed it a lot.


- Furrrocious

E.R.O.C. II; There is no stopping this virus

EROC II: Day one




So this weekend Bear City of Berlin is hosting the second European Roller Derby Organizational Conference. And we are here with 5 of us representing the Amsterdam Derby Dames.
Belle Anger, Lola Rock 'n' Rolla, Vegan Vengeance, Sweet 'n' Sinister and me.

Yesterday we started with a nice dinner and registration. To be honest, this dinner was all ready exhausting! After being in a car for about 7hours, we went to the dinner. And there is a restaurant filled with all the amazing derby people. To much to handle... I was surprised to see I all ready knew quite a few people. And it was nice to see awesome people like Tigre from Helsinki again, after I met her first in Helsinki last year in June.
So you can imagine the dinner was a good time to network and drink with new and less new derby friends. And therefore it was all really exhausting. Lots of talking and hugging and stuff like that. :)

The Netherlands is well represented at EROC. As I have said in earlier blogs, there are now 7 roller derby leagues in The Netherlands, which is, to be honest, pretty amazing! We are this tiny country and ADD only started a year and a half ago. In that time Dutch Roller Derby has grown out to the new up and coming sport for women in the Netherlands.
I am side tracking all ready, so as I was saying, lots of Dutch Leagues at EROC! East side Rock 'n' Rollers (Enschede), Rock City Rollers (Eindhoven), Arnhem Fallen Angels, Rotterdam Death row honeys, Dom City Dolls (Utrecht) and us. So actually the only ones not here are the brand spanking new league from the north of Holland; Northern Lightning Roller girls (Groningen).
It was so nice to finally meet everybody.
As one of the inter league people at ADD I have been in touch with all the Dutch leagues. But it was good to finally put real faces with the Facebook profile pics! ;)

So we started the day of at 9 in the morning with a breakfast. Which was great.
At 10 all the workshops, trainings and Q&A's started.
I had taken the liberty to make a schedule for our own league reps, to make sure we would maximize the information intake. Cause OH MY GOSH....there is so much info! And there is so much we don't know yet! Luckily we also found out there is stuff we do know, and all ready do :)

I am not going to recap each workshop I have been too, cause I would be typing for another hour and it's all ready to late, as it is. :)

But a couple of high lights (and it was alllll great, just not enough energy to write about it all..)

- On skates training by master Blaster and Devilina. This was absolutely amazing!





- The League organizational structure workshop by Dr. No-No.... No-No has the amazing quality of saying and explaining stuff as it is, but making you feel good at the same time. She gave me the feeling that we are doing a good job with our league and that all leagues and a lot of (womens)organizations have the same kind of issues. Which is so good to realize.


Of course you know you are not alone, but at the same time, because it's new and we are (almost) all new at this, you can still feel isolated and alone sometimes.
But to quote Dr. No-No:
"There is no recipe on how to organize your roller derby league" and "No Roller Derby League is perfect. They are all run by (in-perfect) humans, we can and should strive for perfection, but we are not!"
Which of course I know, but it's good to hear someone say it all so clear and with a really positive vibe.

Well, there is so much more to talk about, recruitment workshops, Dutch leagues discussion, Low Country meeting, etc etc :)

For now I will stop, cause I really need to go to sleep. More EROC tomorrow, including a beginners scrimmage (!!!) Which will be my first ever scrimmage... I am all ready scared shitless!


- Furrrocious

Roll DMC - What a day!!

Friday
After spending a almost a week in Berlin, my fellow ADD ladies arrived on Friday. After some hang out time, it was registration time at the Berlin Bombshells practice space.



After declaring that we take full responsibility if we break our legs or get paralyzed and more stuff like that, the officials meeting started.
Riff Reff (Stuttgart) and Dr. No-No (Berlin) did a great job at organizing the officials side of Roll DMC. The refs and NSO's were split up in three teams, Treptow, NeuKölln and Kreuzburg. Each team worked two bouts and for the finals the head refs created one team with all the 'best' refs and NSO's from the whole day.
After the meeting it was time to socialize and with a group of officials we had a bite to eat at this great restaurant.

Seeing how we needed to be at the Arena the next day at 10 am it seemed wise not to go out and party. But my wifey Lola Rock 'n' Rolla had her birthday coming up on saturday so we went to the bar to be able to toast on her b-day at midnight. After that we went straight back to the hostel, so we wouldn't be tempted into partying more then we should!


Saturday - The BIG day
It was a crazy morning, after not sleeping to much, due to excitement for the big day , a lovely but snoring roommate, some roommates that weren't NSO'ing the next day and did go out for drinks, and these awesome derby girls from Rotterdam and Utrecht that I had placed in a room above ours (....) and enjoyed partying a lot, I went on a quest to find my derby wife, Lola rock 'n' Rolla a birthday cake at 8.30 am in berlin...
It was crazy, but I managed. :) After all surprising her for her birthday, me, Vegan Vengeance, Limpin' lily and Belle Anger set off to the Arena.
Once there we had another officials meeting, and starting getting ready for the first bout!




The first bout was between the Stuttgart Valley Roller Girls All stars and Rollergirls and friends.
It was also the first bout that I was NSO'ing. It was great being a part of this exciting event and even though my NSO job as outside whiteboard isn't the most important job on the earth, it still felt great to be a part of it all.
The officials teams are so important to the game and you learn so much about it by NSO'ing. I would definitely advice each derby girl to do this. Although the most annoying thing about being a Non Skating Official, is the Non Skating part. Man oh man, how it is torture to see everybody skate! I wanted nothing more then to skate myself. But I will skate a bout, one day....

The bouts lasted 2 x 20 min, and to be honest they were over before I knew it. I was working together with a great team.
On the referee team we had:
Matt the knife - inside pack #1 + Head Ref (Leeds)
Dr. No-No - Inside pack ref #2 (Berlin)
TestosteRon Jeremy - Jammer ref #1 (Helsinki)
Crank Skice - Jammer ref #2 (Barock city)
Joe Rout - Outside pack ref #1 (Stockholm)
Fluke Skywalker - Outside pack ref #2 (Stockholm)
Zäpp VänDäle - Outside pack ref #3 (Hamburg)

On the NSO team:
Nena - score keeper #1 (Berlin)
Maelstrom - score keeper #2 (Paris)
Rosa DeLux - Penalty tracker #1 (Berlin)
Brute el Peste - Penalty tracker #2 (Paris)
Ma'am Phizz - Penalty board (Stuttgart)
Mary ME - Jam timer (Berlin)
Mojo jojo - Penalty timer Jammer / box supervisor
Ms. High-handed - Penalty timer blocker #1(Berlin)
Christina Agapitou - Penalty timer blocker #2 (Berlin)
Cosmic ReAction - Outside Whiteboard #1 (Stuttgart)
And me Furrrocious - Outside whiteboard #2

You can see we had a pretty international group, and it was great working with so many derby refs and nso's from all over Europe!
As an Outside whiteboard you write up the penalties the outside pack refs report and communicate them to the inside to the penalty trackers.
So I was most in touch during the game with the outside pack refs, especially with Joe Rout and Fluke Skywalker both from Stokholm. And even though they didn't have to much to report to me, we had a good time working together. It was a great team to work with in general, the communication was good and there was great team work.

I am not going to give you all a recap on every bout, because first of all, I am not a derby expert (yet), and second I was working during a lot of them, so I had a different look on the game. But I will advice you all to go see them at: http://justin.tv/eurorollerderby/b/275532878
You'll love the commentary, it's Swede hurt (and Mad Maloony) and she actually says during the final:
"NSO's out there in the world, you know we love you guys, you are very important to all of us!"
Thanks for saying that Swede!


The whole officials team:



Photo by Michael Wittig

I said earlier how frustrating it was not to be able to skate. Well I found out after the first bout how annoying it was to not be able to Scream and Shoot during other bouts... Being an official is all about being impartial. So even when you are not working you can not cheer on other teams. And even though I am actually impartial about the teams in Germany. There are just sometimes that you want to scream at an awesome block or whatever, and I love doing that. I really become a little hooligan! :p But I couldn't.....

So after NSO'ing two bouts and watching a couple more, it was time for the bout for third and fourth place, between Devil Dolls Essen and Hanse Connection for the last bout.
And Essen won!! Number 3 of Germany, a great score I would say. One of the Essen girls, Lola Brentt formally know as Gina Gasolina is one of the most awesome Derby girls I know! And is actually Dutch! :) Here she is as a Jammer skating her but off!!



Photo by Michael Wittig

The finals were, as expected, between Stuttgart Valley Roller Girls All Stars and the Berlin bombshells.
After the game between the dolls and hanse the head refs picked the refs and nso's that would be working the final bout. All of us Amsterdam Derby Dames NSO's wanted to work it, and were very happy to hear we all got picked! So me and Vegan did the outside whiteboard and Belle Anger served as a penalty tracker and Limpin' lily as a score keeper.

It was a crazy bout!!! The place was packed and there were 'camps' for both teams cheering as loud as they could. It was just amazing!!



Photo by Michael Wittig

As the bout started it was very clear that these two teams were equally good and it would be a close one.
The teams both showed some really beautiful Roller Derby, great hits, blocks, whips and very fast and skilled Jammers!
As an NSO I was a lot busier at this bout. More penalties were caught by the outside pack refs, which was good cause there was some much going on.
I was standing at turn one, and had a great view at the Pivot line, so I saw the start of every jam. It was great!



Photo by Michael Wittig

It was really hard to hear the outside pack refs sometimes, because the Stuttgart fans were right behind me and screaming their heads off!! It was so loud and wild, really amazing to see and experience how big Roller Derby can be in Europe.




In the end, it was down to the last jam which would decide who was going to be Germany's first Champion. As the score keepers were giving the score keeper the final jam's score, the crowd went completely crazy! As Berlin got their points first, they seemed to have won, so their fans went wild. But then Stuttgart's points came in and they got four points more then Berlin. Setting the finale score to 124-128.
The crowed went mad, and then the Derby love was showed, by the final laps, where the crowed stands around the track and skaters high five everybody around the track. I love that. It such a nice interaction between skaters and the audience.
Then the Berlin bombshells as organizers of this great event, gave out Thank you buttons to refs and NSO's and medals to the teams.
It was just a great bout, a amazing championship, an awesome day all together!! And I am so glad I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

One of the nice benefits about Roller Derby bouts/events is that derby girls know how to throw a party. And the after party was great! It was at another part of the arena and there where bands playing and it was just a great way of hanging out with other derby girls from all over Europe!



This is me and my Derby wife Lola Rock 'n' Rolla and my brand new intentional Derby wife Vegas (Stuttgart). These great ladies, both had their birthdays during this day!

Again thanks to the Berlin Bomshells for organizing this great event, thanks to Dr. No-No an Riff Reff for organizing the officials side of the championship, you did a great job! And thanks of course to all those derby girls playing their asses off and the last thanks goes out to the officials team, it was a pleasure meeting all of you and working together!

- Furrrocious



Ps: Pictures of the bout that you see here, came from the Berlin Bomshells Facebook - for more great pictures, check them out on their profile.