Fun news. The advanced level Dollies practise tonight included some special guests. We had the most excellent Judge Fredd reffing with our skating officials, and also a visiting reporter from a local radio station. Fun times all round! We also managed to get a full contingent of skaters, which meant we could do proper scrims rather than directed ones (which are still useful, but less fun for me to watch!) We also had loads of people to take turns refereeing and NSO-ing. I've been manning the penalty box for the past few weeks, but after our recent lesson on Scorekeeping and Line-up tracking I really wanted to have a go with some paperwork. This was the perfect time!It was a high energy scrim, really fast-paced and everyone was really throwing themselves into it. It was hard to be impartial! As a scorekeeper my job is to keep my eyes glued to my assigned jammer ref. One ref is assigned to each teams jammer, and their arm and whistle signals tell the players and scorekeeper what's happening - if and when the jammer clears the pack, if they earn lead jammer status, how many points they've earned on each pass, and if the jam is called off by the lead jammer (or for some other reason like injury, which also happened!) The scorekeeper notes all this down on that team's form, and adds up their score as the game commences.
I had to check some of the terminology with the more experienced scorekeeper next to me in the first few james, but once you've accustomed yourself to the layout of the sheet (as long as you're paying attention and can do simple maths in your head) it's pretty straightforward. The referees also switched up their positions a lot, so I got to work with a couple of different people. The main thing seems to be clear communication, which of course is happening at a distance, while the ref is moving, and with skaters darting between the two of you. There's a few rarer hand signals I'm not certain of yet, but that recognition will speed up as I see them more. When my jammer ref displayed a hand signal, such as a number of points scored, I made a point of displaying it back until I was sure they'd seen me. They've got a lot to keep track of and no more than a glance to spare on their NSO during a jam, so my part is to help them feel confident that I'm understanding them and they can get on with the rest of their jobs.
We did have an injury near the end of the game - a skater took a fall and managed stick her own tooth into her bottom lip. As with all head wounds it looked all bleedy and melodramatic but the cut itself was nothing major At worst she'll have a scab and a nice fat lip in the morning! One of the refs very efficiently whacked an ice pack on it before dashing back to the game. It reminded me of my intention to join the first aiding team once I get to that stage of membership. As I understand it everyone is encouraged to join a few teams, since roller derby is run by the skaters for the skaters. There are finance people, statistics people, fresh meat herders, media and design people, first aiders, liaisons for the sports halls we train in, directors, and so on. After the space-dinosaur incident it seems pretty certain that I'll be urged towards the creative team. However, I already do a lot of that sort of stuff in my own time, so I'd like to try something else instead/as well and First Aid appeals to me.
I've got four years lifeguarding experience under my belt, as well as several years of Emergency First Aid at Work qualifications, and I'm not phased by bodily fluids whether they're mine or someone else's. I've already seen 'em all! (Dollies, if you're reading this, count it as my resume!), so it seems like an obvious fit. Slightly ironically I've not had any major injuries to deal with at work or at the pool (although there have been a few elsewhere... there was the woman that collapsed on that train, and the girl with the shoe-full of blood, and the old lady who slipped on the ice, and that kid who turned out to have meningitis. Hmmm...) I know from experience that if there's someone more qualified on the floor I tend to defer to them and do whatever's most helpful, but when I have been the one in charge then I go suddenly calm and methodical, and start giving orders myself.
At a guess I'd say roller derby would be generally light on the blood. Lots of knocks and bumps (ice packs galore!), some sprains and strains, a bit of fatigue and vomiting, and at worst the odd break or dislocation at which point you stop poking it and ring the professionals. Nice and simple.
No comments:
Post a Comment