SCRD's Officials Handbook: An editable, Creative Commons licensed handbook for roller derby referee crews

Roller derby leagues (should) have handbooks detailing how the league operates, and while these often have a few statements related to officials, they're necessarily going to be focused on skater-related issues and how the league runs as a whole.  They might say how the head ref is chosen, discuss whether officials pay dues or not, and what benefits volunteers get, but otherwise they're typically silent on many official-specific topics (how rosters are built for games, how often officials are expected to attend practice, what a person has to do to be a member of the crew, how officials are expected to behave during practice and game, etc.).

So, as an officials crew, it can be useful to have your own manual detailing how your crew operates (I call this document an "officials handbook", but others call it a "code of conduct" or "officials manual").   Having policies and procedures spelled out ahead of time is a tremendous aid when trouble or drama comes knocking, and it also makes sure all of your crew members know what is expected of them.

Here at South Coast Roller Derby, I discovered that while the league had an excellent league handbook, the officials crew had nothing.  So, over the first few months of this season, the crew, board of directors, and I created the South Coast Roller Derby Officials Handbook.

Many crews seem to keep their Officials Handbook confidential, or at the very least don't distribute it openly.  I want to do the opposite: my crew's Officials Handbook tells the world what kind of crew we are, and how we operate.  I want everyone to be able to read it, especially guest officials and potential new recruits (so they can know what they're getting into).

To save everyone else the trouble of having to start from scratch, I've Creative Commons licensed this document (under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License), so it's entirely editable and shareable.

A worksheet to help introduce the March 2014 new WFTDA rules

To facilitate leading sessions introducing the new March 2014 WFTDA rules to my league's skaters and officials, I created a worksheet that introduces many of the rules changes via a few dozen scenario-based questions.  Yes, I'm a teacher at heart.

I e-mailed this worksheet to the entire league, asked everyone to download the new rules and do their best to answer the questions, and then we met a few days later to go over the scenarios.  I think it worked beautifully; everyone came prepared, had thoughtful questions, and within a few minutes we were going over complicated scenarios without anyone getting (too) lost or confused.  Skaters volunteered to get up and act out some of the scenarios, and I feel confident that everyone left understanding more than when they started.

Since it worked so well with my league, I wanted to share the worksheet publicly.  I've Creative Commons licensed this, so feel free to modify it to your heart's content (see the end of the post for full licensing details).

Worksheet download

The worksheet is available in three different formats:

Penalty code & verbal cue cheat sheet

[Updated May 19, 2015 to make the formatting more consistent and align with the January 2015 ruleset and its associated officiating documents.]

After a referee calls a penalty during a roller derby bout, the penalty is recorded by a penalty tracker, and then (typically) written on a publicly visible whiteboard (see my quick guide to all the roller derby officiating positions if you don't know what those terms mean).

Since writing down the full names of each penalty would be cumbersome, each penalty has a single-letter code associated with it.  Penalty trackers, penalty wranglers, whiteboard staff, all referees, and penalty-box NSOs should ideally be familiar with these codes, so they can quickly write down or interpret written penalty information.  The penalty codes can be found in the WFTDA Statistics package's penalty tracker paperwork.

In addition to a penalty code, each penalty in the WFTDA ruleset has a verbal cue associated with it; referees are required to use the appropriate verbal cue when calling the penalty.  To see the list of verbal cues, head to the WFTDA Officiating page (or just to the verbal cues document itself).  Complicating matters, many penalty classes (e.g., direction of game play) have multiple verbal cues but are recorded as a single penalty code ("C", in the case of all four direction of game play verbal cues).

So, it's helpful to have a cheat sheet that lists all of the verbal cues along with their penalty codes.  I made one for myself a while ago and taped it to all my clipboards; it's probably one of my most frequently requested documents.  So, here it is:

Basic equipment you'll need as a skating roller derby official

In my previous post I discussed the basic equipment needed by all roller derby officials, including both skating and non-skating officials.  Skating officials are their own special little bundle of joy; in this post I'll go over the basics of their equipment needs.

Tip: Unlike non-skating officials, who can get away with borrowing much of their equipment early on, skating officials ("referees") must have their own gear from day one; very few leagues have loaner gear.  Plan to buy quad roller skates, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, a helmet, and a mouthguard for your very first day of skate practice.  You'll need a whistle as soon as you can skate safely on the track around skaters (i.e., when you can start practicing reffing itself).  You can almost certainly hold off on the striped jersey, though, as it'll likely be months of training before you're ready to put that on (unless you're already a derby skater).

Skating insurance? You may need to purchase skating insurance to participate in training with your league; contact your league's head referee or officials coordinator to find out more.

Skating gear

At a minimum, you'll need quad roller skates, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, helmet, and a mouthguard.  Okay, technically you can ref while wearing inline skates, but virtually nobody does (and people will make fun of you).

Quick Guide to ALL the Roller Derby Officiating Positions

[Updated May 19, 2015 to reflect the January 2015 WFTDA ruleset and officiating standard practices, and the March 2015 track layout guide. Oh yeah, and to fix all some of my mistakes and add in a few new ones.]

A fully staffed WFTDA flat-track roller derby game requires at least 18 volunteer officials to run, and that’s not counting track crew and announcers.  Each one of these people plays a core part in ensuring that safe, fair gameplay occurs.  This document will summarize each of the officiating positions.  

Pro tip: Every league does things a little differently; treat this guide as just a rough start.  Unless something is actually violating the rules, plan to roll with whatever the host league / host ref crew prefers.  

Basic equipment all roller derby officials should have

Starting your journey as a roller derby official?  Wondering what gear you need to get started as a skating referee or non-skating official?  You've come to the right place!

While many officials crews (including my own) have loaner pieces of non-skating equipment at practice (so go, even if you don't have any gear!), it’s useful for every member of the crew to have as much of their own equipment as they can.  The “gear box” doesn’t always make it to practice, you can’t guarantee that other folks will be at any given practice (or will have their spare equipment to loan you), and if you start traveling to other leagues (and you will start traveling, 'cause it's awesome), you'll have no idea if those leagues will have loaner gear or not.