#mansfieldrollerderby

Yesterday, Mansfield Roller Derby hosted their first ever open door game in Mansfield. Our previous open door events have always been in Nottingham, but we found a venue in our hometown and organised a great double header.

The first game was an Open To All scrim, welcoming all genders to a friendly Game of Thrones themed scrim. The second game was Mansfield Roller Derby vs Sheffield Crucibelles.

As the league's Head Official, it was my responsibility to arrange the officiating crews for both games, supply required equipment, and assist with track set up.

I drafted a full referee crew and delegated HR duties to someone a little more experienced, and shadowed on the day. It was more difficult to get a full NSO crew, but those that did attend were highly skilled and professional. I'm impressed that even with a skeleton crew we still managed to get full paperwork done.

I was FIPR for both games, allowing me to shadow the HR in RIPR position. It was his first time as HR at an open door, but he had experience prior. It was a great learning opportunity for us both, and I feel more confident about taking the HR role next time.

Both games went without major incident, and all officials did a fantastic job. The feedback from the skaters was all positive regarding both the officiating and the event in general, which is always great to hear.

I was lucky to have a great team of officials and finish the year strengthening those connections before the end of the year.

Mansfield Roller Derby did a great job of hosting the event, and everyone put in a lot of time and effort to organise and arrange the day. And, as a huge bonus, they won their game!

A great end to a great year.

Yesterday saw Mansfield Roller Derby hosting a double-header closed door scrim against Dundee first, and then against Borderlands.

I was tasked with organising all officials for the day, making sure that all the required referee and NSO positions were filled. Dundee brought a few referees, one from nearby Derby, one from Borderlands, one from Nottingham, and me. 

Mansfield supplied all the NSOs, which was absolutely fantastic. Training them on our Sunday scrim practises really paid off. Every NSO did a spot on job, there were no problems or last minute training sessions, and I’m incredibly proud of the little crew of NSOs I’m helping to build!

It was an absolute joy to work alongside the referees, and I was absorbing as much as possible from Head Ref Righteous Oxide on the day. Fantastic communication from him towards referees, NSOs and skaters. Always cool and collected, and took everything in his stride. Referee goals.

I was OPR for both games, and that brought my total to six. We worked in the “skate and wait” rotation, which really does work well if done properly. I’m getting more comfortable with it and knowing when to recycle back to the other corner. Although sometimes I did get a little caught up in watching some action and overstepped my position.

Called a couple of penalties as I saw them, and also did several conscious no-calls. I even remembered to signal NP/NP when appropriate, which I was pleased about.

Feedback from referees was positive, along with some suggestions on areas to work on, which is very useful.

Mayra was Head NSO for the day, and with some small assistance from me in preparation and set-up, she did a fantastic job. She handled pretty much all the organisation on the day and ensured everyone was set up and ready to do their roles.

I had a fantastic day, and by all accounts, all the officials and skaters enjoyed the day too. Everything went, from my perspective, without a hitch and as smooth as clockwork.