“Black, 603, Forearm!”
“Black, 603, Direction!”
“Black, 603, Multiplayer!”
By now, I know most of the ref’s voices better than I know my own mother’s. But that’s ok! I know I can always count on Team Zebra to help my teammates and I play the safest game we can. Even though it’s sad when I have to skate off the track and spend some quality time with some of my favorite non-skating officials in the penalty box, I look forward to being able to ask questions and clean up my act for the next bout. Without our refs and NSOs, no one on Cornfed would be the skaters they are today.
Our Team Zebra regulars include Shotgun Mike, 5ft Assasin, Wes Slamderson, Carpe Jugulum, Nellie FlyBy, Bilbo Stabbins, Melody Mayhem and Richie Cranium. CFDD is also lucky enough to have other local refs make the trip to Muncie to call our bouts, which we always appreciate.
Roller derby can be a complicated, rough and challenging sport. Our rules are extensive and sometimes open to interpretation. The skaters in stripes help us play the sport we love by helping us to understand the rules and improve our game. Their time, money and dedication to roller derby is invaluable and something CFDD is so grateful for!
However, you don’t have to be on skates to part of the derby community. CFDD has several non-skating officials, or NSOs, that make sure bouts run smoothly. These folks are the backbone of derby, they do everything from timing penalties, timing jams, logging statistics, checking rosters and making sure everything is good to go for a successful bout or scrimmage. Our NSOs travel from all over to help out, and CFDD is lucky enough to have Bethly Hallows as our Head NSO as well as Tweety Bird, Fish n’ Whips, and Jean Koons’ smiling faces at every bout. A big shout out to Silken Tofu for years of amazing NSOing as well! NSOs are an integral part of roller derby and we value and appreciate every single one of them!
So, for Official’s month this March, make sure to hug your favorite ref or NSO – in a completely non biased way, of course!