Ithaca League of Women Rollers
Referee Corps
The Corps
Head Referee: E.Z. Lee Bribed
Members of the corps (in order of seniority):
- THE Sturgeon General
- E.Z. Lee Bribed
- Rudolf Penaltino
- Mystique
- Killah Joules
Non-Skating officials
For information about non-skating officials, what they do, and what
equipment they need, go to our non-skating official page.
Join the Corps
We're always looking for new referees to join the referee corps. If
you're interested, email E.Z. Lee
at referee@ithacarollerderby.com,
or just show up to a practice and tell the nearest person who looks
like they have a clue that you want to be a referee. They'll point you
to who you should be talking to.
Once you join, you'll go through the normal fresh meat training
process for team members, which will teach you how to skate, as well
as teach you basic roller derby skills. We'll also give you some
instruction in the rules and in how to be a referee. Once you graduate
from the fresh meat program, twice a month there will be dedicated
referee practices which will be all of the referees together. These
practices will focus on improving everyone's referee skills, as well
as keeping a sense of cohesiveness and camaraderie in the referee
corps.
Referees are of course welcome to attend the regular roller derby
practices to help the team practice. It can very useful to the team to
have referees calling penalties during practice bouts and many of the
practice drills. Referees are also welcome to go to those practices
just to work on their skating.
Recommended Equipment
We recommend that you get your equipment
from Sin City Skates,
which is owned and operated by Derby players. It's where most of us
have gotten our equipment.
Basically, the two pieces of equipment that you really need are
good skates and good knee pads. In particular, we recommend
the Sure Grip
Rebels with either the blue (grippiest) or the blue/orange wheels,
and
the 187
Pro Knee pads. Derby is expensive, and there are plenty of places
to skimp, but skates and knee pads aren't those places.
For the rest of the equipment, anything that Sin City sells is
fine. I personally like the triple-8 anti-gloves for wrist guards
since they provide a lot of freedom while still giving good protection
to the hands. I don't think that elbow pads make much of a difference,
but the 187 elbow pads are quite nice. Any safety-rated helmet will
do, as will a mouth guard.
As an alternative to picking all your own stuff, Sin City offers
some rookie
packages. We recommend the "Sure Grip REBEL skates w/SG9,
fugitives" deluxe package.
FAQ
- How do I get started?
- Just check out the Join the Corps section above.
- Do I have to commit before I can come, or can I come try it out before deciding?
- Absolutely you can try it out. Being a referee is not for
everyone, so you're welcome to come to several practices before you
have to make any sort of committment. We try to have equipment on hand
for new people to borrow for the practice, though we can't guarantee
that we'll have skates and pads that fit you.
- I'm not a man, can I still be a referee?
- YES! We don't care what — if any — reproductive
equipment you have, or what you like to do with it/them, so long as
you don't do it while you're refereeing.
- I'm under 18 years of age. Can I still be a referee?
- Unfortunately, for liability reasons we're not accepting people
less than 18 years of age at this time. Please come back when you turn
18, we'd love to have you!
- Do I need to know how to skate in order to become a referee?
- NO! We'll gladly teach you how to skate.
- How much time will it take to be a referee?
- At first, we'll expect you to attend 2 practices a week, in which
you'll go through basic roller derby training with the girls joining
the team, in addition to some referee training on the side. Once you
graduate fresh meat training, you'll only be expected to attend the
two referee practices per month. (Probably on the 2nd and 4th fridays
of each month, though this hasn't been decided yet).
- How much money will I have to spend if I become a roller derby referee?
- Unfortunately, roller derby is an expensive hobby, even for
referees. You don't need to spend all of this up front (see "Do I have
to commit before I come"), but if you commit to being a referee,
you'll need to buy it all pretty soon. A pair of good speed skates
with good wheels will cost you about $200, a set of good knee pads
will cost you about $60, and it will cost about $50 for the other
safety equipment (though you can shave about $30 off of that if you
have and are willing to use a bicycle helmet). The regulation whistle
is about $10 and a ref shirt will cost you between $20-$40. Plus,
you'll have to buy USARS supplementary medical insurance (currently
$40/year).
- Is it really that expensive to be a referee?
- Well, for many of the expenses, you can buy cheap equipment which
isn't nearly as good but will work and stands some chance of
protecting you from injury. It's true that referees are generally in
less danger than players, but all referees get knocked down some
times. It is, however, your body to risk, and we can always get more
where you came from, so if you want to take a chance on cheap
equiment, it's your call.
- Do Referees get paid?
- Unfortunately, there's no financial remuneration for being a
referee. In fact, you need to spend money to do it. People
occasionally say "thank you", but that's about the extent of what you
get out of being a referee if you don't enjoy the activity itself, or
feel good about yourself for doing a job necessary for several hundred
people to have a great time.
