My 2nd NSO Role: Penalty Timer

So this week, I also NSO at a public scrim. It was on Independence Day and a Merby team, formed from members of a nearby US Army base, decided to hold a mixed team scrimmage. A scrimmage is a casual game of Roller Derby, usually played by members of the same team but divided into two teams. It's a friendly game and the rules usually are a little more casual.

I'd accepted this NSO role the day before the game and I had offered to be a Line-up Tracker like I was in my previous NSO role. However, I was given the position of penalty timer. I read up on the role beforehand and it seemed awfully complicated! Especially concerning Jammers!

I got to the venue and was introduced to the Head NSO and my other Penalty Timer and was told that the Penalty Box Manager would be along shortly. I was given a sheet of instructions ("We're not doing the paperwork for this, so it should be quite easy") and two stopwatches. Without the paperwork, and the fact I was only concerned with the blockers, my role seemed pretty easy! I just had to time a minute when someone entered the penalty box and remember to tell them to stand at 50 seconds and that they were done at 60 seconds.

My Penalty Box Manager arrived and, lo-and-behold, it was the Head NSO from the previous bout I had NSOd at. This was reassuring and I knew I was in safe-hands as she helped me out a lot at the last game.

We headed to the Penalty Box and, although I was nervous to begin with, I got into the swing of things and we even started having a laugh with the players who were sent off and told stories and ate Sour Cherries. Yum! I must stress, though, that this probably wouldn't happen at a proper bout. NSOs are meant to be quite serious and straight faced but, as this was a scrim, we were allowed to relax.

The game ended and everyone was even given certifcates to thank them for their participation, which was lovely! I was offered a dairy-free cookie by one of the skaters, which I happily took and scoffed down (it was delicious!) and made me way home in high spirits. My second NSO role had gone exceedingly well and I started to consider what it would be like to travel all around the world NSOing.