Week 36: NS-Who?

Unfortunately, I was struck down with a stomach bug which meant I couldn't attend this week's practice. I didn't want to go a week without a post, so I thought I could use this opportunity to talk about my other role in derby - NSOing.

When I first got into derby, I remember representatives of the local roller derby team telling us that if we didn't want to play, we could ref, and if we didn't want to ref, we could NSO. At the time, I was focussed on skating and didn't even pay attention to the people who stand around the centre of the track or who time the penalties. I knew they existed, but I didn't really care who they were or what they did.

When I first started skating, we were encouraged to help out with NSOing. We were told it would benefit the league and it would help you to learn the game better. I was eager to help and to learn the game and feeling a little unsure of my skating ability, I thought learning to NSO would be a good back up if it never worked out. So, three weeks in to joining the league I signed up for my first NSO role.

Photo by Near The Coast

After my first role, I was hooked and often signed up to NSO at various closed-door bouts, so much so that I have been skating for 9 months and I have already NSOd at 18 scrimmages, closed-door bouts, and public bouts, and had a crack at 5 different roles. I have met NSOs that have never skated but just love the game, NSOs that have tried skating but decided it wasn't for them, NSOs that skate on teams, NSOs that have retired from skating, and even NSOs that gave up skating so they could NSO more. I know Head NSOs that are so dedicated they stay up until the early hours making sure everything is sorted for upcoming bouts, that paperwork is collected properly and is analysed for statistics, that feedback is given to NSOs, their job never really ends at the final whistle.

However, some skaters have never NSOd and I do find that hard to comprehend. So I'm here to list why NSOing is actually awesome!

1. It rapidly improves your understanding of the game.
On so many levels. Any role that involves penalties increases your understanding tenfold. With Penalty Tracking, Wrangling and IWB, you now know why that skater has been sent off, what they did wrong, what they could have done to avoid the penalty, and, occasionally, what they could do to rectify it. If you're in the penalty box, you learn there is penalty box etiquette that could even cause another penalty if disobeyed, you learn why sometimes a jammer doesn't sit a full minute, why players sometimes sit two, why the Captain might sit a penalty when they weren't even skating that jam. Line-up trackers can learn different line-up tactics just by seeing how each team lines up, they also learn a little about penalties, they learn what equates to a pass through the pack. Jam timers learn about time-outs, how the game is laid out, they get to see why and when jammers call off jams. Score Trackers get to learn how points are scored, how you can lose lead jammer status, how crucial power jams are. Even laying down the tape and rope for the track helps you learn the proportions of the track, where the point-of-no-return is, what the 10 foot markers actually mean. Even if you're not learning the exact rules of the game, you're learning tactics and how each team varies in how they play the game.

Photo by Near The Coast

2. You get to see so much derby (and for free!)
You might not get to cheer but you get to appreciate the talent of skaters. You get to see what they skate in, the most common wheel used, how each skater's set-up varies, how they skate. As with above, you get to learn different tactics, see where different skills are used (especially useful if you've learnt them in practice but have never had to opportunity to use them in a game scenario.) You might even get to see skaters you may not have usually seen. For example, I never would have seen Mens Roller Derby if I hadn't had offered to NSO for a merby game (well, unless I bought a ticket!) You might even be fortunate to see some of your skating idols!

3. You get to see the world!
Your league might not be able to travel far, yet, or they might just not have any bouts scheduled. In that case, you can offer to help out other leagues all over the world. Personally, I've been as far as Birmingham, but I know people who have been all over Europe and some who have even traveled to the USA!

4. You're helping your league (and Roller Derby as a whole).
Without NSOs, Roller Derby just wouldn't exist. You need NSOs to keep track of the game, to record the scores, to time penalties. Without that, you're just skating round in circles, hitting each other, to no avail. The refs might be calling the penalties, but no one is going to make sure you're sitting them, they might be counting the score for the pass, but no one is keeping track for the bout. What's even better is that you can also help out other leagues. Some fledgling leagues might not have enough members to NSO, so you can help them out and help their league grow, thus helping spread the word about Roller Derby.

Photo by Daz Wilson

5. You can get involved even if you don't want to skate.
For some people, this might be the best part - you don't have to skate! I've known so many people who love Roller Derby but have felt discouraged to join as they don't want to roller skate, they might have injuries they don't want to irritate, they don't fancy the contact aspect. I first decided to NSO as I wanted to be a ref and I felt that NSOing was a good substitute while I was working on my skating skills. It gives you a connection to Roller Derby that being a member in the crowd just doesn't give. You become part of the team.

6. It makes you feel good! 
Do not expect fame and glory from NSOing. You might be well known amongst the official community and leagues might value your expertise, but the public are unlikely to remember you. NSOs are meant to be invisible. We're meant to help record the game and keep it flowing smoothly without drawing attention to ourselves. Admittedly, I'm not the most inconspicuous NSO, being 5ft9 with bright turquoise hair, but still! We're essentially the little modest elves of the Roller Derby world. We give our help behind the scenes, without expecting anything in return except the knowledge that we helped the bout become a success. I remember when a skater first came up to me after a bout and thanked me for my help. I was overwhelmed, really. I was just doing it for the love of it yet they fully appreciated it! That made me feel even more awesome!

7. You have another family to be apart of!
I knew that my league would be my family, but I never knew that I would have another one with my fellow NSOs. I have the ones within my league and the ones from other leagues. There are some that aren't even connected to a league and work independently. They always seem to travel to the same places as you, they learn what to bring as snacks to feed everyone, they let you know of up and coming bouts and always put in a good word for you. They help you when you're struggling or need advice, and they always congratulate you when you do well. They're all bloody lovely actually and they're a great group of people to know.

Photo by John Hesse

8. There's always cake.
Seriously. I'm not even kidding. There is always cake for NSOs.

I wholeheartedly encourage anyone to give NSOing a go. It will definitely allow you to appreciate the game more; the effort that goes in to putting on a bout and the complexity of the game itself. But, if you do just want to watch or just skate, remember give a little round of applause to the NSOs at the end.

My 5th NSO Role - Penalty Box Manager

Ah-ha! I've practiced this twice in scrimmages but it was finally my turn to be a Penalty Box Manager at a bout...and I was bricking it!

I've penalty timed before, that's fine. But this was timing jammers. This was being responsible for the length of power jams. Being responsible for timing jammers equally. There were lots of methods to learn depending on the situation, the length of the penalty, when they enter the box, etc. Reading through all the scenarios made my head spin, but I studied them with great care and even made little prompt cards just in case I needed reminding. (Looking back, I was probably over exaggerating the seriousness of it, but it is pretty important!)

The bout was the Heartlands South East Opener and my team were playing. When we arrived at the venue, my head went blank. I kept trying to remember my scenarios and just ended up getting myself confused. A fellow NSO tested me on them, and I nailed it, but I was still panicking.

My stress didn't stop until the end of the first bout. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest the whole time, but still managed to play it cool. I timed jammers successfully, I wrote numbers down if they were in the queue or if they'd commited a penalty box violation (I may have been a bit too forgiving when a couple of skaters destroyed the penalty box, but the floor was slippy and I found it hard to judge.) The only time I felt a bit rubbish was when a jammer was in the box and another got sent it, so sent the first one out, looked at my stopwatches to work out the time and heard "JAMMER, TWO MINUTES!" being shouted by an inside ref. I double checked, acknowledged it and timed accordingly. Apparently, they'd be trying to get my attention for a while but I had just been glued to my stopwatches! I'll make sure to look up next time!
I even had the situatiuon where I had to hold both jammers for 10 seconds and no one actually shouted at me to let one go! Woohoo!

By the time it got to the second bout, I was a lot calmer. I did bumble ocassionally (I called a jammer the wrong colour at one point) but I did it, without any major issues, without having to use my prompt cards, my fellow penalty box timers were awesome, the skaters well behaved, and I think I did pretty well!

Week 35: On Stranger Tiles

This week, our usual practice had to be cancelled as our venue was opening later for half-term. Fortunately, a neighbouring team opened up their practice and said we could come and join them. This was excellent news as I hate not being able to practice! I'd NSOd at their venue a few times and I knew their floor was lush so I was very excited about skating on it, however, fellow skaters had been to their practices before and they sounded a little advanced, so that made me kind of nervous too.

Once again, I had a new set of wheels on (a full set of Sweet n Lows) and, seeing how slick the floor was, I was extremely grateful to not be on my 92s! (In fact, the floor made my sugars feel like 92s!) I started getting my kit on, signed the disclaimer, and realised how nervous I actually was. It felt like starting skating all over again. It was a new venue, new coaches and we had no idea what we were going to be doing. I waited for my wife and we made our way on to the track for warm-ups. We started with single knee taps which was good, then double knee taps, good and familiar, the coach then said "Right! Transitions on the whistle!" Erm...what?! No, no, no, this isn't right! We slowly made our way off the track and just kept skating while everyone else did their transitions. Then we finished with two sprint laps and had to line-up along the wall for the next set of drills. We were given numbers and had to skate out, fall on our bums, flip over onto our front then skate to the other side. That doesn't sound too...wait...what?....fall on our bums?! Admittedly, you weren't throwing yourselves to the ground, you did it gently, but still! We've been taught to always, always, always fall on your knees. I gave it a go anyway, and I think I did ended up doing a knee fall then sitting down. Haha! The next drill was a knee slide, then a push up, then skate on, which wasn't too bad, although I was knackered by the end!

We had a nice break to do some stretching, which involved some odd stretches I'd never done before, some stretches while standing up on skates, which was tricky, and then we were split up into groups. I had to go get some moisturiser as my wrist guards were irritating my eczema, so I didn't hear what we were doing except that we had to get in a pack, which I did. It turned out we were doing a drill called "pack racing" which involved getting into a pack and skating really really fast until you caught up with the other pack on the track. It was terrifying. The lady next to me was so lovely, though, and offered me her arm which I clung to throughout the whole terrifying ordeal while some one from behind pushed me. It's the fastest I've ever skated and I don't even know if I was skating! After doing that...twice...our main coach for the evening arrived. It was quite a big deal for us as he was a insanely good skater and skated with one of the top teams in the country. He introduced himself and then told us that the skills tonight were of a more intermediate level - "mainly people who have passed minimum skills and have a few bouts tucked under their belt." Well, me and my wife shot a few panicked looks at each other and, after the coach had spoken, my wife explained that the session might be a bit too advanced for us. He completely understood and allowed us to create our own little practice area and an advanced skater even offered to come and help us with the skills we wanted to learn.

We cleared our area, were joined by a few other less confident skaters, and then started to think about what we wanted to learn. A part of me thought we might have caved too early, but after seeing a skater throw themselves into a pack while the others had to avoid them, I was quickly reassured! I decided I was going to work on my plough stops (big surprise!) and I was given a few more tips about how to do them (mainly - get lower and don't bring my knees too close together or that will make me unstable.) I actually managed to do a few, I felt friction and everything! But after getting some speed, I still couldn't stop. I can slow down fine, it really is just stopping, and I did have stickier wheels but the floor was super slippy so I had no idea what was affecting what and what was actually helping! I'm not gonna lie, moral was pretty low in our little area. A few of us had stood there watching these insanely talented skaters practice drills that we couldn't even comprehend. I started to hate myself for being so scared and questioning if I was actually holding myself back and maybe if I'd tried, I'd probably be better than I am right now. I was also pretty disappointed; I was hoping for some kind of breakthrough, I was hoping for a nicer floor to improve my skating ability, I was hoping that a different coach would be able to give me some different insight on why I couldn't plough stop, I was hoping I might learn something new and surprise myself. Instead, I was doing the same thing I've been doing for ages - skating up and down attempting plough stops. I was thoroughly fed up.


I did manage to take some corners on my right foot glides, but it's hard to focus when you're skating past skaters that could be pushed off the track in to you at any moment. I practised a few t-stops that were fine. The other skaters started weaving through a pace-line and I decided not to join as I was being pathetically grumpy but it did warm my heart when one of my fellow skaters said she'd never done weaving through a pace line and the advanced skater said "I'll show you" and took her by the hand and led her around the first few people. That was lovely.

By the end, though, I was really fed up. There wasn't a cool down, just a terrifying game of "King of the Track" where skaters had to skate around and knock each other off the track. The last one left was "King of the Track". Needless to say, I didn't play that! So, I de-kitted being thoroughly miserable, gave my best smile when people talked about what a good night it was, got a sympathetic hug from my wife, and went home.

I tried to stay positive. I think I got a little bit further with my plough stops and my right foot glides got better, and any practice is good practice, but I was still fed up. I got home in a sulk, went to bed in a sulk, and woke up in a sulk, paranoid that I'd spent the night being a completely miserable, antisocial, grump and feeling like I was just really getting nowhere. I could not see myself being able to do any of the skills I saw that night so why was I even bothering? It felt like my first day all over again...at least I could stand up on skates this time...

I do feel better about it now. I do feel a bit low when I think about it, but I know I'm not going to give up. I am going to keep trying and, as unbelievable as it may seem, I am going to be able to do all those insane skills one day. If I give up, I'm not going to get anywhere. So I may as well try.

Week 34: Level 1 Sign Offs - Take 4

So Sign Offs had come round again. As everyone now knows, I've been desperately trying to crack plough stops and this has also included a few wheel switches - I am currently skating on 6 x 88a Radars with 2 x Sweet n Lows as my pushers. In my head they seem to help, however, my head didn't help much on Sign Offs.

I only had two blocks left to pass before I could go up to Level 2. These blocks were stops (t-stop, plough stop, right & left foot glides) and 15 second balance & lateral hops. Now, I was pretty confident with t-stops, my one foot glides and my lateral hops. 15 second balance I was okay with if I focused but I knew it would take some divine intervention for me to get plough stops. I really wanted to pass at least one block, so I put my hopes on the balance and hops block.

The first block that came up was the stops. We started with balances but by the time I got on the track my legs were shaking so badly! I felt so confident when I arrived; calm yet ready to get on with it, however fear had creeped up in to my mind. Right foot glides were first, the first attempt I failed, the second I looked like I was going to cut the apex so I panicked and put my foot down, the third I did cut the apex. Bollocks. Left foot glides were fine. I could do them til the cows came home. Next, t-stops. I tried, I really tried. However, my legs were so shakey that I just couldn't. My body refused to turn, my wheels refused to stay down, at one point I even put my toe-stop down which I have never, ever done before! Crap. Finally, plough stops. I felt like I tried, but I knew I didn't. I was pretty pissed off and decided to turn in to that sulky skater. I lay down on my back, arms across my chest, eyes closed and didn't really acknowledge anyone.

I wasn't the only one who had let nerves get the better of me. One of my fellow skaters even burst into tears before she'd even started, and one of my wives is notorious for having slight panic attacks before Sign Offs and it got me thinking...why do we put so much pressure on ourselves?

Some people blame that doing it on the whistle is the problem. It catches you out and makes you panic. However, we've done drills of skills on the whistle and they've been fine. So I don't think it's that. It must be the fact that these are the ones that count. You can probably do the skills absolutely fine, but if you don't get them right today, if you slip up, make a mistake, then that might prevent you from passing the block. But why is that so important?

I think numbers play a big part. Numbers are always used as a ranking system. "The average time people take to get fully signed off is...months", "I have...blocks left to pass", "I need to get...laps in 5 minutes". These numbers get stuck in our head and if we don't reach them, then we're disappointed in ourselves. It's not uncommon to hear "I'm so annoyed. Yeah, I got a personal best, but I didn't pass the block" and I think that's sad. I've seen people cry over numbers. Hell, I've cried over numbers. But they shouldn't matter. I saw a quote recently that stuck with me:

"Some people quit due to slow progress. Never realising that slow progress...

....is progress."

And it's so true! 8 months ago, I started skating and ever so slowly I have improved. Some days I feel like I've hit a wall. Some days I do get really upset. But if I look back, I have improved. Before Christmas, I couldn't skate on one foot for a second let alone go round half the track on one foot! Before Christmas, I was convinced that I would be in level one forever and that I would never leave as I couldn't stop and I couldn't glide. But one day it clicked and now I can glide! So who knows what I might be able to do in the next six weeks? Even if I don't get it, that isn't the end all. I can just wait another six weeks and try again, and then another, and then another. This might not be true for all leagues and we might be lucky, but the fact is that you can just practice, practice, practice until you get it. No one is going to tell you to quit. You are the only one responsible for quitting and if you love it enough then you will put in that effort.

In the end, I passed one block - 15 second balance and lateral hops. In my notes, the things I had to improve on were plough stops, t-stops and right foot glides. I was very pleased and now I have a new goal, so I just need to practice but remember that goal is not the only rung on my ladder.

Week 33: The Ol' Wheel Switcheroo

So, revision week! The week in which we go through everything to see what we've mastered and what needs working on before sign offs. I knew my one huge weakness was plough stops. I cannot do them. Not even a little bit. I still just keep on rolling. I asked for advice from other skaters and my wheels kept coming up a lot. There was a little debate as to whether I needed softer or harder wheels (I'm currently skating on 92s) but I decided to try out the softer wheels first and swapped with a friend who was skating on 88s.

With the new wheels on, I hit the track only to find that everyone was queuing up behind cones instead of skating round. This was different. I skated up behind my wife "What's going on, wife?" "I don't know, wife...but stay with me." We were then told that our warm up was going to be a race. The race involved skating up to three separate cones, performing a skill, and then returning. All the while holding a kitten ball with a bell in it. The skills were one knee taps, double knee taps and then a plough or t-stop. The team who came last in the race had to do 10 push ups. We came last. We did the 10 push ups. My shoulders are still hurting from a dodgy one.

We then stretched and were told that we would attempt to cover everything and, bonus, we weren't going to be doing any squats! That's right! No squats! It's funny, though. You don't know what you've got til it's gone and I actually kind of missed the squats. But there was no time for reminiscing as it was time for weaving! Gah! The dreaded weaving! Surprisingly, I managed to get all but one cone on both times I went round. How good is that?! Ahhh, weaving! I haven't lost you after all!

Next was sticky feet. We all had to line up on the outside line and sticky feet round it like one giant pace line! It was great fun, although those 88s certainly made me work for it! The extra grippiness was working my thighs overtime - I bet the lady who I swapped with's thighs thought they were on holiday! The giant pace line then moved onto the track to practice track movement. On the whistle, we had to skate from the outside to the inside, and visa versa. There was an awful lot of us again, so there were a few close calls but that just made it even more fun!

Look how many there were of us!

Next on our whistle stop tour was 15 second balance. I did over balance a few times, put my toe-stop down, wobble a lot, and occasionally roll, but I managed to stay one foot for 15 seconds the majority of the time! Woohoo! 15 second balance - check! (I did however find out that the lady I swapped wheels with couldn't do it in my wheels. So it may have been my sticky wheels. I'm trying to be optimistic about it...) We then moved on to practice some lateral hops which I think went pretty well. So lateral hops - check!

Onwards, to 20 in 5! This seemed a little ambitious for a session that we had to fit all of the skills in, plus the one skill I so desperately wanted to practice hadn't come up yet. I was hoping for a one-on-one session with a team skater so I could see what I was doing wrong, but there were so many newbies at the bottom (yay!) that there was no room. That was fine. We would do stops. So I then tried to decide what to do about 20 in 5. Skaters who hadn't been signed off on it yet were going first, as was fair, so I had some time to think. The lady in my wheels was in love with them, so she wanted to see if they would help her with her endurance skating. I said it'd be interesting to see what I get in her wheels then, but she gave me a concerned look and told me that I probably shouldn't as they're stickier and would likely hinder my endurance thus disappointing me. I told her I'd been signed off on it already so it was out of curiosity and surely I should know if these wheels hinder my endurance - I had to know if I should buy a set. She still looked concerned and told me not to get my hopes up too much as I prepared myself for my 5 minutes on track. I managed to do more crossovers than I usually do, which is good, but I didn't know if that was slowing me down. My spotter was telling me my laps as I skated past "That's 6...that was 10....now on 14...." But I didn't know how many minutes had passed. Once I got to 20, I was expecting the whistle to go. It didn't. 21...22...23..and the whistle goes! 23 and a half I managed on the sticky wheels. A personal best! Woohoo! (Bizarrely, my wife who got the same laps as me last time also got 23 1/2. This inspired her to invent the word "wifestrating".)

Legs shaking and completely shattered, I got back up on the track for pace-line and pack work. Pace-line went well, as usual, as did pack work. I even got a few cheeky whips as I was recycling round the outside, it was fun but completely failed it's purpose as I ended up about 10 feet in front of the pack! We then tried a drill I'd never done before. We were in a pack and had to recycle, but then a coach would skate behind us and hold up a number of fingers. We then had to silently mirror it back to her while staying in the pack and recycling. I think the pack work disintegrated a little, but I'm sure we did well! We then moved on to focus for a bit and then stopped, ready for the next skill.

By this point, I had discovered it was now 9:15pm. Our sessions finish at 10pm and we've got fit in cooling down, stretching, and de-kitting in that time. We still hadn't practiced stops so I was starting to come down from my high after the 20 in 5. One of my fellow skaters asked if we could please practice stops, and we were told to get on track. T-stops were first which I can pretty much do, although I fall over a lot, and the new wheels took a while to get used to. Plough stops, there was no difference. I thought my legs were getting wider, but I was still just rolling to a stop. So with about 10 minutes of practicing that, where no improvement was made, we were told to have a cool down skate and start stretching. T-stops - semi-check! Plough stops - no hope in hell.

Needless to say, I was bummed out. I did like the stickier wheels and am considering buying a set as they were fun to skate on but they just didn't help with my plough stops. Looks like it's me, my ol' 92s and a tonne of practice before Sign Offs next week. Sigh.

Week 32: Fun & Games

So, unfortunately, there wasn't really any progress for this rookie skater this week. There may have even been some regression. But instead of moping about or getting angry (okay, I may have got a little frustrated), I ended up having a really fun training session!

After all the squats for warm ups again (gotta love those squats!) we were told that this week was 2 weeks away from sign-offs! Eeek! That made it the last week where we focused on a specific block which meant weaving, pace line, pack work, and focus.

Now, I've been signed off on weaving but today didn't help to prove that! I have no idea what's happened but the ability to weave seems to have been completely lost. Every time I went to go round those cones, I was terrified. I've always been scared of weaving. I think it's because I seem to put my weight on my heel when I turn so that makes me feel like I'm going to fall over. This then makes me even more scared because I don't want to end up impaling myself on a cone! I know that I can do it but I just can't! Maybe I put my trucks too tight when I changed my cushions? Oh, who knows?! I just know it's really frustrating...so I'm going to move on!

So, next was focus, which went really well. No more falling over when looking backwards! Pace line went well and pack-work was good fun although my favourite line seemed to be "pack is long!" As someone said, being able to plough stop might have been useful for control! Damn those pesky plough stops!
I love working in packs or pace-lines, as you get to to work in a team and that's what roller derby is all about. You get to use the skills you've learnt individually, in a group situation. You learn how each person skates, how they react, and you start to work in sync. Our coach said that when most people start working in packs it makes them go "This is it! This is the reason I'm here" and that it absolutely true!

At the end of the session, my wife ended up starting an impromptu game of tag during the cool down skate. It was actually really fun and it kind of took your mind of skating. So I could skate super fast round the track, without being scared of falling or slipping, and without the pressures of being under assessment. It was an excellent way to end the evening, even if it wasn't much of a cool-down!

So not much to report this week, just lots of fun! But, hey, Roller Derby is fun!