PRW have had 2 new additions to Team Zebra this week! So now is the perfect time to join us to ref, as you will be taken under the wing of refs Newton’s Law and Mr. Soft! Please get in touch if you wanna get involved!!
During November, Newton’s Law and Mr. Soft left behind the salty air of Portsmouth to head up to the big smog to practice with Southern Discomfort – the men’s roller derby team in London. Wenches were worried that we’d return with missing limbs and would no longer be able to ref for them. We were more worried that if we enjoyed it how would we be able to manage the commute to regularly attend practice.
We arrived to a hall of skating guys, which was an unusual sight seeing as we’re used to being outnumbered by ladies. After a few laps to get used to the floor and a warm up we were straight into practicing skating techniques and drills. The months of reffing and practicing with the Wenches meant we were able to jump right into it and use some tactics that we had seen whilst training with the Wenches. Near the end of the session we played a few practice bouts.
So what did we think…. We loved it!
Although we have always been a part of the Wench team, we’ve never been as much a part of the sport. Since then, we’ve been more actively taking part with training, rather than just reffing.
Roller derby definately isn’t just for the ladies! The club needs more men to be refferees and to help with officiating: You don’t have to be on the track to be a part of the team. The Wenches are really welcoming and treat their refs and NSOs the same as all other team members. This is really fortunate for us as we have heard that some teams aren’t very welcoming to their refs. If we can get together enough men, then we could just maybe start an all men’s club in Portmouth. We already have some damn good coaches to get a men’s team off to a good start. In the meantime, it goes without saying that we’ll be going back to London early next year to train again. And hopefully on a regular basis.
Cross-posted from Rudyard Crippling (The Wench’s ref-in-training) Earning My Stripes blog on his derby ‘misadventures’.
As I sit here to scrawl down this latest entry, Portsmouth is currently covered in a very Christmassy looking blanket of snow, which is kind of a rarity around here, especially seeing how we are located next to the sea, which generally ensures that everything gets covered in a thick layer of salt, meaning as a result of this that most snow rarely settles let alone falls here, so it’s nice to actually have some proper snow weather for a change. Continue reading
Check out our very own Rudyard Crippling’s brand new blog ‘Earning My Stripes’ on his ongoing journey in becoming a roller derby ref.
Here’s an excerpt:
I jumped at this chance to join the team, quickly blowing my hard earned commission cheque to get my start up gear together, while attempting to learn how to skate on my newly purchased set of quads, which would lead to a large amount of falling over and carving myself up on the concrete quad, which we were using for practice, while at the same time working on creating my derby alter ego, which after countless failed attempts and a whole bunch of crossed out ideas on the fridge white board, I finally came up with my derby name “Rudyard Crippling”, even though it seemed that the only person that was being crippled was myself, but the name stuck and it’s a name which I have now carried across as a Ref.
Be sure to keep checking in on Crippling’s ‘derby misadventures’.
The Portsmouth Roller Wenches need you!
No experience necessary. As with joining us as a wench, skating experience is an advantage, but not essential. As long as you’re committed and tough enough to control a pack of fast and furious females, you can join the team as a referee!
You can wear quad or inline skates, or if you prefer you can be a NSO (non-skating official.) The sport of roller derby requires around 7 skating referees, and a least 6 NSOs, so there is a position for everyone. We welcome anyone, guy or girl, to come meet us, watch us train and have an chat about officiating with us. Check out our joining page for further details on where we train, and ways to contact us.
Check out this excellent article on officiating derby featuring interviews from actual refs, on why becoming an official might just be the best thing you’ve ever done.