I've been announcing derby bouts for over a year now and in that year I think I've announced 35+ separate bouts (possibly more, I lost count trying to tot it up in my head). I was thrown into it very much at deepend when I was asked to announce at the Highland Fling tournament in Aberdeen. There were supposed to be a gang of announcers taking turns but it ended up being myself and GRGs Helliverance for the entire weekend. I had been studying the rules and terminology so thought that I had a handle on it all but there is more to it than just knowing the rules and not being afraid of the mic.
There are 2 distinct styles of announcing: Play-by-play and Colour. This isn't to say that an announcer can only be one of these, you should be(and will be) a mix of the 2, it justs depends on how much of one you are over the other.
Play-by-Play is essentially breaking down what is happening on track during the jams. You'll be watching what the players are doing, what the refs are doing and making sure the crowd knows why things are happening. Why is that player skating to the bin? Why is that Ref smashing himself on the top of the head with his wrist guard? Play-By-Play shouldn't be "Derby for Radio" i.e. don't simply tell the crowd what they can already see. Fill in the gaps with info they might not know.
Colour is all the other stuff that fills out the bout. So this is talking about individual players or teams, talking about the win/loss records, Giving some background to the bout, the sport and the rules. Sometimes it's getting the crowd going and making some noise for the teams.
There are also jobs that go along with a derby bout that announcers do such as talking about the raffle and asking for the owner of a Red ford fiesta to move it from the hedge outside the venue, but I'm mainly talking about the announcing during the actual bout here.
I have worked with a number of people new to announcing(I say this like I am a wisened old veteran) and I always get asked in advance if I have any tips for them. Here's what I normally say:
- Learn The Rules and Terminology. It helps to call a game if you know the hand signals and why penalties are called. Also referring to moves by the accepted terms such as "Star Pass" or "Grand Slam" helps the crowd pick it up as the bout progresses.
- Watch the jam refs when the jammer is leaving the engagement zone. On the first pass this will let you know who is lead jammer, or even why they aren't. On the subsequent passes it means you can see how many points they picked up.
- Listen for the whistles. If a player is going to pick up a major penalty there will be a whistle blown first. When you hear that whistle look at the ref as they should be onto the part where they are giving the hand signal and now you know what the penalty was for.
- Try not to only focus on the jammers. They are the ones that are easiest to pick out on the track due to their starting alone and of course the helmet panty but you need to also talk about the blockers out there giving their all in that position. If you see a big hit, mention it. If a wall of blockers is totally controlling the front of the pack, give it a shout.
- Learn the player numbers. If you generally work with one league then you will naturally get familiar with their player numbers so concentrate on the away team. You will see the player number more than the name on the shirt and if you know the numbers it makes it more fluid when making the calls.
- Perfect pronunciation prevents punchings. Skaters spend a lot of time finding the greatest derby name. If you think it could be pronounced a couple of different ways go and check with the player or their line-up before the bout starts. This also applies if the skater has a clever pun or malapropism in their name, get it right or you will be contravening the next rule...
- Make sure you have a mental swear filter! This is especially important as it is after all a family event. If you see that magical apex jump combined with a Star pass try not to get over excited and swear over the mic.
- Don't say anything about a player or ref that you wouldn't say to their face. They will be at the afterparty and they probably heard you...
- Don't give tactics away. I have seen and heard so many announcers say stuff like "And the Green Jammer is coming up to the back of the pack" and you can see the jammers expression of "Cheers, I was trying to sneak through and now this B4 has spotted me...". Basically don't mention stuff which may give away a teams tactics. Obviously if one team has taken a knee at the start and the other blockers are aware then talk about it as much as you like. If they are blissfully unaware then keep it shut until the first whistle has gone.
- Don't question a refs judgement. If you start saying that such and such a ref has made a bad call then the crowd could turn on the refs as a whole. The refs do a hard job and have to call things as they see them. When you are on the sidelines and looking from different angles and from a stationary position things can look very, very different to how the refs see them.
- Try and be marginally impartial. There are 2 teams out there skating and both deserve to be treated with respect. If you are working with the announcer from the other league then you can both specialise in your own team but there shouldn't be any "My team's better than yours" going on.
- Always wait for the score to be confirmed. Especially if it's a close game. I've announced a bout before where there were a couple of points in it and as the scores were checked the scoreboard kept getting updated and changed so there was a weird back and forth of cheering from the 2 sets of fans.
- Have fun. Afterall it's why you're doing this in the first place.
