Monday 5 November 2012

Taking To The Bench


This past weekend saw the Newcastle Roller Girls A team, The Canny Belters travel to Edinburgh to take part in a scrim against the Auld Reekie Roller Girls.  We'd been invited to go up to help the Twisted Thistles prepare for their upcoming trip to the Track Queens Tournament in Berlin.  I was initially intending to go along and referee this scrim but due to a couple of health issues(gammy leg, bubonic plague/flu) I wasn't going to be skating.  One of the Belters said "Why don't you do Bench for us?" and I laughed this off and said "All I can do is occasionally shout 'Do a Win!' and keep track of the points being scored and penalties" but they decided this would be better than nothing and so there I was, on the other side of the official/team divide.  This is the first time I've done anything in derby where I haven't had to stay impartial, in fact being partial is what this is all about.


How did I find it?
Well, I enjoyed it immensely.  I found that the players on track responded when I told them to keep going, call it off, speed up, slow down etc.  I kept track of the points and who was on 3 minors and was able to get quick clarifications from the refs without needing to use timeouts.  I got good feedback from the players as well.  Apparently I am a calming influence.

I know that if I wanted to be Bench in a proper bout I'd have to do a lot of work to not only learn the tactics that the team are using, but also to find out what motivates each of the players.  Some players react well to pressure and so need that to get their game face on, some are opposite and prefer to avoid any pressure.

The experience did make me think about the encounters I have had with various bench managers over my time as a referee and I think it helped shape me into the kind of Bench Manager I would like to deal with as a Head Referee.

I'll post my thoughts on the Head Ref/Bench Manager relationship later on.