Behind the Stripes

Bare with me as I take a break from my trip down memory lane for a second and recapping a little from the bout yesterday. The Upstate Roller Girl Evolution hosted "Confrontational Invitational" yesterday @ The Pavilion in Greenville. It featured skaters from several different leagues, URGE, Richland County Regulators, Columbia Quad Squad, Blue Ridge Rollergirls, & Greenville Derby Dames. Way to go Team Red for taking a commanding lead and being able to hold on to it while Blue tried many a valiant attempts at a come back.




The whole idea behind the invitational and the one they hosted previously called "Red, White & Bruised" in July, is to give newer skaters bouting experience without it "going on a leagues record". Now they weren't all rookie skaters, but they did make up the majority. It also gives refs & volunteers from all the leagues experience in running bouts.



With my crazy school schedule, I opted to help ref the invitational since being a ref is all I can do for the rest of the season. It wasn't my first rodeo with jam reffing, but it was my first time under the WFTDA 4.0 rules - don't get me started on some of those rules man. Let me just sum it up as I hate the whole being able to re-engage, fall behind and still retain lead jammer status/points crap. What happened to the good ol' days where if you committed a foul or stepped out of bounds you didn't get lead or the point?? *sigh* WFTDA I don't know what you were thinking when you passed that rule into effect...but bring back the good ol' days! Do you know just how much of a nightmare it is trying to keep your eyes on the jammers skates while the pack has turned into a cluster-*%$#? Or trying to keep so many damn rookie skaters/refs in line? To all you skaters, coaches, & bench coaches out there - give it a try sometime it's a damn fine humbling experience and it gives you new found respect for those who wear the stripes. But it was still good ol' derby fun! Thank you to Liquor Possi from Blue Ridge Rollergirls for Head Reffing and having the patience of a saint! Thank you to Grumpy Ol' Man & Grumpy Ol' Lady from Charlotte Rollergirls for helping out with the stats & penalties. Thank you to Referend David Caress, Dippin' Dot from Richland County Regulators from lending an experience hand. Thank you to El Jefe from Columbia Quad Squad for earning some more stripes (hahaha no pun intended). Thank you to DD Dragon & Yeti from Greenville Derby Dames for rolling with us. Hands down the toughest bout I've ever had to ref in my life, but I still can't wait for October's "Heaven Help Us!!"