Author Archives: Angela

Angela J Williams, PhD, is a writer, illustrator and story teller from Wollongong, Australia. She is the author of Snakes and Ladders: a memoir and host of the Deboning Power Podcast. A writer, thinker and yeller, Angela Williams is mildly notorious for seeing problems and pointing them out. She’s tussled with Fred Nile in the Sydney Morning Herald, taken academia to task in the Guardian’s Anonymous Academic, gone to Crikey about the treatment of mentally ill women in prison, and most recently blown the whistle on dangerous risks in her (former) charity workplace. Angela does one thing really well – find problems and yell about them.

Penalty call remembering with OWBs and NSOs

Objective: To practice remembering a ‘colour, number, penalty’ combination, practice working with NSOs and increase the average of correct calls delivered to NSOs.  This drill is a variation on the OPR ‘Half-lap skate and wait’ practice. Typical length of drill: Variable Materials needed: Taped out track, small whiteboards (OWB), WB markers, smart phone with penalty calling…More

Gross Misconduct, Expulsion and control

Towards the end of last year I dealt with my first Gross Misconduct and Expulsion as a Head Referee. As GMs go, it was pretty typical. Player gets a penalty called on them and does not agree with the referee’s opinion. Player starts to scream obscenities at referee and is called on a Misconduct and…More

Goal setting and getting organised

I am both a disorganised and organised person. I do a lot of things that kinda require me to be organised but in a very disorganised fashion, using a series of small organisational skills to keep it all rolling along. My desk is covered in piles of paper, my floor is covered in piles of…More

How I write a referee training session

1. Be willing to admit that you know nothing. I started derby three years ago with no athletic/sporting experience at all and everything I know today I have learned from doing sessions with awesome trainers, reading blogs and derby forums and watching what other people do. Roller derby is pretty much a baby in the…More

Pomodoro update

The Pomodoro experiment continues. It feels like my fingers are getting faster so I have decided to keep track of this. Wish I had taken a typing test a week ago.More

Skater watching drills for beginner referees

Objective: A two-part drill to develop skater watching skills beginning with watching a single skater and moving up to watching skaters within a pack while practicing the most basic verbal cues ‘colour, number’. Typical length of drill: Any length of time – both parts can be done during warm ups. Materials needed: Taped down track,…More

Defining10/20 Feet – three part drill

Objective: To practice seeing ten and twenty feet both still and in motion and practice defining the pack and judging engagement zones. Typical length of drill: Each part can be run for as long as you like, though if each section is allotted ten minutes you are looking at half-an-hour all up. Materials needed: Taped…More