**Drill brought to Australia by Judge Knot, Texas Objective: To practice the ‘half lap skate and wait’ pattern for OPRs Typical length of drill: Any Materials needed: Taped-out track Skill level required: Basic skating skills needed Description: Split referees into two equal-ish groups with each group standing at a pick-up point (corners 2/4 or 1/3…More
Referee skating patterns – all positions
Objective: Practice referee skating patterns, work on vocal projection and build communication skills between refs Typical length of drill: Twenty minutes per part – forty mins to run full drill. Materials needed: Stopwatch, whistle, taped out track. Skill level required: All levels Description: This is a two-part drill. The parts can be run concurrently or…More
Referee Penalty Calling Circuit
Objective: 1. To develop derby thinking skills (by calling penalties) which still function while we are doing cardio activities; 2. To continuously practice seeing ‘ten feet’ while using derby thinking skills. Typical length of drill: 15 minutes (two complete run throughs with six participants) Materials needed: Trainer: Tape/cones to mark corners, interval timer (or app),…More
Learning to trust myself as a trainer
Last night we ran week two of the four-week refresher program that I have written. It is designed to get the refs back on the track as the strongest and most cohesive dazzle of zebras possible. Last night refs from our crew were posting on Facebook that they were exhausted and smashed. I was dripping…More
Interval training for the brain: Getting busy with the Pomodoro Technique
So in an attempt to overcome my procrastination and need to do a million things at once I am trying out the Pomodoro Technique. The basic idea is that you use a timer to split your work into segments with small breaks in between. The most common split seems to be 20 minutes on and…More
Penalty Calling Circuit
Drill as follows is written for on-skates but can be done either on-skates or off-skates. Alternative names: ‘Are we doing the circuit Sintax?’ Objective: 1. To develop derby thinking skills (by calling penalties) which still function while we are doing cardio activities; 2. To continuously practice seeing ‘ten feet’ while using derby thinking skills. Typical…More
Four week refresher – getting back into bout land
This four-week plan was designed to get us back into shape for the season after Xmas and to help break in some new refs. Planned for 3 sessions a week with one of them being scrimmage. Weekly Overview Before week one it, read/reread chapters 2 & 3 in the rules. Week 1: The basics –…More
Self-judgements and penning the memoir
Penning a memoir for the creative component of my creative arts PhD seemed like such a good idea a year ago. I figured that taking my personal history and reimagining it within an academic context would be a therapeutic process, that it would help me formalise my self as ‘subject’ and legitimise the seven years…More
Angela J Williams 