Do you have any tips on how to do the pack definition? Keeping track of which is the largest group of players in non-trivial situations easily requires all my attention, which leaves me able to call only the most obvious penalties! As with everything else, practice makes perfect I guess, but any advice would be appreciated.
+Simon Robillard I really don't have anything magical other than keep with it. If this helps, I don't remember a thing about the first time I played roller derby (I played before I reffed); I remember warming up, repeating in my head, "What the F$#! am I doing here", and I remember after - nothing during the actual event. Reffing is similar; pack definition is never easy, but the the more you do it, the slower it gets in your head, and the more patient you're able to become because of it. I still screw up pack definition; I'll miss a player who's tucked in away from view, and I'm slow on calling what used to be split packs (even groups on either side causing the no pack) - so don't worry too much about making mistakes. We used to, in my league, and I plan on bringing it back, do a game with a tape measure; we'd have to people skate away with the tape measure, and another person in the pack ref position would call out "Stop" and we'd see how well they did. It's a fun game and practical.
Do you have any tips on how to do the pack definition? Keeping track of which is the largest group of players in non-trivial situations easily requires all my attention, which leaves me able to call only the most obvious penalties! As with everything else, practice makes perfect I guess, but any advice would be appreciated.
+Simon Robillard I really don't have anything magical other than keep with it. If this helps, I don't remember a thing about the first time I played roller derby (I played before I reffed); I remember warming up, repeating in my head, "What the F$#! am I doing here", and I remember after - nothing during the actual event. Reffing is similar; pack definition is never easy, but the the more you do it, the slower it gets in your head, and the more patient you're able to become because of it.
I still screw up pack definition; I'll miss a player who's tucked in away from view, and I'm slow on calling what used to be split packs (even groups on either side causing the no pack) - so don't worry too much about making mistakes.
We used to, in my league, and I plan on bringing it back, do a game with a tape measure; we'd have to people skate away with the tape measure, and another person in the pack ref position would call out "Stop" and we'd see how well they did. It's a fun game and practical.