Roller Derby Officials FAQs
Skating Officials (Referees)
Skating officials are those people you see in the black and white stripes, calling penalties, awarding points, better known as referees. Skating officials are skilled skaters who get to spend time on their skates without the hard hitting contact. Each game requires 7 skating officials to be fully staffed. Each game has a head referee who is in charge of staffing the referee crew, running the game smoothly, and facilitating any of the official reviews that captains call.
Non-Skating Officials (NSOs)
These volunteers are the ones you see dressed in all black (sometimes we call them ninjas) and holding clipboards or stop watches. Non skating officials are in charge of the important tasks of keeping score, running the score board, timing the games, tracking the penalties and line ups, and timing the penalties as they are served. Each game requires 11 NSOs to be fully staffed. Each game has a Head NSO who is in charge of staffing the game, making sure all the paperwork is done correctly, reporting the score to WFTDA, and entering all of the information into the stats book.
How to become an official
Skating and non skating officials are the backbone of Roller Derby. Without them we wouldn't be able to play this amazing sport that we all very clearly love.
At Lilac City Roller Derby we have many training opportunities for officials. You don't need to have any roller derby knowledge or experience to learn how to officiate. If you want to be a part of the team, love spreadsheets, have great attention to detail, or just want to learn more about roller derby, officiating is a great fit for you!
We have scrimmages and officiating clinics where we train our officials, check out our calendar for the next scheduled one and stop in to see what it's all about.