Welcome to the Zen of Reffing Roller Derby!¶
A training manual for referees¶
Created by Stephen “Axis of Stevil” Lorimor. Maintained by Isabelle “Blocktopus” Santos.
Bookmark this URL: http://zen-roller-derby.xyz
Last updated: September 2023.
YouTube videos on Illegal Target Zones and Passing the Star are in need of updating.
As used by¶
Badlands Roller Derby League (Drumheller, Canada) |
Montreal Roller Derby (Montreal, Canada) |
Boom Town Roller Derby (Mat-Su Valley, Alaska) |
New Hampshire Roller Derby (Manchester, NH) |
Brazos Valley Roller Derby (Bryan, Texas) |
New Jersey Roller Derby (Morristown, New Jersey) |
Brighton Rockers Roller Derby (Brighton, UK) |
North Texas Fallout Junior Roller Derby (Denton, Texas) |
Capital City Crushers (Topeka, Kansas) |
North Texas Roller Derby (Denton, Texas) |
Central California Area Derby (Fresno, California) |
Old Capitol City Roller Derby (Iowa City, Iowa) |
Central West Roller Derby League (Bathurst, Australia) |
Pensacola Roller Gurlz (Pensacola, Florida) |
Charm City Roller Girls (Baltimore, Maryland) |
Pirate City Rollers (Auckland, New Zealand) |
Chattanooga Roller Girls (Chattanooga, Tennessee) |
RockyView Roller Derby (Airdrie, Alberta Canada) |
Chick Whips Junior Roller Derby (Topeka, Kansas) |
Roller Derby Iceland (Reykjavík, Iceland) |
Copper State Roller Derby (Tucson, Arizona) |
Rollerderby Hanover (Hanover, Germany) |
Dragon City Roller Derby (Bendigo, Australia) |
Sailor City Roller Derby (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
Free State Roller Derby (Rockville, Maryland) |
San Marcos River Rollers (San Marcos, Texas) |
Flint Roller Derby (Flint, Michigan) |
Sintral Valley Derby Girls (Modesto, California) |
Gallatin Roller Derby (Bozeman, Montana) |
Sirens of Smash Roller Derby (Nelson, New Zealand) |
Garden State Rollergirls (Newark, New Jersey) |
Southern Oregon Derby (Medford, Oregon) |
Hellions of Troy Roller Derby (Troy, New York) |
State College Area Roller Derby (State College, PA) |
Hurricane Alley Roller Derby (Corpus Christi, Texas) |
Strong Island Roller Derby (East Setauket, New York) |
Ithaca League of Women Rollers (Ithaca, New York) |
Suburbia Roller Derby (Yonkers, New York) |
Jerzey Derby Brigade (Morristown, New Jersey) |
Tenerife Roller Derby (Tenerife, Spain) |
Les Quads de Paris (Paris, France) |
Tokyo Roller Girls (Tokyo, Japan) |
Lille Roller Girls (Lille, France) |
Veuves Noires de Rouen (Rouen, France) |
Molly Rogers Rollergirls (Melbourne, Florida) |
Whenua Fatales Roller Derby (Levin, New Zealand) |
Roller Derby Toulouse (Toulouse, France) |
Does your league use (or no longer use) this training manual? Please e-mail me so I can update this list.
Permission is granted to share this document and to adapt and share modified versions provided appropriate credit is given to the original author, and you indicate what, if any, changes were made. Please see the Creative Commons License for more information.
The Zen of Reffing Roller Derby
© Stephen (“Axis of Stevil”)
About these handouts¶
These handouts were written by Stephen (“Axis of Stevil”) Lorimor. This program is his own creation and he is solely responsible for its content.
About the Maintainer¶
Blocktopus has been swallowed by an all-engulfing passion for the rules of roller derby. She is the author of tools such as the random penalty generator, roller derby inspiration and the “who’s reffing?” game.
Ruleset¶
This document is updated for WFTDA’s Rules of Flat Track Roller Derby (January 1, 2023 version). On occasion information is presented in light of rules discussions accessible to WFTDA member leagues via the WFTDA forums. No information contained in these handouts violates WFTDA’s non-disclosure agreement.
Special thanks¶
The knowledgeable folks at Zebra Huddle assisted me in peer reviewing many of the earlier handouts on referee procedures. I’d also like to thank the many readers who have taken the time to email their thoughts and observations on The Zen of Reffing Roller Derby. Finally, I’d also like to thank the WFTDA, MRDA, and JRDA and their volunteers for their tireless dedication to the sport of roller derby.
Feedback¶
Readers are encouraged to submit feedback, corrections, criticisms, and comments via email at njderbyref@gmail.com or via Stephen’s page on Facebook. Reports of typos, bugs, erroneous information, and the like are always welcome.
Disclaimer¶
The WFTDA, MRDA, or JRDA are not responsible for this document and make no claims as to the accuracy of its content.
Contents¶
- Lesson #1: Duties, skills, and ethics
- Lesson #2: Whistles
- Lesson #3: Verbal cues and hand signals
- Lesson #4: Game concepts
- Lesson #5: Safety gear, skates, and accessories
- Lesson #6: Safety, injury, bleeding, and concussion
- Lesson #7: Referees (all positions)
- Lesson #8: Outside pack referees
- Lesson #9: Inside pack referees
- Lesson #10: Jammer referees
- Lesson #11: The head referee
- Lesson #12: The penalty box
- Lesson #13: Skater concerns and official reviews
- Lesson #14: Pack formation
- Lesson #15: Basic scoring
- Lesson #16: Advanced scoring
- Lesson #17: Introduction to penalties
- Lesson #18: Three types of penalties
- Lesson #19: Illegal target and blocking zone penalties
- Lesson #20: Illegal contact and multiplayer block penalties
- Lesson #21: Illegal positioning and illegal procedure penalties
- Lesson #22: Cutting the track and altering game flow penalties
- Lesson #23: Unsporting conduct penalties
- Lesson #24: Expulsions and fouling out
- Lesson #25: No pack situations
- Lesson #26: Assists
- Lesson #27: Clockwise play
- Lesson #28: Passing the star
- Lesson #29: Junior Derby Gameplay
- Lesson #30: Junior derby (gear checks)
- Document change summary
All lessons have accompanying videos available on YouTube. The entire set of video lessons can be found at this link.