NSO Basics

Sources of Information

• The WFTDA Statsbook Manual
• Fully explains absolutely everything that involves paperwork
• Always start here
• WFTDA Officiating Procedures
• What they sound like
• Doesn’t explain everything
• Other officials
• (But trust the first two things more) (that includes us)

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Three Levels of NSO coverage

• Level 1 - The Bare Minimum
• STILL needs NSOs!
• Just enough to have a functional practice scrimmage
• Start / stop play, time penalties
• No score, no stats

Three Levels of NSO coverage

• Level 2 – Regulation Play
• Minimum required to fully follow the rules of roller derby
• Start / stop play
• Keep Score
• Time Penalties
• Track number of penalties for each skater
• Scores, Period Clock, and Jam Clock must be visible to Teams, Officials, and Spectators!
• The hardest part of running a regulation game!

Three Levels of NSO coverage

• Level 3 – Sanctioned Play
• All requirements for Regulation play PLUS
• Record all penalties for all skaters (not just total number)
• Record who skated in every jam, all trips to the box
• Complete Statsbook after game
• Report scores and Statsbook to WFTDA
• This level of detail is only REQUIRED for Sanctioned play
• BUT – it’s good to practice this at EVERY game, so you’re ready when you need it!
• Also, some teams want this information for every game for team development.

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NSO Families – Scoring and Timing

• Jam Timer
• Starts every jam
• Calls off jam after two minutes if not called sooner
• Gives 5 second warning before jam start
• Signals timeouts (and can call them)
• Must have good outdoor voice

Photo: Preflash Gordon

NSO Families – Head NSO

• Head NSO
• Generates paperwork before the game.
• Puts out fires DURING the game.
• Usually also staffed as Penalty Tracker during the game.
• Completes stats after the game if needed.

Photo: Joe Mac

NSO Families – Scoring and Timing

• Scorekeeper
• One scorekeeper for each team, paired with a Jam Referee
• Regulation:
• Records points
• Keeps running total of team score
• Communicates with scoreboard operator
• Sanctioned: records additional statistics
• Lead / lost lead
• Jam called by jammer / for injury
• Star passes

Photo: Dave Schrader

NSO Families – Scoring and Timing

• Scoreboard Operator
• Must be comfortable with computers
• Regulation: Starts and stops clocks, updates score
• Advanced:
• Displays timeouts
• Show who is lead
• Enter jammers and pivots for each jam
• Enter star passes
• Enter other information from scorekeepers
• Good news – there’s only one program to learn
• Bad news – it’s kinda complicated

Photo: Floyd King

NSO Families – Penalty Box

• Penalty Box Manager
• Not a REQUIRED position, but it’s MUCH harder without
• Times jammer penalties only
• Indicates where skaters should sit
• Places skaters in queue if box is full
• Manages foul outs
• Communicates with NSOs in the center

Photo: Dave Schrader

NSO Families – Penalty Box

• Penalty Box Timer
• Mandatory even for bare bones scrimmage
• Times blockers (and jammers if no PBM) for one team
• Basic: Can use a phone app, two stop watches, or even just use the clock on the scoreboard! (not recommended)
• Advanced:
• Uses a single stopwatch and a clipboard to keep a record of times and penalties.
• This is the ONLY method that works with three penalized blockers at once.
• Confirms penalty totals with penalty trackers

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Photo: Earl Sod

NSO Families – Penalty / Lineup

These are the tasks. How they are assigned has changed over time.�

• Penalty Tracking
• Regulation: Count number of penalties per skater
• Sanctioned: Record penalties, including foul outs and expulsions
• Lineup Tracking (only required for sanctioned play)
• Record lineups – who skated in each jam
• Record box trips
• Whiteboard / Electronic Whiteboard
• Not required – makes penalties available for viewing by teams / other officials / audience
• Penalty Wrangling
• Optional: stays close to refs, helps catch penalties.

NSO Families – Penalty / Lineup

• Modern Standard
• One PLT per team – records lineups and penalties for each team
• If present, electronic whiteboard operator gets penalties from PLTs
• These are the only two good places to put the HNSO in this setup
• SUPER Fancy (but complicated, and no backup)
• No paperwork at all – lineups and penalties are entered directly into the computer
• Need a plan for if the hardware crashes.

Photo: Steve Jurkovic

NSO Families – Penalty / Lineup

• Old School
• Penalty Wrangler -> Penalty Tracker -> Whiteboard
• Lineup trackers separate, one per team.
• Penalty Wrangler stays close to refs.
• Penalty tracker gets penalties from PW, maintains paperwork for both teams
• Whiteboard person records penalties on whiteboard, communicates with box (Usually HSNO)
• Extremely rare today

Photo: Dave Schraeder

The Statsbook

• What IS this mythical thing?
• Excel spreadsheet
• Source of all game paperwork.
• Must be filled out and submitted to WFTDA for all sanctioned games
• Good practice to do it for other games.
• Available on the WFTDA website
• Remember, there is a Statsbook MANUAL, too!

Paperwork - Scorekeeper

Paperwork - PLT

Paperwork – Penalty Box