Thursday, 22 September 2016

Self-evaluation: Fixing my current weaknesses

Finally, I look at what I have identified as my current weaknesses and how I plan to make improvements in these five areas. It's important to remember that improvement won't happen overnight, or even between one tournament and the next - it will happen slowly, and you might not even notice it at the time. That's why I sit and reflect at the end of a season on what needs to happen over the next. My targets are set for essentially European Games, not Southern Cup or even BQC. I will have made some progress by then, yes, but pushing for it unreasonably will just leave me disappointed!

1. Speed.

After two years of not training for quidditch regularly (damn health issues!), I'm finally going back to university where I can train multiple times a week. This encourages me to run, something I do not enjoy doing, and also means I will be sprinting. The key to getting better at these things is doing them a lot, along with general improved fitness, and I believe that being back in an active quidditch environment will help me with this. I know how to do sprint training, as much as I dislike it, so I will get on doing that around the parks, hopefully where no-one can see me - at least until I have speed greater than a sloth doing a snail impression.

2. Boundary rules.

This is going to be a boring case of read, re-read, and make sure they're enforced. I'll probably annoy everyone at practices by reciting them every time someone goes over a (makeshift) boundary, and I'm planning on drawing a pitch on A3 paper and writing the rules around the appropriate boundaries - if this works, I'll try and scan it and put it on the blog. The final thing is making sure I'm solid and consistent in enforcing them during tournaments, even if the number I know confidently is small to begin with. Balls (and people) go over boundaries all the time in quidditch, so there will be plenty of opportunities to give the back to hoops and turnover calls. It will help when other referees work on it too, and I know that it is an aim of a few top referees to improve on this, so teamwork will make the dream work. Or something.

3. Chatting to players.

I said at the beginning that things couldn't be improved over night, but this can be. It's literally just a case of me remembering not to do it, and keeping my mouth shut at the right time. I'll note here that this is a style thing as much as anything, and while you will generally appear more professional if you take less backchat, there are levels where you can balance a chattiness with professionalism. You have to find a balance that works, and that you are happy with. Currently my balance works, but I feel I am too lax at times so I want to at least experiment with being a 'harsher', less chatty referee. Maybe it won't work, maybe it will. Growth can only happen if you also make mistakes! (sorry for all the philosophical cheese, I'm very chill from my lovely late summer sun...)

4. Pre-game procedure.

I. Will. Print. The. Lists. I. Wrote.
Honestly, I go to all the trouble of writing the things, and I still haven't done anything to add them into my referee pack thing. I could do with getting them laminated as well - university probably can do that - so they will resist the early season rain/mud, but the first step is getting them printed. Then, of course, I will try and use them to get my pre-game meetings going a lot better, and hopefully by the end of the season I'll hardly need my little lists during a tournament. With the rules, I remember them better if I use them a lot, and hopefully this will follow with game procedure. I think it'll be important to do this for every game, even if I know the teams; often I'll skip steps in UK tournaments because the teams are familiar to me, and then get more stuck when I'm abroad or with new teams. Consistency will be key, with fewer shortcuts. Captains, please don't hate me for my repetitiveness.

5. Words in sensible orders.

Honestly, I don't know if I can fix this completely. It might just be that I always get tongue tied if I haven't rehearsed the words hundreds of times for weeks on end, and I'll just have to not be so embarrassed about it. However, I think a good step will be talking less quickly. I know I have a tendency for my speech to try and match my brain speed, which doesn't work when words in my brain happen significantly faster than my mouth can produce. So if I slow everything down - hard in the heat of the moment - then my words should come out a lot smoother. This will take practice, so that my standard isn't 1000 words per second, and I will also just try to just be amused by my slip-ups rather than embarrassed. I guess a lot of the time everyone knows what I mean anyway, though I'd like to sound a bit more professional in that aspect. It will also help when I'm calling beats as an assistant referee. Hopefully.

With any luck, I will reference this blog post over the season and work on these aspects. Obviously I also need to keep up everything I've worked on over the past season, too, and making sure I don't lose any of the skills I've developed. With any luck, I'll be able to repeat this series next year!

Thursday, 15 September 2016

Self-evaluation: My improvements over 2015-16

At the end of the 2014/15 season, I took a good look at my refereeing, and what I needed to improve on. These are what I came up with, and how I feel I did.

1. Application of NHNF.

I wrote a whole post on No Harm, No Foul here. It was a well-known fact in early 2015 that I wasn't really one for using NHNF, so if you did something vaguely wrong on my pitch, you paid for it. Arguably it didn't help that there were a lot of cards designated for things which are now back to hoops and turnover fouls, but I was still very much heavy handed and my games stopped a lot just so I could give out all of the cards. So over summer last year, I sat down and I re-read the rulebook, and I came up with scenarios and examples in my head of where I would give just a warning and NHNF. Part of it was finding a compromise between old Zoe and Ash's methods of refereeing, the latter being almost entirely based on NHNF (:P). So now I go into games making sure that I balance accuracy on calls with fairness based on how the foul affected play, which means things that didn't impact the other team are far more likely to get warnings. Overall I think my application of the rule has improved dramatically, especially as I can now write about it in a blog.

2. Dealing with angry/upset players.

Emotions often run high on a quidditch pitch, in all directions. As a referee you have to soak it all up like a sponge, and keep everyone calm. While I never really lost control of a pitch, I also wasn't the best at keeping the tempers of people in check. A lot of this ties into my next point about confidence, but the specific things I worked on with regards to players were keeping my own demeanor calm, and speaking to them in a firm way which didn't antagonise them further. It was easier when I remembered how I felt if I was annoyed with how a game was going - then I would know what sort of words to avoid, the level of firmness required in my voice to get someone to take a deep breath, that sort of thing. It also comes with practice, and I must admit it helps being on teams with big mouths. I've also got a lot better at brushing off destructive criticism fired at me by angry people after a game didn't go their way. My opinion of myself and my refereeing ability is a lot more grounded, and depends a lot more on how I feel and how other referees judged it.

3. Confidence.

I feel a lot of this comes with time and age. I'm 22 now, which is very much middle-aged in quidditch, and I've refereed for long enough now that I should hope I know what I'm doing. At first I started out by just pretending to be an extremely confident referee, and now I'm at least partway there to actually being that referee. It's okay to not be confident (I've written about this too, a bunch of times) as long as you recognise that it is an area you can work on. Unlike knowing a rule, it won't happen overnight, but hopefully I am proof that it can happen over a season. I'm now comfortable in saying that I'm at the top of the refereeing pile, and offering some words of wisdom once a week to those of you who are interested. I'll throw my name into the ring for big finals, and I'm not surprised when I'm asked to head referee a game. Now I suppose the thing I have to keep an eye on is not getting over-confident!

4. Communicating with ARs.

I used to be very bad at looking at my assistants when I was a head referee. I would miss delayed penalties for up to minutes, which wasn't great really. Also it's important as a head referee to check that your assistants are in the correct positions and aren't getting distracted, so looking over at them occasionally is fairly necessary. As I've worked with more assistants, I've got used to checking consistently, and also know a lot better what things to cover before matches to get the most out of my team. I'm also more confident in telling my assistants to hurry up with their explanations, rather than just listen to them slowly slip over their words and tell me basically nothing. The general standard of assistant refereeing has also improved over this time, which is very helpful. Communication is something you can always work on, as with everything, but as far as improvements go I'm pretty happy that I'm a better head referee.

5. Fitness.

If you know me on Facebook, you'll probably know that I suffer from a chronic illness. This whacked my fitness over the head when I was diagnosed, and I've been working slowly to improve it ever since. I can referee hour-long games now, though not happily, which is an improvement on not being able to stand for more than five minutes! This is always going to be an ongoing thing when my body is basically fighting me, but it will be easier with regular quidditch training and access to a gym, and I think most people would agree that I am a fitter referee than I was at the beginning of the season. Long live the NHS to continue giving me medication and tests, even if it is painfully slow at times.

Thursday, 8 September 2016

Self-evaluation: My strengths

After a whole post lamenting my shortcomings, here is a whole post acclaiming my better aspects from this season.

1. Pitch control.

Everyone has games where a player or two goes off on one. However, I've never lost control of a pitch, and I've always resolved issues swiftly. There are lots of big mouths in quidditch, often on the same teams that end up playing each other a lot, and for some of them now my reputation precedes me. As maybe the only referee this season to send someone to the penalty box for disrespecting an official, I'm firm but fair on such calls. People know I don't take bullshit, and those who don't know quickly learn. Pitch control is about confidence, attitude, and the way you conduct yourself as a referee, and it is almost entirely down to the head referee. A good assistant referee can't save a bad head referee, but also a bad assistant referee shouldn't affect the control a good head referee has, and this is something I am confident with. That said please don't go out of your way to try me, because it won't end well for you and it will just make me sad later.

2. Positioning.

I'm not one of those referees who stays on one side of the pitch and just moves up and down like a glorified assistant referee when I'm in charge, I get in the middle of play and see pretty much everything it is possible to see in one go. A couple of hairy moments in the cross-fire aside, I'm usually in the best place which is a compromise to seeing everything up close and getting in the way of tackles and/or passes, whilst also accommodating my speed, or lack thereof. As an assistant referee I also move a lot more than most people, and I'm perfectly capable of handling a full side of the pitch myself without getting stuck to a point or small sector. I'm also able to advise other referees on improving their positioning, or adapt mine to work with theirs if that is easier at the time.

3. Rules knowledge.

I have a reputation for being a walking rulebook, as much as one can be a walking rulebook without actually being MCP. I know most of the relevant rules, and a bunch of odd unusual ones too, and if it's one I know particularly well I can recite it. Though if you hear me quote a number I'm probably making that up. Strong rules knowledge is essential if you want to be a top referee, because it allows you to make decisions swiftly. If people know that you know your stuff, they are also less likely to question you at the time, even if you have got it slightly wrong. I keep my knowledge up to date by revising before a big tournament, and my friends also help keep my brain active by always coming to me with odd scenarios that happened in practice to see what would actually be legal. Thanks, guys. The main thing to remember is that your brain will keep hold of information it uses, so if you referee a lot you will remember the rules better. And I have refereed a lot.

4. Whistle skills.

Now I don't want to brag, but at World Cup Chris LeCompte called my whistle blowing 'excellent'. Coming from a background of playing the clarinet, I'm used to making distinct, fast noises, and applying those to my Fox40 was pretty simple. Life also got a lot easier when I switched from a wrist strap to a lanyard, though everyone has their own preferences and you should definitely do what is best for you! But I can do the whole 'paired blasts' thing, and my lung capacity is such that I can keep it up for a fair while, and I'm also very loud. I'm loud without a whistle too, but my whistle blast is especially piercing. There's no argument for not having heard my request to stop play, or start again. There's also no way to mistake a 'live quaffle' blast for a stoppage, which is why I will send you back to hoops if you drop your broom at such.

5. Limiting stoppages.

As an assistant referee, I barely have more than a handful of words to say to my head referee if I'm calling a delayed penalty. I see it as if I'm making an accusation in Cluedo - who did it, what was the foul, who did it affect, where are they. Done. More words are unnecessary in my opinion, and I will also encourage my referees to do the same when talking to me if I am in charge. I'm also wont to just adjudicate a foul without consulting my assistants if I am confident, so we can get on with our lives quicker. There's no point asking someone else if I'm just going to overrule them. I'm also more likely to end advantage quicker than some other referees, rather than ending up replaying a whole two minutes of a game because a pile up happened for a minute before someone finally got the ball out. I have a reputation for keeping games to time, and gaining precious minutes for tournament directors, because I just don't like spending too long on a brooms down. I get bored, too.

Thursday, 1 September 2016

Self-evaluation: My weaknesses

This is part of a series of four - weaknesses, strengths, areas of improvement over the past season, and my plan to fix my current weaknesses in the upcoming season.

It is important as a referee to be able to see where your 'game' needs work. You can get feedback anonymously, via the IQA/IRDP, however that can be hard to relate back to a specific game if it takes a long time to come back after a tournament. My personal preference is getting feedback from captains and players, especially those who are referee qualified themselves. There are a good number of referees in the UK spread across lots of different teams, so it's fairly easy to get a quick summary of how things went after a game. I trust the people I ask to be honest and fair in their assessments! After two years, I'm also fairly competent at assessing how a game went from my perspective. These weaknesses are my current areas to work on from this season.

1. Speed.











I'm relatively unfit, I have short legs, and the power I have in my legs is not the sort used for sprinting. Or long-distance really. This means that I can struggle to keep up with the best drivers in the quaffle game, even if they are hampered by a broom and I'm not. Yes, I make up a lot of it using good positioning (cutting corners) but I could still do with having an extra gear to step up my game when I'm head refereeing. Of course, increasing my speed will also help my playing - most things done to help refereeing help playing and vice versa - but I cannot sub myself out for a faster referee if play is getting quicker. As an assistant referee speed is less of an issue because of how much I move anyway, and beater play often isn't straight up and down the pitch, but it will still help. The main things that I miss due to lack of speed are the beginnings of pile-ups behind the hoops, and contact coming to stop a fast break if I am still trying to catch up.

2. Boundary rules.

As I said in my post comparing UK refereeing to the other standards at World Cup (here), UK referees in general are bad at the boundary rules. I am among this group. I know most of them pretty well in theory, especially after spending a couple of weeks studying them intensely to write the referee tests for QuidditchUK, but putting them into practice in a game situation is another thing entirely. My brain blanks, or at least slows, and by the time I've thought about what the call is that I'm supposed to be making, play is back on pitch and I've missed my chance. This happens with both bludger play as an assistant referee, and as a head referee watching the quaffle. Some of the rules have changed slightly in Rulebook 10, so we'll see if I can remember this set better than the last one. Many turnovers have been missed in the past season because of my slow reactions to balls (or people) crossing the boundary, and while I am no means the worst for this, it is one of the consistently weak parts of my rules application.

3. Chatting to players.

This is the bit where I get to say, very modestly, that I'm just too nice. Mainly though, I'm just a little too lenient in some situations about players talking back to me. I don't like reprimanding people for a comment here and there, but I should at least ignore it which isn't something I've been doing in the past season. It's especially the case in tournaments which aren't 'serious' (regionals, nationals et al), and whilst these are more lax in general, I should still keep my standard of refereeing high in all areas. Chatting to players delays the game, and it means I'm not entirely focused on play in the moments where I am talking or listening. Being a referee means being professional at all times, and while I am generally good at it, my talkative nature detracts from this appearance.

4. Pre-game procedure.

Captains meetings and referee meetings both involve a lot of things to go through, and I routinely remember only about 50% of the things I'm supposed to say. While I don't think anyone else minds too much, it does annoy me when I remember on the starting line that I forgot to tell the captains about specific things I'd be watching for, or ask my assistant referees to watch certain balls on brooms up. As a head referee, my games would go a lot better and smoother if I could get everything out in a timely manner, before the game started, and I'd spend less time kicking myself for forgetting something really important. And no, before you ask, I don't then improve my meetings over the course of a tournament. I just forget different bits. Yes, I really do need to have a memory that is less like a sieve, that would be really great.

5. Words in sensible orders.

I don't know if you've ever heard me referee, but I often get my words all in a jumble. This is embarrassing when I'm trying to clearly tell the crowd and scorekeepers table what a foul is for, and just annoying if I'm trying to tell someone to go back to hoops and I don't know their name. My mouth just doesn't do what my brain tells it to, and that just slows my whole game down. I get tongue-tied in normal life, too, but usually I'm not talking to a hundred or so people in the crowd of a final or semi-final. If you were at the London referee academy recently, you may have noticed this particular trait! It has nothing to do with nerves, but it is an area I think I can and should improve on as I go into my third full year of refereeing, as one of the top referees in the country.

Thursday, 25 August 2016

Getting into refereeing

One of the most common messages I get is from people who want to start refereeing, but don't really know how to get into it. It certainly isn't as easy as when I started - where certification was basically non-existent and standards were somewhat sub-par. But I still believe that it is doable, and below is what I deem to be a sensible order of trying things to work your way up to being a fully fledged referee. Even the greats like Dave and Jesus had to start somewhere (though Jesus started refereeing somewhen way back in the past, their origin story has probably been lost to the mists of time), and the resources and knowledge available now is far higher, so you can reach the top a lot faster if that is what you want to do.

Onwards.

1. If your team has practices with scrimmages, referee those. Okay, so no-one likes to be the person giving cards out in practice, but your team needs to learn the rules and so do you. Get used to how loud you have to be for people to hear you, and practice focussing on one aspect of the game - either quaffle, or bludger. Run a lot, and experiment with where you need to place yourself to get the best view of everything going on; not everyone will find that the general advice is helpful to them. Also, if you have other referees on your team (even ones who aren't certified in the current season), ask them for feedback. General demeanor and attitude towards refereeing doesn't change across rulebooks, even if the specifics of the rules do!

2. Find a fun way to revise the rulebook. As I am a nerd, I try to own a physical copy of each rulebook (get on it, USQ! RB10 needs to be in my house!) and last season I colour-coded each of the fouls and put markers in the sections which I knew I'd need to reference more often, such as the new reset rules and contact fouls. This meant I could flip straight to the sections I knew I needed to go over before a tournament, and it made it easier to look things up mid-tournament as well if I wasn't sure I'd made the correct call. I know lots of people like Kym Couch's flash cards (RB10 ones can be found here) when revising for tests, or maybe you'd rather make your own. You could also organise a study session within your club, or over skype with friends from other clubs. Learning the rulebook shouldn't have to be a chore!

3. Referee scrimmages some more. Referees need to practice just as much as players - you can never have too much experience, and it will benefit your club too if they are used to abiding by the rules on more than just an honesty basis. If they don't let you, point out the fact that you know the rules every time someone gets a card in a tournament until they figure it out. Everyone knows that six players on a pitch is far better than three (which yes, is the lowest number I've seen a team go down to due to fouls and cards).

4. Volunteer to referee at a small tournament with less pressure. This could be a small merc tournament, a small team tournament, or maybe even just a friendly set of matches between two clubs. Mostly people will just be grateful for the volunteers, and as it isn't a regional competition with a lot of outside scrutiny, it doesn't matter so much if you make a couple of mistakes. This way you can get used to the pressure of a real game, without feeling like it matters for a team's national ranking (a surprisingly large pressure, even when the teams are only looking at the low teens or twenties). Most tournaments have one or two highly experienced referees - I went as far as Highlander last year in my bid to get lots of experience - who will be able to give you advice on how you did, and where to improve.

5. Volunteer to referee at more tournaments. More. Even more than that. Everything you can sensibly, feasibly get to. Referee until you are confident, or can at least pretend to be - and if your goal is regionals and BQC, sign up for those in plenty of time!

At some point, yes, you need to do the written exams and the field tests. You can do this before number one, before number four, or maybe just in time for regionals if you've been refereeing at tournaments with no test requirements. But having experience and having confidence are often more important than a great test result, as rules can be learnt much easier from a book than other refereeing skills.

But my most important advice can be found here.

If you have any questions or worries about refereeing, you can always get in contact with me - either on the page or on my actual facebook if I have you as a friend. I'm sure there are many other referees who are also willing to help you, including the referee development teams of your NGB. Best of luck!

Thursday, 18 August 2016

Referee Scheduling

As anyone who has been involved in tournament organising knows, scheduling is the worst part of setting everything up. Even once you've worked out the best ways to get all your teams playing on the number of pitches available, without too many back-to-backs, you have referees to sort. The optimum is a head referee, three assistants, a snitch referee, a snitch, two goal referees, a scorekeeper, and a timekeeper - that's ten individuals! You have to make sure that no-one is scheduled more than once (including as players), and that no-one has a conflict of interest; something which has become more difficult to manage now everyone seems to have played for two or even three teams across the seasons. Throughout the season there have been several approaches, finishing with the best organised event I was a part of, World Cup. Here I will discuss what I feel are the best approaches in an ideal world, and how I currently would deal with the compromises necessary.

Starting with World Cup, this year's event ran incredibly smoothly. Even with 45 minute gameslots, which have sounded death knells for European tournaments recently, games started promptly and with full teams. Part of the reason I feel it was so successful was the introduction of standby referee teams - a full team of qualified referees ready to slot in on any of the four pitches if someone was late. Though they had the advantage of having almost exclusively non-playing referees available, I still didn't expect everything to go as punctually and I was more than pleasantly surprised. If every tournament had a set of referees who knew they should make themselves available to the tournament committee at a specific location before every match slot, finding replacements would go far swifter. For the past two BQCs I did create lists of free referees, but they were scattered across the tournament location and thus it was not as effective as what happened at World Cup. I filled one standby slot at World Cup, on the first day, and after not being needed could get on with spectating for that slot - it was hardly an inconvenience.

Going forward in international country-level competitions, I feel that quidditch could learn from other sports. Often, countries assemble full referee teams which then stay together for an entire tournament, and are then available as a unit for the schedulers. This could work for the next World Cup or even European Games - the UK, for example, should easily be able to provide two full referee teams, perhaps both with two snitches. The best referees are likely to all be head referee qualified, so the team could rotate who filled that role. Smaller, less developed countries could team up to provide a unit. This could be used in conjunction with the previous idea of standby referee teams (though I feel standbys should be used more widely than international competition), by replacing whole teams if a component is missing. Having set teams of referees could also be an advantage to players as well, who are more likely to know what to expect from referee teams later in a competition if they have been under them before, rather than having variables that effect the overall quality of the refereeing.

But back to domestic, club competitions where it isn't practical to require clubs to provide full teams. I have scheduled the referees for the last two BQCs, and I worked on a few parameters. Generally speaking, referees would not be involved in games that were affecting their group (if they were players). In an ideal world, this would extend to clubs - though that becomes a little restrictive and is the first of the rules to waive. Secondly, close games are identified and at least two strong referees are assigned to those. Again ideally all games would be refereed with equal quality, but we do not have enough referees in this country certainly to achieve that parity, so the anticipated 'hardest' matches are given the best referees. Care should be taken, however, to not leave a full team of inexperienced referees without someone more confident to guide them if necessary. The difference between the best and worst referee teams during group stages should be minimal. Finally, referees should have an appropriate number of breaks. Some referees like being on their feet all day - I'm one of them - whereas others, particularly those competing for the top teams, prefer not to run themselves ragged. Obviously this is only possible if you have enough referees!

I have a database set up which I use for my scheduling (nicknamed 'Fordsheed') and has been very helpful in sorting everything out relatively quickly. It works by giving every referee an entry, which then links to their team, and what positions they are willing to fill. The team schedule is then created, which links team availability to their timeslot. Then, for each timeslot, I can search for the available referees of each position and use that to fill up the schedule with confidence that no-one is in two places at once. Just to check, I have an error sheet which shows up anyone who has been assigned twice. The long list of numbers then generates the schedule, and can also be used to create individual schedules and lists of free individuals. Generally I will work methodically by position, starting with head referees and snitches, then matching snitch referees to the snitches, and trying to find complimentary assistant referees to finish the qualified team. I've also used it to assign goal referees, scorekeepers, and timekeepers, as well as other tournament volunteers. Unfortunately it isn't terribly user-friendly as a system, or I would've lent it out to people!

Scheduling for the first day is one thing, scheduling for knockout play is another thing completely. You can't predict it, you don't know which teams and therefore which conflicts of interest are going to be present at each round, and you might even have two brackets to deal with simultaneously. It isn't fun. This is where the referee team system has an advantage, because if Australia are playing Spain at the World Cup then all you need to do is pick a referee team that isn't from Australia or Spain. There's no need to individually pick up to 10 people from a potentially huge list. At this year's World Cup, every round was preceded by a referee meeting where the officials were picked, and this worked well - but mainly, I feel, because referees were not distracted by being with their teams as they might be in a domestic tournament. It could probably be effective in a fantasy tournament though, where there is not so much of a team bond. So generally I'd advise having one or two individuals on the tournament committee who aren't playing, and can be solely dedicated to sorting out referee schedules for each round as they come. This requires a bit more time, and still means the referees need to gather to have this communicated to them, but they don't have to be there for as long. It probably does necessitate a longer gameslot though, to have time to accrue the results and then sort who is refereeing.

Then, of course, there are the finals. Who do you pick? How do you tell them? Generally from the quarter finals onwards, the pool of referees is restricted to the best. This pool should be made of those who have been consistent, both across the season and across the tournament - stand-out new referees should always be considered if they have shone out to other referees and to teams. Checking with captains is a good way to eliminate referees who have disappointed across multiple games, and also checking with the top referees who may have worked with multiple groups across the weekend. But the most important thing to check with, particularly for finals, is the referees themselves. Some may not be comfortable with stepping into the role for a final, or maybe they want to just spectate the match. If you don't give them a chance to reject, and they feel forced into it, it could seriously affect their ability to perform and the likelihood of them refereeing again. Ultimately, they are still volunteers, and should be excited and happy about the prospect of being involved. This means asking them individually, and not shaming them if they say no - and maybe offering them a lower position in the referee team if available. This should go for everyone on pitch, right down to the goal referees (following the tradition now that everyone on the pitch is head referee qualified, some may not be as pleased as I was to stand behind the hoops for a game). Respect is key!

I could go into much more detail on everything here, but to summarise: standby referee teams are a great thing I feel we should try and introduce; country-based referee teams could work wonderfully for European Games and World Cup; referees should be chosen to minimise conflict of interest and maximise parity across all games; technology is good at helping if you check it for 40 hours; assigning referees in bracket play requires dedicated volunteers; referees for finals should be chosen for their performance consistency and requested respectfully. Oh, and we could all do with more non-playing referees, always.

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Signals

Why are signals important? To many, referees included, they are just a funny appendix at the back of the USQ rulebooks, and for some reason this has made them optional. Really though, they shouldn't be. There's a lot to be gained by knowing the signals, both as a referee and as a player. Everyone knows goal and no goal, sure, but how many of you could demonstrate the signal for illegal procedure? Over the past season I have been trying to increase my use of signals, but that isn't really helpful to anyone if they don't know what I'm saying with my hands. This article has been made with the help of the wonderful referees at World Cup, who posed for me on one of the few breaks we had to get all of these covered in a more colourful way than the rulebook. My thanks also go to Chris LeCompte who demonstrated nearly all of them (plus an invented one) about two feet higher than everyone else during the weekend and showed just how much can be said without using words.

Signals everyone should know:


This signals: Good Goal
Accompanying whistle blast: Single long blast
Why players should know it: Until the whistle blows to signify the goal, along with the arm signal, the quaffle is still live. You may be able to score - or stop - a goal if you continue right until the whistle.
Why volunteers should know it: Obviously referees on the pitch will be using the signal every time a goal is scored. Scorekeepers should know it for confirmation of a good goal, and then they can accurately update the score. Keep an eye out for overrules afterwards, however!


This signals: No Goal/Bad Snitch Catch
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: A no goal signal could give you the chance to continue playing and finish off the offensive or defensive play. It could also make you aware that the goal wasn't good if there is an overruling due to a foul or otherwise, so you can keep track of the score if you need to know for snitch play.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should keep an eye out for this one in particular if it comes after a stoppage of play to then cancel a previously given goal.


This signals: Keeper's ball
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: When the head referee is showing this signal, the keeper holding the ball has immunity from tackles and beats while they are in their defensive keeper zone. It is also illegal to tackle a keeper with this immunity and you could end up with a card! A referee properly utilising this signal will also then show you when the keeper loses the immunity, meaning you can proceed to tackle them if you wish.
Why volunteers should know it: It's one of the easiest signals to get in the habit of using, and when you do it correctly, it can really help when deciding if a keeper has been illegally challenged.

(x3)
This signals: Good snitch catch/End of a period of play
Accompanying whistle blast: Three long blasts
Why players should know it: Obviously it signals when you've won if you were out of SWIM when the snitch was caught, but it also signals the end of five minutes in first overtime if there is no snitch catch, and if the score (catch or goal) was good in second overtime.
Why volunteers should know it: Timekeepers, time to stop the clock and write down the time. Scorekeepers, you need to work out the final score and sort out the scoresheet.


This signals: Knocked out/Dismount/Back to hoops
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: Ignorance is not an excuse for breaking the rules, so listen and watch for back to hoop calls and don't argue.
Why volunteers should know it: Pointing to the hoops of the player in question will reduce confusion if someone is also called safe from friendly fire.


This signals: Stop play
Accompanying whistle blast: Pairs of whistle blasts, until everyone stops
Why players should know it: If you hear the double whistle on your pitch, your instinct should be to stop play straight away, and drop your broom where you were when the whistle went. There's no point playing over the whistle - but equally don't stop play unless you hear the double blasts.
Why volunteers should know it: Timekeepers need to remember to pause the timer immediately when the double blasts start.


This signals: Resume play
Accompanying whistle blast: Single short whistle blast
Why players should know it: Even if you might not hear the whistle, you can look for this hand signal to know just when you can start up again.
Why volunteers should know it: Timekeepers will resume the timer when the whistle and signal come.


This signals: Delayed penalty
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: Generally speaking, head referees ask for their assistant referees to point at the bench of the team who fouled, which is also the direction that play should continue in if advantage is then being used. So if you're the team who has been fouled, and you want to know why the referee hasn't called it straight away, this might be why!
Why volunteers should know it: This just really helps head referees keep games flowing smoothly, so if assistant referees get used to it then life will be much easier for everyone.


This signals: Advantage
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: If the head referee is calling advantage, they have seen a foul and are letting play go on. The quaffle player who was fouled will be returned to the point where the foul occurred, but the other players will stay where they were when advantage abated and play was stopped. So if you are fouled and then play continues, this is probably why.
Why volunteers should know it: In overtime, the stopwatch should be paused as soon as the head referee raises their fist to call advantage, so timekeepers should be aware.


This signals: Warning
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: Official warnings will be a lot easier to identify when accompanied by this hand signal, so you know when to tone it down with whatever you were doing.
Why volunteers should know it: Often there is no distinction between an official warning and a friendly reminder/note - this will help that.


This signals: Blue/Yellow/Red Card + Penalty time
Accompanying whistle blast: none
Why players should know it: It's always good to know what penalty you got, and how much time you're spending in the box.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should remind head referees if they are giving a player a second yellow card, which would lead to a red card.

Signals captains, coaches, referees, and volunteers should know:


This signals: General illegal contact
Description: Both hands in fists, crossing above the head repeatedly.
Why coaches/captains should know it: If you haven't approached the referee when the decision was made and called, and you are unable to hear the call, seeing this signal will indicate what type of foul has been committed. Then you can work out if you think it is fair or not rather than making a fuss because you don't know the foul.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should write down what foul has been committed, and sometimes players are less than helpful in passing on what exactly they did.


This signals: Illegal procedure
Description: As shown, with the arms rolling.
Why coaches/captains should know it: If you are called for an illegal procedure, it's time to start tightening up on your substitutions and other gameplay elements of the match.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should write down what foul has been committed, and sometimes players are less than helpful in passing on what exactly they did.


This signals: Delay of game
Description: Two fingers tapping the wrist, as if there was a watch there.
Why coaches/captains should know it: If this is being called and you see this signal, you can relay to the team that the quaffle needs to be advanced faster - sometimes referees call delay differently, but there aren't any excuses for being penalised twice.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should write down what foul has been committed, and sometimes players are less than helpful in passing on what exactly they did.


This signals: Illegal contact to X (neck)
Description: Open hand, chopping motion towards the body part which was contacted on the fouled player.
Why coaches/captains should know it: This will show where the illegal contact was made, though note that if multiple illegal contacts were made in one play then the referee may only show one.
Why volunteers should know it: Specific area where the contact was made can then be written on the scorecard without delaying the game by having to ask the referee.


This signals: Illegal contact with X (leg)
Description: Pointing to the location on the body which the fouling player used to contact the opposing player.
Why coaches/captains should know it: Shows which area of the body was used illegally, which may not be clear from a different angle, to explain why the foul was given.
Why volunteers should know it: Specific area where the contact was made can then be written on the scorecard without delaying the game by having to ask the referee.


This signals: Illegal interaction
Description: Hands in fists, arms making a T.
Why coaches/captains should know it: Shows that an illegal pick, interaction between bludger and quaffle play, or other illegal interaction has happened, which could be something very technical you hadn't seen.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should write down what foul has been committed, and sometimes players are less than helpful in passing on what exactly they did.


This signals: Unsportsmanlike conduct
Description: Hands on hips.
Why coaches/captains should know it: If this comes out, someone on your team has messed up and probably needs some serious discipline. Likely causes are foul or disrespectful language towards players, officials, or spectators, and throwing equipment dangerously. Basically, breaking the first rule of quidditch.
Why volunteers should know it: Scorekeepers should write down what foul has been committed, and sometimes players are less than helpful in passing on what exactly they did.

With all of the more specific signals, these can be helpful in showing exactly what foul has been committed, and thus what to look out for and improve on in training.

I hope you have learnt something. At some point in the future I'd like to film and make gifs of some of the more complicated ones, but that requires time, equipment, and skills I don't have access to at the moment! I might do it with my NGB, QuidditchUK, and if it comes out through them I will of course share it here too.

All photos were taken by Nicole Stone, with the exception of the ones of me in my garden, which were taken by my sister.