Monday 14 November 2011

CV Or Not CV, That Is the Tenuous Title

A little while ago I was trying to think of how many bouts I had worked as a Ref, as an NSO and as an announcer and I realised that this is now quite a task as I've done quite a few.  I spent a bit of time correlating all the info from memory, a stack of bout programmes, and of course Facebook photos and events and came up with a list of bouts and what I did at them.

I have now resolved to keep my derby CV up to date so I don't have to go through this each time.  With this in mind here are my thoughts on a Derby CV.

Why Should I Keep a Derby CV?

I know what you're thinking.  I thought that too.  But here's why you should. 
Roller Derby is getting big now, I mean huge and so bigger opportunities are coming round for players, coaches, refs, etc, and so being able to show your experience means a lot. It can help loads when you get involved with the press and they start asking you to provide a player profile, or just start asking the difficult questions. It's also great for looking back and seeing exactly how far you've come.

So what should be on a derby CV?

I've broken my CV down into 3 categories, Announcing, NSOing and Refereeing and I suggest this is the place to start (although you may want to add other categories depending on what you do).
Then under each category list the relevant info.  Here is my suggestion on what you should record:
NSO - Bout Name, Date, Teams Involved, Positions Worked;
Ref - Bout Name, Date, Teams Involved, Positions worked, Head Ref name;
Announcer - Bout Name, Date, Teams Involved
Player - Bout Name, Date, Teams Involved, Score.  You could also add on if you got a bout award.
Bench/Line-up - Bout Name, Date, Teams Involved, Score

What bouts should you include on your CV?

This is up to you really but I would work on only adding those which are played under proper bout conditions (and I'm not including "bout night" style practices), so I'm only adding bouts where the scores are likely to be posted somewhere like Rollin News. This is mainly for practical reasons as if you included every scrimmage event or every bout night it would crowd the CV unnecessarily and detract from its usefulness.

What Else is worth putting on there?

Record key events in your derby history so that you can look back if asked and give accurate answers.  When did you start skating? If you moved leagues then say when?  Have you attained any qualifications(BRSF etc)? Which Bootcamps you've been to? What Bootcamps have you coached? Are you a coach, when did that start?

You should also mention if you are involved in any "Admin" type roles within your league.  Are you on the board of Directors, part of the coaching committee, the designer of the bout posters, the social secretary?  Are you the representative on a larger organisation such as UKRDA?  Remember to add the dates that you did these things from and to.

Injuries...

If you are the kind of person that likes to be the war hero and show off all of your curious scars at parties then you might want to add a section detailing your various trips to Casualty.  It's one of those things that goes with the sport but it is one of those questions that comes up a lot when talking to press people.

I hope this has given you all something to think about and you'll now be rooting through boxes of programmes to find out exactly when your mate roped you into being a penalty tracker at a bout, which then led to you buying some skates and becoming the roller demon you are now.

One day when you're writing your autobiography, you'll thank me.