Lindsay Hyland admits she fell in love with roller derby the first time she saw it in person several years ago, at the first-ever Windy City Rollers ( WCR ) bout. And for the next three seasons, Hyland was a paying customer, dragging friends and loved ones along.
"I felt so strongly about the grassroots aspects of the community, and wanted to support it in a bigger way than just paying for a ticket every month," Hyland said. "When I heard they were recruiting referees, I thought I'd give it a shot. I've always loved roller skating, and it sounded like a great way to get involved and help keep the sport going."
And so was born the officiating career of Stegoscorus.
"I have always loved dinosaurs," she said. "Stegosaurus is my lifelong favorite. While trying to come up with my derby name, my best friend and I were thinking of the different aspects of [ officiating ] , including scoring, to see what puns we could make out of them. Once we came up with Stegoscorus, I knew I had found the one."
Hyland, 30, who identifies as queer, admits she has "a primary partner and two other sweethearts," lives in Logan Square and works in retail, although she's looking for a social-work position.
She graduated from Troy ( Mich. ) High School in 1998, then Oakland University in 2002. She earned her master's degree in social work from Jane Addams College at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007.
She has lived in the Chicago area for about five yearsand been a WCR referee for over two years. Stegoscorus is a pack referee, "which means I skate alongside the players and watch for penalties. I enforce the rules by calling penalties on skaters who foul each other, sending them to the penalty box for major penalties. I also help with equipment checks, to make sure every skater is wearing all the required safety gear before the bouts."
Hyland said she can't imagine life without her alter ego.
"I love practicing and [ officiating ] , as well as having a thorough knowledge of the rules, so, in those respects, [ the job is ] easy," she said. "It's difficult when players become angry at referees for the outcome of their games, although we have no interest in who wins or loses. Part of being a ref is having a thick skin and not being bothered by getting yelled at, but there are moments when it's more difficult, since we're such a close community. The amount of work that referees put into the sport is easy to overlook, so it's difficult when we feel underappreciated. It is also difficult convincing people that derby referees are not biased, since we are usually affiliated with the local league. In professional sports, referees can be centrally trained and assigned to games all over the country. But since ours is a totally volunteer sport, refs tend to train with and ref the games for the league nearest where they live. But this does not mean we favor anyone! We work hard to call the game fairly, just like any other sport."
Stegoscorus said the referee crew is very close-knit and it often sticks together, just like teams.
"We also have an incredible crew of non-skating officials, which not all roller derby leagues have," Stegoscorus said. "Their support makes being a WCR ref a particularly spectacular experience.
"The worst part [ of the job ] is when people assume that I'd rather be a skater than a ref, just because I'm a woman. It's a common misconception that women derby refs are not good enough to play the sport, and choose [ officiating ] as a consolation prize.
"While [ officiating ] is one of the ways that men can contribute to women's roller derby, it's not limited to them; for me, [ officiating ] is exactly where I want and need to be in this sport."
WCR kicked off its 2010 season Jan. 30, and Stegoscorus is being trained as a jammer referee and head referee. She also serves on WCR's executive board.
"Before roller derby, I had never enjoyed watching or participating in a sport, and I had never exercised on purpose in my life. I considered it all boring," Stegoscorus said. "Although I'd always loved roller skating, I'd never thought of it as working out. When I started practicing [ officiating ] , I realized that I was getting in shape, and having fun doing it. Physically, I'm the healthiest I've ever been, and it's actually increased my interest in taking better care of myself in other ways.
"Watching the way women literally throw themselves into this sport, and what they put into running this league, has totally altered my sense of what people are capable of, both physically and as members of our communities. The diversity of the group continually baffles me as well. I'm connected to people I might never meet or have anything to do with if we weren't so committed to WCR; I often know my derby friends for months before finding out their political views or personal lives diverge dramatically from mine. But WCR is such an important part of our lives that it doesn't have to matter, and we end up building relationships with people we probably would have considered too different from ourselves to work alongside."
Hyland said other referees are gay, too, as well as players. And her sexuality has never been an issue.