Currently, there are six female referees who work NBA games, up from one, Lauren Holtkamp, seven years ago. @ESPNNBA Most notably, then-Celtics broadcaster Cedric Maxwell used a stunningly offensive "get back in the kitchen" line for a game Palmer was officiating in 2007 (Maxwell would later apologize). Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." But, its hard for someone whos a player to sit down and read the rule book and understand it because its so its not relatable to how a player understands the game.. Your login session has expired. It stuck for good, always as a term of endearment. She served as a WNBA referee in 2018. In the beginning, back in 1997, there were two: Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. "Once [my peers] saw that I was about the business and the work and wanting to learn the craft, they were more than willing to open themselves up to teach me.". The NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee has approved the 11 game officials, who will bring a combined experience of 63 Women's Final Four appearances, to officiate the three games . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Tom Washington, a 30-year veteran whom Palmer names as one of her top mentors, bestowed the nickname "Queen" upon her during a group event midway through her career. It would quickly give way not only to an increase in gender diversity among officials, but to an inspiring tale of women empowerment and mentorship at the highest levels of a traditionally male field -- one full of locker room anecdotes, weekly Skype chats, group birthday vacations and a number of challenges. You really dont know until you sit down and read a rule book, says Moyer-Gleich. The NBA has made significant alterations since Palmer and Kantner's day, where the league would have to improvise a makeshift women's locker room in arenas that weren't prepared for them. "But did it bother me? While standing on the free-throw extended line during a timeout, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling recalls a quiet yet powerful moment early in her NBA officiating career. I commend those women [in hockey] because first of all, you have to know how to skate, and I would be out there busting my butt trying to do that, Sago said with a laugh. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Ex-Rainbow Wahine Maj Forsberg makes mark in WNBA landscape as league's only female crew chief. She was working a high school AAU tournament one weekend when a bystander approached her with a simple question: Why dont you do this for a living? And not everyone was comfortable. Five full-time women in officiating today eclipses the total of the NFL, MLB and NHL combined. She served as a WNBA referee in 2018. Natalie Sago didnt watch much NBA basketball growing up. Her husband, Johnee Gleich, is currently an official in the NCAA. A record 12 women worked games last season in the NBA, some getting called up from the G League and non-staff levels to help when the leagues officiating roster was decimated by COVID-19. I love that Im a part of an organization that hires you based on if you can do the job and based on your skills. He . "She really did an awesome job of reaching out to us and saying, 'Hey, I really want to start this group. Be the first one to comment on this story. Effectively the glue for a crew through consistency, teamwork, and communication - makes partners better by carrying a larger portion of the crew's load than an Umpire. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Before finally making her way to the league, Schroeder reffed in almost every league imaginable. Ashley Moyer-Gleich has been a hooper her whole life. "Because I answered those questions early in the process for myself, it helped me create a career that is sustaining and meaningful.". Fifteen of the largest college conferences paid their male referees on average 22% more than female referees in . The NBA now has the most . I [grew up] admiring Allen Iverson because I felt like he was just so unapologetically himself, despite what society or what the basketball community thought of him, good or bad, says Jelks. Flores and Mosher earned promotions from the G League level, as did another pair of new hires Matt Kallio, who becomes the NBAs first international full-time official, and Robert Hussey. As of last season, 11 different women were employed in assistant coaching positions around the NBA. Jelks becomes the seventh female full-time ref in NBA history, with the current five preceded by Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer. With the second half of the 2021-22 season well underway, shes now starting to develop those relationships as she gets more reps across the league. Copyright 2022 Referee Enterprises Inc. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. The Australian was the first female to officiate the A-League series in 2015. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. There's simply a desire to make this world, and others like it, more accessible. Sago, 31, and Schroeder, 35, were two of the three people on the officiating crew . In March 2015, the NBA began issuing Last Two Minutes reports that detail the performance of referees at the ends of games which the . Mosher has four seasons of G League officiating experience, five seasons in the WNBA and worked both the G League Finals and the WNBA Finals last season. copyright 2023 National Basketball Referees Association. The first female NBA referees. And this is exactly what a true meritocracy looks like., More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports, Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. "I feel very grateful that there were people before me to have experienced the initial pushback of what it's like being a female in a male-driven world," Jelks said. NBA adds 4 new full-time referees, including 2 female NBA referees . Sago would eventually work with all three superstars during her path to the NBA, which included stops at various levels including high school college, the G League and the WNBA. I see the competitive spirit of coaches treating everyone the same, he said. "She'll always say, if I did it, you can do it. All Rights Reserved. We won't send you spam. Grasping it entirely is a struggle. ET. Now, there are five different women officiating games on a nightly basis. 1. The other five Sage, Schroeder, Simone Jelks, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling and Ashley Moyer-Gleich are active in the league today and among . Moyer-Gleich officiated three seasons in the NBA G League, including the 2018 playoffs. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. According to Career Trend, WNBA referees earn a base salary of $180,000 per year. She etched her name into the history books as the first mother to officiate a league game. And as McCutchen points out, 42% of G League referees are women. All Our paths are all different but we all got to the same end goal.. WNBA. The salary slab of referees is decided as per their experience. Before joining the big-league ranks, Natalie Sago was a ref for the G-League and WNBA. Basketball Referee Salaries for Other Leagues. I havent worked as hard in my life ever at a job, then Ive worked in the NBA as a referee., Working her first NBA game in 2019, Jelks remembers an unprompted conversation with a player who approached her at center court, shook her hand and said Welcome to the League. Tramel: Referee Amy Bonner earns ultimate compliment in historic debut season in Big 12. Conley was in the G League for seven seasons, Schwab for five and, like Scott, they also worked WNBA games this season. Strides are being made, even if we're still talking about small percentages of the overall population and more work is clearly needed. McCutchen said the league has no data indicating referees are challenged more or less based on gender. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. "I just hope one day we can stop counting. Danielle Scott and Angelica Suffren officiated an NBA Summer League game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat on Tuesday evening. Two black women did something this week that no other women have done before: They refereed a professional basketball game together. Her currency? We are excited for them to have reached this milestone in their careers.. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. "Being a Black woman herself, being a trailblazer as the first African-American [woman referee] in the NBA, she understands 100% of the challenges that I face," Jelks, 35, said. Select referees by season: . I'm good, I'll tell you whether or not she's cute!' The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Career Explorer Guide also estimated . ncaa home, women, post season history: men, women 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 NCAA Women Referee Leaders. "Lauren took about six of us under her wing a couple summers ago," Sago said. "She taught me how to carry myself, how to be comfortable being the only woman in the room all the time. The Orlando forward played only 11 games this season after missing two years with a torn ACL. During the 2021-22 NFL season, the . In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner became the first women . The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting. . Natalie Sago, 31, a 2018 addition to the league, had a birthright motivating her: Her father, Dr. Shelton Sago, was a 35-year high school official in Missouri, a local legend in both basketball and football. Women's College Basketball. The current group of eight full-timers all did games, as did Clare Aubry, ShaRae Mitchell, Blanca Burns and Jenna Reneau. She joined the pros as a full-time ref in 2018 and had a side career as a bartender while climbing her way up the ranks. Those who followed them still faced real challenges. I think when I got hired, that had its own sort of significance and same for all the women after me. Facebook. Scott has spent much of her first year in the league building rapport with the players and teams. Thirteen of the 31 referees in the WNBA are women. On top of that, shes getting as many reps as she possibly can at various levels and navigating up to four different sets of rulebooks, depending on her schedule. The first category is WNBA referees, the second is entry-level referees and the third is the top of the line senior referees the best of the best. Those changes include separate dedicated locker rooms for women officials. The women that are coming on the scene now are helping us -- we're not helping them.". This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. "I see little girls sitting courtside, parents asking me to take a picture with their little daughter," Moyer-Gleich said. Holtkamp reffed in the G-League for six years before eventually getting the call-up to the big stage. WNBA 2020 Playoffs: Points of Education (Part 2), 2019 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Screens He was promoted to referee in 2006 and has overseen gameday officiating crews since. It hits harder now after years of reflection. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. I wanted to do as many games as I could to prepare me to work in the NBA. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about 12 12. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. And to the people who run the NBA's officiating program, efforts in recent years to open recruiting pathways and increase diversity are far from merely symbolic: They're practical for a league always striving to improve. A WNBA referee has been slammed by fans after ejecting a player after the pair appeared to accidentally bump into each other. First-year NBA official Danielle Scott views her rookie season the same as any player entering the league would: an adjustment. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Inspiration was even easier to come by for Jenna Schroeder, 35, another former collegiate athlete who, like Holtkamp-Sterling, transitioned to the officiating side following college. The referees had to be ready and so did the players, coaches and fans. Katie Patterson. The first category of referees we're going to be looking at is WNBA referees. WNBA 2020 Playoffs: Points of Education (Part 1) And thats not where the NBA or any other meritocracy wants to be if its goal is to have the most talented, hardest-working members get the most opportunities and rise highest. Today, there are five full-time women referees in the NBA -- the most in the . Maj Forsberg, who came from Denmark and played for the Rainbow Wahine from 1996-2000, sat behind . As the NBA continues to normalize the notion of women officials in this male-dominated space, Holtkamp-Sterling is confident the league is moving in the right direction. The three prominent distinctions among the NBA Referees are entry-level referees or rookies, referees for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and senior-level referees. But no one, not by a long shot, thinks the work is done. Today, she is best known for the memes that surfaced after an encounter she had with Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic. Although she considers herself a basketball junkie, the former collegiate softball player is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and follows the sport closely. 4 Sean Wright, Weve all been rookies, whether youre a coach, a player or a referee. "It's almost normal now. Referee assignments are posted at approximately 9:00am ET each game day. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Both entered the league fully in 1997, and Palmer, now 56, got the honor of making history when she donned the whistle for a late October game that year. Instead, the Farmington, Mo., native spent most of her time traveling with her dad, a high school and collegiate basketball referee for 35-plus years, to all of his games and tournaments. Meet Lauren Holtkamp, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Natalie Sago, and now Jenna Schroeder. NEW YORK - The WNBA today announced the 15 referees who have earned spots to serve as on-court and/or alternate officials in the WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google.. Playoff officials are selected by the WNBA Referee Operations management team based on three specific criteria throughout the season: WNBA Referee Operations' graded rankings, play-calling accuracy and team feedback. "Middle child" is perhaps more fitting; as the only one of the five, current full-time women in the league with a direct connection to the Palmer/Kantner days. According to numbers provided by the NBA, 16 of the 65 referees (28 percent) in the NBA G League are women, and at the conclusion of the 2017 WNBA season, 12 of the 32 referees (37 percent) were . In 2014, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling became the first woman hired as a full-time NBA official in nearly two decades. Referees: Katie Lukanich, Darren Krzesnik, Kyle Bacon. Erica Ayala. "Did I hear it? The approval of her peers in the officiating world. According to a warrant for Morrow's arrest, he's facing charges of assault by strangulation, second-degree kidnapping and communicating threats. As a proud Black and LGBTQ woman, Palmer especially was a barrier-breaker in more ways than one. 0. Referee data is available for the 1988-89 through 2022-23 seasons. Each game crew consists of three on-court officials and one on-site alternate. And to this day, I dont think people know that thats actually a thing.. When shes not working a game or traveling to the next city, the four-year NBA official remains dedicated to the league 24-7 from studying film to communicating with her associates. R denotes rookie. The Pennsylvania native has four years of collegiate officiating experience, with stints in the ACC, Atlantic 10, Patriot League and Ivy League, among other conferences. Sago says she will always praise the WNBA for helping prepare her for the NBA. any players who have declared for the 2022 WNBA draftincluding seniors, . NBA officials Simone Jelks (left) and Ashley Moyer-Gleich working a game together in Chicago. But now, in 2021-22, the NBA has six female referees on its full-time officiating staff, the most ever. However, her journey was slightly different from some of her female counterparts. "And I say that very positively. The first category of referees we're going to be looking at is WNBA referees. There aren't many great answers for why 17 years passed between women being hired, for instance, although it's understandable why those at the top of today's league prefer to look forward. Moyer-Gleich played basketball at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Although there's no word on what their yearly raise looks like, after three to five years of working as an entry-level referee, officials are eligible to be promoted to the next level. Its just that they werent there to be recognized as a referee.. . Ashley Moyer-Gleich talks with Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell. Its really satisfying to say, We dont have to go and search for women referees, said Monty McCutchen, the NBAs senior vice president, head of referee development and training. WNBA 2021: Points of Education (Part 2) It's something that the NBA's senior vice president spoke about last year, pointing out how there hasn't been a concentrated effort to hire female referees. The NBA promoted Danielle Scott to a full-time official on Monday, making her the sixth woman on the league's current staff. ET. Thirteen of the 31 referees in the WNBA are women. Its not based on your gender, race or ethnicity.. FFC Frankfurt and FCR 2001 Duisburg. It put tears in her eyes "that someone would actually put me in that class of people." They were audible conversations for Palmer and Kantner, and sometimes more. Women's Euros. Could this have come sooner? As far as WNBA referees, they make considerably less. Skype chats gave way to lengthy group texts, including several that persist to this day. Still, there's unanimous agreement that without the groundwork laid by the two trendsetters before them, the path would have been rockier. Professional basketball has broken world barriers by having star players from countless different countries and broken the gender barrier as well. The NBA, like the society it's part of, inches ever closer to true equity. There won't be a number anymore. Any player or coach would be ill-advised to go there. But now, in 2021-22, the NBA has six female referees on its full-time officiating staff, the most ever. NBA.com spoke with each of the six women to learn more about their unique journeys to the league: Jenna Schroeder talks with Spurs guard Dejounte Murray before a game. They make up 8% of the 75-member officiating staff. Our women officials give technical fouls at the same rate as anyone else., Said Williams: I hope one day well be able to look at them as officials instead of a lady official or a male official.. None of it deterred her -- in fact, quite the opposite. It does not store any personal data. Referees in the National Basketball Association (NBA) oversee 120 pre-season games, 1,260 regular season games, and four rounds of playoff matches.These officials "oversee competition in real-time between 10 exceptional athletes, making calls with 95% accuracy.". Ten women have held that job in league history, with the current eight joining Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner on that list. Sago, Holtkamp-Sterling, Schroeder and Moyer-Gleich were all on-hand in Clearwater, Florida to celebrate Sago's 30th birthday a couple summers ago (Jelks wasn't yet a full-time official). "I have always shown great respect for the referees and my career supports me," Ndour wrote on Twitter with a clip of the incident after . Im sure we would have been open to it, said Sam Perkins, forward/center who played for four teams from 1984 to 2001 and is now the treasurer for the National Basketball Retired Players Association. . We all started somewhere. Taking a look at the numbers behind Nikola Jokic's historic season for the Nuggets. But she viewed the NBA as a challenge to conquer, plus she took comfort in the fact that at the time, NBA mechanics were actually pretty similar to those she was used to at the women's college level. None of it bothered me. She worked the 2013 and 2014 NBA G League Finals and the 2014 WNBA Conference Finals. The ability to advance in this career is evident. Mosher has . Holtkamp officiated in numerous collegiate conferences, including the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and Colonial Athletic. "While there were times it could wear on my spirit, it was also a real test of what I want to do and why it's important that I'm choosing to pursue this," Holtkamp-Sterling said of those initial struggles. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. WNBA 2020: Points of Education (Part 2) By. Ashley Moyer-Gleich (gleash) has officiated 110 regular-season games in four seasons as an NBA staff official. Natalie Sago says her time officiating games in the WNBA prepared her for an NBA officiating job. Before we do, check out a compilation video of every technical foul handed out last season. With four more working on a part-time basis and two fill-ins from the NBA G League, the league has a dozen women on call to make calls on any given night. My ideals completely match up with the NBAs and I think it would be difficult to work for a company if your ideals didnt and I just feel very fortunate that they believe in everything I believe in.. Women officials are often generalized as being too sensitive when they dont tolerate or permit certain forms of disrespect on the court. She played through college and worked her way up the high school, college . Durant, a four-time scoring champion, now sets his sights on Hakeem Olajuwon in 12th place. A multi-dimensional, hard-working woman, Jelks played collegiate basketball at USC and is a certified foreign language K-12 educator. Moyer-Gleich recounts similar experiences. $425. . Fast forward to 2022, Sago worked the Suns-Bucks game Sunday in Milwaukee, where Phoenix coach Monty Williams dismissed any notion that female refs might cause a games texture or tone to be different. Active referees are listed in bold. "There's no reason why we shouldn't have more women as officials, coaches and basketball executives in our league," Silver said. RotoWire names five under-the-radar players who could add value to your rosters as we approach fantasy playoffs. These goals are attainable now in ways they just couldn't have been even a generation prior. These women, who collectively had precious few female sports icons as children, now recognize their own role in inspiring a future generation. WNBA 2019: Points of Education (Part 3), 2020 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Block, Charge, WNBA 2020 Playoffs: Points of Education (Part 1), WNBA 2020 Playoffs: Points of Education (Part 2), 2019 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Continuation. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". In addition, referees are paid bonus money for working the playoffs and NBA Finals. And thats the way our society should be, McCutchen said. The NBA now has eight women at the full-time referee level, the most the league has ever had at one time. 2019 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Continuation Schroeder's wife, Britta Anderson, was a pioneer in her own right: Back in 2011, with virtually no women in similar positions whatsoever, she was hired as the associate team physician for MLB's Detroit Tigers -- a role she still occupies today. These were different times. Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling remembers feeling vulnerable, but not intimidated. Holtkamp-Sterling finds comfort in having close working relationships with other NBA officials. College basketball referees for D-1 men's NCAA games make over $2,000 per game and they can work over 70 games per season, so their annual salary for working the NCAA season is approximately $150,000 the same as an entry-level ref in the NBA. Not only that, but the grind to becoming a professional referee requires true dedication. You can e-mail himhere, findhis archive hereandfollow him on Twitter. Palmer and Kantner were so much more than just trailblazers; the weight they shouldered eased the burden for all who came after. When it comes to mentors within the officiating world, though, it all comes back to the paths forged before them. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. After a successful college career, she began working her way up as an official. Oct 15, 2022. If you are having difficulty accessing any content on this website, please visit our Accessibility page.