Lifelong bonds have been formed within this group. Oct 15, 2022. All five women said they'd absolutely recommend refereeing both men's and women's basketball to any young woman with the drive and dedication. It put tears in her eyes "that someone would actually put me in that class of people." Im so happy for you.. Scott credits her colleagues for helping to guide her throughout this first year as a full-time ref. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Amy Bonner took up refereeing as a student at the University of Missouri in the early 1990s, calling rec league games, and by 2002 she was officiating games in the NBA's Developmental League. WNBA announces officials for WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google, WNBA Draft 2023 presented by State Farm to be held on April 10, NBA legend Pau Gasol named recipient of 2023 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, WNBAs streaming platform, WNBA League Pass, to include 2023 Athletes Unlimited basketball games, First-ever WNBA Canada game to feature Sky and Lynx in Toronto, Defending WNBA champion Aces to host AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023, DICKS Sporting Goods becomes Official Sporting Goods Retail Partner of the WNBA. NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee Guide, Proficient in Referee and Umpire positions, High-level play calling, partnering skills, and tools for handling any game situation, including interpersonal communication, Understands the importance of extending into their secondary area of coverage, with accuracy, Proficient in all Umpire position requirements, Effectively the glue for a crew through consistency, teamwork, and communication - makes partners better by carrying a larger portion of the crews load than an Umpire, Capable of handling some plays in secondary area of coverage, Ability to recognize and appropriately manage shifts in game conditions (intensity, emotions, decorum, style of play etc. Shop NEW Women Hooping summer apparel: http://www.womenhooping.com/Support the channel through PAYPAL: paypal.me/womenhoopingORPlay as WNBA players/teams in . In March 2015, the NBA began issuing Last Two Minutes reports that detail the performance of referees at the ends of games which the . In 2003, she was the main referee for the 2002-03 Women's DFB-Pokal final between 1. For female basketball referees, men's college basketball may be the bleakest of frontiers. Conley was in the G League for seven seasons, Schwab for five and, like Scott, they also worked WNBA games this season. Erica Ayala. Other projections put the base salary for new referees somewhere around $250,000. None of it deterred her -- in fact, quite the opposite. Jelks describes people telling her that their daughters tune into NBA games she works and won't even focus on the players; their eyes only on her. Five full-time women in officiating today eclipses the total of the NFL, MLB and NHL combined. Kantner's NBA career was the shorter of the two, spanning until 2002 when she was released by the league. Cheryl, Robert, Matt and Dannica have demonstrated the ability and professionalism required to be a full-time NBA officiating staff member, said Monty McCutchen, the NBAs senior vice president overseeing referee development and training. Even while on maternity leave, shes locked into games every single night, which now she gets to do with her son by her side. 3 Nick Buchert, Smithfield, Ky., 10. $425. "There are a lot of things I want to say about the officiating . The average salary of a male basketball player is put at $7.7 million while that of their female counterparts is a mere $100,658. SHARE. 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. Still, there's unanimous agreement that without the groundwork laid by the two trendsetters before them, the path would have been rockier. She told The Daily Telegraph she almost quit officiating due to A-holes in the crowd yelling derogatory things to her. Because the Women's National Basketball Association is less successful than the NBA and has a shorter season, WNBA officials earn significantly less than NBA officials. Women officials now make up 8% of the 75-member officiating staff as the league continues its focus on hiring the most talented and hardest-working referees in the business. Natalie Sago says her time officiating games in the WNBA prepared her for an NBA officiating job. In the second game, the fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury faces the eighth-seeded New York Liberty at 10 p.m. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. College Park Skyhawks GM Tori Miller is breaking barriers in the landscape of pro sports. "I'll prove myself amongst them, so they'll look at me as just a referee," Palmer said of her mindset at the time. "And I say that very positively. Michaela Gilmer is an Interactive Producer for NBA.com. 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. And that is where the NBA has been busy in recent years. Female referees make a maximum single-game pay of $5,000 if they work the Super Bowl. permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com. 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. The entry-level referees are paid around $600 per match. According to the National Basketball Association (NBA), this is the first time ever that two female referees officiated the same NBA game. By accessing any information beyond this page, you agree to abide by the Privacy Policy / Your California Privacy Rights and Terms of Use. To that effect, there have been real efforts toward promoting equality and diversity within the officiating ranks, the sort that may not make headlines but truly advance a progressive agenda. "Once or twice a week in the summer, we would get on a Skype call and spend an hour or two hours talking rules, talking scenarios, situations. Legitimate acceptance has come in waves. She etched her name into the history books as the first mother to officiate a league game. She played in high school and college in Croatia and Puerto Rico before returning to the States and becoming a ref. @ESPNNBA It stuck for good, always as a term of endearment. 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. Referee. Kicking off the list is Lauren Holtkamp. Similar to Holtkamp, Jelks played basketball at a highly competitive level before entering the world of officiating. They congratulated me for getting hired and being in the WNBA, I was like, thats crazy because I was watching you guys when I was 12 years old and now were working together.. Palmer broke barriers in 1997 when she became the first female to referee an NBA game. First, the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky hosts the seventh-seeded Dallas Wings at 8 p.m. Seven women have worked as full-time 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. Holtkamp-Sterling finds comfort in having close working relationships with other NBA officials. Five women officials is a step up from one or two, but still represents a minuscule percentage of the league's 65 total referees. Holtkamp officiated in numerous collegiate conferences, including the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and Colonial Athletic. 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. Turner is permitted to get to a spot twitter.com/i/web/status/1, TONIGHT 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). She got her professional start in the WNBA, which was a big deal for her because she grew up idolizing players such as Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi. "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. ET. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". As WWE's New Day would say, shame! Compared to other sports, referee's earnings in the NBA and WNBA are among the best. 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? In the WNBA, an entry-level referee makes an average of $16,000 a year, or $425 per game . . The NBA, like the society it's part of, inches ever closer to true equity. Danielle Scott decided to join the family business. WNBA 2021: Points of Education (Part 3), 2020 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Block, Charge They get only $180,000 a year or $425 per match. Sago was a collegiate athlete but played softball instead of basketball. 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. According to Career Trend, those who officiate WNBA games earn a salary of $180,000 per year to start. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The other five Sage, Schroeder, Simone Jelks, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling and Ashley Moyer-Gleich are active in the league today and among . Rules, interpretations, mechanics, philosophies and other information may or may not be correct for the current year. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The NBA promoted Danielle Scott to a full-time official on Monday, making her the sixth woman on the league's current staff. Schroeder explains the disparities within the NCAA when women officials were not being paid the same as the men and how that growing theme troubled her. Holtkamp, Moyer-Gleich, and Sago were the only three female referees that were active in the NBA for the 2018 season. This article is the copyright of Referee Enterprises, Inc., and may not be republished in whole or in part online, in print or in any capacity without expressed written permission from Referee. New to motherhood another around-the-clock job Moyer-Gleich remembers getting hired in 2018 as the jumping-off point for the league, which has now been a domino effect of more women coming through the officiating pipeline. Referee, the world's original sports officiating magazine, educates, challenges and inspires officials at all levels. Basketball Referee Salaries for Other Leagues. She worked the 2013 and 2014 NBA G League Finals and the 2014 WNBA Conference Finals. Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." Collect, curate and comment on your files. With the . 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 . But now, in 2021-22, the NBA has six female referees on its full-time officiating staff, the most ever. Officiating In Perspective with Barry Mano, 2020 Womens National Basketball Association, 2017 Womens National Basketball Association Roster, 2016 Womens National Basketball Association Roster, Next Level Softball Umpiring Free Email Series, High School Volleyball Officials Quiz 2023.