She told The Daily Telegraph she almost quit officiating due to A-holes in the crowd yelling derogatory things to her. ), Aggressively and accurately calls plays in the primary area of responsibility, Responsible for basic mechanics including rotations, positioning and clock and team foul awareness, Strong rules knowledge coupled with contributions to in-game discussions/issues regarding adjudication. "And I say that very positively. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. Referee, the world's original sports officiating magazine, educates, challenges and inspires officials at all levels. Despite women entering the professional sports ranks in historically all-male leagues - Jen Welter was an Arizona Cardinals assistant coaching intern this summer, and former WNBA star Becky Hammon . NBA referees salaries for this season and through the years Flores has spent nine seasons in the G League and 10 in the WNBA, and is also an accomplished women's college referee with two Final . 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. The current group of eight full-timers all did games, as did Clare Aubry, ShaRae Mitchell, Blanca Burns and Jenna Reneau. Each game crew consists of three on-court officials and one on-site alternate. We are excited for them to have reached this milestone in their careers.. "In that moment, he was being very clear -- there was no micro-aggression or anything: 'I'm going to tell you exactly that I don't think you belong here doing this.'". Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling remembers feeling vulnerable, but not intimidated. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. 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. Five women officials is a step up from one or two, but still represents a minuscule percentage of the league's 65 total referees. She officiated games for the B-League, WNBA, Big East, and ACC during her journey to the top. 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. Fahy walked into Ndour during the second quarter while looking in the opposite direction . Sago was a collegiate athlete but played softball instead of basketball. Camp Hill resident Ashley Moyer-Gleich is in her second month as the fourth-ever female NBA referee. 7:30 PM ET Ashley Moyer-Gleich (gleash) has officiated 110 regular-season games in four seasons as an NBA staff official. But neither supply nor demand were what they are now. 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. McCutchen has long said that the NBA will hire the best people to fill the job, regardless of gender. According to Career Trend, those who officiate WNBA games earn a salary of $180,000 per year to start. The 15 referees assigned to the 2021 WNBA Playoffs are below: Copyright 2023 NBA Media Ventures, LLC. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In the WNBA, an entry-level referee makes an average of $16,000 a year, or $425 per game . These were different times. 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 . Scott, the daughter of college basketball officials, was promoted Monday to the full-time NBA staff referee roster. They all worked between 20 and 26 games as non-staff referees last season. February 4, 2021. Jelks, along with her female counterparts, dont pay much attention to what fans or critics have to say and know they wouldnt be here if it wasnt for their esteemed skillset. Penn Manor wrestler Trinity Mowery taking part in the PIAA junior officiating program referees a match at the Elizabethtown Optimist Club Junior High wrestling tournament at Elizabethtown High . 6 NBA officials proving refereeing is not a gendered job With the . MLB umpires rake in an impressive $300,000 annually, and the referees in the NHL receives around $275,000 . 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. When Holtkamp-Sterling returned to officiating after giving birth in 2019, the league had arranged specific accommodations for her as its first-ever mother to officiate a game. Our paths are all different but we all got to the same end goal.. "They congratulated me for getting hired and being in the WNBA, I was like, that . Rather, they've tried to go further. Scott credits her colleagues for helping to guide her throughout this first year as a full-time ref. "Here we are in a very male-dominated space, and the league was very proactive to make sure I had what I needed.". They allow the league's scouts to evaluate larger swaths of the population and identify greater cumulative talent. Since Holtkamp-Sterling, four more women have been hired as full-time NBA referees. Professional referees in the National Basketball Association are divided into three distinctions: Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), entry-level and Senior. Those whispers Holtkamp-Sterling would hear as she entered the league years later? To order copies of She competed in the Sweet 16 of the of the 2010 Division II NCAA Tournament. Listed is the 2021 WNBA roster of officials, along with their number. But now, in 2021-22, the NBA has six female referees on its full-time officiating staff, the most ever. Select referees by season: . It does not store any personal data. In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee . liberal lgbtq female referee Lauren Holtkamp vs SEXIST - YouTube Kicking off the list is Lauren Holtkamp. It was that support and recognition that both of us were sort of in the space that women arent typically in and that we were sort of bolstered by seeing each other there, doing the work, said Holtkamp-Sterling. Natalie Sago says her time officiating games in the WNBA prepared her for an NBA officiating job. According to the National Basketball Association (NBA), this is the first time ever that two female referees officiated the same NBA game. Ashley Moyer-Gleich, 33, a former Millersville University college basketball player who debuted as a full-time NBA referee in 2018 after working in the WNBA, took years of mentorship from Kantner; both are from cities within an hour of each other in Pennsylvania. While the NBA continues to be at the forefront of providing more opportunities for women officials, other leagues such as the NFL and the American Hockey Association (the NHLs minor league affiliate) have taken strides in recent years with hiring their first women officials. In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner became the first women . Other projections put the base salary for new referees somewhere around $250,000. 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. Palmer recalls all the media hubbub that surrounded her and Kantner when they entered the league; when Holtkamp-Sterling did the same 17 years later, there was hardly so much as a press release -- something Palmer delighted in seeing. 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. And as McCutchen points out, 42% of G League referees are women. Moyer-Gleich officiated three seasons in the NBA G League, including the 2018 playoffs. Within several years, for the 2014-15 season, Holtkamp-Sterling would become the first woman hired as a full-time NBA official in nearly two decades. Holtkamp reffed in the G-League for six years before eventually getting the call-up to the big stage. Marc J. Spears, a senior writer for ESPN . Skype chats gave way to lengthy group texts, including several that persist to this day. Moyer-Gleich recounts similar experiences. G League referee ShaRae Mitchell becomes the 15th woman in NBA history picked to work a regular-season game. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Natalie Sago didnt watch much NBA basketball growing up. The WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google will tip off on Thursday, Sept. 23 with two first-round single-elimination games on ESPN2. A WNBA referee is being slammed for ejecting Astou Ndour after bumping By accessing any information beyond this page, you agree to abide by the Privacy Policy / Your California Privacy Rights and Terms of Use. Your login session has expired. Erica Ayala. 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. 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. Chicago Sky centre Astou Ndour was walking down the court in . Next up is Simone Jelks, who became the league's seventh full-time female ref in 2019. 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. 4 Sean Wright, Success! Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. 0. "[The NBA] worked closely with me to make sure that the locker room was where I needed it to be as a nursing mother," Holtkamp-Sterling said. But Holtkamp-Sterling believes shes the one paying homage and praises Palmer and Kantner for breaking barriers as the first two women officials in the NBA. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. She also enjoys Bikram yoga and swimming. may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated in any form. CHICAGO --Prior to Game 3 of the 2021 WNBA Finals on Friday night, Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi addressed the $2,500 fine she received from the league for making "inappropriate contact . First, the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky hosts the seventh-seeded Dallas Wings at 8 p.m. Compared to other sports, referee's earnings in the NBA and WNBA are among the best. NBA hires Danielle Scott, league's 6th female full-time ref 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. :-). I had absolutely no idea you could be a referee and make a living out of it. Add four from the list of nine part-timers and the share of female refs bumps to 12%. Today, though, this is frankly the bare minimum; no one in the league office is patting themselves on the back for simply keeping up with the times. No portion of NBA.com may be duplicated, redistributed or manipulated in any form. She etched her name into the history books as the first mother to officiate a league game. 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. Women's College Basketball. NEW YORK - NBA G League referees Cheryl Flores, Robert Hussey, Matt Kallio and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to full-time NBA staff officials for the 2022-23 season . According to Career Trend, WNBA referees earn a base salary of $180,000 per year. NBA female referees: The league has been around for more than 70 - CNN Who will win nationals? When we see three females working the G League together, we're empowered, we're inspired. Now in her third NBA season, she feels this is a whole new grind in comparison to her journey but there is no place else she would rather be. Could this have come sooner? Career Explorer Guide also estimated . We won't send you spam. Mosher has . With no big distinguishable difference between the referee pay for men and women, it's still clear that being a referee is a high-paying job. Palmer broke barriers in 1997 when she became the first female to referee an NBA game. rights reserved. Before becoming an NBA referee, Holtkamp played college basketball at Southwest Missouri State. The ability to advance in this career is evident. She worked the 2013 and 2014 NBA G League Finals and the 2014 WNBA Conference Finals. Katie Patterson. Top 12 Hottest Female Referees - TheSportster 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. 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. 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 Off the court, Moyer-Gleich likes to spend time outdoors with her family, plan events and take photographs. Before becoming a ref in 2018, Moyer-Gleich officiated games for the WNBA. Now check your email to confirm your subscription to the Referee.com Review. 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. Even while on maternity leave, shes locked into games every single night, which now she gets to do with her son by her side. Her husband, Johnee Gleich, is currently an official in the NCAA. . While that was the most overtly negative experience Holtkamp-Sterling recalls from her career, it wasn't the only one. #24 Scott, #77 Lane, #17 Sterling In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner became the first women to serve as referees in the NBA. Flores has spent nine seasons in the G League and 10 in the WNBA, and is also an accomplished women's college referee with . A multi-dimensional, hard-working woman, Jelks played collegiate basketball at USC and is a certified foreign language K-12 educator. Similar to Holtkamp, Jelks played basketball at a highly competitive level before entering the world of officiating. Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." Conley was in the G League for seven seasons, Schwab for five and, like Scott, they also worked WNBA games this season. The NFL pays referees an average of $205,000 per annum. All Flores and Mosher join Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, Simone Jelks, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Natalie Sago, Jenna Schroeder and Danielle Scott as women at the full-time NBA referee level. According to Career Trend, those who officiate WNBA games earn a salary of $180,000 per year to start. In 2014, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling became the first woman hired as a full-time NBA official in nearly two decades. He . 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. Boger, 67, joined the NFL in 2004 as a line judge. Just as meaningful, though, is the broader support structure that's been created. NBA hires Danielle Scott, league's 6th female full-time ref Earning a high school diploma or GED is the minimum education requirement for referees across league levels. Touchy, touchy. To order 2019 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Continuation There's no jealousy here, no bitterness over an "easier" path faced by today's young women. ncaa home, women, post season history: men, women 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 NCAA Women Referee Leaders. All Rights Reserved. Holtkamp-Sterling, now 40, had just finished officiating a youth boy's game as the solo referee. 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. Holtkamp-Sterling has become a big sister figure to the other women in the program.