wnba female referees

"They congratulated me for getting hired and being in the WNBA, I was like, that . "And I say that very positively. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling remembers feeling vulnerable, but not intimidated. Maj Forsberg, who came from Denmark and played for the Rainbow Wahine from 1996-2000, sat behind . ESPN was unable to obtain comment from Kantner, 60, for this story. Her love for simply being on the basketball court fused with her desire to prove those naysayers wrong. Women's . Ashley Moyer-Gleich (gleash) has officiated 110 regular-season games in four seasons as an NBA staff official. With more female referees officiating games, fans have begun to wonder if there's a pay gap between female referees and male referees. Back then, Palmer hardly had time to consider the significance of her accomplishment. 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). When she retired in 2016 after her 18-season career, it was back to one: Lauren Holtkamp. "Like Vice President Harris, she worked her way to the . The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. In 2014, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling became the first woman hired as a full-time NBA official in nearly two decades. "She really did an awesome job of reaching out to us and saying, 'Hey, I really want to start this group. Note: This article is archival in nature. Before becoming a ref in 2018, Moyer-Gleich officiated games for the WNBA. All that self-affirmation has finally come full circle. Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." 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. 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. The NFL pays referees an average of $205,000 per annum. I wanted to do as many games as I could to prepare me to work in the NBA. 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. Career Explorer Guide also estimated . 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's focus was internal. And not everyone was comfortable. 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 . With the average salary for a player in the WNBA being just $102,751, the fact that first-year referees are making so much is pretty surprising. These officials begin with a salary of $250,000 as first-year referees. Referee - August 12, 2021. In terms of explaining certain officiating calls during live games, Moyer-Gleich uses her past experience as a player to translate and articulate the rule book into basketball jargon that players and coaches will understand. Please try again. 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. 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. The hiring of Holtkamp-Sterling (the "Sterling" comes from Jonathan, her husband and fellow NBA referee) was a first domino of sorts with Silver's modern NBA, after almost two decades of no upward movement for women referees. A WNBA referee has been slammed by fans after ejecting a player after the pair appeared to accidentally bump into each other. presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution "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 . Of course," Palmer, who retired from the NBA in 2016, said. Erica Ayala. Moyer-Gleich played basketball at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. NBA officials Simone Jelks (left) and Ashley Moyer-Gleich working a game together in Chicago. As it turns out, there are three categories that NBA referees fall into. Bonner already had started working NCAA Division I women's . Copyright 2023 NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Moyer-Gleich officiated three seasons in the NBA G League, including the 2018 playoffs. 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. Jelks views Palmer as a key mentor in multiple ways. 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. Earning a high school diploma or GED is the minimum education requirement for referees across league levels. Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroeder have made NBA history as the first female referees to work on the same court. Women's Euros. San Diego State. Moyer-Gleich recounts similar experiences. Those changes include separate dedicated locker rooms for women officials. 2 min read. The NBA feels very strongly that this should be a meritocracy. She told The Daily Telegraph she almost quit officiating due to A-holes in the crowd yelling derogatory things to her. From coaches to players, we have it all. It's needed that we strengthen each other emotionally, and just have that good support team.". Fifteen of the largest college conferences paid their male referees on average 22% more than female referees in . Her expediated journey, as she describes, to the NBA began by navigating a very competitive, male-dominated, officiating industry where she quickly moved up the referee ladder. The NBA now has eight women at the full-time referee level, the most the league has ever had at one time. The six full-timers are Natalie Sago, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Simone Jelks, Jenna Schroeder, Danielle Scott and Holtkamp-Sterling (married to fellow NBA ref Jonathan Sterling). "Her advice is always authentic.". 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. The 2004 graduate of Brush High School worked 16 regular-season NBA . No. 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. Oct 15, 2022. McCutchen has long said that the NBA will hire the best people to fill the job, regardless of gender. Referee data is available for the 1988-89 through 2022-23 seasons. A native of Cleveland, a city she describes as being filled with underdog energy and soul, her family relocated to the suburbs where Jelks, like many teenagers, yearned to fit in among her peers. "Did I hear it? Thirteen of the 31 referees in the WNBA are women. "It's needed for women in this industry that already have a lot of things going against them. Currently, there are six female referees who work NBA games, up from one, Lauren Holtkamp, seven years ago. 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.. Select referees by season: . Danielle Scott and Angelica Suffren officiated an NBA Summer League game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat on Tuesday evening. By. The setting was a local recreation center in her home state of Missouri, where she'd previously played four years of college basketball at Drury University before becoming a referee. She etched her name into the history books as the first mother to officiate a league game. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. Success! Holtkamp-Sterling finds comfort in having close working relationships with other NBA officials. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Today, there are a total of five full-time women NBA referees, an all-time league high. And to this day, I dont think people know that thats actually a thing.. 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. Depending on experience and how far into the playoffs they're working, officials can reportedly receive a per game bonus of anywhere between $800 to $5,000. Rules, interpretations, mechanics, philosophies and other information may or may not be correct for the current year. The salary slab of referees is decided as per their experience. "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. Professional basketball has broken world barriers by having star players from countless different countries and broken the gender barrier as well. He was promoted to referee in 2006 and has overseen gameday officiating crews since. Simone Jelks, the first Black woman hired in this role since Palmer herself, was also one of several women to attend Palmer's yearly refereeing camps before reaching the NBA level (such camps are common in the refereeing world, both for development and scouting; Palmer's is open to all collegiate officials). I'm good, I'll tell you whether or not she's cute!' When it comes to mentors within the officiating world, though, it all comes back to the paths forged before them. The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. Floyd Mayweather interested in buying NBA team, Blake Griffin trolled by YouTuber courtside. NBA.com is part of Warner Media, LLCs Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network, *Translations are limited to select pages, Miller making history as female G League GM, Women referees among latest called up to work games, Female officials Q&A Part 1: Path to the NBA, Female officials Q&A Part 2: Womens empowerment, Ex-NBA player Morrow facing assault charges, Durant passes 'Big O' for 13th in career points, NBA Fantasy: Under-the-radar additions for playoffs, Magic's Isaac (torn adductor) out for rest of season, Triple-double win streak shows Jokic dominance, NBA DFS Picks: Yahoo plays and strategy for March 3. He . Under scrutiny from her first tipoff, Palmer instantly proved she could withstand the grumbling and ref . All parties involved can talk about themes like equality until they're blue in the face, but the truest mark of that state is actually when it's not a constant discussion topic. ET. Any player or coach would be ill-advised to go there. 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 . However, her journey was slightly different from some of her female counterparts. 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. Not that anyone is counting or, at least, needs to be. After seeing an overwhelmingly male-dominated officiating staff through the late 1990s and early 2000s, fans began to notice more female referees. The Australian was the first female to officiate the A-League series in 2015. "Dee did it in a day where I'm sure she didn't have that support.". And despite having to transcend this gendered space, the officials recognize that the job of refereeing is not actually gendered work. 2021 Women's National Basketball Association. Facebook. Women officials are often generalized as being too sensitive when they dont tolerate or permit certain forms of disrespect on the court. Referee, the world's original sports officiating magazine, educates, challenges and inspires officials at all levels. She became a professional referee in 1999 by officiating matches in the Women's Bundesliga, after that she was selected to officiate in the Regionalliga. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. 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. 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). Fahy walked into Ndour during the second quarter while looking in the opposite direction . The NBA now has the most . Five full-time women in officiating today eclipses the total of the NFL, MLB and NHL combined. Now were bearing the fruit of this.. 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. 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. 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 . Now check your email to confirm your subscription to the Referee.com Review. None of it deterred her -- in fact, quite the opposite. She worked the 2013 and 2014 NBA G League Finals and the 2014 WNBA Conference Finals. All Its just fantastic. She also has five years of high school officiating experience in her home state. 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. Whether they are sharing experiences from their rookie seasons or answering any of her questions, she finds comfort knowing she can trust her peers in any situation. As far as WNBA referees, they make considerably less. According to Career Trend, WNBA referees earn a base salary of $180,000 per year. Please logout and login again. The women that are coming on the scene now are helping us -- we're not helping them.". "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. Women NBA Referees. . Including various bonuses and incentives, NBA referees can make a total of $550,000 annually. Flores has spent nine seasons in the G League and 10 in the WNBA, and is also an accomplished womens college referee with two Final Fours on her resume. They all worked between 20 and 26 games as non-staff referees last season. 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. All we have to do is find the best referees and open our eyes to half of the population.. SHARE. February 4, 2021. The first time Jenna Schroeder was booed by 40,000 NBA fans as she exited the court, she knew she had finally made it. Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling is the NBAs longest-tenured female official. 4091. That only works if there are sufficient aspirants to form a true competitive pool of candidates. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. They make up 8% of the 75-member officiating staff. It was early in Holtkamp-Sterling's young basketball officiating career, years before she'd ascend to the NBA level. Tramel: Referee Amy Bonner earns ultimate compliment in historic debut season in Big 12. Probably. None of it bothered me. "We are a very empowered group of women," Jelks said. ET. In its . 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. (See the clip below.) The initiative is one that comes straight from the top of the NBA hierarchy. She served as a WNBA referee in 2018. Lifelong bonds have been formed within this group. It's not a big deal anymore," she remembers thinking. Referee, the worlds original sports officiating magazine, educates, challenges and inspires officials at all levels. Boger, 67, joined the NFL in 2004 as a line judge. As of last season, 11 different women were employed in assistant coaching positions around the NBA. 2023 Getty Images. Before finally making her way to the league, Schroeder reffed in almost every league imaginable. Referee. 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 . If you are having difficulty accessing any content on this website, please visit our Accessibility page. Women's College Basketball. She was the first female referee in German professional football. Sago says she will always praise the WNBA for helping prepare her for the NBA. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. The referees had to be ready and so did the players, coaches and fans. 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. . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Luka Doncic Arguing With The Female Ref Fouling In Love What? Individual game assignments for referees are posted at NBA.com/official at approximately 9 a.m. Women's Champ Week predictions: Which teams will win the auto bids in all 32 conferences? 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.". 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. A multi-dimensional, hard-working woman, Jelks played collegiate basketball at USC and is a certified foreign language K-12 educator. 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. 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. Several of the full-timers are close friends off the court. 2020 WNBA Inside the Rulebook: Block, Charge. 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. From pace of play to call selectivity, Scotts transition from the G League, to the WNBA and now to the NBA has been a whirlwind but shes enjoying the learning process. Katie Patterson. 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. Included aren't just the five women who have achieved full-time NBA status, but also many more working their way up through the G League or WNBA training ranks. 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. "I said to the guys: 'You can curse! "I'm not sure how it was that it remained so male-dominated for so long," said Silver last month. "[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. 7:30 PM ET But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Ability to recognize and appropriately manage shifts in game conditions (intensity, emotions . "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. Who will win nationals? expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Her husband, Johnee Gleich, is currently an official in the NCAA. "I'll prove myself amongst them, so they'll look at me as just a referee," Palmer said of her mindset at the time. But when she made the transition from basketball player to basketball referee, her perspective on those tough moments shifted dramatically. The NBAs roster of female referees continues to grow. During one year of Schroeders journey, she worked seven days a week for six months straight. . View. Cheryl Flores and Dannica Mosher have been promoted to the level of full-time staff officials, the NBA said Thursday. . "I just hope one day we can stop counting. Officials will be evaluated after each round of the playoffs to determine future advancement in the 2021 postseason. Rather, Hopkins said afterward that in general the Liberty got the short end of the stick, both in this game and all season long. The current group of eight full-timers all did games, as did Clare Aubry, ShaRae Mitchell, Blanca Burns and Jenna Reneau. Ex-Rainbow Wahine Maj Forsberg makes mark in WNBA landscape as league's only female crew chief. I think when I got hired, that had its own sort of significance and same for all the women after me. In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee . R denotes rookie. To its credit, the NBA hasn't been satisfied at simply hitting numerical targets for the sake of appearance -- although no one's saying it's been perfect, either. Strides are being made, even if we're still talking about small percentages of the overall population and more work is clearly needed. With the . 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. #NBA #NBAReferees twitter.com/i/web/status/1. Those who followed them still faced real challenges. And Silver . WNBA referee Kevin Fahy is facing criticism for his extravagant ejection of Chicago Sky center Astou Ndour. We can look at data, say from the 2011-12 season, to get an . Turner is permitted to get to a spot twitter.com/i/web/status/1, TONIGHT But Palmer and Kantner's influence on today's generation is immense and undeniable. Each game crew consists of three on-court officials and one on-site alternate. Michaela Gilmer is an Interactive Producer for NBA.com. . As the buzzer sounded, the father of one of the boys in the game approached and accosted her over her gender. If they are working full then they are paid $250,000 per season. 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. The WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google will tip off on Thursday, Sept. 23 with two first-round single-elimination games on ESPN2. Jelks describes one of the many attributes of being a great NBA official is holding players and coaches accountable for their actions. $425. 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. (Prior to entering the league, Palmer worked as a referee in NCAA Division I women's basketball.) Sago, 31, and Schroeder, 35, were two of the three people on the officiating crew . This season has seen a record 7 female referees officiate at least one game in the NBA. Officiating is ostensibly the main subject, and certainly a common thread. Referee Kevin Fahy on Sunday ejected Astou Ndour of the WNBA 's Chicago Sky after she appeared to accidentally make contact with his stomach as he walked into her. 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 Fours on her resume. Five women officials is a step up from one or two, but still represents a minuscule percentage of the league's 65 total referees. Palmer broke barriers in 1997 when she became the first female to referee an NBA game. 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. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Moyer-Gleich tells multiple stories of NBA security staff confusing her for a cheerleader or a referee's wife when she entered the building to officiate games; to varying degrees, her peers have similar experiences.

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