"There's no reason why we shouldn't have more women as officials, coaches and basketball executives in our league," Silver said. First-year NBA official Danielle Scott views her rookie season the same as any player entering the league would: an adjustment. Entry-level NBA referees earn $250,000 per year as "rookies." NBA officials Simone Jelks (left) and Ashley Moyer-Gleich working a game together in Chicago. Career Explorer Guide also estimated . Ex-Rainbow Wahine Maj Forsberg makes mark in WNBA landscape as league's only female crew chief. Who is the player of the year in every women's college basketball conference? These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Rules, interpretations, mechanics, philosophies and other information may or may not be correct for the current year. "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. "Like Vice President Harris, she worked her way to the . The NBA's roster of female referees continues to grow. Scott, the daughter of college basketball officials, was promoted Monday to the full-time NBA staff referee roster. She told The Daily Telegraph she almost quit officiating due to A-holes in the crowd yelling derogatory things to her. UFC 285's Shevchenko by the numbers: It all adds up to domination, Infighting of Women's World Cup faves Spain, France, Canada reveals big issues in the sport. Last up on the list is Jenna Schroeder. 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). "I see little girls sitting courtside, parents asking me to take a picture with their little daughter," Moyer-Gleich said. Referee Position. Camp Hill resident Ashley Moyer-Gleich is in her second month as the fourth-ever female NBA referee. So my predecessors recognized this and put those seeds into the G League. The initiative is one that comes straight from the top of the NBA hierarchy. 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. And 25 of the 63 referees in the G-League are women. ET each game day. That doesn't bother me, because we're all just referees and we have to be able to co-mingle. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. According to Career Trend, those who officiate WNBA games earn a salary of $180,000 per year to start. "They congratulated me for getting hired and being in the WNBA, I was like, that . October 13, 2022 9:36 AM. Erica Ayala. Moyer-Gleich officiated three seasons in the NBA G League, including the 2018 playoffs. But again, thats counting. 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. And to this day, I dont think people know that thats actually a thing.. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. The ability to advance in this career is evident. Were capable and not just capable but like beyond excellent and can do the job just as well as our male counterparts.. Scott has spent much of her first year in the league building rapport with the players and teams. This season has seen a record 7 female referees officiate at least one game in the NBA. We [officials] are human, too. 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. They're just talking about something they're uncomfortable with.". As it turns out, there are three categories that NBA referees fall into. Holtkamp reffed in the G-League for six years before eventually getting the call-up to the big stage. Legitimate acceptance has come in waves. 2 min read. Other projections put the base salary for new referees somewhere around $250,000. Consider a theme like locker rooms. None of it deterred her -- in fact, quite the opposite. She officiated games for the B-League, WNBA, Big East, and ACC during her journey to the top. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. 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. 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. Please logout and login again. $18K. In recent years there has been a massive uptick in female referees in the NBA. 2023 Getty Images. In the beginning, back in 1997, there were two: Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner. We all started somewhere. Young women shouldn't have to look at officiating, or so many other traditionally male-dominated professions, as rarified air for only the chosen few. They make up 8% of the 75-member officiating staff. 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. Palmer broke barriers in 1997 when she became the first female to referee an NBA game. [She's] always been my biggest role model. . More than anything, it's that normalcy that today's women NBA referees aspire to. Your login session has expired. It's not a big deal anymore," she remembers thinking. Since Holtkamp-Sterling, four more women have been hired as full-time NBA referees. The NBA now has the most . The most recent estimations put NBA referees annual salaries between $180,000 and $550,000. Holtkamp officiated six seasons in the NBA G League and four seasons in the WNBA. In 2014, Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling became the first woman hired as a full-time NBA official in nearly two decades. Oct 15, 2022. "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. Be the first one to comment on this story. . Danielle Scott and Angelica Suffren officiated an NBA Summer League game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat on Tuesday evening. After playing college basketball in Millersville, Pennsylvania, Ashley Moyer decided to pursue a career in officiating. The second category of referees are the Entry-level NBA referees. February 4, 2021. 4 Sean Wright, Certainly not. 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. She served as a WNBA referee in 2018. However, her journey was slightly different from some of her female counterparts. 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. It was early in Holtkamp-Sterling's young basketball officiating career, years before she'd ascend to the NBA level. All WNBA referees even less. 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. WNBA 2019: Points of Education (Part 2) Ten women have held that job in league history, with the current eight joining Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner on that list. The NFL pays referees an average of $205,000 per annum. 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 were bearing the fruit of this.. It's needed that we strengthen each other emotionally, and just have that good support team.". Listed is the 2021 WNBA roster of officials, along with their number. 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. Chicago Sky centre Astou Ndour was walking down the court in . The approval of her peers in the officiating world. R denotes rookie. In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee . Female NBA Referees Are Becoming a Normal Part of the Game. In 2003, she was the main referee for the 2002-03 Women's DFB-Pokal final between 1. Players, Teams, Seasons, Leaders , . These women, who collectively had precious few female sports icons as children, now recognize their own role in inspiring a future generation. The women that are coming on the scene now are helping us -- we're not helping them.". Six women referees took part in the . The 2004 graduate of Brush High School worked 16 regular-season NBA . Five full-time women in officiating today eclipses the total of the NFL, MLB and NHL combined. 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. 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. 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. 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. All Rights Reserved. I thought that was awesome. 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.