Women Refs in the NBA

[Kansas Ref]

Very good story on espn.com about a woman ref who started out working youth league games, then over-came the barriers of sexism, male hubris, and all to become a top level NBA ref. She even said that after her games, there's always moms and young daughters who are lined up and giving her "high fives" as congratulations for making it that far and being a model of what a girl can achieve despite stringent barriers. I thought this story was great motivation for pulling more young folks into reffing games bcz according to NASO, the average age of basketball officials at the highschool level is 56 years old!

[BillyMac]

Whether it was me as a high school basketball player, or me as a middle school basketball coach, or me as a high school basketball official, as long as someone was good official, it never mattered to me what gender they were, or thought they were; what color they were; where they worshiped, or didn't worship; where they, or their parents, or their grandparents, came from; or who they shared their bed with.

One exception, my younger daughter played basketball from middle school through high school (even played a little in medical school) at a very high level, including helping her AAU team win an international tournament in Spain, and never had a female official work any of her games. I wish that she had some female officials as role models back then.

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

Very good story on espn.com about a woman ref who started out working youth league games, then over-came the barriers of sexism, male hubris, and all to become a top level NBA ref. She even said that after her games, there's always moms and young daughters who are lined up and giving her "high fives" as congratulations for making it that far and being a model of what a girl can achieve despite stringent barriers. I thought this story was great motivation for pulling more young folks into reffing games bcz according to NASO, the average age of basketball officials at the highschool level is 56 years old!

Wow, could you provide a link? I'd be glad to read that story. I'm on board with any female official getting promoted to higher levels as long as they are good at what they do.

[Player989random]

Here you go: https://www.espn.com/espnw/story/_/i...espn:nba:index

All I got to say is, all the recent female hires for the NBA were in the G-League for 3 years, according to their bios on NBRA. Recent male hires in the past 3 years? 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, hell one guy at 12 years.

I'm not saying they don't belong there, but it's clear that they're looking for a certain type (which is fine). And as a minority who has taken full advantage of affirmative action, I'm cool with it. But let's not paint this as if it's not "social work" according to McCutchen. Adam Silver said the other year that he wanted more female refs, and they got them. End of story.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Player989random

Here you go: https://www.espn.com/espnw/story/_/i...espn:nba:index



All I got to say is, all the recent female hires for the NBA were in the G-League for 3 years, according to their bios on NBRA. Recent male hires in the past 3 years? 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, hell one guy at 12 years.



I'm not saying they don't belong there, but it's clear that they're looking for a certain type (which is fine). And as a minority who has taken full advantage of affirmative action, I'm cool with it. But let's not paint this as if it's not "social work" according to McCutchen. Adam Silver said the other year that he wanted more female refs, and they got them. End of story.

The NBA recently changed its mindset about how long they will develop officials in the G League before they give up on them as being NBA prospects. If they are not ready in 3-5 years they're not going to make it anymore.

The person who was in the G-League for 12 years is a personal friend of mine. At one time he was told his chance had passed. I was very surprised when he got hired full time after spending so much time in the G league and WNBA. His story is not going to happen anymore. Just like you're not going to see people like me anymore who didn't start officiating until 37 and got hired into D1 basketball at 45.

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[Player989random]

Originally Posted by Raymond

The NBA recently changed its mindset about how long they will develop officials in the G League before they give up on them as being NBA prospects. If they are not ready in 3-5 years they're not going to make it anymore.

The person who was in the G-League for 12 years is a personal friend of mine. At one time he was told his chance had past. I was very surprised when he got hired full time after spending so much time in the G league and WNBA. His story is not going to happen anymore. Just like you're not going to see people like me anymore who didn't start officiating until 37 and got hired into D1 basketball at 45.

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I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

[Kansas Ref]

I guess the best/most efficient route to becoming an NBA ref is to just "decide and commit" early in your reffing career and bypass multiple years of high-school and college reffing. Their process is so standardized that it can be done by joining up with G league and slogging through their clinics and games, instead of doing HS and or NCAA reffing as apparently those are not "stepping stones" towards an NBA reffing job?