OT: Lauren Holtkamp, NBA Ref, Is the. . .

[Kibitzer]

. . . third female NBA referee. Dee Kantner was once one and Violet Palmer is a veteran NBA game official.

Lauren played at a D2 college and somehow got interested in officiating. (Her first gig was a middle school game.) She got serious when she got enrolled in the NBA D-League Development Program (three levels: grassroots, intermediate, elite). She was subjected to expert instruction combined with evaluations as she worked college and WNBA games. After a few years, she made it to the NBA Summer- and D-Leagues.

After over six years of dedicated grinding, Lauren finally got The Call! She is now a respected NBA Referee (1 of only 63). Her career aspiration -- chaplain, perhaps in a hospital or women's prison -- has been put on hold.

I have no idea what methods of development and selection are practiced by the NCAA or WNBA. Anybody know?

 

[arty155]

... Referee.. what methods of development and selection are practiced by the NCAA or WNBA. Anybody know?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

. . . third female NBA referee. Dee Kantner was once one and Violet Palmer is a veteran NBA game official.

Lauren played at a D2 college and somehow got interested in officiating. (Her first gig was a middle school game.) She got serious when she got enrolled in the NBA D-League Development Program (three levels: grassroots, intermediate, elite). She was subjected to expert instruction combined with evaluations as she worked college and WNBA games. After a few years, she made it to the NBA Summer- and D-Leagues.

After over six years of dedicated grinding, Lauren finally got The Call! She is now a respected NBA Referee (1 of only 63). Her career aspiration -- chaplain, perhaps in a hospital or women's prison -- has been put on hold.

I have no idea what methods of development and selection are practiced by the NCAA or WNBA. Anybody know?

I don't know how organized it is, but I know certain things -
- there are camps and training programs. At one time, the official Scott Yarborough (works the SEC and Big 12 and lesser other conferences mostly, been around forever) ran one, there are others. Obviously they are in the summer.
- You generally begin at a lower level (starting might be high-school, then Junior College, then NAIA or DIII, etc. ) and work your way up. I'm sure you "apply" for the positions you want. Granted it was many years ago, but part of Dee Kantner's rise according to a recent article was that she was a quick graduate into D1.
- You ref lower level conferences before you get to major gigs. I have monitored 2 former RU players that are referees - Jamie Broderick (her mother is a coordinator, former HOF ref) who works only the mid-majors around the upper mid-west and Linda Miles, who went from those same small conferences up to the American / BE and then added the ACC. A number of the referees who do the Pac12 games, due to there being less D1 opportunities, do a lot of DII and DIII work as well. Another former player (Arizona) works the West Coast and Big Sky conferences, as well as lower levels, but seems to get more and more D1 gigs each year. I'm sure some day she will be a Pac12 ref.
- You move up based on evaluations, and get onto conference approved referee lists. Each conference has a coordinator of officials of some sort - Patty Broderick does a consortium of mid-majors, Sally Bell was doing that sort of work last I heard, the ACC has a former player / coach / broadcaster whose name just went out of my head, Barbara Jacobs used to do the oBE and the American. I had the full list about 5 years ago, although there has been some changes since. Available by google.

That is all I know, maybe someone has more details.

 

[slug25]

. . . third female NBA referee. Dee Kantner was once one and Violet Palmer is a veteran NBA game official.

Lauren played at a D2 college and somehow got interested in officiating. (Her first gig was a middle school game.) She got serious when she got enrolled in the NBA D-League Development Program (three levels: grassroots, intermediate, elite). She was subjected to expert instruction combined with evaluations as she worked college and WNBA games. After a few years, she made it to the NBA Summer- and D-Leagues.

After over six years of dedicated grinding, Lauren finally got The Call! She is now a respected NBA Referee (1 of only 63). Her career aspiration -- chaplain, perhaps in a hospital or women's prison -- has been put on hold.

I have no idea what methods of development and selection are practiced by the NCAA or WNBA. Anybody know?

She worked the Paradise Jam when UConn played there 4 years ago. I thought she was very good but I don't recall seeing her at any other Husky games.