The Crown Refs Podcast

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝘆.⁣ ⁣ Natasha is a super talented 8-year official from the great city of brotherly love, who is extremely passionate about officiating and giving back to the game.⁣ ⁣ Natasha is no stranger to Division 1 basketball as she was a former player at Widener University from 2006-2010. She’s also officiating in 15 Division 1 conferences including: BIG 10, SEC, ACC, BIG 12, CUSA, BIG EAST, AMERICAN, SUN BELT, A10, CAA, MAAC, PATRIOT, AMERICA EAST, IVY, & NEC.  ⁣ ⁣ Some of the officials who inspired her were Dee Kantner, Joey Crawford, Tina Napier, Laura Morris, Rachelle Jones, Gina Cross, Felicia Grinter, Beverly Roberts, Maj Forsberg, & Brian Garland. Natasha is determined to grow the Women's game in all forms through media, exposure, stories, quality officials.⁣ ⁣ In this episode, Natasha gives us tactical advice on how to overcome setbacks and turn your failures into learnings. She shares some of her success stories and breakthroughs on when the light bulb finally went off for her. ⁣ ⁣ Some other very important topics that we discussed are equality, diversity, the expansion of officiating, and the importance of creating a true pipeline for women’s officials.⁣ ⁣ 📺 𝗧𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵⁣ https://youtu.be/klViekGGrw8⁣

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆.⁣ ⁣ Lisa had a brilliant 28-year officiating career that was one for the ages by any account. She posts historic postseason stats that most coaches and even universities will never match. ⁣ ⁣ Lisa took 21 trips to the NCAA tournament including a remarkable 18 Final Fours and 10 NCAA Women’s Championship games. She also was a part of the WNBA’s inaugural season and officiated multiple league finals during her 10-year pro career. ⁣ ⁣ She retired after the 2018 Final Four and was immediately hired as Coordinator of Officials for the SEC, Atlantic Sun, Ohio valley, and more. Lisa also hosts Referee University, a camp ideal for officials looking to learn and gain exposure to Division 1 Women’s basketball. ⁣ ⁣ In this episode, we mention some other officiating legends like June Courteau, Sally Bell, and Patty Broderick who were instrumental in Lisa’s growth, and discuss some of her most memorable games as an official. ⁣ ⁣ Lisa also spoke candidly about how she balances the fine line of hearing out coaches while still supporting officials and gives us insights on a day in the life of a power 5 conference coordinator. ⁣ ⁣ 📺 𝗧𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵⁣ https://youtu.be/iEVJgXve6_M⁣

𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀. Sara Woods is a basketball official from St. Louis, Mo who is currently working amateur, collegiate and semi-pro contests.  She is also the founder Big Game Officials, a training platform empowering referees to set the standard of excellence, while igniting opportunities in basketball officiating.   She recruits and develops prospective and current officials along with her staff of mentors and mentees.  She is a goal driven dedicated professional offering practical and progressive career success on every stage of basketball officiating.  “As a referee, my purpose is to provide athletes with the best possible competitive experience.  The fierce competition is a constant reminder that teamwork is essential.  As a crew, we rely on experience, training, and each other to get the call right.  Officiating requires hard work and dedication.  However, being a part of the game while protecting its integrity is rewarding and worth the effort.”  - Sara Woods  In this episode, we learn about the Big Game Officials weekend workshops and their intense mechanics instruction that they provide to their referees who attend.  You can hear Sara's passion for the craft throughout this episode as she's built a family-like community around officiating.   If you are interested in joining the Big Game Officials team please contact Sara directly http://Www.biggameofficials.com 📺 To Watch https://youtu.be/qftkdW1pOB8 #servethegame

The Crown Refs Podcast introduces our new series “The Wonderful of Officiating” dedicated to highlighting the amazing accomplishments of the females of our officiating community and some of the great work they're doing both on and off the court.⁣ ⁣ Episode 1 features Chiene’ Joy Jones, a charismatic 3-year official from Queens, NY. Chiene’ is a basketball coach who founded Grow Our Game, a nonprofit organization empowering the next generation of young women through the game of basketball. ⁣ ⁣ With over 15 years of coaching experience, she continues to serve as a committed and dedicated professional through community organizations in New York City, primarily facilitating and leading efforts to break generational poverty by advocating for our youth in urban communities. ⁣ ⁣ She is a mentor to all of her players, past, and present, and continues to advocate for girls' participation in sports. Coach Jones was named 2020 New York Knicks/Jr. Knicks Coach of the Year and most recently featured in Nike’s You Can’t Stop Our Voice! Campaign for her profound impact in the NYC basketball community.⁣ ⁣ In this episode, we sit down with Chiene’ to learn about how she developed her passion and love for the game and why she chose to play Divison 3 over D1. We also discuss some of the most common challenges that women face in sports and what male officials can do to drive the visibility of female officials. ⁣ ⁣ 📺 𝗧𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 ⁣ https://youtu.be/grDNmPvO0Vc

Attached in the Crown Refs IPR is a 10-15 minute instructional mechanics video that we personalize to exceed the needs of each official. ⁣ ⁣ Ken Stewart, a 5-year official from Illinois, decided to record this video in response to his report and we wanted to share his feedback with you.⁣ ⁣ Thank you Ken for your contributions and to all of the referees that continue to support and interact with our content.⁣ ⁣📺 To Watch https://www.facebook.com/100030619764015/posts/517820275915293/?d=n #servethegame⁣ #payitforward⁣

Brady Stiff and Kelsey Loughlin are longtime friends who finally decided to record their conversations about sports and everything else and host a podcast called “...And we’re back” available on Spotify/Apple podcasts.⁣ ⁣ They recently had me as a guest on their podcast to talk about my experience with officiating, provide some tips for new officials, dispel some myths about sports officials, and talk about how Crown Refs was built from the bottom up.

In this episode of 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮 we had the pleasure to record a group conversation with the entire staff of officials who were recently at the House of Sports during the first weekend of AAU games. ⁣ ⁣ Our topics include being confident when admitting you’re wrong, having the guts to play offense on anyone, and dealing with the entitlement of players and coaches. ⁣ ⁣ We also discuss a play from the NCAA tournament and ask the interesting question of when does looking at a player turn into staring and taunting.⁣ We hope you enjoy!

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟭𝟱𝟬 features a diverse range of topics and storylines that I cover with long-time Crown Refs supporter Travis Potter. Travis is a 6-year official and the assistant director of Wellness and Recreation at Stetson University. ⁣ ⁣ 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 he offered his intramural officials an opportunity to earn 15 hours' pay if they listened to 11 signature episodes of our podcast and write a summary on how they can directly implement the content on the court for success. ⁣ ⁣ 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 some of Jacklyn Lavoie’s takes on the Roger Ayers, Diana Depaul, Joey Crawford, Mark Wunderlich, Bo Boroski, Scott Foster, Tyler Ford, and Al Battista episodes, which allowed us to dive deeper into that content and provide additional learning points for the audience.⁣ We hope you enjoy!

In this episode of 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮 ⁣ we discuss more game management strategies for complaining coaches and how and when you can take advantage of offensive opportunities. ⁣ ⁣ We conclude that officials have historically let coaches get away with too many antics on the sidelines and the lack of sportsmanship has been naturally embedded into the game itself. We also cover unsportsmanlike conduct and the criteria involving bench technicals. ⁣ ⁣ 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿, we are the guardians of the game so what we permit-we promote.⁣ 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁, You are backed up by the rulebook.

𝙅𝙤𝙝𝙣 𝘾𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙮 put together one of the most outstanding NCAA officiating careers of all-time both on and off the court. His Division 1 career spans over 30 years in the ACC/Big East/SEC conferences including 26 NCAA tournaments, 12 Final Fours, and 4 National Championship games. ⁣ ⁣ He was the 1989 Naismith Official of the Year and inducted into the sports hall of fame in two states PA/NC.⁣ He also served as Coordinator of Officials in the ACC/Colonial/A10 from 2005-2015.⁣ ⁣ In this episode, we discuss two of John’s most memorable assignments, the iconic 1991 Final Four game between UNLV vs. DUKE, and the 1996 National Championship game between Syracuse vs Kentucky. John also shares how he handled a Larry Brown outburst early in the first half of the 88’ title game. ⁣ ⁣ John also spoke very candidly about one of the more disappointing moments of his career and how not having a patient whistle played a huge part.⁣ We also touch on the power of the coaches and the need for better sportsmanship throughout the industry.⁣ ⁣ 📺 𝗧𝗼 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 this episode⁣ https://youtu.be/Xum1TfNoVZM