3-Day Women’s Referee Summit Ft. FIFA’s Head of Refereeing-Women, Kari Seitz

Written by Corey Rockwell, Senior Director of Education
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NISOA Referees. NCAA Women’s College Cup. Three-day Summit. Kari Seitz. Sandy Hunt. Tori Penso. Focused on Women. Unforgettable Event.

Any of these could have been hash tags to describe the NISOA/NCAA Women’s Summit held in San Jose, California in December 2021. For the 50 referees in attendance, it will be an event none will forget.

The three-day event kicked off on Friday night as the attendees were able to sit together and watch the semi-finals of the Women’s College Cup. NISOA referee crews led by NISOA Managing Director Tori Penso and NISOA’s 2019 Rose E. Bernabei Women Referee of the Year Award recipient Referee Samantha Martinez started the weekend perfectly by giving strong performances on the field. During the game, attendees sat and mingled with NISOA Director of Assessment, Amanda Ross, and NISOA Senior Director of Instruction, Corey Rockwell. The games provided a unique educational opportunity for NISOA members in discussing positioning, advantage use, foul selection, AR mechanics, player management and other topics live and during the game. The group also took notes of Key Match Incidents as “homework” to be discussed later in the weekend.

Saturday was devoted to various in classroom educational sessions, starting off with brief welcoming comments by Tori, Corey, and Ryan Cigich, NCAA National Coordinator of Officials. Those were the “opening act” for the main speaker of the weekend: four-time World Cup and FIFA Head of Women’s Refereeing, Kari Seitz. Kari flew half-way around the world from Zurich, Switzerland to be at this inaugural event. In being invited to the weekend, Kari said, “If it means getting women to the next level and promoting more opportunities for women in refereeing, then I will be there.”

To introduce Kari was another world-renowned and accomplished female referee both on and off the field: Two-time World Cup referee and current FIFA and CONCACAF Instructor and Assessor Sandy Hunt. Sandy rose to the top of her game as a referee and now helps develop the next generation of referees at the college level as an assignor, covering various Division 1 schools including several Men’s conferences. She was the perfect fit to introduce Kari to the group and later in the day gave a talk on her perspectives and motivation to the group. One attendee commented, “Sandy is brilliant. I could listen to Sandy for hours. She is the definition of ‘Grit…’ Her insights into the referees being kind and respectable individuals are why she has been so successful in all aspects of the game.”

With Sandy’s introduction, it was Kari’s turn to take the floor and hold the stage for the day. Kari gave three talks tailored for the NISOA referee. She started with “My Journey, What Makes a Great Referee?” She talked about her path from player to referee and all the steps she took throughout her career. This set the tone for the day as one attendee commented after this discussion that Kari was, “… very inspiring to dream big and work hard.”

Her next session was “Referee positioning Best Practices.” Kari was able to share best practices from the world’s best with several clips from the most recent Women’s World Cup in France. She conducted an interactive presentation using video to showcase best practices for positioning and movement for the modern referee. She interacted with the NISOA referees throughout and one attendee commented that, “.... Kari’s video analysis was the highlight of the Summit. Incredible. What an honor to have Kari share this insight and experience.”

Attendees for this event were diverse as we wanted all NISOA referees to engage in powerful discussions and promote referees of all genders, ages, and backgrounds to the next level. During the day, two group activities took place led by Corey and Amanda. Referees discussed the strong and week points of their game as a group and came up with action plans to improve. One attendee stated that Corey and Amanda were, “Such a great tag team with a wonderful balance of personalities to create a safe place for us to review challenges we all face in refereeing.”

The second group activity led to some powerful and emotional discussions as groups discussed bias towards female referees. Many of the male referees in attendance stated how this was “eye opening” and “powerful” for them to recognize the barriers that many female referees continue to break through to get to the next level. “This was the highlight of the day as what was shared were experienced that many of us would never know existed” commented one attendee. These discussions have helped inform strategic work for NISOA’s RIDE (Referee for Inclusion, Diversity and Equality) Committee that is underway to help address some of these issues identified during group discussions.

The last talk of the day was a special one as the floor was turned over to NISOA Legend and the Associate Director of Membership and Awards, NISOA Hall of Famer Tom Richardson. Tom had the great honor of being the first person to congratulate Kari Seitz for her induction into the NISOA Hall of Fame. Also providing a video introduction was the youngest referee to ever take the center for an NCAA Final: Brian Hall. Brian gave a heart-warming video congratulatory message for all to see welcoming Kari to the NISOA Hall of Fame.

To celebrate and cap off the second day, P.F. Chang’s sponsored a dinner for all attendees and we gathered in a closed dining room in the restaurant. The referee stories continued with many smiles, laughs, and reflections on the day. “I will never forget the fabulous dinner at P.F. Chang’s and they catered to our every need. Tori, Kari, and all the instructors took the time to talk with us, take photos, and have great conversation. It was a 10 out of 10!”

The Summit continued and wrapped up on Sunday as the attendees brought their “homework” to the conference room. Samantha and Tori each took the stage with their games playing on a projector in the background to discuss their perspectives on the game. The ARs talked about their positioning and difficult calls during the game, and the fourth officials talked about the challenges they faced on the bench.

Most left later that day, but for some, it was a four-day event! The Women’s College Cup final was moved to Monday to cap off an incredible, unforgettable weekend.

Special thanks to the NISOA Foundation Fund for funding this incredible event as well as providing scholarships for attends to participate, going above and beyond to support these women officials. Also, our sponsors stepped up to help cap off this successful event: Duktig, P.F. Chang’s, and Official Sports International. Finally, the collaboration and planning with the NCAA was a huge help and their partnership with NISOA continues to provide educational benefits for thousands of NISOA referees across the country. That leads to the final thank you: The NISOA referees who gave their weekend to learn from the best. Without their attendance and dedication to the game and to the promotion of women’s refereeing, this event would not have happened.

We look very forward to the 2022 Women’s Summit later this year and exceeding the high bar set by Kari Seitz and all the speakers from 2021.