Written by Athletic Communications Intern: Derek Vanden Esschert
NBA ref Jenna Schroeder joined Oakland's monthly forum for Athletics Diversity and Inclusion. Schroeder started officiating basketball games in high school at the age of 17. "I made a hundred dollars on a Saturday and I thought I was rich," said Schroeder. 'When I was in high school, I could've worked at the mall or flip burgers for a living but I ended up refereeing third and fourth-grade girls."
While she was starting to referee these games, she was also playing basketball and then eventually got a scholarship to Oakland University. She played at Oakland for a year as a freshman before transferring to Saginaw Valley State University and in the summer she would referee the college's summer camps.
She graduated in 2009 right during the financial crisis. "Let's be real, there wasn't a ton of jobs in 2009, so I started bartending slinging beers on one night and then the next night, I was refereeing. I did that for 10 years until I got to the point where I started officiating college basketball at SVSU and Oakland University then I got into the Big East, the ACC and I was finding my way through the college world," added Schroeder.
Would she have been fine sticking to refereeing women's college basketball? Of course, but then something happened after going through all the college games she was refereeing. "Someone looked at me and gave me a tryout for the NBA G-League so I went and tried it out because I just don't think you shoulder ever turn down an opportunity;" she said. "As it turns out, they kind of liked me. There is something about Detroit, I'm from Flint but there's something about that Flint/Detroit attitude that you just don't take stuff from anybody and I think they really liked that about me so it kind of worked out and they hired me,".
Schroeder is in her second year officiating in the NBA after the NBA G-League and she talked about what she learned while being a student-athlete that still carries on to this day with her. "Listen I'm going to tell you right now, what I learned as a student-athlete is work ethic. I promise you, you guys are working harder than anyone else you know," continued Schroder. "Trying to balance, you know your career in the athletics, and 16 hours of classes then whatever else your coach wants you to do at that time and then your family responsibilities or just trying to have some life? That's what I learned when I played in college, the work ethic," .
As you would figure, being a woman in a male-dominated sport and field there must be some obstacles, right? "I think the biggest one is the need to convince people that I should belong. When you come up to some of these athletes, these are the best athletes in the world. You have to tell them no and they're not used to being told no so that is a certain amount of confidence you have to have and you have that inner battle within yourself that I deserve to be here and that is probably the hardest battle in my opinion".
In life you do not want to regret "what if?" Schroder mentioned that a few times because she is so grateful the opportunity came her way. "I am going to try every single thing I can even if I am bad at it and I am going to tell you right now I have stopped at a few things because I was bad at refereeing at one point, but you know, I still tried it and figured it out and got better. So, I think just give it a try, and even if you fall on your face and it does not really hurt that bad you just get back up and try it again you know?".
March was women's history month and Schroder talked about some of her experiences and what she sees in the world as we are progressing as a culture accepting more women in sports and other professions. "My good friend Natalie [Sago] and I worked in an NBA game and it was the first time two women had worked in an NBA game at once. It was such a wonderful experience, the highlight of my professional career because of how it would affect other people and hopefully reverberate to other professions like seeing is believing right now. Kamala Harris is our Vice President and we saw Sarah Thomas be the first woman to referee a Super Bowl. So, when we are having a conversation in the United States about gender equality, that's just the tip of the iceberg. I just hope that people keep doing more in this industry and breaking barriers so we do not have to celebrate anymore it will just be normal that is my hope," Schroder said.
People might think referees can just go to a game and call a game but it has a lot more homework involved into it. "The referees you see out there have been doing it probably a long time, they do hundreds of hours of tape breakdown just to get to that level to be able to referee at a Division I school such as Oakland. Every single game I referee I watch on the plane ride home and I take notes seeing what I would do differently we just have to build on those mistakes every game and move on from there." Schroder said.
Best piece of advice Schroder could give the student-athletes in our Community? "The best advice I can give anybody is to be yourself because everybody else is taken. I am telling you right now, if I could not be my authentic self in the NBA every single day and I will be honest with you I am a lesbian and I have a daughter with another woman I have a lot of rainbow and extranet going on, if the NBA did not want that, then I do not want them. That should go for every single job you have and if they are not okay with you being you then you should not be with them. So that is the best advice I can give you and it just so happens that I worked for the NBA and they are at the absolute forefront of social issues and that means a lot to me. I think it would be very difficult to work for a company that was not and it just so happens that we share the same political views and things like that so it is very helpful for me. Just be yourself because people can see through if you are trying to be somebody else like you can see through that and I think being yourself is the only way you are going to survive," concluded Schroder.
