Britni La Cretaz

Twenty-one years ago， the NBA broke the gender barrier when it hired Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner， becoming the first major U.S. professional mens league to hire women as fulltime officials. But what was once seen as a sign of progress has not ushered in the cultural shift many expected. Today the NBA can count just one woman among its officiating ranks， and she is the only one to be hired full-time since the league hired the first two.

21年前，聘用了維奧雷特·帕爾默和迪·肯特納的NBA打破了性別障礙，成為北美第一個聘用女性擔任全職裁判的主流體育聯(lián)盟?？蛇@一具有先驅(qū)意義的事件并沒有如眾人所愿地帶來文化上的改變。如今，NBA的眾多裁判中只有一名女性，她也是聯(lián)盟自首次聘用兩名女性裁判之后聘用的唯一女性。

In fairness， the NBA isnt the only league with a paucity of female referees. "Theres not a history of females officiating on the mens side； that has to be built，" said Barry Mano， founder and president of the National Association of Sports Officials （NASO） and founder of Referee magazine. Major League Baseball has never had a female umpire； nor has the National Hockey League； the National Football League hired its first female referee in 2015. By these metrics， it would seem the NBA is ahead of the game. But it hasnt stayed in front， and its not clear when it will regain the momentum.

公平地說，NBA并不是唯一女性裁判稀缺的聯(lián)賽。“不存在女性吹罰男子比賽的歷史，這是需要構(gòu)建的文化。”體育裁判國家協(xié)會（NASO）的創(chuàng)始人兼總裁，《裁判》雜志創(chuàng)始人巴里·馬諾表示。MLB從未有過女性裁判，NHL也沒有，NFL直到2015年才第一次聘用女裁判。按照這些標準，NBA無疑處于領(lǐng)先地位。但NBA并沒有保持領(lǐng)先地位，我們也不知道他們何時才會重啟勢頭。

Officiating is a dying industry， no matter the sport. Officials cite poor treatment from athletes and fans and low pay as two of the main reasons for exiting the job， according to Mano. NASOs 2017 National Officiating Survey of 17，487 referees at all levels around the country found that， in 1970， the average age when officials entered the field was 19 or 20. Today， its 42.

不論哪項運動，裁判都是一個走向死亡的職業(yè)。按照馬諾的說法，運動員和球迷的惡劣態(tài)度以及低收入，是人們放棄裁判這份工作的主要原因。2017年NASO對全美17487名來自各個等級的裁判進行的全國裁判調(diào)查顯示，1970年成為裁判的平均年齡為19到20歲。如今，這個數(shù)字是42歲。

"Younger people arent coming into this. Theyre making a different choice，" Mano said."So that stark reality forces us to deal with recruiting people and retaining them once theyre here." That recruitment includes more actively seeking out "underrepresented groups"（including women） to enter the field， something approximately 64 percent of officials who responded to the NASO survey felt should be happening.

“年輕人不愿意要這份工作，他們做出了不一樣的選擇?！瘪R諾說，“嚴峻的現(xiàn)實迫使我們招募并留住裁判?！闭心脊ぷ靼ǜe極地尋找“代表不足的群體（包括女性）”，NASO調(diào)查接近64%的受訪者認為應(yīng)當如此。

Violet Palmer had worked in womens NCAA Division I college ball for about eight years when she received a phone call from the NBA to invite her to its training program. "I joined the program and did very well，" Palmer said during a phone interview. "I learned that all you have to do is be in the top of your class of the training program and if theres a position open in the league， you will get your opportunity. Lo and behold， in 1997 I received my phone call and got my opportunity to referee in the league.”

維奧雷特·帕爾默在NCAA女子一級聯(lián)盟做了大約八年裁判，才接到NBA邀請她參加培訓項目的電話?！拔覅⒓恿隧椖?，表現(xiàn)得很好?！迸翣柲陔娫挷稍L時表示，“我了解到，只要培訓時保持頂尖成績，只要聯(lián)盟有空缺，那就是幾乎你就能留下。你瞧，1997年我接到了電話，得到了在聯(lián)盟做裁判的機會?！?/p>

Palmer went on to referee for 18 seasons and is now a referee manager for the league. "I actually crossed over to the dark side，" she joked，"because its almost like I went from being a referee on the floor， and then I end up retiring and now Im on the management side.”

帕爾默做了18年裁判，現(xiàn)在擔任聯(lián)盟的裁判經(jīng)理?！拔移鋵嵖绲搅撕诎狄贿?。”她開玩笑說，“因為這就好比我過去是球場上的裁判，退休后成了管理人員。”

Dee Kantner， who started at the same time as Palmer， was fired after five years for"not making sufficient progress in her own development，" according to an NBA statement given to the Associated Press at the time of her firing. Kantner declined to be interviewed for this story but said in a recent interview with the AARP that her hiring was "groundbreaking，" while her firing was "devastating" but "one of the best things" that had ever happened to her."From that experience， I became a better person， I became a better official， I had a much healthier perspective in life，" she said.

和帕爾默同時進入NBA的迪·肯特納，根據(jù)NBA在她被解雇時發(fā)給美聯(lián)社的通稿中的說法，“由于沒有在個人發(fā)展方面出現(xiàn)顯著進展”而在五年后被解雇?？咸丶{拒絕接受采訪，但她此前在接受AARP的采訪時表示，她被聘用具有“突破性意義”，被解雇雖然“很讓人崩潰”，但卻是發(fā)生在自己身上“最好的事情之一”?！坝辛四嵌谓?jīng)歷，我成為了更好的人，更好的裁判，對人生也有了更健康的態(tài)度?！彼f。

One year after the women were hired， the NBA saw its hiring practices come under scrutiny when it lost a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by Sandra Ortiz-Del Valle， another woman who aspired to officiate in the NBA. Both Palmer and Kantner testified at the time that they felt they were hired on merit and that their gender did not hold them back from progressing. The jury disagreed that was the case for Ortiz-Del Valle and found that her gender was the reason she had not landed a job as an NBA referee. Though the NBA argued that Palmer and Kanter were proof the league didnt discriminate， it was ordered to pay $7.85 million in damages to Ortiz-Del Valle.

聘用女裁判的一年后，輸?shù)襞c桑德拉·威爾的性別歧視官司后，NBA發(fā)現(xiàn)自身的雇傭政策遭到了嚴密審查，后者則是另一個致力于成為NBA裁判的女性。帕爾默和肯特納當時均作證，表示得到聘用源于個人能力，性別并未起到拖累作用。但陪審團并不認同，他們判定威爾正是因為性別才沒有得到NBA的工作。盡管NBA辯稱帕爾默和肯特納是聯(lián)盟不歧視女性的證據(jù)，但還是被判定賠償785萬美元。

A lot has changed in the 20 years since the lawsuit. The NBA now has a more streamlined and intentional pipeline for potential referees. They come up through various leagues， often through the NCAA or other college leagues， professional-amateur tournaments or the high school circuit. Referees may be recruited by one of the NBAs three full-time scouts， or they can attend an open tryout for a development camp invite. The top 100 candidates are identified and whittled down through a grassroots camp， midlevel camp and elite camp. The top performers at the elite camp are hired into the G League. From there， they can move on to the WNBA and NBA.

那場官司后的20年間，形勢發(fā)生了巨大變化。如今NBA對有志于成為NBA的人來說，提供了更簡便，更有針對性的渠道。NBA裁判來源多樣，主要來自NCAA或其他大學聯(lián)賽，職業(yè)業(yè)余聯(lián)盟或高中聯(lián)賽。他們可能由NBA的三個全職球探之一招募，也可以接受發(fā)展訓練營邀請參加公開試訓。聯(lián)盟會選出前100的候選人，通過草根營，中級營和精英訓練營篩選。精英訓練營中表現(xiàn)最突出的人會被發(fā)展聯(lián)盟聘用。以發(fā)展聯(lián)盟為起點，他們可以進入WNBA和NBA。

Recently installed to supervise the process is Michelle D. Johnson， the leagues new Senior Vice President and Head of Referee Operations， who was brought in last October to oversee officials in all three leagues， as well as focus on refining the scouting， development and evaluation processes. According to numbers provided by the NBA， 16 of the 65 referees （28 percent） in the NBA G League are women， and at the conclusion of the 2017 WNBA season， 12 of the 32 referees （37 percent） were women.

最近上任，負責監(jiān)管這一流程的是米切爾·約翰遜，她是聯(lián)盟新任副總裁，兼任裁判部門主管。去年十月，她開始負責三個聯(lián)盟的裁判工作，同時負責提高發(fā)掘，培養(yǎng)和評估裁判的流程。根據(jù)NBA提供的數(shù)據(jù)，發(fā)展聯(lián)盟的65名裁判有16名（28%）為女性；2017年WNBA賽季結(jié)束時，32名裁判中有12名為女性（37%）。

Despite all the progress， just a single woman officiates in the NBA today—Lauren Holtkamp. Now in her fourth season， Holtkamp started on her path to the NBA after playing Division II college ball at Drury University. In graduate school， she began officiating youth games before moving on to the high school level and， later， college. By that time， she was living in Atlanta and working toward a Master of Divinity at Emory University.

盡管取得了這么多進展，但目前的NBA只有一名女裁判——勞倫·霍特坎普。已經(jīng)在NBA工作了四年的霍特坎普在德魯里大學打過NCAA二級聯(lián)賽后開始向NBA努力。讀研究生期間，她先是吹罰青少年比賽，隨后擔任高中比賽裁判，最后進入大學聯(lián)賽。那時，她住在亞特蘭大，正在攻讀埃默里大學神學碩士學位。

"I was working Division II NCAA and some junior college and working high school basketball as well，" Holtkamp said in a phone interview. "The way you get hired on the college ranks is you go to these summer camps； theyre like evaluation camps. And Dee [Kantner] was a teacher at one of those.”

“我吹罰NCAA二級聯(lián)賽，也在大專和高中籃球比賽做裁判?！被籼乜财赵陔娫挷稍L時表示，“想被大學聯(lián)賽聘用，你得參加夏季訓練營，那就像評估訓練營。迪（肯特納）是其中一個訓練營里的老師。”

Kantner watched Holtkamp work， and a few weeks later， Holtkamp sat with Kantner at a WNBA game. At the time， Kantner was an NCAA referee and working as the Supervisor of Officials for the WNBA—a position she held for a decade， from 2004 to 2015. "I asked her a lot of questions and just kind of soaked it in，" Holtkamp said. From there， Kantner connected her with former official George Toliver， the NBAs Associate Vice President of Referee Performance and Development， who ran a teaching camp， which led to an invitation to the NBA Summer League and then to the D-League（now the G League）. Then she moved on to the WNBA and， eventually， the NBA， where she was briefly joined by another female referee， Brenda Pantoja， in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons， when both were officially on assignment for the league. （Unlike Holtkamp， Pantoja was not hired. But on Sunday she and Kantner helped officiate the womens Division I national championship game.）

肯特納看到了霍特坎普的表現(xiàn)，幾周后，霍特坎普在一場WNBA的比賽中和肯特納坐在了一起?？咸丶{那時是WNBA的裁判，也是聯(lián)賽的裁判監(jiān)督——從2004年到2015年，她擔任這一職務(wù)已有十年之久。“我問了她很多問題，完全沉浸在其中?！被籼乜财照f。在那之后，肯特納介紹她與前裁判，NBA裁判表現(xiàn)及培養(yǎng)副總裁喬治·托利弗認識，后者開辦了一個培訓營；這讓霍特坎普獲得NBA夏季聯(lián)賽的邀請，直至進入發(fā)展聯(lián)盟。她吹罰了WNBA比賽，最終進入NBA。2012-13賽季和2013-14賽季，霍特坎普曾短暫擁有一個女同事布蘭達·潘托亞，兩人都是NBA的正式裁判。（和霍特坎普不同，潘托亞并未被聘用。不過在周日，她和肯特納會協(xié)助吹罰大學女子一級聯(lián)賽的比賽。）

THOUGH EVERYONE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS STORY EXPRESSED OPTIMISM ABOUT THE PIPELINE OF FEMALE OFFICIALS IN THE G LEAGUE AND WNBA， WHEN ASKED WHY MORE WOMEN HAVENT PROGRESSED FROM THE WNBA TO THE NBA. PALMER BELIEVES THE REASON WE HAVENT SEEN MORE WOMEN IS SIMPLE： "I DONT SEE A WOMAN WHO IS READY RIGHT NOW TO MAKE THAT JUMP INTO THE NBA .”

盡管每一個接受采訪的人均對女性裁判進入發(fā)展聯(lián)盟和WNBA表達出樂觀情緒，但被問到為什么沒有更多女性從WNBA進入NBA時，帕爾默認為原因很簡單：“我沒有看到一個明顯做好準備進入NBA的女性?！?/blockquote>

Though everyone interviewed for this story expressed optimism about the pipeline of female officials in the G League and WNBA， neither Johnson nor Holtkamp had an answer when asked why more women havent progressed from the WNBA to the NBA. Palmer believes the reason we havent seen more women is simple："I dont see a woman who is ready right now to make that jump into the NBA because， clearly， if there was a woman ready， they would get a job and have their opportunity.”

盡管每一個接受采訪的人均對女性裁判進入發(fā)展聯(lián)盟和WNBA表達出樂觀情緒，但被問到為什么沒有更多女性從WNBA進入NBA時，約翰遜和霍特坎普都無法給出回答。帕爾默認為原因很簡單：“我沒有看到一個明顯做好準備進入NBA的女性，因為很明顯，如果有女性做好了準備，她們就會得到機會，得到工作?！?/p>

Still， its hard to imagine that， in 20 years， only three women have ever been good enough to be given the opportunity. But Johnson explains that， of the thousands of officials on the leagues scouting radar， only about 30 will emerge as real prospects for a job in the league each year. That， combined with the fact that there is not much turnover at the other end in terms of people retiring from the NBAs roster of 65 officials， means "its really competitive for people to go out and show what they can do，" Johnson said.

盡管如此，我們還是很難想象，20年時間，只有三名女性優(yōu)秀到了能得到機會的程度。但約翰遜解釋道，在聯(lián)盟關(guān)注的數(shù)千名裁判中，每年只有大約30人有機會競爭工作崗位。再加上NBA裁判的變動率不高，65名裁判的退休人數(shù)不多，約翰遜表示，這意味著“競爭激烈，人們必須展示自己的能力?！?/p>

An NBA spokesperson said that over the past 10 years， almost 19 percent of officials who work in its development league end up with a full-time NBA job. For comparisons sake， Minor League Baseball estimates that just 5 percent of officials who work in the minor leagues will end up with a job in Major League Baseball.

一名NBA發(fā)言人表示，過去十年，約有19%的發(fā)展聯(lián)盟裁判獲得了NBA的全職工作。作為對比，MLB小聯(lián)盟里的裁判只有5%會得到進入大聯(lián)盟工作的機會。

Palmer thinks just asking the question of why there arent more women oversimplifies the problem. "You have to realize that the NCAA program right now has really grown and the money is really， really good and you have a lot of women ... who dont want to be NBA referees，" she said. "They go， Why would I go and have to work a longer season thats grueling when I can stay and referee a league that I love being a part of？ You cant fault women for that.”

帕爾默認為，提出為什么沒有更多女裁判這個問題，其實是過于簡化了問題?！澳阋靼?，NCAA現(xiàn)在真的得到了發(fā)展，薪金待遇非常高，有很多女性……不想做NBA裁判。”她說，“她們覺得，‘為什么我要工作一個漫長而痛苦的賽季，而我本可以留在一個自己喜歡的聯(lián)賽？你不能因為這個指責她們?！?/p>

Officiating in the NBA is a hard job， one the league argues takes time， effort—refs run four to five miles per game， according to Johnson—and lots of reps to master. "They need to have leadership skills and communication skills， and so that professional experience takes a few years of experience to really come to fruition， so that might explain why we cant just open the door and have people walk in. They have to be ready to go，" explained Johnson.

在NBA做裁判是一項艱苦的工作，聯(lián)盟表示這需要時間和精力——約翰遜表示，裁判場均跑動距離為5英里，還有很多需要應(yīng)對的問題。“他們需要領(lǐng)導和溝通能力，這需要有幾年經(jīng)驗才能起到效果。所以這大概解釋了為什么我們不能打開大門隨意讓人們進來。他們必須做好準備?！奔s翰遜解釋道。

Thats where it is hoped the pipeline the league has spent years developing will come into play. "It takes a certain type of referee， period， but especially for a woman referee，" Palmer said."At this point， I think for our women， theyre up and coming. Theyre getting their training， and when their opportunity presents itself， they will have their chance.”

正是因此，人們希望聯(lián)盟花費多年打造的上升渠道能夠起到作用?！昂芎唵?，這需要特定類型的裁判，特別是女裁判?！迸翣柲f，“現(xiàn)在，我覺得對我們女性來說，她們就是候選。她們得到了訓練，當機會出現(xiàn)時，她們會得到自己的機會。”

Johnson agrees. "You get the sense that[Holtkamp] wont be alone for long."

約翰遜也同意，“你能感覺到，霍特坎普獨自一人的情況不會很久?！?/p>

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