Cadillac Star Stays on Pitch as Rising Referee
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 14, 2020
There are very few female referees available to officiate high school soccer in northern Michigan.
But for Bill Anderson, a registered assignor who schedules officials out of the Cadillac area, there has been Little.
Alexus Little that is. And he’s darn glad he’s had her for 15 to 20 games each boys fall and girls spring seasons the past four years.
“I think her greatest asset is a natural ability to stay calm and see the entire field,” Anderson said. “She has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to take a moment and see how things play out before blowing the whistle or raising the flag.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Lexi from the beginning and watch her develop, and gain confidence in her ability.”
Little, a former four-year player at Cadillac High School who graduated in 2017, loves officiating the game she has played since she was an 8-year- old. She started officiating with the Michigan State Youth Soccer Association. Anderson assigned her those matches as well.
“It is the most fun job I’ve ever had, and it is super convenient for varying schedules,” she said. “You get to learn more about the game of soccer, watch plenty of games, stay active, and meet a ton of referees that share the love of the game and may have even officiated your own games.”
Little, a big challenge for high school defenses as a striker, sees herself in almost every girls soccer player she refs.
“When I played I was a center striker so my playing style was pretty scrappy and aggressive, yet still heavily based on footwork and constant runs with my teammates,” she said. “I see players like me all the time during the girls season.”
Anderson recalls her playing days similarly.
“She was a no-nonsense, hold-her-ground type of player who wasn't afraid to play with her back to goal and challenge defenders to come get her,” Anderson recalled. “More than once I blew the whistle and received a little dirty look from her, because she felt she could have kept going despite being fouled.”
As a senior, Little earned Division 2 all-state honorable mention. She now attends the University of Michigan. COVID-19 is allowing her to stay home, go to school and earn money refereeing fall soccer. She also refereed in the Ann Arbor area during her freshman year of college.
“I love to stay involved with soccer,” she said. “I’ve been doing it since middle school, and it's a fun and active way to earn some money.
“Being a referee also allows me to pick up games that fit my schedule.”
Little is among a just a handful of female soccer referees in the northern Lower Peninsula, that group also including Grand Traverse Area Soccer Association members Josephine Arrowood and Amanda Field.
“It can be a bit intimidating at times,” she said. “Most referees are men, so I feel like I lack authority in the eyes of the players/coaches/parents as a young woman, and even more so during boys games where most of the players are much taller than me.
“But, there have been several instances where I have received compliments from coaches or spectators passing by after a game related to being a young female officiating because they claim to not see that very often and would like to see more of it.”
Anderson agrees.
“When doing a boys game, I think there is still a general tendency to see if the female is up to the challenge,” he said. “However, she doesn't let that bother her and it doesn't take long for others to realize she is more than capable.”
Little gets a lot of satisfaction out of the game of soccer and recommends others get involved in officiating.
“The types of games where I am very glad I’m a referee are the ones where I get to watch crazy talent and skill from players I never would have seen play otherwise,” she noted.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Alexus Miller inspects the nets with officiating partner Jeremy Barrett before a game this season. (Middle) Miller checks her watch during a break in the action. (Photos courtesy of Tom Spencer.)
Referee Camaraderie: Bloopers, 'Nerding' Out, Lots of Laughs Create Powerful Bond
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
February 13, 2024
KALAMAZOO — When it comes to blooper highlights, four MHSAA hockey officials don’t hesitate to share their miscues.
One of them, Bob Corak, even has his pratfalls set to music on an internet site called Zebras with Pucks.
Laughter is the sound of the day when the four gather every Tuesday after their yoga class at Nisker’s Char-Grill & Slap Shot Hockey Bar in Kalamazoo.
The camaraderie between Corak, Corey Butts, Nick Schrippa and Nat Swanson is evident, but the tone gets more serious once the talk turns to officiating.
“We’ve all played, we’ve all coached to some extent, but officiating is just what speaks to us,” Schrippa said. “That’s our niche.
“Every player on the ice has a fan in the stands. Every player on the ice has support on the bench. We’re the only support we have in the arena. We’re the only ones we can lean on. We’re kind of on an island.”
Most times the friends are part of different four-man crews made up of two referees and two linesmen for South Central High School Hockey League games. But that just gives them more to talk about when they get together on Tuesdays.
“We spend an hour every Tuesday with Bob’s wife (Susan) just kicking the crap out of us and then come to (Nisker’s) to debrief,” Schrippa said. Susan Corak runs Be Well Yoga and Fitness in Kalamazoo.
"We never talk about the workout. Somebody will bust out a phone and we’ll go over a video and we’ll talk about a situation, talk about rule differences,” he continued. “We are nerds to the nth degree, and that’s just how we’re wired.”
Yoga is a good way to keep in shape, the four friends agree.
“I’m a little older than most of the referees I meet,” said Corak, who retired after 35 years with Pfizer in information technology. "It keeps me limber, keeps me in shape to an extent, not a lot of cardio but the strength is there that we get from yoga, especially the core, plus injury prevention.
“If I’m not skating, I’m officiating or I’m working the books for the association (Kalamazoo Ice Hockey Officials Association).”
Corak assists in the scheduling, billing, etc., leading Schrippa to quip: “Remember when Bob said he did information technology? We take full advantage of that. He is, in fact, the glue that holds a lot of our shenanigans together. He really is.”
Referees vs. Linesmen
Butts and Corak prefer wearing the referees’ armbands, while Schrippa and Swanson like working the lines.
“’I’m a smaller guy,” said Butts, who has been officiating for 14 years. “Linesmen typically tend to be 6-foot-5. When you’re smaller than most of the players, it doesn’t work out well.
“I like the freedom to be able to get out of the way. It’s a high traffic area as a linesman.”
When not spending evenings officiating, Butts is the penalty box timekeeper for the ECHL Kalamazoo Wings home games. His day job as a third-party examiner for the state of Michigan means he gives driving tests, and that leads to some interesting conversations.
“I’ve given most of (the players) their driver’s licenses,” he said. “I’ve had a group of players in the middle of a high school hockey game, getting ready to drop the puck at the start of the third period, and they’re trying to schedule a driver’s test for the next day. I’m like, ‘Guys, not now. Talk to me after work.’”
Swanson is the newest of the quartet, moving to the area three years ago from Syracuse, N.Y., where he started officiating at age 11.
He is a pilot in the U.S. Air Force International Guard in Battle Creek flying MQ-9 Reaper Drones.
“I like refereeing better (than being a linesman) because I like managing the game and look at the big picture,” Swanson said. “Sometimes it’s great to be a linesman because they get to communicate with the players, crack jokes and sometimes throw the referee under the bus, ‘Yeah, I agree that was a terrible call. But you’ve got to move on.’”
All four also officiate college and youth hockey, which can lead to a dilemma.
“Those are all different rule books, so we don’t have to know just one set of rules,” Schrippa said. “None of them are what you see on TV.
“While we have a couple hundred people in the building who are yelling at us that we got it wrong because that’s what they saw on ESPN, that’s not how it works. So not only do we have to know the rules, we have to know the differences in the rules.”
With mentorship programs available, some current prep players are also officials for younger leagues.
“They’re learning, we’re teaching them,” Corak said. “We have games with them as officials, then we’ll officiate their games when they play for their schools.”
Swanson added: “I think that makes them better players because they understand the rules, where they can bend rules and where they can’t.”
That is what led Schrippa to officiating.
“(Late referee) Mike Martin was officiating a game and pulled me aside,” he said. “I was 22 years old and he asked if I wanted to become a ref.
“‘(Heck) you’ve broken all the rules,’ he told me. ‘You probably know most of them already. He wasn’t wrong. I talked to a couple friends who had done it, and they talked me into doing it 29 seasons ago. I fell in love with it.”
Fun with bloopers
All four laugh as they regale each other with their funniest and most embarrassing moments.
For Schrippa, it was the college game where he made his refereeing debut.
“I was given the rookie lap,” he said. “I was jazzed. I came out of the gate, turned left, went around the back of the net, got to the blue line, caught a toe pick and Supermanned, slid from the blue line to the top of the next faceoff circle and was soaked because the ice hadn’t set yet.
“I got a standing ovation from the few hundred fans that were in the rink. Both my linesmen were doubled over laughing. It was a very cold first period.”
Something similar happened to Swanson.
“I was taking a hot lap, not seeing they’ve got a carpet out for somebody, hitting the carpet and Supermanning,” he recalled. “Then having a linesman watch you do it as there’s a few hundred people in the stands and give a big washout sign.”
Butts and Swanson had moments that actually delayed the start of a game.
For Butts, “I forgot my pants because I washed them separate and my wife had to bring them to me, and we could not start the game until my pants arrived,” he said, while the others laughed and nodded in agreement.
Swanson actually found himself at the wrong rink one time.
“I’m like, ‘Where is everybody?’” he said. “My phone starts ringing. ‘Hey dude, game starts in 15 minutes. You going to be here? Uh, yes, in 20.’’’
The four agree most officials go through highs and lows, funny times and embarrassing times, and that’s one thing that brings them all together.
“What’s unique about what we do is I could meet another official from Sweden tomorrow who I’ve never met before, and within minutes we’ve already got that relationship,” said Schrippa, who is the Southwest Michigan communications representative for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).
“That’s something we all share, we all know that feeling, we all understand that bond and it just takes a second. It’s so neat, it’s powerful.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) MHSAA hockey officials, from left: Nick Schrippa, Bob Corak, Nat Swanson and Corey Butts get together recently for one of their weekly hangouts. (2) Schrippa makes a call. (3) Corak, center, confers with a group of players. (4) Swanson prepares to drop the puck. (5) Butts monitors the game action. (Top photo by Pam Shebest; following photos provided by respective officials.)