Women in Officiating Weekend (WOW) - Volleyball Alberta

Volleyball Alberta used their Take the Lead to support the Women in Officiating Weekend (WOW) from April 5-7, 2024. This event brought together 42 women referees from across the province to officiate 191 games for 63 teams (approximately 756 athletes)! 

Highlights of the event included:

• Hearing 13U and 16U girls age groups teams comment on the importance of representation and seeing only women referees at their event. 
• The addition of a networking event with a speaker to discuss mental toughness and increasing self-esteem/confidence. Having this event on Friday night supported the opportunity for many strategies to be immediately implemented throughout the weekend. 
• When asked "What you enjoyed about the weekend", one referee said "Being able to just talk with other women refs and their experiences and to have parents come up and say they thought it was great that they had all women refs that weekend was enjoyable." and another mentioned "Connecting with females from across the province and particularly many from the south zones that I've never met."

This event runs alongside an existing competition, so it does not generate revenue as that competition has its own existing budget and expenses. The addition of WOW brings more referees and referee mentors to the competition, so additional matches have both a R1 and R2 (2 referees per match) that work together to foster an environment of learning and development. As a result of removing financial barriers to additional travel, hotel and food costs, the event was able to have women referees from across the province attend this event. Volleyball Alberta continues to work to generate funding to keep this annual event ongoing.