The Sixers vs Spurs clash was pure chaos. And referee Jenna Schroeder was in the middle of it, mainly because of two controversial decisions. Well, the first one came early in the second quarter when she called a second technical foul on Andre Drummond for pushing Victor Wembanyama, leading to the Sixers star’s ejection. However, replay revealed that Jenna made a massive error in judgement as Wemby likely flopped on the play. In bizarre fashion, Drummond’s ejection was rescinded.

Minutes later, Joel Embiid got called for an offensive foul after he collided with Wemby inside the paint. Left fuming by the call, the former MVP charged at Jenna and began yelling at her, leading to two quick technical fouls and an ejection from the game. The heated clash between Embiid and Schroeder became the highlight of the night.

However, Jenna looked unfazed by Embiid’s emotional outburst and stood her ground, maybe because she has developed a thick skin by being in the officiating business since she was a teenager.

When did Jenna Schroeder start her officiating journey?

Born on September 27, 1985, the Michigan native was drawn toward officiating at a very early age. In fact, it was during her playing days at Clio High School that she got her first officiating gig, “I played on the high school basketball team, and we had to referee the third and fourth-grade little girls.” Although all Jenna had to do during that game was make sure no one gets hurt and the game runs smoothly, the experience gave her the first taste of her new journey, “It really wasn’t even refereeing. But, whatever, I wore stripes and got paid, so that was my first time refereeing. I thought I was rich. I was in high school and making $50 on a Saturday.”

Then, she joined Oakland University as a freshman and was even part of their basketball team. However, she continued officiating on the side as a way to make some extra bucks, even after she transferred to Saginaw Valley State University. She refereed the college’s summer camps. As Jenna graduated in 2009, the financial crisis limited her career options, which forced her to seriously give the officiating career a thought, “It kind of manifested right when I got out of college… I was just refereeing to make some money on the side. I also liked it, and it kept me in shape. Someone looked at me one day and said, ‘Why don’t you just do this as a career?’ I’m like, ‘You can do that?’ I thought… if I could make this a career, this is way better than sitting at a desk job from 9-5. It kind of manifested in that way.”

Set on her goal, Schroeder gradually moved up the ranks and began officiating college basketball games at her alma-mater, even entering Big East and ACC. Sure enough, the NBA noticed her progress!

When did Jenna Schroeder become an NBA official?

After making a name in the college basketball scene, Jenna received an opportunity she could not look past, “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.” As fate would have it, Jenna landed the job and continued officiating in the G League for three seasons. “Once I got into the G League, that’s when the NBA aspirations happened.” She told The Athletic in an interview.

Soon after, Jenna got a call from the WNBA and spent two seasons as an official there. Finally in 2019, she realized her goal when she got appointed as a full-time NBA ref, a role she has excelled in since then. Moreover, Shroeder became the sixth female official in league history at the time of her hiring, joining Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, Natalie Sago, and more. NBA’s then VP and head of referee development, Monty McCutchen, had high praise for Jenna after her hiring, “Jenna has shown the requisite skill on the court and the knowledge of our rules to earn an opportunity to officiate NBA regular-season games. She is the latest example of the NBA G League’s impact as a valuable pipeline for our NBA officiating staff.” Meanwhile, the news came as a pleasant surprise to Shroeder, “I was shocked by the timing of it. But I was obviously hoping this was my year. Nobody’s ever truly ready, but I’m as ready as I can be.”

Jenna Schroeder aims to “Build on her mistakes” while revealing the challenges of being a Female NBA official

As we know, NBA is a male dominated sport and it’s rare to see female refs officiating the game. Obviously, that has often brought tough challenges for Jenna as she revealed, “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.”

Moreover, nights like tonight, where she made a crucial error by wrongly ejecting Drummond and then controversially tossing Embiid, create even more doubt in the fans’ minds. However, Jenna highlighted to the world how difficult it is to be a referee in the one of the biggest sports leagues in the world, “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.” Obviously, no one is perfect and there are bound to be some mistakes along the way. But the good thing is that Jenna is willing to work on her mistakes to avoid them in the future. Kudos to her.