Player2Referee Program Highlights GNAC Insider

There was an important officiating theme to Episode 185 of GNAC Insider, which aired live Tuesday night and can also be accessed as a podcast below or via iTunes.

The opening guest -- Deb Williamson, a former women's basketball official and current supervisor of officials for a host of Division I conferences -- joined host Rob Lowery to talk about her Player2Referee initiative which was developed as a way to encourage graduating student-athletes to pursue careers in officiating.

The Player2Referee program (P2R for short) is an initiative adopted by conferences across Division II as a way to help mitigate the declining number of younger people moving into the avocation of officiating. The lack of new blood of those "wearing the stripes" is especially critical at the high school level but the reduced number of referees across all sports is also negatively affecting intercollegiate athletics.

The GNAC is doing its part on the P2R initiative as the show's second guest, conference intern Daniel Calderon-Hernandez, explained. Calderon-Hernandez, a senior on the Central Washington track and field team, is coordinating the GNAC's implementation of the P2R program by working with the conference supervisors of officials in order to set up meetings between local officials and GNAC teams in which the P2R program can be presented.

Other guests on GNAC Insider included Montana State Billings track and field athlete Kyle McLaughlin, who provided an overview of last week's GNAC SAAC Retreat at Western Oregon University, and University of Alaska Fairbanks vice chancellor for student affairs and athletics Dr. Keith Champagne, who provided an update on Nanooks athletics.

Listen below: