Each month we are going to take the time to get to know one of our PSL officials better. This is a great way to know the person who dedicates their free time to umpiring or refereeing your games.
Our July PSL Official of the Month is Dijon! Get to know Dijon better and be sure to say hi to him at your next PSL game.
How long have you been officiating with PSL? Man, to be honest, I can’t even remember. It seems so long ago but I want to say since 2014.
Which sports do I officiate? For PSL, I officiate dodgeball, and both sand/indoor volleyball. I am also a former PIAA volleyball referee.
What is my favorite officiating memory? Hum, I would say my favorite memories, because it’s a reoccurring theme, without fail, regardless of which sport I’m reffing. There’s always one team that kind of just shows up. The first week, is usually complete chaos and there’s a hundred and twenty percent chance someone on that team will yell out in confusion, “OMG, there are rules? How come no one told me about all these rules?”. I always remember these teams the most, not because they keep me busy the first few weeks and are an excellent source of job security, but because it’s always inspirational to watch them develop throughout the season. No matter how they played the week before, they’re always back the next week eager to learn, eager to do better than before and most importantly they show up to have fun and enjoy themselves.
What do I do for a living? Currently, I am a Quality Control Chemist at a local plastics company, prior to that I worked in the same capacity but within the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, I’ve been shadowing with our states wildlife conservation commission in a part-time capacity.
Why did I decide to officiate for PSL? Well originally, my roommate at the time, Kevin Holleran, was a PSL volleyball and PIAA official. He’s the one who talked me into it and got me started in officiating volleyball. I initially began reffing for PSL because of him and besides it just made since; I knew the game, had been playing competitively since 2004, and they had a need for refs. They say when you do something you love, you’ll never work a day in your life, so me back in the day being a college student and working at Starbucks, it was the perfect second job. However, more importantly is why I stayed, I stayed because of the welcoming culture of inclusion, the culture of continuous improvement and most importantly because PSL fills a need that I haven’t seen anywhere else in such an organized fashion. Ky, Jaime and James have always been great to work with and I know that they go out of their way to continuously improve year over year and provide the PSL community with only the best.
Anything you would like to share about yourself with the PSL community? Off the top of my head, there’s nothing in particular but I’m pretty transparent, so if you have a questions feel free to ask and I’ll try my best to answer.