From volleyball to badminton, all Iowa State intramural sports need regulation. Student referees and supervisors have an opportunity to make money by monitoring the small and individual events and refereeing the team sports.

Sports needing referees include flag football, soccer, hockey, broomball, volleyball, wrestling, and softball. The smaller or individual sports require supervisors.

Students start out at the referee position, and can eventually move up to a supervisor. Their job is to organize and monitor tournaments, said Brooke Sergeant, a sophomore in political science and history.

“We get the main clipboard for the games of who is playing where and all of the stuff ready for the field,” Sergeant said.

They also walk around the fields checking on the games, and take care of minor injury reports, she said.

Sergeant started out as a referee her freshman year and then moved up to a part-time supervisor as a sophomore. The program usually waits a year before moving people up as the students first work with supervisors who have experience.

“You will still referee a few games, but then you get an opportunity to know what’s going on,” Sergeant said.

Pam Baker, a junior in agricultural business, is also a supervisor for intramurals. She started working as a freshman, and then her sophomore year she moved up to supervisor.

“I started [refereeing] football and kind of progressed through and went through other sports each season,” she said. She has supervised basketball, broomball, and softball, along with refereeing sports such as water basketball and euchre.

Randy Heimerman, the personnel coordinator for intramural sports, instructs and coordinates the referees and supervisors. To become a referee, the students must attend a training session first. There are usually three meetings, including an introductory meeting and one to show people positions on the courts, said Heimerman.

His personal refereeing experience in softball, football, and basketball gives students the background they need. He has refereed for Division I basketball games with teams such as Kansas, Texas, Iowa and Iowa State. He’s also done Division 3 and high school football, and baseball and softball at the high school and intramural level for 10 years.

Doing those high division games at 25 years old it was intimidating, Heimerman said, but it doesn’t scare him anymore.

“Now it’s just another basketball game. The more and more experience you get at anything makes it easier,” he said.

For the sports he is not as knowledgeable in, he brings in some of the best people in central Iowa, Heimerman said.

Referees start out by getting information from fliers around campus, the Internet, and through other students.

“My older brothers were both in intramurals and both refereed, and that’s how I got hooked up,” said Eric Manz, a sophomore in agronomy.

The students like the aspect of refereeing intramurals because it keeps them involved in sports, said Manz.

Baker was afraid once she got to college she wouldn’t be able to be involved with sports, but now she can.

“It keeps me active,” said Baker. “[In sports] like basketball you pretty much get paid to exercise.”

The next refereeing clinic for intramurals is basketball. The first meeting is Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in 104 Beyer.