By Spencer Inglett ‘19
THE ROUNDUP

Some Brophy athletes have impacted the community through refereeing, utilizing their extensive knowledge of the sport to help kids and the community enjoy the game.

Having played soccer for all his life, Connor White ’19 can be seen wearing the striped white and black uniform for various soccer leagues around the Valley.

White said that he wanted to delve into another aspect of soccer.

“It has allowed me to interact with the soccer community and meet new people,” White said.

White works through a variety of organizations, ranging from volunteer club events to paid Arizona Youth Soccer games.

However, he said he does not think it is too much of a time devotion.

“I ref occasional club games for a younger age group, and it isn’t too much of a time commitment,” White said. “However, it’s tough to manage my weekends when I also have games during some of the reffing time slots,” White said.

Jack Eden ’19 umpires baseball at the little league level.

“I began umpiring baseball as a seventh grader to earn some money,” Eden said. “I definitely looked up to my other friends’ brothers and wanted to do what they were doing, so I followed them and became an umpire.”

A constant issue with umpiring or refereeing sports is the loud parents and coaches, but Eden said he usually blocks them out, although he came close to throwing a coach out before.

“I enjoy it because I got to umpire my little brother and a bunch of his friends, so I got to know the kids more by being on the field with them,” Eden said.  “I still maintain that relationship with the catcher each game and they are always happy.”