Thirteen years after getting into officiating, the Edmonton native is set to work her first international tournament
Joanna Wiegers was looking to get back to playing basketball after spending two years in South Korea teaching English when a referee officiating her game challenged her to pick up the whistle – 13 years later Wiegers is set to work her first international tournament.
Wiegers will be just one of two Canadians officiating wheelchair basketball at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, later this month.
“When I got the call, it was like, ‘Are you interested?’ I was like, ‘Absolutely,’ said Wiegers. “I’ve been working hard with wheelchair, have improved my skill set, and this is an opportunity to represent my country and Alberta. To represent the wheelchair community, we don’t get these opportunities very often. It’s nice to have that opportunity and be asked.”
In addition to her Commonwealth Games assignment, Wiegers officiated the Women’s National Championship Festival, the CWBL Nationals, and the Junior Nationals this year.
“It has been wonderful to see Joanna progress as an official and be one of the top officials in Canada,” said Sergio Giordano, a referee supervisor with the IWBF and Wheelchair Basketball Canada. “More importantly, Joanna is a leader and a trailblazer for women’s basketball – not only standup but also wheelchair basketball.”
Wiegers was born in the Philippines and grew up with three brothers. In the Weigers household, basketball was the sport of choice.
“My dad instilled in us that basketball was the sport because everyone played basketball,” Wiegers recalled. “I was the only girl in my family, so my parents wanted me to go in ballet or something girly, but I was never into that. I was a tomboy growing up with three brothers, and I just knew that I was going to be involved in athletics some way somehow.”
Wiegers, and her family, moved to Canada when she was 10 and settled in Edmonton, where she played junior high and high school basketball. Additionally, she officiated junior high tournaments.
After graduating high school, Wiegers completed her therapy assistant diploma specializing in speech-language pathology. She then completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology with a minor in special needs’ education following her two years in South Korea.
Outside of officiating and her day job managing a community corrections office in central Alberta, Wiegers is busy with her 10-year-old son Tyus and his sports schedule.
Rather than drop her son off at practice, Wiegers decided to get involved with coaching.
“It’s surreal; I took the certification processes. I’m a dual sport official as well – I do baseball, and I coach him in baseball too,” Wiegers said. “It was one of those things where being able to share something with my son is more important to me than anything. I’m not the type that would stand on the sidelines and watch. Maybe as he grows older, I probably will have to, but right now, I just wanted to be able to spend that time with him.”
While her focus at the moment is the Commonwealth Games, the 41-year-old has aspirations to help find the next wave of officials for both standup and wheelchair basketball.
“I would like to be in a referee coach role, and just the training role,” Wiegers said. “I like teaching and mentoring. The mentorship program is what I’m always available for, for both stand-up and wheelchair. I don’t want wheelchair to die. We have a core group of officials, but then that’s it. There’s no real up-and-comers. So being in the Commonwealth Games gives me a little bit more status when it comes to mentoring.
“Also, if this is an opportunity for me to get my international card still, I would love to have that opportunity. I think it would be great for females in the sport and anyone who feels like they’re too old for certain things to not to give up on their dreams.”