The CDSRA Member of the Month features referees of different ages, levels, and backgrounds to reflect the diversity in our referee community and our association. Our May 2022 Member of the Month is Tolulope Owate

Questions & Answers:

Q: Current Referee Level & Highest level attained:

A: Regional (In the Provincial Upgrade program)

Q: When did you begin, and what motivated you to start refereeing? 
A: I started officiating the game as a young referee In Nigeria in 1996.

I have an uncle who was a National Referee in Nigeria and I often go to watch his games. I was a player then, my uncle convinced me that officiating was more interesting than playing. (I did not believe him then, but I know better now)

What has been your most enjoyable game/memory of your referee career? 
A: I will not consider it as enjoyable, but the memory is very fresh with me.  It was my first day of doing an entire 90 minutes game in the cold freezing temperature  ( it was a college  games at Olds College ).. The school had to pack up the snow away from the field before the game.  After game commenced the snows started forcefully again. I never thought I was going to survive the game.  It was a tough time concentrating on the game and keeping my body warm

Q: When did you first become a CDSRA member. and what encouraged you to join? 
A: I joined CDSRA in 2016 when I arrived in Canada, before coming to Canada I checked online to search for referees in Calgary, Nik Rosula responded to my mail promptly and even before arriving in Canada he made me feel welcome and assured that I was joining a fantastic group

Laurie Hastings and Richard Sansregret also made the first few months welcoming, they were both constantly willing and ready to assist/teach with relations to my referee’s development in CDSRA

Q: What advice would you give to somebody just starting out refereeing? 
A: It is worth it, keep at it and it will always pay off.

Q: What do you do outside of refereeing and what are some of your interests? 
A: I work in the finance industry, I have great interest in reading books, and I love volunteering I volunteer at the Centre for Newcomers, Calgary Catholic Immigrants society, where I help new immigrant with tax related issues. I also volunteer on a farm where we plant food for the Calgary Food Bank

Referee Career Highlights

• Referee Instructor course - I have learned so much as an instructor, being an instructor forces me to read the laws of the game a lot more than I used to do, it also gives me the push to dedicate more time to game watching in order to understand the interpretations of the Laws of the Game

• Regional and Provincial upgrade classes have been very enlightening as well. Plenty things were thought that builds on how to apply the contents of the Laws of the Game.