Albany referee Kyle Hogg eyes NBL after umpiring gold medal match at Under-18 Club National Championships

Emerging Great Southern basketball referee Kyle Hogg has lofty ambitions after officiating at the Under-18 Club National Championships in Perth last month. The 24-year-old who is from Mt Barker was selected to referee the women’s gold medal match at the tournament held in Perth during Hoop Fest in September after being selected as one of the most consistent officials at the tournament. He also went away in July to referee at the Under-16 National Championships held in Bendigo. In recent years Hogg has refereed hundreds of games in the Albany Basketball Association. Hogg said after the long and arduous tournament in Perth, it was rewarding to be selected for the gold medal match in front of NBL scouts. “With Hoop Fest being on, there were quite a number of NBL referees watching our games and giving feedback so it was really good to get feedback from the elite level of officiating,” he said. “It was really good to be able to officiate high-level players that are pushing pathways towards State league, NBL and even the college route. “Nationals are very hard, they’re long weeks and long days. I’m at the stadium from about 8am to 9pm, reffing games and then doing sessions afterwards. “It’s nice to walk away with the reward of being recognised as one of the top officials for the week, especially when you have a group of about 25 referees who are all capable of doing it.” Hogg moved to Perth at the beginning of the 2024 NBL1 season to referee both the men’s and women’s competitions and hopes to push for selection into the NBL. “There’s definitely some ambition just to see where the pathway takes me. It’s really good pathway with good resources and support from Basketball WA and the veteran officials in the league really help support us,” he said. “I’d love to try and push as far as possible and see how it goes. . . and it takes quite a number of years to even be looked at for the NBL. “But I’ll definitely do anything and everything possible to try and put myself in the best position to be looked at.” During the off-season, Hogg runs referee clinics around the State and said providing visible pathways for regional kids is something his cherishes. “I’m big on giving back to the country kids because I come from the country referee development program when I was a bit younger, and that program died off a little bit,” Hogg said. “So it’s about getting that back up off the ground and running. “Giving back to the country kids and showing them that there’s a really good pathway for them to go through and they’ve got some country referees doing high level stuff, and that they’ve got all the opportunities they can if they want to. “I’m blessed to be in a position that BWA ask me to go away to these towns and do these courses. “I’ve done Broome, Geraldton, Northam and Jurien Bay, like I’ve been all over the place to run courses which is really good.”