At a cramped gym on the upper floor of Golda Meir School near Downtown Milwaukee, Allazia Blockton smoothly moves across the basketball court dressed in a jersey with black and white vertical stripes, dark sweatpants and dark shoes and a whistle draped around her neck, all standard gear for her role as a referee.
Blockton keeps a close eye on the action on the court, blowing her whistle from time to time and then making hand signals to indicate the various rules violations she witnessed during a series of boys’ basketball games on a recent Sunday afternoon.
At the same time, a few miles away on the city’s South Side, a similar scene plays out for Krystal Ellis, who is officiating boys’ basketball games at the sparkling new gymnasium at South Division high school as a boisterous crowd takes in the action.
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Ellis, who shows a commanding and confident presence on the court, closely monitors the fast-paced action and is quick to keep players in line while offering a bit of instruction.
Blockton, a Milwaukee native, and Ellis, whose hometown is Racine, had legendary careers as members of Marquette University’s women’s basketball team. Blockton, who played basketball at Dominican High School in Whitefish Bay, is the Golden Eagles’ all-time leading scorer with 2,204 points, while Ellis, who starred at Racine St. Catherine’s High School, is second with 1,940.
In addition to the bond they share through Marquette, Blockton and Ellis work as referees, or officials, employed by Milwaukee Recreation, a department of Milwaukee Public Schools, which provides indoor and outdoor athletic and wellness programs for students and the community at large.
Officiating has allowed Blockton and Ellis to remain involved in the sport for which they have long had so much passion. They are part of a group of former top-level women’s basketball standouts who are employed in various roles with Milwaukee Recreation.
“Applying to be a referee at Milwaukee Recreation was like a full circle moment for me,” Blockton said. “I grew up playing middle school basketball and played in the March of Champions (a Milwaukee Recreation tournament), so it is always exciting to give back to something you were once a part of as a child.”
Ellis got her start as a basketball official after working as an assistant basketball coach at Park High School in Racine more than a decade ago, while also a student in Cardinal Stritch University’s accelerated MBA program.
Many of Park’s games conflicted with Ellis’ class schedule, so she decided to leave coaching after one year due to the time constraints, but her time away from basketball was short.
“Once people figured out that I wasn’t coaching, I was asked to try officiating,” Ellis said. “I’ve been an official for 11 years now.”
Blockton and Ellis take on their roles knowing that many of the young students they encounter on the court are developing a deep connection to the sport that set the tone for their lives – on the court, in the classroom and later in life in the day-to-day world of work.
Ellis is a Program Analyst for Racine County. She is a supervisor in the Human Service Department. She has been in a supervisor role for the last 4 years. Before that, she was a call center agent in the Human Service Department for 7 years.
As for Blockton, she works at Aurora Health Care as a patient services representative.
“Playing basketball really shaped who I am,” Blockton said. “I believe, if capable, all children should play sports because it helps with discipline. You learn how to work with people from so many different walks of life. Of course, it’s extra motivation to have good grades so you can play but a lot of what you learn as an athlete applies to the classroom, also.”
Blockton often preaches the importance of sports because of the positive effect basketball has had for her.
“Basketball has personally taken me to places I would never have dreamed,” she said. “You meet so many people that you can add to your network to lean back on to guide you through life. Sports correlate to the real world so much and help you to gain useful tools to navigate the journey. Employers always love when I mention I played sports because they know I am going to be a team player, competitive and responsible.”
Ellis said being a student-athlete made her mentally stronger, especially at the collegiate level, and set a foundation for her life, even after her competitive playing days came to an end.
“I would not change my collegiate experience for anything. It made me an even better individual,” Ellis said. “What young people need to realize is that they are students first. You can’t compete if you are not able to do the classwork. I also always tell people that basketball will end at some point in your life. Then what will be your next step? Do you have a backup plan for when it’s over?”
The lessons learned on the basketball court have carried over into the work realm, she said.
“Basketball is a team sport, and it has helped me a lot in my career. You have to understand how to work with different people within an organization to come up with common goals that fit your job’s mission statement. It works the same in basketball, we have a common goal, and we need to work together.”
Blockton and Ellis have watched with considerable pride and joy at the explosion in popularity of girls’ and women’s sports. Last year’s women’s NCAA basketball tournament attracted unprecedented popularity and attention that drew new audiences to the sport, fueled by superstars Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Angel Reese of LSU.
Blockton’s and Ellis’ former team is enjoying major on-court success and attention this season, with the Marquette squad ranked No. 18 in the latest Associated Press poll after running their early-season record to a perfect 12-0 with a win over Appalachian State on Sunday.
And the buzz isn’t limited to basketball. Nebraska’s women’s volleyball team opened the season in front of a sellout crowd of more than 92,000 fans at the school’s football stadium. Marquette’s and Wisconsin’s women’s volleyball teams squared off at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee in September with a crowd of 17,037 fans on hand, a new NCAA regular-season indoor attendance record for the sport.
The recent NCAA women’s volleyball title tilt between Texas and Nebraska ended up as the most-watched match in college volleyball history. The game averaged a record 1.7 million viewers on ABC.
“I love it. I believe girls should get the same amount of recognition as the boys because we work just as hard,” Blockton said. “I am glad people are tuning in more. I believe there is more opportunity now with social media. Girls are starting to get more exposure and TV time, which leads to more people being familiar with a lot of the players competing.”
When Blockton arrived at Marquette in 2015, the women’s basketball team had about 100 followers on its Instagram account, she said. That number now stands at nearly 10,000.
“That is crazy to think about. I can only imagine how it would have been for my team and me,” Blockton said.
New rules, which now allow college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), have also altered the college sports landscape.
“NIL changes the game,” Blockton said. “It helps student athletes to at least have a financial cushion to lean on post-college.”
Ellis wholeheartedly concurred.
“It’s great to see women in commercials, getting NIL deals, having their own shoes,” she said.
While Blockton and Ellis have remained active on the basketball court through officiating, two other former Division 1 hoops stars are active with Milwaukee Recreation in administrative roles.
Milwaukee native Avyanna Young enjoyed a remarkable college basketball career. After starring at Rufus King High School, Young played two seasons at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She registered a career-high 36 points for the Panthers in a game against Valparaiso during the 2013-14 season. During her senior season with the Badgers, she earned honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference honors after averaging 11.7 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game. She later embarked on a professional basketball career overseas.
Today, Young works as a supervisor for Milwaukee Recreation Youth Sports, which provides her with a career that features a much-desired connection to athletics.
Milwaukee Public Schools Commissioner of Athletics and Academics Bobbie Kelsey played for four seasons on the Stanford University basketball team. She was part of the university’s national championship team in 1992 and served as a two-time co-captain of the squad.
Kelsey, who starred on the court in high school in Decatur, Georgia, went on to serve as an assistant basketball coach at several schools, including her alma mater, before landing the head basketball coaching position at UW-Madison, a role in which she served for five seasons. She was later an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA before eventually taking on her multi-faceted role with Milwaukee Public Schools and Milwaukee Recreation.
“Being around two things that I enjoy the most are kids and athletes,” Young said. “So, when I saw this job opening, I knew it was something I absolutely had to pursue. Now that I am in this position, being able to create memorable experience for our city kids has been amazing for me. I enjoy seeing them smiling and having a great time at our events.”
Athletics teaches young people resilience, perseverance and dedication, she said.
“I would always strive to be the best athlete I could be out working my opponent and with that came having to work harder when no one was watching,” Young said. “Now, in the work world I have carried over those traits and I work hard for great results. When times are tough, I do not break. I enjoy being a team player and helping those around me.”
Young sees a vital connection between athletics and academics that can have a lasting impact.
“I was taught to be an all-around individual because one day the ball stops bouncing, and you have to be able to survive outside of athletics, but ball got me ready for what the world had in store for me off the court.”
Young, too, is emboldened by the increased attention being paid to women’s sports, especially basketball.
“It’s amazing to see that the world finally realizes how great women’s sports are,” she said. “We can hold the attention of millions of viewers, we just had to prove ourselves a little more.”
Kelsey said she also benefitted from the many positive aspects that came from participating in athletics.
“You learn how to galvanize a group of people to reach a common goal. That aspect is truly impactful,” she said. “I love being on a team because of the ability to have shared experiences, whether good or bad, with people you may not have ever met otherwise. This has made my life so much richer for having played sports. And of course, the academic body of work goes hand in hand with sports participation. Just as I wanted to do my absolute best on the court, it was equally if not more important for me to excel in the classroom.”
Participation in athletics by girls and young women can be an essential component to their overall development in all areas of life, Kelsey said.
“Studies show how girls gain confidence, strength, discipline and other life skills that cannot be replicated anywhere else quite like in the athletics space,” she said. “Girls competing in sports are more likely to graduate high school and have a higher level of self-esteem and lower levels of depression than those who do not participate. This translates into an overall better high school experience and postsecondary educational opportunities that they would otherwise not pursue or feel qualified to achieve.”
Sports can serve as a “great equalizer” for girls and young women, Kelsey said.
“My mission is to continue to use sports to get them to see themselves as leaders, trailblazers and big dreamers,” she said.
A focus on star players like Reese, Clark and Stanford’s Cameron Brink can serve as inspiration for young female student-athletes, Kelsey said.
“There is a voracious appetite for women’s sports now, which in turn can show little girls that they can be on that national stage as well one day,” she said.
