Eunetta Pickett

Bryce Alderton

They stand on opposite sides of the net, typically dressed in

white polo shirts and navy pants with hands behind their backs and

whistles in their mouths.

And while fans, players, coaches and anyone else watching a

volleyball match might often take it for granted that officials show

up to the contests, there is a method for dispersing referees and

keeping track of the gyms they travel to.

Welcome to the world of 64-year old Costa Mesa resident Eunetta

Pickett, a volleyball official and the woman who has assigned

officials to volleyball matches at Orange County high schools and

California colleges for 40 years.

She has a staff of about 80 officials she now sends to matches

involving 80 high schools, 50 colleges and universities such as

Fresno State, the University of the Pacific, Point Loma, Cal State

Fullerton, UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach and 30 junior colleges.

She keeps track of what official is going to which match using a

computer program, but still has to call each referee and confirm he

or she can go to a certain match.

“It takes time, especially when I have to leave a message with

them but it works pretty good,” said Pickett, who spent 20 years

coordinating swimming and tennis programs for the City of Costa Mesa

in the 1960s and ‘70s and who worked for a wallpaper and painting

service for 20 years. “Before the computer it was a challenge,

keeping track of 50 to 60 schools at one time on a typewriter. If you

made a mistake you had to change the whole page,” she said.

Just last Wednesday Pickett had to finalize the officials staffing

the CIF volleyball matches for Thursday’s first round and had to do

it again Friday for the second round.

December, July and August are slow months in the volleyball world

for Pickett, who takes time off during these times, but the rest of

the year involves transitioning from girls and women’s volleyball in

the fall to boys and men’s volleyball in the spring.

Pickett has always played sports, competing in field hockey,

basketball, swimming, tennis and volleyball, and began officiating in

junior high and continued into her high school years spent at Dorsey

High in Los Angeles.

“When I got started we got $1 or so per game and we were happy,”

Pickett said laughing. “I (refereed) softball for 45 years and just

retired and I officiated basketball for 23 years. But it became hard

to keep up with three sports and three children.”

Schools and leagues hire Pickett to assign officials. She doesn’t

assign any officials for Big West of Pacific 10 Conference matches.

“Those conferences have commissioners and I don’t get paid the

same as them,” Pickett said with a chuckle.

Pickett, who played sports at Orange Coast College, recalls when

women’s volleyball started to blossom in the ‘60s and ‘70s and has

seen the rise of the men’s game.

“I started officiating intramurals before a lot of schools had

volleyball teams,” she said. “It’s amazing the progress in all sports

with the scholarships offered to girls now. When I started, a lot of

teams at the Division I level in college didn’t have teams besides

UCLA and USC. Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton were newer schools.

What an opportunity for the girls now. They start playing volleyball

on club teams at 9 or 10 years old rather than at college. Now the

girls are 6-foot tall and gorgeous and the best athletes.”

Pickett enjoys living and working in what she terms, “a

volleyball-rich area,” but said it’s a challenge sometimes to keep up

with the speed of the matches.

“College teams at the Division I level play a lot faster so the

challenge is keeping up with the speed of the game,” Pickett said. “I

don’t have to call a lot any more except occasionally at the

frosh-soph (and junior varsity) level.”

When not either standing at the net ready to make the next call or

contacting 80 officials to staff CIF matches, Pickett enjoys golfing,

tennis and spending time with her three children, Tod and Troy

Pickett and Teri Thrasher, and her nine grandchildren. She also used

to teach tennis at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Thrasher won the national championship for synchronized swimming

at age 40, Pickett said.

“(Hank Lloyd, CMTC operator) has done a lot with that program and

it’s nice to see the courts full all the time,” Pickett said.

Pickett, who is single, wants to continue officiating and

scheduling referees for as long as she can.

“I’ll do it for as long as I enjoy it,” Pickett said. “It’s doing

a service for the schools and I know my officials and have a good

group doing it.”