Southeast referee Zosha Krupa picks stripes over clipboards

In just her third consecutive year of officiating high school basketball, Sitka’s Zosha (Zoe) Krupa, 26, found herself at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 1A/2A Basketball State Championships as a lead official.

“Not something I imagined growing up playing the game,” Krupa said during last week’s smaller version of March Madness. “But now I can’t imagine anything else.”

Krupa started officiating middle school basketball four years ago while a senior playing for the University of Alaska Fairbanks women’s basketball team in the Nanooks’ 2021-22 season.

“My super senior year, because the NCAA had the extra year of eligibility due to COVID, so I was one of those people who had the extra year,” Krupa said. “As a broke college kid you want to make a little extra cash so I just decided to try it, ended up enjoying it.”

Her college coaches mentioned she could make a little extra cash and could help with the community need for officials. They also mentioned how giving back was important. Giving back was in her nature coming from a small coastal town in Southeast.

The next step came about during one of her college games when thanking game official Jeremy Pletnikoff for his hard work.

“I was talking to him during a blowout of a game,” Krupa said with a laugh. “We were kind of getting stomped on —and I cannot remember by who — but it was entertaining. We were talking during a free throw and I told him that I have a lot of respect for the officials because once I started officiating middle school I had a different point of view of officiating. And he said I should try the high school level.”

While middle school was fun, she wanted to try high school so called her father, Sitka Athletic Director Rich Krupa, also a certified official, and asked if he needed help for Sitka’s annual Christmas basketball tournament.

She got certified with online testing through the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) via the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA).

The Sitka’s Referee Association helps officials with first-year gear.

“She can be the future of officiating,” SFA President Keith Perkins said. He is also the Region V officials coordinator and has been involved in officiating for over 40 years. “Young and athletic, she knows the game and she has an inherent desire to want to be good. I like that in an official. And she came to us — an even better aspect is that she wants to officiate.”

Perkins said there is a growing shortage of officials, nationwide, for a variety of reasons, including negative treatment of officials, which causes some senior officials to leave the craft, and younger adults not wanting to step into that atmosphere.

Krupa embraced the challenge.

“I officiated six games in that tournament,” Krupa said. “I got all the hand-me-down gear— just kidding.”

What wasn’t a joke was how professional she was and ASAA Region V selected her for the 1A tournament that first season. Southeast regions are known for being loud as student-driven pep bands and cheer teams and standing-room-only fan bases from multiple schools fill the gyms.

“I was a little nervous but overall, just like all the officials say, it’s just another game,” Krupa said.

After graduating college, Krupa felt the need to give back to Sitka, and Southeast, as the referee shortage has been a lingering problem.

“I tried it out and really enjoyed it,” she said. “I got to build a really good connection to the kids, got to know my partners as well…and from there on out it has been fun.”

Krupa noted many mentors in her first year through the Sitka Referee Association, and in her second year with the opportunity to officiate at Ketchikan’s Clark Cochran Christmas Tournament. “It’s the best and means a lot when getting advice and support from other officials,” she said.

Those mentors included Toma Gillen, Sean Wathen, Troy Winguard and Moose Sims, among others.

“Next thing you know, I find out I am officiating with my collegiate officials,” she said. “And they were my mentors who brought a fun atmosphere and said to always smile and the next thing you know it gives you a good connection with the kids….With officiating, I don’t do it for the money; some do, some don’t…But you get your conditioning in, you get the best seats in the house, you get to make the calls and you get to help these kids not create bad habits but you also get to build this good connection with the team as in the head coach, the kids and the community.”

Krupa now travels throughout Southeast and becomes connected to communities. People know her as “the female official.” Her second season saw her spending nearly every February weekend traveling to Petersburg, and the town tried to convince her of moving to Little Norway. This third year, her many trips to officiate in Ketchikan resulted in the same residency pleas.

“I am starting to know all the airport workers,” Krupa said. “And the school staffs, parents and kids… so this year I was a Ketchikan ‘resident.’”

Krupa noted she enjoys getting some fan razing.

“Oh, I love it when I get booed,” she laughed. “It’s like music to my ears. It’s fun. It means I’m doing something right in some way. You’re always going to get 50% of the crowd booing and 50% of the crowd cheering.”

Krupa was selected to officiate the 2A girls state championship last week along with Jaden Andrews, another young official recruited by Jeremy Pletnikoff.

“As a first-year state official, that is pretty big,” she said. “And an honor I covet. But I have had a lot of support for, one, just being young and not being afraid to make my calls…support from parents and the crowds.”

She has even officiated alongside her father and has officiated a few of his city league games, in which she got to give him her first technical call.

“I came down court, got beat up pretty good — in most states it would be assault — and she didn’t call anything,” Rich Krupa said. “So I told her about it. She missed the call, and I was upset and complaining. Then she gave me the T and I said, ‘Now that is a correct call.’ And it was the correct call, I told her that. We finished up the game and went home and she likes sharing that story with everybody…I think she is doing an awesome job, and I’m excited to see her out there and her growth. Our referees’ association in Southeast is a little older (averages 60 years of age). If it wasn’t for the referees, people that care, we wouldn’t have games for the kids.”

Zosha’s mother, Karen Krupa (Rocheleau), played for Sitka High, then Western Montana and Montana State Billings. Her dad played at North Pole High and Sheldon Jackson College.

Zosha was a three-year starter for the Sitka Wolves, two-year starter at North Idaho College in the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) and was sixth man for the DII UAF team in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

“Both my parents were coaches and players. I grew up playing the game and at the collegiate level and I want to give back to the community,” Krupa said. “I want to make sure these kids have the opportunity to play high school basketball… You know what? Basketball is a short part of your life. It is a full-time job when you are a student-athlete, but you just enjoy every minute of it…Most kids want to go the coaching route and people were surprised that I chose the stripes and whistle over the clipboard…As an official, you are the one who is in control of the game. You manage the game, you watch the clock, the players and coaches…and you get to give back.”