UCF officiating continues to climb the charts nationally earning All-American flag football officiating honors. Posted Tuesday, April 7, 2020 @ 7:05 PM Round Rock, TX (Jan. 3-5, 2020) – UCF’s intramural sports officiating program continued to thrive on a national scale in both flag football and basketball. Four flag football officials (Kyle Pianowski, Ashley Iannizoto, Nuri Troy and Danny Kandell) were selected to officiate in the 2019 NIRSA National Flag Football Championship and three of them were selected as All-American (Pianowski, Troy and Kandell). Additionally, two of our officials (Detroy Farquharson and Danny Kandell) had earned the opportunity to officiate in the national basketball tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to earn the opportunity to officiate at a NIRSA national tournament in flag football and basketball officials must first be selected to officiate in a regional and earn honors as a top official at those regional tournaments. All five students listed above were selected as top officials at regional tournaments, Danny for both flag football and basketball. 45 total officials were selected to officiate at the national flag football tournament. Only 10 of those 45 are selected as All-Americans. UCF was the only school with three All-Americans. For these elites, officiating reaps more benefits than honors and awards. Kandell explained that officiating has taught him “confidence, conflict management, communication and team skills,” transferable skills he can apply to professional endeavors post-graduation. Troy, a fall 2019 College of Health Professions and Sciences graduate with a degree in kinesiology says officiating has given her real-life skills as well, “I struggled with time management and confidence. But after being a part of the Intramural program I was able to improve in both areas.” Troy will continue her campus recreation work as a graduate assistant at the University of Georgia in 2020-2021. UCF’s Intramural Officiating Program is historically successful. Alumni- including 45 total All-American Officials, have gone on to officiate JUCO, NAIA, and multiple NCAA divisions of basketball. Others officiate in professional basketball, football and baseball leagues. Those that do not go on to officiate professionally have exchanged their time and efforts with the RWC for transferrable skills and meaningful connections that last a lifetime. The Knights also had three teams from the Men’s Women’s and Co-Rec divisions compete in the national tournament. UCF Intramural Sports are part of University of Central Florida’s Recreation and Wellness Center, funded and supported by the Student Government (SG). Comprehensive programs like officiating and intramural sports are part of the RWC’s mission to continually enrich campus life through programs that foster healthy lifestyles. For more information on the UCF RWC and IM Sports please contact Scott Mauro Marketing and Communications Manager at scott.mauro@ucf.edu. From left to right: Pianowski, Iannizoto, Troy and Kandell. Back