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 country wise email marketing list 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 southeast referee zosha krupa 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 aero leads 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.