{"id":213883,"date":"2025-04-14T14:12:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T00:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=213883"},"modified":"2025-04-14T14:12:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T00:12:23","slug":"forsberg-officiates-at-basketballs-highest-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/14\/forsberg-officiates-at-basketballs-highest-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"From UH<\/abbr> to the world stage: Forsberg officiates at basketball\u2019s highest levels"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Maj Forsberg officiating the national championship game on April 6. (Photo credit: NCAA<\/abbr> Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa Rainbow Wahine basketball<\/a> player Maj Forsberg continues to make her mark on the hardwood—this time with a whistle in hand. Forsberg officiated her seventh NCAA<\/abbr> Women\u2019s Basketball Final Four this year, capping it off by working the national championship game on April 6, between UConn and South Carolina in Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n

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Forsberg (second from left) and other officials at the 2025 NCAA<\/abbr> Final Four (Photo credit: NCAA<\/abbr> Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It\u2019s always really unique to work the final game of the season,” Forsberg said. “There\u2019s just a different energy to it. Everyone is anticipating that moment of crowning a champion after a long five-month season.”<\/p>\n

A 1996–2000 UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumna, Forsberg was a guard under legendary coach Vince Goo. The Horsholm, Denmark native remains the only Rainbow Wahine player from Denmark in program history. Her time on the team was among the most successful stretches in program history, going 82-31 in four years. The highlight was the 1997–98 season when the team went 24-4, finished first in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC<\/abbr>) and earned a berth into the NCAA<\/abbr> Tournament as an eighth seed—a program high that still stands today.<\/p>\n

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Forsberg driving past a defender during the 1998 season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goo remembered how Forsberg\u2019s intense focus during games hinted at her future path in basketball officiating.<\/p>\n

“She was always attentive during the game and every time I looked down the bench, she was always staring at me like she was trying to listen to what I was telling the referees. She would frown when I frowned and she would laugh when I laughed,” Goo recalled. “I knew that she was looking to go somewhere after college ball and that was to be a referee.”<\/p>\n

In the classroom, she was equally impressive, earning All-WAC<\/abbr> academic honors for three seasons. She tripled-majored in finance, international business and management information systems, with a minor in speech. Forsberg is also fluent in Japanese, a skill tied to her heritage—her mother is Japanese.<\/p>\n

“I always tell student-athletes, don\u2019t take your education for granted,” Forsberg said. “Challenge yourself. I took as many credits as I could, and that opened up so many doors.”<\/p>\n

Pivot to the other side of the whistle<\/h2>\n
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Forsberg and former coach Vince Goo after Forsberg’s senior night game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After graduation, she entered the finance industry and rose to vice president of risk information services for a software company with roots in Japan and headquartered in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, before pivoting full-time into officiating. Her résumé now includes two Olympics (Paris and Tokyo), and 11 straight WNBA<\/abbr> finals and several NCAA<\/abbr> national championship games as crew chief. Forsberg is currently the only female crew chief working the WNBA<\/abbr> finals.<\/p>\n

“Professional basketball is completely different from the college game,” she said. “In college, the coaches run the show. In the pros, it\u2019s all about the players—and the pace, intensity and skill level reflect that.”<\/p>\n

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Forsberg signs an autograph for a young fan following her senior night game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goo pointed to Forsberg\u2019s deep understanding of the game and steady demeanor as key reasons behind her success as an official.<\/p>\n

“She really relishes basketball. She knows the game. And the thing is she knows how to relate with coaches. I can see a coach hollering and yelling, and she never changes her facial expression. She stays emotionally intact,” Goo said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her career, Forsberg said she\u2019s starting to think about what comes next.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve probably been on the road over 300 days a year for the last decade. I\u2019m ready to slow down a bit, maybe even retire. I would love to come back to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>—that\u2019s always felt like my home,” she said.<\/p>\n

Forsberg credits her former coaches, including Goo, as well as the late UH<\/abbr> Hilo basketball coach Jimmy Yagi and his wife Jeanne, for bringing her to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and said she remains close with former teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn\u2019t be here if it weren\u2019t for them,” she said. “I\u2019m forever grateful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Her time on the UH<\/abbr> team was among the most successful stretches in program history, going 82-31 in four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1362],"tags":[90,679,58,82,498,146,9,550],"class_list":["post-213883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-athletics","tag-basketball","tag-business","tag-shidler-college-of-business","tag-uh-manoa","tag-manoa-athletics","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213883"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213928,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213883\/revisions\/213928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}