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10 March 2026  6 min read

Best seat in the house – Booth celebrates 30 years of table officiating

She hit the milestone at the end of last year and still says it’s the ‘best seat in the house’. 

Booth grew up around basketball in her native Derby, with her mum and dad taking her to Derby Storm’s basketball games from the tender age of two.  

In one of the game-day programmes there was an announcement for volunteers to help collect game-day stats and to run the table for the club. Booth’s dad, Chris – a mathematician – answered the call. 

Accompanying her dad on his new adventure and, despite being 12 years old, Booth cottoned on to the mechanics of table officiating quickly.  

Within two years, and just shy of 14, she became a Level 3 Table Official, which was the highest qualification in the country at the time.  

"It was something that I genuinely enjoyed doing. I saw it as the best seat in the house," said Booth, who was at one point in time – under the tutelage of Jeff Booton – the youngest ever qualified table official in the country, subsequently relinquishing that mantle to Martin Green.  

"I wasn't the best player in the world; I wasn't really of any level. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't really very good, but I just had such a passion for the sport, and this gave me my input. 

"Also [as a teenager] most people had to do paper rounds, but some weekends I was making 100 pounds just because I was [officiating] game after game after game, all within my club and around supportive people. It was where I wanted to be every day. So, it just worked perfectly."

Sarah Booth (right) pictured with Tim Lascelles of Derby Storm at the start of her table officiating journey

In the presence of Lebron 

Across her 30 years of service, Booth says that she’s been blessed with amazing opportunities, from officiating NBL games to multiple internationals; Super League Basketball finals and even the USA Basketball Showcase at the O2, where Steve Kerr led his star-studied American side against South Sudan and Germany before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.  

"I've got a picture on the wall of Lebron doing his chalk hand clap. Everybody's seen him do that, but the difference is in my picture, I’m there looking up at him," added Booth.  

Booth believes there has been a big change in the way table officials are prioritised by Basketball England. From their recruitment to their training and eventual deployment.  

She has also been a fan of BE’s move to PlayHQ and eScoring, which was introduced at the start of the 2025/26 season and will become mandatory for all NBL competitions next season.   

"Table officiating and statistics have been moved up the priority list," said Booth, who is an accountant by trade.   

"BE’s Shaun [Williams] deserves so much credit for making it a focus that we need to support our table officials and statisticians.   

"I think we have always had individuals that have tried to do that, and I don't want to reduce their input, but to have somebody working for BE who has basically spends the majority of his work life trying to increase the profile of table officials, and putting in the courses, systems, processes and the people who can support you, it's just such a massive bonus compared to where we were when I started. 

"When I first started on table, it was a shot clock, scoreboard and it was a scorebook. We need to move forward, it's very easy to get stuck in the past and I'm somebody who's from the past in some ways.

"PlayHQ is a good improvement. It's a culture thing to get people used to it. We've got to do what's best for the sport and the more we have available digitally, the better."

Booth with her mum and dad at the London 2012 Olympic Games 

Advocate for inclusion

Booth is steadfast in her belief that basketball is a learning vehicle, helping people to realise their potential.  

Now residing in Birmingham, she experienced that first-hand when she worked as a coach with West Bromwich Albion alongside the legendary Clive Allen.  

Every year, the club would put on a table officiating course and helped lots of young people from deprived backgrounds to upskill and earn some money.   

She herself had to battle against the basketball establishment to fit in – to be accepted as a young woman and reputable table official; to be given the opportunities she deserved.  

At the time very few people looked like her in table officiating. Therefore, she advocates for inclusion and wants that to be her legacy. 

Booth (centre) has officiated over three decades and was at one point the youngest ever qualified table official in the county

‘I want the weird and the wonderful’ 

"It was hard for me at times. Nobody looked like me. I didn't fit the establishment, and that made it hard. And if I didn't have such a passion for the sport, I would have stepped away from it.  

"My brother died when I was 20 odd, and he was our main connection to Derby Trailblazers.  

"I remember my parents did an interview and they asked why they didn’t want to step away from the sport after he died. My mum summed it up perfectly by saying she realised that everybody that was supporting them [through this difficult period] was from the club or involved in basketball.  

"That’s why I say I want to champion the weird and the wonderful. That's what I want. I want people to feel that they are comfortable within officiating. I want everybody to have an opportunity if that's what they want.

"That would be my legacy. If I can change anything I want everybody to feel comfortable, to be themselves, and there be no barriers to entry."

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