Joe Bongiovanni was one of the top eight officials in the world invited to 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, an 'incredible' honor
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP — Joe Bongiovanni has been involved in many sporting events in his time as a high school football coach and now athletic director.
But not many have taken place in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
Bongiovanni had the privilege to be a wheelchair rugby official for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, one of eight on-court officials in the tournament and one of three Americans who were part of the officiating staff for wheelchair rugby.
“I’ll never forget one of the presenters for our officials meeting looked at us and said, ‘You are here because you are the top eight officials in the world,’” Bongiovanni told Detroit Catholic. “I never really stopped to think about that because I don’t look at myself in that matter. I look at it as this is something I enjoy and have been blessed enough to have the opportunity to do and hope to do for years to come.”
In his day job, Bongiovanni is the athletic director for Austin Catholic High School in Chesterfield Township.
But for eight to 10 weekends of the year, Bongiovanni is on the road, serving as an A-Level international wheelchair rugby official, mostly officiating tournaments throughout the Midwest. He also has had the opportunity to call the collegiate national championships, the Wheelchair Rugby World Cup, and this past summer, the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Wheelchair rugby is the only full-contact adaptive sport for individuals with disabilities in all four limbs.
Four players on each team in wheelchairs compete in a space the size of a basketball court to advance a volleyball-like ball to the goal area by throwing the ball to teammates, blocking defenders from descending upon the ball carrier and working to block the opposition from scoring.
Each team has 40 seconds per possession to get the ball into the goal area for a “try” (score).
Bongiovanni previously worked at the Detroit Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, where some of the individuals with whom he worked introduced him to the sport in 2010.
“They introduced me to the sport, asking me to come and help their team,” Bongiovanni said. “I spent a year doing that and wanted to know more about the sport. During that time, I took an officiating class to learn about the rules and how to help the team.”
The team at the Detroit Medical Center had to temporarily break up as one of the players moved to train for the national team, but Bongiovanni was hooked.
“I fell in love with the sport,” Bongiovanni said. “I became a certified official and sought how far I could climb up the ladder.”
Bongiovanni’s background is football, coaching at St. Clair Shores Lakeshore (2003-08), Marine City Cardinal Mooney (2008-09) and Richmond (2009-10), but he found a lot of similarities between football and wheelchair rugby in terms of physicality and teamwork.
“Football has a lot of the same mentality, the same strategy, the same competitiveness I found in wheelchair rugby,” said Bongiovanni, a married father to three children. “As my family was expanding, I had less time to devote to football. I was able to find a sport that was similar, but had fewer time constraints.”
Bongiovanni worked his way up the officiating ladder, officiating just about every weekend somewhere in the Midwest, eventually achieving his Level-A status in 2016 and earning his international badge in 2017, embarking on an officiating career that has taken him around the world.
“Last year, I was lucky enough to go participate in the world championships, which were in Denmark,” Bongiovanni said. “I attended the European ‘A’ Championships in Pairs and the International Wheelchair Rugby Cup, which coincides with World Rugby, that was in Paris as well, which culminated with me being able to attend the Paralympics.”
Officiating matches — even high-profile international matches — has a few similarities with his day job as the athletic director at Austin, particularly when it comes to creating an atmosphere where the focus is on the athletes, and he is just there to facilitate the experience.
“The best thing for me, being an official, is when I officiate a game, and somebody talks to me after the game and says, ‘We never noticed you,’” Bongiovanni said. “It’s the athletes who are doing all of the work, and they are showcasing all of their stuff. It’s also what I bring to being an athletic director, making sure it’s the athletes who are being spotlighted, and it’s what I work to maintain.”
Bongiovanni said the best part of the Paralympic experience was being surrounded by world-class athletes who are the best in their sport, gathered from all around the world to compete for their nations.
“The atmosphere at the Paralympics was absolutely amazing; we were lucky enough to stay in the Olympic Village this year,” Bongiovanni said. “To see the different athletes, not only for my sport, but for other sports, day in and day out, how they prepared their days and handled downtime in between their events, it was absolutely mind-blowing to be part of that experience. These are people who have devoted a significant amount of time to being the best in their field, so to have the ability to witness it firsthand as an official on the court was an incredible experience.”
Bongiovanni's experience working with world-class athletes, athletes who have overcome physical disabilities and challenges to compete at the highest level, gives him a perspective he can offer to students at Austin.
“As a coach, you always hear the cliché, ‘You can do whatever you put your mind to,’ but these individuals are truly embodying that,” Bongiovanni said. “They have a passion for whichever sport they choose, and they strive to make it happen, overcoming whatever obstacles they have.
"It’s an example I always talk to our students (at Austin) about: ‘You may not think you’ll be able to do this, but I see people who are able to put in the work and accomplish great things.’ Seeing the success of these athletes (at the Paralympics) has helped me motivate our athletes at Austin.”
Bongiovanni credits the faculty and staff at Austin who cover for him at athletic events and his wife, Maria, who cares for their three children, Isabella, Joey and Dominic, while he is away eight to 10 weekends a year officiating tournaments, usually leaving on a Friday evening and returning Sunday night.
“My wife and my family and the staff at Austin help me be able to continue to pursue the dream of international officiating,” Bongiovanni said. “Without the support of my family, I wouldn’t be able to be gone as much as I am. Austin’s administrative team, the principal (Janel Coppens), the director of operations (Brett Coppens), the athletic coordinator (Ron Glodich), and so many others have covered for me when I’m not able to be here when I’m at a tournament. They stepped up and handled everything when I was at the Paralympics because when school started, it was the day after I had to leave to head on over.”
When Bongiovanni returned home from Paris, he had plenty of stories to tell: about his travels, seeing world-class athletes performing at a high level, the food, the coffee ("especially the coffee," he says) and being part of facilitating one of the roughest, most intense, heart-pounding sports he has ever seen, played by some of the most dedicated people he has ever met.
“It’s the only sport where there has been a completely legal hit, and I’ve had to stop the game to let support staff pick up somebody’s arm or leg because their prosthetic had fallen off,” Bongiovanni said. “It’s really funny when I tell friends, ‘I had to stop a game last week because somebody’s arm fell off, and when they reattached it, everyone was good to go, and nobody missed a play.'
“I’m lucky enough to not only see world-class athletes, but to see world-class individuals,” he said.
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