Sylvia Jaksetic. Photo: FIVB

Beloved official Sylvia Jaksetic, 54, lost her battle with a rare form of cancer just days before Christmas. Source had been in touch with her not long before she passed away, when she mentioned that she was struggling a bit.

Never one to complain, she added, “I just keep pressing on as best as I can.”

Jaksetic is perhaps best known for her work on the beach, as she was almost a fixture at FIVB World Tour events, handling several finals. She oversaw nearly 200 Tour matches - in places as remote as Japan, South Africa and Bermuda - not to mention countless more hereabouts.

She was honored locally in 2010, receiving an Ontario Sport Award.

To best describe her work on the stand we turn to Rudyard Kipling, who famously wrote: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting, too…”

It is almost as if those words were penned for officials. They certainly encapsulate Jaksetic’s work. Fellow official André Trottier was among those who saluted her, saying she “left a durable legacy for all referees in Canada.”

Written by Larry Humber.