RECognition: Jackie D'Amato, Competitive Sports

Recreation's monthly series to celebrate our staff

By Shawn Cyr
Assistant Marketing Director

Jackie D’Amato grew up attending women’s soccer games at Stanford University with her mom. Like many people, soccer was the first sport Jackie picked up as a child.

And — nearly two decades later — she still hasn’t put it down.

“Intramurals has been an awesome way to continue playing it while in college,” says Jackie, who plays outside forward. “Ever since I started playing intramural soccer during my first year, I knew I wanted to be more involved in Recreation. Having a bigger role in the sports community sounded super exciting.”

Jackie — a third-year speculative design and marketing major in Seventh College who also works for Event Operations — has jumped into Recreation with both feet. She plays on at least one intramural team every quarter, “but obviously, soccer is my favorite,” she says. Last quarter, her soccer team won the Coed AA indoor soccer playoffs and the San Diego Championship Series against other San Diego universities.

So joining Recreation as a member of our student staff as an Intramural Sports soccer referee in January 2024 made perfect sense. She has already risen to the rank of Competitive Sports Supervisor and made an impact.

“Jackie is someone on our staff who takes on every task we ask of her,” says Jacob Woodhead, competitive sports assistant director. “I believe she just truly likes being involved in and around the activities we provide. She has stepped up in the first year of working as a supervisor to being an individual we depend on and can trust.”

REC also introduced her to a new community that quickly embraced her.

“My favorite thing about working in REC is the people,” she says. “I've made some of my best friends in this department and I can't imagine how my college experience at UCSD would have been without them. The main reason why I enjoy working so much is because I get to spend time with two things that I love: my friends and sports.”

In her role as a Competitive Sports Supervisor, her duties include scheduling and monitoring weekly games and training referees. For our 30 Sports Clubs teams, Jackie helps with player eligibility and supervises games and tournaments. She also is a part of the campus organization Muse Dance Company.

But it's (unsurprisingly) at the soccer field where she still feels most at home.

“Since working for Recreation, my favorite time of year is during the outdoor soccer season in Winter Quarter,” Jackie says. “My favorite memories have been from being out at the field all day every weekend hanging out with my teammates and coworkers.”