Maria Florencia Zanikian, who works in foreign and international trade, and Maria Ines Paolantoni, a lawyer for Argentina Government working as an internal auditor for the Ministry of Industry, are currently refereeing at the 2016 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship in Slovakia. They talk to IHF.info about their careers.
IHF.info: When did you decide to be a referee? Did you play handball before?
Maria Ines Paolantoni (MIP): I started playing handball when I was seven years old. My physical education trainer was a handball coach and he thought it was a good idea. I ended up playing for the Nuestra Señora de Luján club for 19 years. My ability was only good enough for a goal, playing as a pivot or right wing.
When I played for the national team I played in both places at first then they asked me at one point whether I wanted to be a player or a referee as I was too short to be a handball player. My last tournament was the Pan American championship in 2001 in Brazil as a junior.
I had to take a really hard decision, in those days they didn’t play, but I had to work, to pay for my legal career. I played club handball until 2010.
It was easy to make the decision as you cannot whistle at the highest level if you are playing and I was playing first division senior females. It was at this time I was working at McDonalds and I was thinking I need to change my career.
Maria Florencia Zanikian (MFZ): I started playing handball when I was 10 because I liked it at school. My parents really wanted me to do some sports, I started playing in several teams, nothing important and then when I was 20 or 21 years old I stopped playing, around 2010.
I started whistling with a girl who was in the national team but she moved to Italy and I was alone. I was whistling with anyone the federation put with me and then it happened at the moment that we were both alone and then they put us together.
IHF.info: Can you remember where and when you first met each other?
MFZ: I think it was at a referee meeting in Buenos Aires in 2009. Ines had already been refereeing for one or two years and some years later our federation said to us, in order to start refereeing we should study together and then in 2010 we started together.
MIP: I don’t remember, but I had been refereeing since 2005 and I had been in a different group we didn’t have any contact until a year ago when we were looking for partners. They said maybe it was a good idea to start whistling together, we’re happy.
Our first game was on a Pan Am referee course, a local match and quite a long game as I was so used to whistling alone that I was whistling all of Florencia’s things, but we have changed it now (laughs).
MFZ: We were and are now so different as a couple, I am relaxed and she is totally crazy but we had a good talk, watched videos and worked with all the refereeing chiefs and now we have a really good understanding.
IHF.info: What did you feel like when you received your IHF refereeing badge? What was your first IHF nomination? How did you feel?
MIP: The most interesting thing is not when we got our badges, but when they called us and said there is a chance to go to Spain for one month to train and try to be an IHF referee. We had to work hard with our jobs to not get fired as we had to go to Europe for one month.
MFZ: That was the advanced training programme for the IHF and the first couple which did that programme were us and a couple from Uruguay, but they were already IHF. It was in March 2014 in Barcelona.
We had all our tests and then some matches before we went to the IHF Champions Trophy in Greece for a week, which was EHF continental couples and after that we returned to Argentina and then we received an email from IHF Playing Rules and Referee Commission (PRC) member Ramon Gallego that because of our work in Greece and Spain we have obtained our IHF badge and were going to be nominated for the 2014 IHF Women’s Youth World Championship in FYRO Macedonia.
MIP: I was shocked. I was in Europe two weeks more because I have family there and thought ‘oh my God this is really happening’. Earlier that year in January my father passed away and the course was just before.
MFZ: At the same time there was an IHF Global Referee Training Programme in Pan America and another couple had gained their badges so we didn’t know if we had got our badge or not. Ramon said in the email you can only be happy for two days because you have to prepare for the world championship. We still have the email. Manfred Prause gave us the badge in front of all the referees there in Macedonia.
MIP: We just had a shuttle test and he announced it in front of everyone!
MIP: The blue card is good in games where there are not all the technical officials available like scorekeepers etc. So it’s good because people there will know.
MFZ: The injured player rule is good because as referees we now have more responsibility about the games and we have to be aware of the ‘fake’ injuries.
It’s a very good rule for handball there won’t be any more ‘Hollywood’ actions and if there are, they team knows their player will be out for three attacks, and they will play more and not try to confuse us. We have tried it a lot now and it really works.
MIP: The law changes because society changes all the time so one follows the other and that’s the case for sport too. If we didn’t change our rules when we saw something we didn’t like then we would still be playing 11 v 11 on grass.
IHF.info: When you return to Argentina do you speak to young girls and try to get them to start training as a referee?
MIP: Of course, we all have lives away from handball and if we didn’t enjoy refereeing in handball then we wouldn’t be here. We try to take the best of every person who we meet.
MFZ: In Pan America we are all really close as referees and support each other.
MIP: I already ran courses for a few years and Flor was an observer too, but we had to finish as we were too busy for the IHF, this was part of our local association in Buenos Aires. When we get back we will pass onto our President.
The knowledge is for everyone, everyone needs to whistle in the same way – all of us in Argentina are a team, it’s not just a phrase.
MFZ: Being an IHF referee is not just being responsible on the playing court it’s being responsible everywhere. If someone wants to ask something we have to reply, it’s very important. If we don’t pass on our knowledge then our job is not complete.