Earlier this summer, the North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation (NACHC) conducted formal referee training and fully certified five pairs of referees at the the Continental level.
The training was held in conjunction with two major NACHC competitions, the NACHC Sr Men’s Championships in Mexico City in June and at the NACHC Men’s Club Championships in Monterrey, Mexico this past July. Referees received classroom training, completed written and physical tests and had their performance evaluated during match competitions.
The training and evaluation was the culmination of several years of work for the participating referee pairs and five pairs have now obtained continental level certification as official NACHC referees. This level authorizes them to officiate at any NACHC competition and they are now also potential candidates for IHF certification as international referees.
The referee pairs who obtained NACHC certification are:
- Yeison Agramonte / Luis de Jesus (Dominican Republic)
- Erni Johansen / Enok Petersen (Greenland)
- Erick Belmonte / Juan Coba (Mexico)
- Dafne Blanco / Miriam Santillanes (Mexico)
- Rafael Augusto / Kevin Poulet (USA)
Additionally, a 6th pair, (Anastasiia Bohoiavlenska /Cristina Molina) from the United States will be evaluated for certification at the next international competition they officiate at.
NACHC Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC) Chair Alejandro Martinez: “We are satisfied with the results achieved and now have several couples that we can rely on for official NACHC competitions. We also are committed to their further development as referees and hope that they will soon have opportunities to be evaluated by the IHF.”
Participant Cristina Molina: “The course was really intense and a great opportunity to connect with colleagues we don’t usually see face to face because of the distance. We worked on different ways to improve and raise our officiating level. From situation tests to video analysis, physical condition, and management of the rule book test. I really learned a lot and I feel even more prepared for officiating in higher level competitions.”
