Polish beach handball duo goes from refereeing to playing in two days

For a record number of 40 national teams the Beach Handball EURO 2019 started on Tuesday.

For two players, however, the European Championships in Stare Jablonki had already begun last week.

Sylwia Bartkowiak and Weronika Lakomy worked as referees at the YAC event between Thursday and Sunday, before they joined the Polish team as players to represent the host nation in the senior competition this week.

Bartkowiak and Lakomy were in charge of 11 matches last week, most notably the women's final between eventual champions Spain and Hungary on Sunday with 500 fans watching from the stands.

“It was good for us. We made big steps in our refereeing careers. It was a very big pleasure for us,” Bartkowski tells eurohandball.com. “It was a very good possibility to move our refereeing careers forward to the future.”

Both experienced beach handball players, Bartkowiak and Lakomy took up refereeing last year, when they passed the mandatory EHF exams.

Their international debut came in the first week of June at the European Beach Handball Tour (ebt) Finals 2019 in Baia Mare, Romania, where they took care of 19 matches within four days.

Refereeing is a harder job than playing

But even after leading 30 matches in less than four weeks’ time, they feel like refereeing is a harder job than playing.

“It’s more difficult when we are the referees. We need to change our mind, our brain, our focus on the game,” Bartkowiak says. “Because when you are a player you always have many people around you who can help you out. But when you are the referee, one of your decisions can change everything. It’s very difficult.”

Switching back their attention to playing on Tuesday, Bartkowiak and Lakomy experienced a disappointing start into the championship as the host nation surprisingly lost both matches.

Poland, the 2017 EURO silver medallists, lost their opener 2:0 to Hungary and were edged in an unfortunate shoot-out against Portugal three hours later, 2:1.

“It was a difficult first game for us. The Hungarian girls played very well,” Bartkowiak says. “It’s difficult when you play at home and you lose the game. And the second game was also difficult. It was very fast and we couldn’t catch the ball in defence.”

Always when you play at home you feel the pressure

The Beach Handball EURO is the second major event taking place in Stare Jablonki, after the resort in northern Poland hosted the ebt Finals 2018.

While “Polska! Polska!” chants came from the stands on Court 1 during Poland’s matches on Tuesday, Bartkowiak admitted that playing in front of their home crowd can also have a downside.

“Always when you play at home you feel the pressure,” she says. “I think it’s much better when you can go in another place. Of course the people help us but at the same time some situations are more stress for us.”

Obviously, Bartkowiak is glad that Poland is hosting the European Championships, which will last until Sunday. It's the biggest Beach Handball EURO to date, with 20 teams competing in each the men's and the women's events.

Over the past few years the sport has strongly developed in Poland, and results are proving the upward trend. The national women’s team finished fifth at the Beach Handball EURO 2015 in Lloret de Mar and finished runners-up two years later in Zagreb.

“Beach handball in Poland is moving toward the future,” Bartkowiak says. “I think it’s better than it has been. I think everything is on a higher level than two years ago.”

Photos: Uros Hocevar (kolektiff) / Marcio Menino