WHL referee Anastasia Kurashova speaks after officiating in Belarus

One of the leading referees of the Women's Hockey League Anastasia Kurashova was invited to work over friendly games between Russian women's national team and Minsk U17.

Following the matches, Anastasia shared her impressions from the experience:

– Anastasia, how would you rate the organisation of the friendly matches in Minsk?

– The organisation was of the highest level, we were very well received. Our team included the best players from all over the country, who had previously represented Russia at international level and showed themselves well during the Women's Hockey League championship. The Minsk U17 team was also strong, they gathered the best and most experienced players. Although the players of the Minsk team were under 17, they showed very good and fast hockey. In the first ten minutes of the match, I did not even expect that the hockey would be so fast! Our girls were in no way inferior to the boys. I really enjoyed the experience, and I hope to repeat it again in the future.

- How did you find it working with Belarusian colleagues?

- We very quickly found a common language with our Belarusian colleagues. Nikita Rudko was a referee in the All-Russian Hockey League, so we worked together very well. We have a single standard, we took one bar in refereeing these matches and adhered to it. We understood who was responsible for what, so our work was well-coordinated.

- What features and difficulties of refereeing could you note?

- My job was to look at the overall picture of the games in order to ensure fair refereeing. I tried to referee objectively, both the girls and the men.

- Our women's team played against the Minsk U17 team, consisting mainly of men. How difficult is it to referee matches where one of the teams consists mainly of men?

- The men, of course, are used to this format of matches. For the girls, this served as a useful experience. The men treated the girls on the ice with respect and tried to play carefully.

- What advice could you give to novice referees who want to develop in this profession?

- Firstly, you need to love the job! Secondly, without practice there will be no growth, so you need to referee more matches of any level and any age of players.