Agnieszka Drabik: Adding Polish flair to PH collegiate hoops

Female referee Agnieszka Drabik. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

In the middle of their summer vacations, cage stars from the UAAP and NCAA meet for a few rare times in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Premier Cup. It’s also in this tournament where one Polish lady found her referee shirt.

In the game between College of St. Benilde and Emilio Aguinaldo College, one fair lady was running the sidelines.

Agnieszka Drabik had her long blonde hair braided, her high heels tucked away in favor of black sneakers and her Polish accent barking violations after she blows on her whistle.

Standing at just a few inches above five feet, Drabik was perfectly at home in the basketball floor as she witnessed Blazers beat the Generals 71-46.

Aga, as her officemates here in the Philippines call her, found herself arriving in the tropical archipelago back in February from Poland and by a stroke of luck found out about the offseason tournament where she continued her passion for officiating basketball games.

“My dad was a coach and he is refereeing right now as well so somehow, naturally, I was getting involved and so I became a referee,” said Aga, who is in the Philippines working as a Human Resources Specialist for Philip Morris International.

Her main focus is her day job for the tobacco giant but the rush of officiating games was always in her.

“Right now I’m in the office on a daily basis, however, after hours sometimes I ask for the day off and I ask to be flexible,” said Aga. “In my off days I referee.”

Aga added being a female refereeing in mostly a men’s sport has its fair share of struggles.

“You’re a woman, they [male basketball players] feel you’re not in the level that they should be, they see you as ‘okay you’re a woman, you should stay in the woman’s game’ so you have to first gain their trust,” said Aga, who started her officiating career at the age of 19. “Before you start officiating they look at you a bit strange then after you make calls, you get their trust.”

“They are surprised to see me on the floor, they just don’t know who I am, it’s OK here.”